Dodgy craftsmen production?

[Egg Bub]

I recently noticed in my single player GC that Chile and the Caribbean are exporting increasingly large quantities of tea. I am fairly sure you can't/didn't grow tea in these regions, so this might be craftsmen production gone wrong. I have complained about this addition to the game before, but it seems it becomes more of a problem the further I get through the game. With the new "businessman emergence" there is practically no demand for anything other than opium, silk and oddly rice.

This actually removes a large part of new colonialism's rationale - the pursuit of new markets. Why bother conquering new regions if the economic benefits are undercut by the cottage steel industry etc. Surely the solution to the instability problem would be to remove intrinsic demand for industrial goods in countries which don't have access to international trade. For example, native peoples would not be interested in buying advanced machinery (or whatever Mfg. is) if they had no idea of its existence or availability.

Lastly, I have sunk dozens of hours into my current PON game so a fix of some sort which DOES have an effect on ongoing games would be much appreciated.

[Jim-NC]

AI countries also get new businessmen emergence. They get different products, and it is possible that they have been getting tea. If so, they probably don't have a use for it, and thus are trying to sell all they have. I see this with Petroleum in my game. Everyone is selling it, and the quantities increase over time, as they keep getting the same good from their merchants, and no one else is buying it.

[Egg Bub]

What you say makes sense, but it gives me the impression that the AI too is swimming in money. I know it adds stability, but in a virtual world where everyone has too much money, warfare can become really attritional: most AI nations have loads of replacements and thus you have to practically wipe them out to make gains. I don't think 19th century warfare was like this.

[Kensai]

Egg Bub, trust me, it is much better that the AI has some things it doesn't need from the exact opposite, meaning not getting what it needs and spiraling out of control in high militancy, low contentment, and eventually strikes and riots. It is very hard to nail the correct formula, but at least now the smaller nations have a chance to develop and prosper, eventually asking for more and more that the craftsmen won't be able to satisfy. Thus, it will get better.