Merchant Bonuses- N?

[Jingo Eugene]

I was playing a Byzantine Campaign earlier today and a Holy Roman merchant came and occupied one of my resources. While checking out his abilities, here is what I noticed. Check the thumbnail.

The Holy Roman merchant was three gold, and generating 102 GOLD from a silk resources.

My five gold merchant was generating a measely 31 gold for the silk right next to it.

So the AI seems to get merchant bonuses on N/N?

[Vladislav]

Im not completely sure but merchants generate more gold the farther away they are from their capital city or the city they were recruited.....whichever is more distant. So maybe the value in distance outweighs the skill of your other merchant.

[eXistenZ]

Yes the distance counts and also, for some factions other resources make more money. For example, sugar is a nice money maker for western factions, but egypt has two sugars near to them, they wont get as much money out of it

(i think, im not completly certain)

[tudor93]

I was playing a Byzantine Campaign earlier today and a Holy Roman merchant came and occupied one of my resources. While checking out his abilities, here is what I noticed. Check the thumbnail.

The Holy Roman merchant was three gold, and generating 102 GOLD from a silk resources.

My five gold merchant was generating a measely 31 gold for the silk right next to it.

So the AI seems to get merchant bonuses on N/N?

well ... you have 2 silk resources near your capital Constantinopole ...so the Byzantine Empire doesn't really need silk that much like the other nations like HRE who don't have silk in their own teritories
you should check some guides about merchants, there are many of them here (for example http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ight=merchants this is a general guide but you can find a few paragraphs about merchants; also see here about merchants a few things http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ight=merchants ); it may be boring for you to read so much, but if you really want to know about them you should read those guides, those guys really put some effort in them

[dannyalex]

this is normal,the father sent your merchants from your capital, the more money you get,for your example with Byzantine Empire,try do this and see the diference,make 2 merchants and sent the one to Bagdad silk and sent the other to Constantinople region silk

[Jianadaren]

In Constinople there are two silk resources. One of them is worth half the amount of the other. Also, you earn less from a resource if it in a territory that is not your own/ not of a faction with which you have trade rights. Finally, the capital makes a difference.