The Shipping Office

A good shipowner sleeps soundly — his orders are in the Freight Ledger, and the sea knows the way.

TL;DR: The Shipping Office provides more route slots for your source island. Freight rules also let you control cargo on routes to your own islands.

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What the Shipping Office is #

The Shipping Office is a late-game building that steers your existing automatic trade routes. It lets you attach freight rules to routes. You can already see the Freight Ledger on the routes page without a Shipping Office building.

• Prerequisites: harbor level 10 and Trading Post level 5
• It manages what you already know — the automatic routes from the Trade tab
• Freight rules apply only to routes to your own islands

The Shipping Office does not invent new trade. It takes the routes you already run and makes them smarter.

More route slots #

Without a Shipping Office you run up to three automatic routes per island. The Shipping Office lifts that limit: every fourth level grants one more slot — from three up to eight at full expansion.

• Levels 1 to 3: 3 routes
• Levels 4 to 7: 4 routes
• Levels 8 to 11: 5 routes
• Levels 12 to 15: 6 routes
• Levels 16 to 19: 7 routes
• Level 20: 8 routes

The route overview shows how many slots you occupy (Routes: used / maximum).

Freight rules #

A freight rule tells a route when and how much to load. In this first stage there are two rules. You set them when creating or editing a route, under Freight rules (optional). Important: freight rules apply only to routes to your own islands. A route without a rule ships exactly as before.

Reserve minimum #

Reserve at source keeps a minimum stock of a resource at home. The route ships only the surplus above it.

An example: you want to hold back wood for an upcoming upgrade. Set a minimum kept of 2000 for that resource — now the route ships only what sits above 2000. With 3200 in store, 1200 sail; drop to 2000 or below and everything stays home.

Storage pressure #

The Only under storage pressure rule checks the source island's warehouse fill level at the scheduled departure. You set the fill level required to load outbound cargo. Reaching that level does not trigger an immediate trip.

An example: you want to ship stone only when your warehouse is nearly full. If the chosen fill level has not been reached at the scheduled departure, a direct route waits until its next scheduled departure. A circuit route set to pick up return freight at a station may still sail without outbound cargo.

You can attach both rules to the same route — for instance, ship only under storage pressure while still holding back a minimum.

Load everything #

Instead of fixed amounts you can choose "Load everything" for a route: on every trip the ships take along whatever sits above your reserve -- until their holds are full. If less than half a small shipload is ready, the trip stays at home so that no empty ships sail.

For each resource you tick what should travel and enter the reserve that stays at home next to it. "Load everything" applies only to routes to your own islands and needs no Shipping Office. Below the route you can read what the next trip would load right now -- or that it will not sail because too little is ready. If the hold is too small for everything, the preview below the route tells you what goes along.

You can edit existing routes instead of deleting them. "Copy" opens a prefilled form for another of your islands. Choose the ships there; the new route is only created when you submit the form.

Full hold. If the surplus does not fit on the ships when leaving home, "Load everything" loads each resource by its share of the surplus. This does not apply to return freight picked up at stations; its composition may differ when hold space is limited.

Reserve in percent. Instead of fixed reserves you can enter a percent: the route leaves that percent of your storage at home and only takes what lies above it — the reserve grows with your storage.

Circuit routes #

With the Shipping Office you can plan a circuit route: the fleet leaves its home island, calls at your chosen stations and returns home. You choose fixed amounts and a fixed ship count for this. Once stations are entered, they replace the previous route destination and its cargo amounts. To keep supplying the previous destination, enter it as a station yourself.

• When planning, you assign each station its cargo amount. Stock, reserves and hold space may limit the actual cargo; a station may then receive less than planned or nothing. Whatever its warehouse cannot hold stays aboard and returns home.
• Every unit of cargo has exactly one destination station; there is no cargo without a destination — but outbound freight is not mandatory.
• How many stations a circuit may visit depends on your Shipping Office level: up to level 4 a route sails straight to its destination, from level 5 you can enter one station — with another every fourth level after that, up to four from level 17.
• Like the freight rules, circuit routes work only between your own islands.
• A circuit needs its ships in the home harbor. If another route already sails with them in the same hour, the circuit waits until its next departure.

At each station the route can also pick up return freight. This uses the amounts and minimum stock you set at that station. The route’s freight rules control only outbound cargo from home. If the circuit is set to pick up return freight at a station, it may sail without outbound cargo — for example, when the home storage-pressure condition has not yet been met.

If a station is lost along the way — say, an island changes hands — the circuit does not break off. Its cargo stays safely aboard and returns home. A system message in your inbox explains why the station was skipped.

If a run comes home and your home warehouse is already full, it cannot take all of the return freight: whatever finds no room is lost. A message then tells you what no longer fit — so keep space free in your warehouse or expand it.

The Freight Ledger #

The Freight Ledger is your overview of every route on an island. It shows throughput and the storage trend at a glance — and for each route, whether a rule is attached, when the next delivery is due, and what state it is in.

• Which routes carry a freight rule
• When the next departure is scheduled
• Whether a route is active, waiting for condition, or paused

A route waiting on a rule is not paused. It checks the condition again only at its next scheduled departure. The Freight Ledger distinguishes waiting from a pause.

Auto-pause #

Your routes may pause automatically after prolonged inactivity. A message draws your attention to the paused route; you restart it yourself. The routes page shows its current status. You can also pause your routes there yourself when planning a break.