Most Valuable Merchant Trade Resources

**RDBurn** · October 23, 2016, 11:24 PM

The most valuable trade resources for merchants I've found are the gold and ivory far down in Africa, plus many of the resources in the New World. Does anyone know any other good spots? I always send a boat with a few merchants down to Africa, but sometimes it's a long journey. I heard there was good spice somewhere in the middle east. Any other hot spots I don't know of?

**UndrState** · October 24, 2016, 10:55 AM

Gold and Slaves near Stockholm .

**Silverheart** · October 24, 2016, 09:24 PM

Isn't it silver in Stockholm, though?

Besides the ones mentioned, you can usually get a lot of money from the marble mines in northern Italy, and the wine spots in France - though they are so easily accessible, competition is usually fierce. Also, the sugar, spice and cotton around Antioch, as well as most of the resources along the nile, are very lucrative spots. In Britain, the tin mines in the south are pretty good, and the resources (cloth, I think?) around Baghdad are also more valuable than than many other resources.
There's also a single gold mine up in the mountains to the northeast of Greece - I believe it is in the Ragusa region. I don't know for sure, but it always seems to be worth more than any other gold mines, at least early on. There's usually high competition for it, though, so you need a high-level merchant if you ever want to control for any longer period of time.

**UndrState** · October 26, 2016, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by Silverheart

Isn't it silver in Stockholm, though?

Besides the ones mentioned, you can usually get a lot of money from the marble mines in northern Italy, and the wine spots in France - though they are so easily accessible, competition is usually fierce. Also, the sugar, spice and cotton around Antioch, as well as most of the resources along the nile, are very lucrative spots. In Britain, the tin mines in the south are pretty good, and the resources (cloth, I think?) around Baghdad are also more valuable than than many other resources.
There's also a single gold mine up in the mountains to the northeast of Greece - I believe it is in the Ragusa region. I don't know for sure, but it always seems to be worth more than any other gold mines, at least early on. There's usually high competition for it, though, so you need a high-level merchant if you ever want to control for any longer period of time.

You are right, it is Silver , but I guess I was thinking the Amber there :

http://totalwar.honga.net/regions.ph...kholm_Province

It's Zagreb that has the Gold you are thinking of ( isn't Honga.net

in' fantastic ? ) :

http://totalwar.honga.net/regions.ph...agreb_Province

Let me add Merchant sniping ( a.k.a. Merchant Takeovers ) in Northern Italy is an excellent way of making cash if you are based near there . Lots of merchants walking through , and it almost doesn't matter if you lose , as (if you are producing all your merchants from one place) you'll get Merchants Guild offers quickly and become more advantaged as time goes by .

**Silverheart** · October 26, 2016, 06:45 PM

Oh, yeah, Zagreb´s gold mines are amazingly valuable too.
But there is another, solitary one, further south and up in the middle of the mountains, that I was talking about.
Like I said, I think it's in the Ragusa region, or at least it is up in the mountains adjacent to that region...

**Spear Dog** · October 27, 2016, 04:11 AM

The silk around Constantinople (x4) increases in value depending on merchants rating and are about the most valuable trade spots I've come across - $1300+/ fully ranked up merchant, more than twice the Ragusa gold.

**UndrState** · October 27, 2016, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by Silverheart

Oh, yeah, Zagreb´s gold mines are amazingly valuable too.
But there is another, solitary one, further south and up in the middle of the mountains, that I was talking about.
Like I said, I think it's in the Ragusa region, or at least it is up in the mountains adjacent to that region...

Ragusa's got nothing bruh :

http://totalwar.honga.net/regions.ph...agusa_Province

That's why I checked on Zagreb, check the maps on Honga, I think the one you are thinking of is also a part of Zagreb region .

**lolIsuck** · October 27, 2016, 09:14 AM

It's in the south of the Zagreb region indeed, just east of Ragusa though so the confusion is understandable.

**Silverheart** · October 27, 2016, 07:49 PM

Oh, yeah, you're right, it was in Zagreb.
I was also thinking about the mines in the Vienna region - they're also very valuable.

**Steward Denethor II** · October 27, 2016, 10:31 PM

All the Gold and Chocolate in the New World is really valuable.

**Roman Heritage** · October 30, 2016, 10:54 AM

It actually depends on the faction. Obviously, there's some evergreen - gold, slaves, tobacco and chocolate are valuable to anyone.
For example, those "common" resources you might find in your own homeland won't be as valuable as it would be for another faction - e.g. French regions are filled with "wine" resources, if I'm not mistaken, so a French merchant won't be able to gain a lot from these. But if you send him to Antioch, to trade sugar and spices, you'll earn a lot more.

Apart from those resources I've already mentioned, I'm inclined to believe Northern European factions gain a lot from silk, spices, sugar, etc - speaking of silk, available not only in the Middle East, but also in Northern Italy and Thrace; Byzantines and other Southern European factions gain quite a lot from gold, furs, amber and honey. Can't speak for Eastern Europeans and Moslems, tough.

**Steward Denethor II** · October 31, 2016, 06:09 PM

I think it's based off how far the closest resource type is from the capital. For example you won't get more money from a far away silk resource than one right next to your capital, but if every silk resource is far from the capital, the silk becomes very valuable.

**frodo010595** · November 08, 2016, 03:41 AM

Thank you for the information, it's a bit tricky to find the "best" trade resources.

**GrumpyPirate** · November 08, 2016, 11:53 AM

If you have monopoly in certain resource it adds further to the worth of it as well i believe. The bets areas for trade are the new world and around Mali in afrika i believe, only regions i found that AI merchants dont harrass and kill of your merchants frequently unless its deep deep in friendly territory.

**UndrState** · November 10, 2016, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by GrumpyPirate

If you have monopoly in certain resource it adds further to the worth of it as well i believe. The bets areas for trade are the new world and around Mali in afrika i believe, only regions i found that AI merchants dont harrass and kill of your merchants frequently unless its deep deep in friendly territory.

You are correct, see below quoted from Salisian's Guide to Traits :

"Capitalist (Monopolist 1)- +1 Finance, gained after 5 points of Monopolist
Market Controller (Monopolist 2)- +2 Finance, upgrade after 10 points of
Monopolist
Monopolist (Monopolist 3)- +3 Finance, -1 Personal Security, upgrade after 20
points of Monopolist

At the end of any turn, a merchant gains one point in Monopolist if he has a
trading monopoly. A trading monopoly seems to be defined (thorough
experimentation seems to agree) as- your merchant is trading a resource in a
region that has two or more instances of that resource, and the other
instance(s) of that resource are not being traded by any other faction's
merchants (though yours can). You can test this by hovering over the
resource with a merchant selected, and a trade monopoly will yield about
twice as many florins as trading the resource regularly."

So, just to be clear, there is a bonus for monopolies, *and* a chance to get a positive trait that boosts income .