Too Many Merchants Crowding Resources

[neha123]

How is the AI producing so many merchants..... please cheak ... Sicily has more than 5 merchants in less than 15 turns... i checked in toggle_fow how many merchants are there

[newt]

There's a script that spawns them on turn 5 and 10. It confused me at first too.

[neha123]

That is unfair to the player.... Gracul please keep in mind if you... And gracul please release a patch soon ... please... for the common good

[newt]

This whole mod is designed to help the AI because the AI is retarded and needs all the help it can get.

[Therion]

Was something done to prevent player merchants from gaining skills? Coz my merchants' acumen never improves.

[newt]

Was something done to prevent player merchants from gaining skills? Coz my merchants' acumen never improves.

Yes, if they are too close to capital and don't move for a number of turns they lose points. Also if the region they are in has a high % of your own religion and they stay stationary for a while they will lose points.

[Slyspy]

Yes, if they are too close to capital and don't move for a number of turns they lose points. Also if the region they are in has a high % of your own religion and they stay stationary for a while they will lose points.

If this is true then it makes merchants less fire and forget than before. In fact I might just forget them and not bother.

[Delvecchio1975]

wow that's harsh! this will require a lot more micro-management!

[neha123]

Well please read my before Thread called Bloodlines need Tweaking and give your views to Gracul....

[worldsdead]

noticed in 6.3 you don't need to worry about merchs. it's pain in the ass and you'll have plenty of money any ways, i do.

[Alpha Zeke]

What if you want a merchants guild?

[newt]

What if you want a merchants guild?

Train them anyways for the guild points and leave them in your cities, or treat them like before, but realizing they wont make much money unless you micro them. You don't pay upkeep for them.

You also get points for building the market line and merchants wharf line of buildings. Trade agreements give points and you get a small amount of points every turn based on how much money you have.

[Fakir]

You need to try a bit harder! I have 2 Merchant's Guilds and 1 Master Merchant's Guild. Novgorod is producing 4-6 finance Merchants from the get go (usually one from the school, one from library, 1-2 from guild).

I think it's good that the A.I. has money. Now when I go into diplomacy, they actually have money, and they are able to pay ransoms for their family members.

There's an English merchant outside Constantinople making like 1,500 a turn on silk!

[chris7ian]

You need to try a bit harder! I have 2 Merchant's Guilds and 1 Master Merchant's Guild. Novgorod is producing 4-6 finance Merchants from the get go (usually one from the school, one from library, 1-2 from guild).

I think it's good that the A.I. has money. Now when I go into diplomacy, they actually have money, and they are able to pay ransoms for their family members.

There's an English merchant outside Constantinople making like 1,500 a turn on silk!

You can give the AI money without bogging down the campaign map. I don't like having to micro manage the merchants every other turn to keep them on top of their game. I'm the King not the merchant's boss! Once the are a 6 level I leave them wherever til whenever they get acquired. My turn time of checking Generals, armies, agents, settlements lasts over a half an hour. I play 4 turns per year. Im 22 turns in and been playing for 16 hours. I got 1800 + more turns till game ends.

[Marcvs Antonivs]

I had an argument with my cousin about this mod. I said to him that this mod is designed to help the AI since it's dumb by nature. But he doesn't agree and boldly states that things like recruitment and bonuses for the AI should be left out, and putting ourselves humans onto AI level is not acceptable as well. He said that he doesn't agree that units have to wait for events to fire so they can be recrutable, and when they are, there are very little avaiable. I understand his point of view, but since we can't upgrade much of AI intelligence, I don't really know what to think.

[newt]

I had an argument with my cousin about this mod. I said to him that this mod is designed to help the AI since it's dumb by nature. But he doesn't agree and boldly states that things like recruitment and bonuses for the AI should be left out, and putting ourselves humans onto AI level is not acceptable as well. He said that he doesn't agree that units have to wait for events to fire so they can be recrutable, and when they are, there are very little avaiable. I understand his point of view, but since we can't upgrade much of AI intelligence, I don't really know what to think.

Even the Kingdoms expansions gave the AI money when they were in debt. CA can't fix the ai either.

[napoleonic]

I love merchants, I don't mind micro manage and baby sitting them, many times I could get more than 10K/turn from them alone, in older SS I once got close to 30K! that could beat the income of northren Italy cities

people tend to underestimate merchants

[feanor910]

I love merchants, I don't mind micro manage and baby sitting them, many times I could get more than 10K/turn from them alone, in older SS I once got close to 30K! that could beat the income of northren Italy cities

people tend to underestimate merchants

This.
When I first downloaded 6.3 I saw a lot of comments about how merchants had been nerfed etc. I really haven't seen this. Right now on my Venice campaign making around 8-10k a turn through merchants. A few tips:

Going to a region with a different religion is easy, and should be a byproduct of sending your merchants far a way to make more cash anyways. Each religion holds resource sectors, for instance N Italy, Sicily, etc =catholic, the balkans west anatolia = orthodox, and obviously the very rich north Africa, the levant and Egypt regions are Muslim. Just pick a few of those and go a merchanting.

The AI will now spam merchants and a lot of the best spots will be taken at the beginning of the game. Don't worry, be patient. All this means is that you will have to set up on a few second class spots to train up so you can acquire the accumen neccasary to knock off some of the AI's merchants and set up on the good spots. Means you can't just spam merchants to all the best spots from go but also doesn't require too much microing.

Your merchants seem to get a whole lot more from universities and town hall buildings now. Build a university in your merchant center ASAP. Also whatever city you are using for merchants put your faction leader there. They will come out of the gate with an extra point of accumen for being closely watched. I don't even have a merchant guild HQ in Venice yet but with faction leader plus buildings Ive been cranking out 5-7 accumen merchants lately.

Since you have a limited pool of merchants, if you get a dud send him to teach that 8 accumen byzie merchant what's what. Either you get a boost in gold and a decent merchant(due to a boost in accumen) or you free up a slot for a good merchant.

As I said before merchants gain traits quickly now, bit you won't get good merchants if they are just standing around. It's prefarable to have a merchant trading fish for jack nothing(and gaining accumen for the upcoming hostile takeover) then roaming endlessly for an open gold spot.

In short yes merchants seem a little harder to use but in all honesty with a slight amount of microing they really are more powerful because the gain traits so quickly. Just my observations.

[YourOnlineHero]

I didn't read much of this... But get the merchants guild then use the merchants yoy train from that settlement to take over the local resources, and eventualy the world.

[chris7ian]

I'm not saying they are worthless. I'm saying having to move them constantly sucks, I would rather leave them were the earn the most and move them when a threat appears. I dislike their diminishing skills when idle.