couple of questions:

[bravesirrobin]

1. how to trade overseas. With a diplomat I opened up trade treaties with almost every european nation. The little blue pathway through the seas only apears going towards norway region (im english). I know in MTW origanal you had to have military ships in every adjactant sea zone leading to docks. How does it work in MTW2?

2.How come I can only change tax rates in only certain settlements?

3.Is the only thing a merchant can do is try to steal from another countrys merchant?

[mikil100]

1: You need to build ports and stuff, they will only export the number of tradeable good you have I belive, and tier one port can only trade with one other port tier two with 2 ports.. exc... I think, Kinda sketchy here.

2: Castles tax rates cannot be changes, cities can.

3. If you put a merchant of a mineral or resource, he will collecct you money, this can add up to a decent amount.

Hope it helps

[HighLord z0b]

1. You've done the right thing by starting with getting trade rights, now you will need to build better ports and merchant wharfs, which will give you more trade routes.

2. Castles cannot change the tax rate, and cities need a governor in them to change the tax rate or build things (you can change that to allow building and tax control without a governor in options).

3. Merchants can generate trade by sitting on one of the many resources that are scattered over the map. Some resources (gold, iron, silk, spices, ivory, wine, slaves etc.) are worth a lot more than others (wool, wood, etc.) and the further away from capitol the more money generated. Resources that are well known to generate high amounts of money are; textiles in Northern Italy, silk in Constantinople, spices in Antioch, gold and ivory in Timbuktoo (it's a province on the bottom left of the map, hard to get to but well worth it).

[bravesirrobin]

What is a merchant wharf? is that a trade ship? Do I have to upgrade ports in order to produce this?

[Random Emperor]

What is a merchant wharf? is that a trade ship? Do I have to upgrade ports in order to produce this?

increase sea trade by increaing sea trades
And i think you need a port

[HighLord z0b]

What is a merchant wharf? is that a trade ship? Do I have to upgrade ports in order to produce this?

It's not a ship, it's a building you can produce after building a port. Check the tech tree for more info.

[Tsarevna]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I beleive if you put a city to a "financial" build policy, you can gain more tax income from the city similar to having a governor there with a normal to high tax rate? :hmmm:

You'll need a navy to protect your ports from being blockaded by rebel pirates and your enemies. Every once in a while, cruise by the ports of your allies and neutral trading partners and see if they are blockaded by pirates. If London is blockaded, there's going to be no trade with London!

Sometimes you can get a clue as to blockades with your trading partners.

Open up the cities scroll, and look at the trade area. If some of the "carts" are blinking, that means you are going to lose trade income next turn. This is usually due to:

1. Rebels on your roads blocking trade, or an enemy army. (Even if they are in ambush and invisible to you, send a spy to look at your roads.)
2. Blockades on your port or your trading partner's port.
3. Cancellation of trade rights (this, of course, happens with declarations of war.)
4. Your governor just got a bad trait or retinue, decreasing trade income.

Now, when trade is going to increase next turn, there's a greyed-out cart, that doesn't blink. That's what you want to see.