Americas; Merchant income greatly dropped

[gunnigolfer]

I am playing the Americas campaign with Spain. I have 2 merchants. One of them had an income of 100 and the other one about 70.

After i quit and loaded a save game, they all of a sudden had an income of 12 and 7. Whats going on?

[Evolution]

They seem to have glitched/bugged. try making a new merchant and see if the problem persists.

[HansDuet]

Hmmm. Thats not happening to me.
Had the same problem in Grand Campaing though..

[Woad-Warrier]

Merchants suck in general. My 10 star merchant in my crusade campaign was only making around 100-200 (on gold)

[Ninefingers]

Vanilla M2 used to have a bug in it where, after reloading, a merchant would no longer recognize his distance from your capital - greatly reducing the income.

The solution was to relocate your capital, and then back again. I'd try that first.

[gunnigolfer]

Vanilla M2 used to have a bug in it where, after reloading, a merchant would no longer recognize his distance from your capital - greatly reducing the income.

The solution was to relocate your capital, and then back again. I'd try that first.

I actually remembered that bug, and relocated the capitol, but that didn't do anything

[blekaut]

Merchants suck in general. My 10 star merchant in my crusade campaign was only making around 100-200 (on gold)

That's just wrong. I have 4 and 5 star merchants giving me 700 and 800 income.

[Woad-Warrier]

That's just wrong. I have 4 and 5 star merchants giving me 700 and 800 income.

How many Merchants? I'm talking about 1, 10 star merchant.

[blekaut]

How many Merchants? I'm talking about 1, 10 star merchant.

Yeah and my 4 star merchant is getting 700 and my 5 star one 800. Well lately it has been dropping due to me recruting more merchants I guess. But still 100 seems a very low number.

[Ninefingers]

How much money a merchant makes depends on a lot of things. The merchant's skill level is one, but so is the rarity and fixed value of the trade item, its distance from your capital, the ownership of the region (you'll get more from friendly regions that you have trade rights with) etc.

If you have a 10-skill merchant making 100 gold a turn, you're not using them right. Find a more profitable spot for him. Every campaign has at least a few trade items you can stick a high-level merchant on for 1k+ a turn. I have an 8-skill merchant in my Britannia campaign (playing as Scotland) sitting on the gold in Wales making 2k a turn.

[Woad-Warrier]

Yeah and my 4 star merchant is getting 700 and my 5 star one 800. Well lately it has been dropping due to me recruting more merchants I guess. But still 100 seems a very low number.

What campaign you playing?

[blekaut]

Gold, Ivory, Tobacco, Chocolate and Silk are the most valuable I believe.

[gunnigolfer]

I've got a 4 star merchant on gold, earning 20 florins per turn. Thats just riddiculous

[blekaut]

I've got a 4 star merchant on gold, earning 20 florins per turn. Thats just riddiculous

where?

[shibbieNIS]

I remember this being an incredibly annoying bug in the original medieval II game. I had to download a patch to fix this. I'm quite surprised the CA haven't fixed the problem as it renders the purchasing of merchants useless.

[gunnigolfer]

where?

In the Americas campaign, just south of the starting city near the aztecs.

[blekaut]

In the Americas campaign, just south of the starting city near the aztecs.

Ah I never had much profit in gold there although 20f a turn is pretty low for a 4-star merchant. Must be a bug.

[Slaists]

could it be that you moved your capital from Havana to somewhere else? that's what I did (to boost general income and control city unrest). the closer the resources (the first instance of the particular resource) are to your capital, the less the merchants make off of them. however, in my case, the overall income went up even though merchant income went way down.

[gunnigolfer]

could it be that you moved your capital from Havana to somewhere else? that's what I did (to boost general income and control city unrest). the closer the resources (the first instance of the particular resource) are to your capital, the less the merchants make off of them. however, in my case, the overall income went up even though merchant income went way down.

Yes, i did move my capital from Havana. Does that matter? Do merchants make less money if there closer to the capital?

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Yes. The farther a merchant is away from his capital the more money he is making. If you move you two merchants you start with to the sugar near Havana, you will see that they will make a decent amount of money.