Merchants

[Leutrim]

Whats the most income you've had from one merchant, what was his level and what faction where you, etc..

Mine is basically 1078 florins from a 7 star fianance turk merchant in allepo region. Keep in mind Im playing 'Lands to Conquer' mod. My Timurid allies own it and it's the only thing keeping me out of debt atm.

Lets hear yours!

[locc2]

Around 2000+ some 100, not exactly sure. That was in Broken Crescent, as Rajputs in Africa trading ivory.

[Mithrane]

1875 or such from a merchant with full stats, well beyond the limited coin-picture of finance, while Byzantium, trading gold in Timbuktu.

[The Noble Lord]

Whats the most income you've had from one merchant, what was his level and what faction where you, etc..

Mine is basically 1078 florins from a 7 star fianance turk merchant in allepo region. Keep in mind Im playing 'Lands to Conquer' mod. My Timurid allies own it and it's the only thing keeping me out of debt atm.

Lets hear yours!

Hi,


The best merchants I ever had were in SS 5.1 and BC.
They were really money-making machines.
In SS 5.1 I was playing as England and I had two merchants in Timboktue region. They were set on the goldmines there, the one the left was really awesome. He came to the point where he was making between 2-3.000 florins a turn. I cant remember exactly how much it was, but somewhere around that figure.
In the Broken Crescent I was playing for Turkish Sultanate, and I had one merchant all the way in Northern India. Just under the Himalayas. There is a gold mine there and your merchant can work for years and years uninterupted. His income came to be something like 2.100 florins per turn.
These two were one of my most succesful merchants of all time.
I tried to do it again and again with other factions and merchants but something always comes and interupts me. Man I hate those merchant takeovers. Just when I start making serious money, I loose a merchant.
That stuff bothers me so much
Thats why I always take assassins with my merchants, doesnt matter where they go and how far it is.


CHEERS

[Leutrim]

Hi,


The best merchants I ever had were in SS 5.1 and BC.
They were really money-making machines.
In SS 5.1 I was playing as England and I had two merchants in Timboktue region. They were set on the goldmines there, the one the left was really awesome. He came to the point where he was making between 2-3.000 florins a turn. I cant remember exactly how much it was, but somewhere around that figure.
In the Broken Crescent I was playing for Turkish Sultanate, and I had one merchant all the way in Northern India. Just under the Himalayas. There is a gold mine there and your merchant can work for years and years uninterupted. His income came to be something like 2.100 florins per turn.
These two were one of my most succesful merchants of all time.
I tried to do it again and again with other factions and merchants but something always comes and interupts me. Man I hate those merchant takeovers. Just when I start making serious money, I loose a merchant.
That stuff bothers me so much
Thats why I always take assassins with my merchants, doesnt matter where they go and how far it is.


CHEERS

I hate it when you travel a long way and you only get it for a few turns and the merchant dies of old age

[Wheelchair]

Most I've had (with stainless steel 3.2) is 21000

[locc2]

21000? That is crazy!

[The Noble Lord]

I hate it when you travel a long way and you only get it for a few turns and the merchant dies of old age

Hi,


Hey you will be suprised how fast merchants travel in the BC. Their green
field of movement is greatly extended and they travel form point A to point B very fast. In SS 6.1 merchants travel very fast because of the same thing.
And send them to desired destinations as soon as you make them. While they are still young guys. And you will see, once they start working and without any interuptions, thay become money-making machines.
Its worth a try.


CHEERS

[KoS]

I believe my most successful merchant was in one of my campaigns as Byzantium (haven't played any mods yet, btw). When I was seriously in debt I sent out four merchants from Constantinople to the two silk reserves west of Baghdad and the two ivory deposits near Timbuktu. One of them trading ivory, named Michael Exotrochos, had only one finance and was twenty three years old when I recruited him. By the time he died at the age of sixty one, he had a full ten finance and was making 1576 florins a turn. And though the Turks eventually called a successful ji-had on Baghdad and either bought out or assassinated my merchants there, luckily for me, the Moors never bothered to trek south to Timbuktu, and my two merchants there traded uninterrupted for their entire natural lives.

But 1576 sounds very insignificant compared to that 21000.

[Leutrim]

Heh, big money. Thanks for replying peoples

[REDrake]

Taking merchants (lots of them) when sailing to New World is a very good idea. Those resources bring a nice income and you don't have to worry about foreigners taking you over. Other than that, Timbuktu with it's gold resources and Caffa for slaves are nice places. And of course, for vanilla games you can always use the trick with fortified merchants to get more in one place.

[Wheelchair]

21000

Yeah it is, I had 3 forts stacked up with 20 merchants in each, on slaves and ivory. haha ^^

Somewhat of an exploit, it has been discussed on here many times.

[Leutrim]

21000

Yeah it is, I had 3 forts stacked up with 20 merchants in each, on slaves and ivory. haha ^^

Somewhat of an exploit, it has been discussed on here many times.

I dont want to be a pain in the *** but what are merchant forts?

[Gornard]

exploit where by you build a fort over a trade resource. You can the fill it with merchants like you would a settlement and they will all recieve the same amount of florins. Additionally the AI will never try and buy them out (i don't know if they can)

[The Noble Lord]

exploit where by you build a fort over a trade resource. You can the fill it with merchants like you would a settlement and they will all recieve the same amount of florins. Additionally the AI will never try and buy them out (i don't know if they can)

Hi,


Does that really work?? I have never done it before.



CHEERS

[REDrake]

It does. Just use a general to build a fort next to a resource (upper right from the resource) and then you can put merchants in there (and remove the general). The fort is never disbanded if you have merchants inside. What is more important you can use several merchants in there all of them trading the same resource and gaining traits with no fear of foreign acquisitions.

[Guderian's Duck]

Unfortunately, I've never really had successful merchants. Anytime I send merchants out, the AI seems to hunt them down and buy them out. I haven't been able to figure out what I am doing incorrectly thus far.

[REDrake]

If you don't want to use the fort trick, you can always do what the AI does. First, don't send your merchants on trading resources. They have low experience and they are going to get acquired my some other merchant fast. Send them to hunt down other merchants. Once they have enough traits you can safely send them to trade resources.

[Shaun]

Unfortunately, I've never really had successful merchants. Anytime I send merchants out, the AI seems to hunt them down and buy them out. I haven't been able to figure out what I am doing incorrectly thus far.

They don't have high enough acumen (I think that's what its called - basically it's their skill level at their task, like generals have command) and you are sending them into hotspots. Send them into relatively deserted areas so they will be left alone to build up acumen - think Timbuktu because the AI never sends merchants there and the goods have a huge value due to the distance. Once they reach a high skill level - around 7 is good enough for buying out noob merchants - take them back to a hotspot and buy out an opponent's merchant every turn. You get a lot more money from buying out opponent's merchants than simply leaving your merchants alone to trade in peace, even if they are trading gold in the Americas!

[The Noble Lord]

It does. Just use a general to build a fort next to a resource (upper right from the resource) and then you can put merchants in there (and remove the general). The fort is never disbanded if you have merchants inside. What is more important you can use several merchants in there all of them trading the same resource and gaining traits with no fear of foreign acquisitions.

I just did the fort trick and its working.
Its a good thing for me beacuse sometimes I have a feeling that those Byzantine or HRE merchants are following me across the whole map. Whenever my merchants get established and start making serious money, these guys show up and take me out of bussines.
Now, I will just realax in my fort and let them go and bother somebody else.
While I am making money and .
Thanks.


CHEERS