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EU5 Market Accessibility Perfect Guide: The Key to Economic Growth and Empire BuildingIn EU5, market access significantly impacts the economy and empire building. This guide details the fundamental principles of market access, how various factors like terrain, roads, and rivers affect it, and strategies to optimize it.
1. 🎮 What is Market Access? Understanding the Basics
· Market access determines which provinces get priority access to goods when there's a shortage.
· It also acts as a value multiplier for both buildings and Goods, but it functions differently for each.
· For buildings, it acts as a throughput modifier, reducing both inputs and outputs but maintaining efficiency. This effectively lowers the nominal value of the building.
· For Goods, it maintains the same amount of Goods produced but proportionally reduces the wealth that those Goods contribute to the province.
· It also acts as a value multiplier for both buildings and Goods, but it functions differently for each.
· For buildings, it acts as a throughput modifier, reducing both inputs and outputs but maintaining efficiency. This effectively lowers the nominal value of the building.
· For Goods, it maintains the same amount of Goods produced but proportionally reduces the wealth that those Goods contribute to the province.
00:06 - 00:31
1. 🎮 What is Market Access? Understanding the Basics
· Market access determines which provinces get priority access to goods when there's a shortage.
· It also acts as a value multiplier for both buildings and Goods, but it functions differently for each.
· For buildings, it acts as a throughput modifier, reducing both inputs and outputs but maintaining efficiency. This effectively lowers the nominal value of the building.
· For Goods, it maintains the same amount of Goods produced but proportionally reduces the wealth that those Goods contribute to the province.
· It also acts as a value multiplier for both buildings and Goods, but it functions differently for each.
· For buildings, it acts as a throughput modifier, reducing both inputs and outputs but maintaining efficiency. This effectively lowers the nominal value of the building.
· For Goods, it maintains the same amount of Goods produced but proportionally reduces the wealth that those Goods contribute to the province.
00:32 - 01:17
2. 📈 The Real Impact of Market Access: Analyzing Austria
· At the start of the game, Austria has a tax base of 30 and relatively low market access.
· If you open a market in Vienna and do nothing else, your tax base almost doubles. This is the power of market access.
· Market centers start with 100 market access, and the further you get from them, the more it costs to access the market. Therefore, provinces further away have lower market access.
· If you open a market in Vienna and do nothing else, your tax base almost doubles. This is the power of market access.
· Market centers start with 100 market access, and the further you get from them, the more it costs to access the market. Therefore, provinces further away have lower market access.
01:24 - 02:02
3. 🗺️ Factors Affecting Market Access Cost: Terrain and Province Size
· There are two factors that increase the market access cost per province. The first is the combination of terrain and vegetation, where rougher terrain costs more.
· The second is province size. Larger provinces start incurring double-digit costs with fewer provinces traversed. Conversely, smaller provinces incur less cost even with rough terrain.
· This leads to smaller provinces having a higher density of markets, which is generally advantageous.
· The second is province size. Larger provinces start incurring double-digit costs with fewer provinces traversed. Conversely, smaller provinces incur less cost even with rough terrain.
· This leads to smaller provinces having a higher density of markets, which is generally advantageous.
02:03 - 02:51
4. 💧 Rivers and Roads: Reducing Market Access Cost
· There are two factors that reduce market access cost, and the one providing the larger bonus applies.
· The first is rivers, which give a 50% bonus if the province seeking market access is downstream from you, otherwise, it's only 10%.
· The second is roads, which increase in efficiency over time. This makes rivers very important for market access early in the game, but they become relatively less important over time.
· Combining these factors leads you to look for open plains or low-vegetation provinces to place your market capital, as they offer the best market access.
· The first is rivers, which give a 50% bonus if the province seeking market access is downstream from you, otherwise, it's only 10%.
· The second is roads, which increase in efficiency over time. This makes rivers very important for market access early in the game, but they become relatively less important over time.
· Combining these factors leads you to look for open plains or low-vegetation provinces to place your market capital, as they offer the best market access.
02:52 - 03:52
5. 💡 Bypassing Market Access Cost and Building Effects
· All provinces downstream from your market capital are affected by the cost to traverse them, so securing open space for your market capital improves market access for all provinces.
· The cost is based on the provinces traversed, not the province you start in. Therefore, placing your market in a rough terrain province like a forest or mountain means your market capital itself effectively bridges the gap, without you having to pay the cost to traverse that province.
· Additionally, buildings like the Merchant District, Market Town, and Harbor Authority increase market access by a certain percentage. These buildings help maintain high market access even in provinces far from your market capital.
· The cost is based on the provinces traversed, not the province you start in. Therefore, placing your market in a rough terrain province like a forest or mountain means your market capital itself effectively bridges the gap, without you having to pay the cost to traverse that province.
· Additionally, buildings like the Merchant District, Market Town, and Harbor Authority increase market access by a certain percentage. These buildings help maintain high market access even in provinces far from your market capital.
03:53 - 04:30
6. 📈 Optimizing Market Access and Other Considerations
· These buildings provide a wide radius around your market capital, ensuring over 95% market access.
· This encourages moving your market slightly inland from the coast, although generally, markets on the coast are much stronger due to sea trade.
· Several factors like migration, slave movement, province type, and trade goods prevent having numerous small markets, which impacts maximizing market access.
· This encourages moving your market slightly inland from the coast, although generally, markets on the coast are much stronger due to sea trade.
· Several factors like migration, slave movement, province type, and trade goods prevent having numerous small markets, which impacts maximizing market access.