Merchants?!

[fritsje5]

I'm new to these forums and I dunno if this is the right spot to post it, so correct me if I'm wrong. But I keep hearing these things like: "my merchant earns 2000 florins florins per turn, and he has only 4 finance etc", My 10-finance merchant trading silk in Constantinople region doesn't even get close to 200 per turn :hmmm: not even when I add the income of all my merchants together it doesn't get further than 500 or so, so can someone plz shed some light on how to yield some profit of my merchants

and some basic info on the best conditions to operate them, like how do trade rights affect their income etc...

[Kennylz]

Some resources offer absurd profits. Just the resource type isn't neccisarily the most important thing. I also think some mods up the resource pay-off, but I have to ask, when you trade silks in Constantinople what faction are you playing as?

[fritsje5]

Venice and I have captured Constantinople

I think that they referr to total trade income of province. I think that one merchant can't generate more then 250 florins per turn or I'm totaly mistaking with usage of my merchants.

no they specifically told about their merchants

maybe it helps when trading slaves in timbuktu region

[clandestino]

"my merchant earns 2000 florins florins per turn, and he has only 4 finance etc"

I think that they referr to total trade income of province. I think that one merchant can't generate more then 250 florins per turn or I'm totaly mistaking with usage of my merchants.

[Groenepuntmuts]

I think that they referr to total trade income of province. I think that one merchant can't generate more then 250 florins per turn or I'm totaly mistaking with usage of my merchants.

actually, I'm the one who told fritsje here about my 2200 earning merchant. need me to make a screenshot?

[thatguy]

actually, I'm the one who told fritsje here about my 2200 earning merchant. need me to make a screenshot?

Heeeeeell yeah! i wanna see this awesomly wicked merchant. Then you have to tell us why he's so high.

[fritsje5]

actually, I'm the one who told fritsje here about my 2200 earning merchant. need me to make a screenshot?

yea go tell them what's real!!

[Groenepuntmuts]

yea go tell them what's real!!

Heeeeeell yeah! i wanna see this awesomly wicked merchant. Then you have to tell us why he's so high.

I would, no hard feelings, but I want to see it with my one eyes.

*cough* now if someone were willing to explain me how the hell I upload pictures here...the "insert image button" wants you to enter an URL...

edit: wow, it's actually more than 2000!
uploading the picture on Filefrog, let me try..it worked.
also notice how he has the Marco polo trait? must be a bug. my spy has got it as well.


I'm using patch 1.3 and this is the Clouds across europe mod.
I play stainless steel 6.1 these days though.

[clandestino]

So it means that one merchant can generate 2000 florins per turn and you can see it in his caracter's scroll? I would like to see picture of that if someone could upload it.

[Kennylz]

In BC I've had Merchants generate about 1460 or so at most. I don't remember my most in vanilla. I think how the game is modified has a lot to do with that...

For the most bang for your buck, once your merchants have gained some skill levels send them on financialy pilgrimages far onto the other end of the map. So if you were Spain, those silks might of been worth more, since as I recall the florins you get for trade incase the further away the resource is from your capital.

Also, those people could have been talking about trade resources in the Americas too, because they are very high.

[clandestino]

In BC I've had Merchants generate about 1460 or so at most.

You are referring to all your merchants I hope?

[Kennylz]

No. I've had single merchants generate over a grands worth of income by themselves. It is not that uncommon. But to be fair, I also had Baghdad generating 18 grand a turn in florins too. If you play a very merchant-like faction such as Abbasids in that mod you can get some serious money, yet if you play as the Kypchaks you can't even train merchants. Very diverse. (All this referring to BC.)

[clandestino]

Oh you are talking about BC? I haven't play it yet. What about vanilla? Tell me that your single merchant can generate 2000 fl per turn and I will go and heng myself for being an idiot.

[Kennylz]

Well, I'm pretty sure I've heard people say they've had Merchants get up to 800 or so by trading in the Americas. I haven't done a lot of Merchanting in Vanilla in a while so I forget. Still, the Sahara and the Americas have always been the top tier of trade.

[fritsje5]

Ill try to get the other factors from him that play a role in how much a merchant can earn per turn, are there also mods which could have effect on this?

[Kennylz]

I've been saying that ofcourse mods could have a huge effect on this. I know that for a fact, but also how far your capital is from the resource has a big effect. Also, there are certain hot-spots like Timbuktu that have great trading as well, that is why the Moors are one of the richest factions to play as.

[Sokar Rostau]

I have had high finance merchants earning ~1100 Florins per turn, but usually by then they are in their fifties and about to die.

I read somewhere that distance from your capital only goes so far before the profits start to taper off, so if you have Dublin as your capital you won't earn as much from Silk in Baghdad as you would from Silk in Constantinople. Also remember that the further away from the capital your merchant is, the more likely he is to become corrupt which lowers his income.

Trade Rights are crucial. Your income from a single merchant can potentially double from the same resource after you gain Trade Rights with the owner of the region you are trading in.

Not all of the same resources are worth the same amount to the same Merchant. Textiles in Milan and Venice regions are almost always different values, in my games, and they are virtually right next to each other. Likewise, the Wine in France and Germany have some price differences. I rarely trade in Wine (why trade Wine when you can trade Amber, Gold, Slaves, Silk or Sugar Cane?), but IIRC, the Wine in Bordeaux and Dijon is worth more than elsewhere.

Merchants can only gain 10 Coins, but their Traits and Retinues still seem to have an effect. I once had a 10 Coin Merchant get the Monopolist Trait and his income went up by ~50 Florins per turn... and some Turkish mongrel put him out of business three or four turns later. I have also had two 10 Coin Merchants get different incomes from the same resource.

Training Merchants is annoying, but once you manage to get a high Finance one, send him to Tibuktu (if he's not too old to die on the way), Constantinople, Baghdad or a few other lucrative places. Palermo can be a good source for Sugarcane and Amber without making the long journey to the Holy Land or Scandinavia.

This is all in Vanilla, BTW.

[MrMofo]

yeah it has a lot to do with distance from your capital, and what youre trading.

For instance, if you take a place in a crusade, set up a merchants guild and then sugar and silks and slaves are high revenue spots. In Europe, amber seems to be big. Nothing much in northern europe though, that ive noticed.

but yes i get over a 1000 all the time, with multiple merchants.


there's a workaround where you can build a fort, put one military unit in it, and then stuff 20 merchants on one spot. Big money.

[Tankfriend]

You don't even need the military unit because the fort is kept active if there are merchants inside.
The only reason for stationing military units in there is to protect the fort (and the merchants I guess) from getting captured by an enemy that just moves in.

Edit: Oh well, Sokar was slightly faster there...

[Sokar Rostau]

You don't need any military units to prevent a Fort from collapsing, all you need is one unit, which could be any Agent. I almost always keep a Spy in a Fort to act as a makeshift Watchtower in hostile territory.

If you're going to put a Fort on Resources, though, you should at least keep some military units in there to justify the cheat as "protecting the national interest".