Merchant quality

[Humpleberry]

What influences merchant quality and ratings when they are build in a city?

Does size of the city, merchant buildings, merchant guild in city or nation?

I do not think they pop out with the same stats.

And then when they squat on a resource, some quickly gain abilities and traits, while others... do not.

What gives?

Also, in case anybody doesn't know - use an army unit, general or fort to occupy the same space as your merchant to make him untouchable.

[painter]

You can refer to the Character Trait Guide by Salisian.

[Miroslav Klose]

Also, in case anybody doesn't know - use an army unit, general or fort to occupy the same space as your merchant to make him untouchable.

Everyone knows.

[Lennert]

And merchant forts don't work if your game is patched.

[Silverheart]

Well, in my experience the merchants become better and better later in the game, and gain a lot more money depending on how late into the game you are. In the beginning, you´re lucky if a gold/silver/amber/ivory/wine trader can get more than 20 florins per turn, but 200 years later, almost anu merchant can get over 100 florins from selling wool/coal/timber.

Then, of course, the Merchants guild does improve your merchants by giving them mercantile training.
The first chapter house (minor city) only trains up merchants in that city, while the Master house (large city) and Headquarters (huge city) affect merchant quality all over your empire - the Headquarters has better effect than the Master house. These chapter houses also gives the merchants access to "special" equipment (trick abacus, for example)

As for increasing in skill, I think it depends on many factors - too many to describe all of them here.
When they develop a trait, you can look at the description of it to get a hint of how he got it.
Mostly, they develop new traits when they:
Take out other merchants
Are "attacked" by other merchants, but manage to "survive"
Get to stand in peace for many years at the same resource
Get to stand in peace for a few years at several different resources
And even then, there´s always a chance they won´t develop any new traits.

[shikaka]

There is actually a merchant guide by Landtuber:

Gaining Finance:

Trait: Bean Counter (+1)/Bold Barterer (+2)/Commercial Conqueror (+3)/Robber Baron (+4)
Each time you successfully acquire an enemy merchant you gain +1 finance, up to a maximum of +4.

Trait: Legal Nouse (+1)/Legal Expert (+2)
You have a chance to gain this trait by training a merchant in a city with the appropriate level of government building. You must have a Town Hall or better to have a 50% chance of gaining the Legal Nouse trait. If your merchant does gain this trait and the settlement has a City Hall or better you then have a 33% chance of gaining the Legal Expert trait, which gives you a total of +2 finance.

Trait: Secure Assets (+1)/Protected Assets (+2)
If your merchant survives an acquisition attempt by an enemy merchant, he has a 50% chance of gaining a level in this trait, providing up to a total of +2 finance.

Trait: Knowledge of Customs (+1)/Graceful Traveler (+2)
Whenever your merchant is farther than a distance of 40 from your capital and is trading a resource at the end of your turn, he has a 20% chance to gain a level in this trait, up to a maximum of +2 finance.

Trait: Merchants Guild Apprentice (+1)
When a merchant is created and your faction has a Masters level Merchants Guild or higher anywhere in your empire, he gains 1 point in finance.

Trait: Financial Training (+1)
If the city that creates a merchant contains any level of Merchants Guild, he gains +1 finance.

Losing Finance:

Trait: Loyal to Coin (-1)/Self Serving (-2)
Whenever your merchant is trading a resource at the end of your turn and is at least a distance of 60 or farther away from your capital, he has a 3% chance to lose a point of finance. Yes, it sucks I know since distance increases profit.

Trait: Quite Religious (-1)/Dogmatically Religious (-2)
When a merchant is created in a city that has a 4th level religious building or higher (Cathedral for the West) he has a 50% chance of losing 1 point in finance. If he does lose this 1 point, he has a further 33% chance of losing 1 more point. Making money and being religious apparently don’t go well together in this game…

Trait: Slightly Crooked (-1)/Shady Dealer (-2)
If you create your merchant in a settlement that does not have a City Hall or higher then he has a 50% chance losing 1 point in finance on creation. If he does lose this point, then he has a 33% chance of losing an additional point. Note that since all religious people in this era were completely honest, your merchant cannot be both crooked and religious. Good old historical accuracy.

Trait: Daft Dealer (-1)/Easy Target (-2)/Open Purse (-3)
Each time you fail to acquire an enemy merchant and survive the attempt, you have a 33% chance of losing a point in fina

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[eXistenZ]

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