Your Merchants in your own territory.

[Grim Fiddler]

I shall probably hateth myself for asking a dumb question, but: Am I wasting their efforts using Merchants in my own territory? Am I wasting only what they are earning less what I would get anyway?

[Savoyard]

The farther from your capital means more money.

[SturmChurro]

I shall probably hateth myself for asking a dumb question, but: Am I wasting their efforts using Merchants in my own territory? Am I wasting only what they are earning less what I would get anyway?

If I end up playing late in the game I will send them to the middle east.

Not all the time some resources are generally rich. Although, you can never really rely on your merchants they always end up disappearing because of foreign merchants .

[Macunaíma]

If I end up playing late in the game I will send them to the middle east.

Not all the time some resources are generally rich. Although, you can never really rely on your merchants they always end up disappearing because of foreign merchants .

Never had that kind of problem. I just use merchants when they're really worth it, like in Timbuktu and Arguin.

[SturmChurro]

Never had that kind of problem. I just use merchants when they're really worth it, like in Timbuktu and Arguin.

I have the problem ALL the time. My merchants will be on the resource and out of nowhere some foreign merchant comes up to mine and my merchant almost always disappears and I have to recruit another..

[Mausolos of Caria]

I have the problem ALL the time. My merchants will be on the resource and out of nowhere some foreign merchant comes up to mine and my merchant almost always disappears and I have to recruit another..

Always accept merchant guilds!

[SturmChurro]

Always accept merchant guilds!

I do! Doesn't really make a difference even my merchants with lots of experience eventually fall to a foreign merchant!

[Ferdiad]

I shall probably hateth myself for asking a dumb question, but: Am I wasting their efforts using Merchants in my own territory? Am I wasting only what they are earning less what I would get anyway?

Unless you have a huge Empire than It's better to avoid using them in your own regions, at some point it will become unavoidable though.

[Surgeon]

The further away an instance of a certain resource is from your capital, the more money your merchant can make off of it. This means that if there's e.g. silver right next to your capital, you'll make the same money off of another silver resource even if it's on the other end of the map. Therefore it's not so much being in your own territory as it is distance to your capital. However, the state of the region and which faction it belongs to does affect your gains. If you're at war with the owner you'll make less money than if they're neutral, which makes less money than if you've got trade rights, which IIRC makes less money than if you own the region.

[Grim Fiddler]

So all other factors being equal Distance is the key.

It's worth my best Merchant leaving the gold mine by my capital and going to a gold mine in a distant province. But I'll get more money from the local gold if he is there, too, plus he'll protect it from foreign exploitation (hopefully).

[NobleNick]

So all other factors being equal Distance is the key.

It's worth my best Merchant leaving the gold mine by my capital and going to a gold mine in a distant province...

Not quite. I believe that the determining factor for commodity price multiplier is the distance from your capital to the CLOSEST instance of that commodity. So, if you are England, and have wool or such, right next to London, you gain nothing by sending a merchant to trade it in a far away land.

[windsupernova]

I usually keep them near my territories early game when they suck. No point in wasting 10 turns to send them to Constantinople or Timbuktu when they can be acquired quite easily

When I get the Masters merchant guild I do try to send them far away to profitable targets.

[Silent Assassin]

Timbutku is a great place to send merchants, Ivory, Gold, Silk Chocolate and Tobacco are the most money making resources on the map.

[Macunaíma]

Timbutku is a great place to send merchants, Ivory, Gold, Silk Chocolate and Tobacco are the most money making resources on the map.

There's just Ivory, Gold and Slaves in Timbuktu. Silk you find in the Middle East, and Chocolate and Tobacco on the New World.

But it is indeed a great place for merchants, it is so remote that the chance of someone bothering you is much smaller.

[Silent Assassin]

There's just Ivory, Gold and Slaves in Timbuktu. Silk you find in the Middle East, and Chocolate and Tobacco on the New World.

But it is indeed a great place for merchants, it is so remote that the chance of someone bothering you is much smaller.

I know that only Ivory and Gold is in Timbutku I was just adding the other good Resources lol sorry if I wasn't clear

[Teutonic Warlord]

I know that only Ivory and Gold is in Timbutku I was just adding the other good Resources lol sorry if I wasn't clear

I find sugar and spices to be good, too. As the ERE, I find it quite worth it to send merchants to Antioch (and maybe Egypt) early on. That money is really helpful for funding all those rebel castles I take.

[SonofaBooyah]

I don't bother with Merchants until I'm able to regularly send them to either the Middle East or Timbuktu. In western Europe, no resources seem to earn you much money, no matter the distance from the capital.

[Xellos_Moon]

I high level market and a merchant guild will give you atleast a 7 skill merchant a pop easy.

[SonofaBooyah]

The glass next to Damascus is extremely rich for a western state, worth more than the silks, and even the gold mine next to the red sea.

[Ferdiad]

The glass next to Damascus is extremely rich for a western state, worth more than the silks, and even the gold mine next to the red sea.

My Merchants get zerged by all the factions in the area.