Solving trade routes need convoys in Victoria 3

Trade routes in Victoria 3 need convoys in case there is no possible way “on the ground”. Today I will show you how to solve this annoying problem without be in death spiral. There are three big solutions and every have more possibilities to increase convoys. Is good to combine all solutions to be successful. I believe the following solutions will help you

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1 Change trade routes

2 Build new ports or change production methods

3 Diplomatic solutions

4 Why trade routes needed convoys is happening?

Change trade routes

First solution which you should do instantly is change your trade route. You could cancel trade routes which aren’t profitable for you and this will release som convoys for your.

Or you could get more convoy is to change route to deal with countries that are on the same continent as you. So there will be same routes with same amount of goods but you could “save” convoys.

*Column with convoy shows you how much convoy you need*

Build new ports or change production methods

If you cannot change your current routes because you need imported goods you could build more ports and depending on production methods ports you will get more convoys. But there is also maximum “cap” of ports which you should build in specific states…

*Building another ports in your country*

… so if you reach limit of ports in specific states then you must change your production methods. Best is use “cargo ports” but this is good only in early phases. In later game phases you will need more advanced goods to get more convoys.

*Change production method in your ports.*

Diplomatic solutions

There are also two diplomatic solutions. To get more convoys you could invite another country to your custom union. If they accept then you could use 50% of their convoys as I get bellow.

*Custom union contribution 50% of convoys*

What is custom union? Custom union is great way how to expand your markets and get more goods. Powerful country must extends their markets and weaker countries can gain access to more resources when join to existing unions – read more about custom unions.

Alternatively you could go to war to get puppet because puppets contribution 75% of their convoys to your convoys. But if you go to war and you cannot go to another county “by ground” and you doesn’t have convoys then you probably won’t be able to perform a naval invasion and the war will stall and end in a draw.

Why trade routes needed convoys is happening?

Now when we have solved problems with not enough convoys is good to know why this problem happen to you. What is most likely to be the source of the problem is that one of your trading routes has upgraded to a higher level and need more convoys. Or you make some changes and you have less convoys by default and some routes doesn’t have convoys.