Transport Developments

• Trail – Trails are brilliant for wilderness developments, as they are little more than a line on the countryside to guide your feet in the right direction. Trails are good for foot traffic, including horses and mule trains, but don’t help wheeled traffic (which are good for trade) at all. However in most areas trails just spring into being on their own, connecting areas of interest together, they might not be a direct route, but trails always lead somewhere. They might be stopped by mountains, jungles, marsh, rivers, canals and coastline.

• Roads – Roads are needed for all of the best country developments, they are dirt roads that are big enough to accommodate wagons and carts, as well as foot traffic. Price varies by terrain type - but they are cheap in plains and really expensive in mountains, jungles or swamps. They can’t cross rivers without a bridge, which doubles the development costs for that hex. You can upgrade a road to a highway, if you pay the price difference. Every hex that is developed into an Urban Settlement automatically develops local roads.

• Highway - Highways are developed roads. Rather than dirt, Highways have a paved surface that is designed for wheeled transport. Carts, Wagons, Carriages and other vehichles just eat up the miles on Highways, and communication is faster. They cost twice as much as roads to build. They can’t cross rivers without a bridge, which doubles the development costs for that hex. You can upgrade a road to a highway, if you pay the price difference.

• Rivers – Rivers are good for barges and boats, which are just as good (if not better) for trade as wagons or carts. However, rivers are natural occurring resources, and you can’t change their course. Hexes with rivers are also good for fishing, so you can add a fishery which means there will be small boats available to ferry you across the river. Young rivers in mountains are considered to be streams, and don’t count as a good trade links because they flow too quickly. Fords also stop rivers being navigable by ship. Streams and rivers upstream from fords are much more like trails, than roads.

• Canal – Canals are much like man-made rivers, they are very expensive to build, but you can control the route. They can have locks and are particularly good at connecting different rivers or bypassing waterfalls.

• Aqueduct – An aqueduct transports water. It needs to start in a mountain or hill hex with either a river or a lake – and end up in a lowland settlement. Its primary benefit is that you can build businesses (Mill, Forge) that require a water frontage. It gives Loyalty +1, Stability +1, but that seems a very expensive way to get that benefit.

For the purposes of these rules, Henry leMaistre may build transport links on behalf of MidMarch. However, those benefits will accrue to Midmarch rather than the individual stronghold. If you wish to develop roads, highways or canals as part of your stronghold - speak to Henry first.