Merchants?

[MDCCLXXVI]

Hi guys,

(I ran a search didn't find much)

Just playing around, on my second or third campaign. Found Anguin for the first time, I thought it was just an out-of-bounds area in my first two campaigns.

I got to thinking with all the fancy resources down there... Merchants?

Is there something wrong with them?

They barely generate any income. Even if I micromanage all my merchants down to Timbuktu and put them on the best goodies, I still only generate little over 1,000 income. Just seems like a waste of time to manage/produce/micro them around the board when their net effect is so dim.

It seems almost like the developers forgot to add an extra 0 onto the merchant revenue generation.

Forgive my ignorance, I'm relatively new.

[SturmChurro]

It stacks up overtime anyway.

As merchants gain experience and if I am right, the longer merchants are on a resource the more income the resource gives. I am not much on details though. I think there are some mods you can try that also heighten the income obtained from resources.

[Larkin]

1,000 income for a merchant is pretty good.

Your merchants probably only start out with 1-3 finance. Leave them on the gold/ivory down there for a while and it won't be long before they have 7-8, and start generating loads of income.

Regardless, they cost what, 550 florins? If they get about 200 a turn, it's only 3 turns until they've paid for themselves. Then you're still making profit, and every little helps.

[fredtrotter]

there isn't much micromanagement about them. you build them then just dump the merchant on a resource and forget about them. In a merchants lifetime he could easily make 50,000+ florins which is an awesome return for only 500 florin cost.

[SturmChurro]

there isn't much micromanagement about them. you build them then just dump the merchant on a resource and forget about them. In a merchants lifetime he could easily make 50,000+ florins which is an awesome return for only 500 florin cost.

He probably means the micromanagement involved in getting them to the resource you actually want to trade. Like getting a foreign merchant off of it, or plainly making a route to get him there! I have on many occasions forgot about several of my agents when they get stuck and cannot pass. I have literally left them there for turns and turns..

[Stath's]

Just to add, there is an upkeep (i think 100 florins), so you have to search a little bit, before you leave them in one place. And to conquer other merchants, could be interesting too. Timbuktu is the heaven of merchants.

[fredtrotter]

Just to add, there is an upkeep (i think 100 florins), so you have to search a little bit, before you leave them in one place. And to conquer other merchants, could be interesting too. Timbuktu is the heaven of merchants.

There is no upkeep for merchants.

[Stath's]

I knew a merchant once, who had a 100 florins upkeep...ohhh but that was a long, long time ago....what was his name? I can't remember anymore...

sorry, that was embarrasing...I should go myself

[MDCCLXXVI]

I think there is a misunderstanding.

I mean, ALL my merchants combined earn a total combined revenue per turn of around 1,000.

The most I've squeezed out of one merchant is around 150 florins per turn on a gold mine.

Merchants have a lifespan of around 40 years.

Assuming I put it on an good solid resource worth 75 per turn (this is fairly high for me, highly skilled merchants on amber or something).

75 * 40 = 3,000 over the span of its entire life, usually less.

My merchants on the British Isles sitting on tin or wool, are pulling avg 25 florins per turn.

Over 40 turn lifespan, this only = 1,000 florins TOTAL in 40 turns.

If cost to recruit is 500, it takes 20 turns just to recoup initial investment.

Just seems like a waste.

there isn't much micromanagement about them. you build them then just dump the merchant on a resource and forget about them. In a merchants lifetime he could easily make 50,000+ florins which is an awesome return for only 500 florin cost.

I am confused how you earn 50,000 florins in ~40 turns with a merchant.

Thats over 1,000 a turn.

The best I can get out of a gold mine is around 150-200 per turn. Your best merchant is 5x better than my best merchant? How is this?

[PapaRosario]

If you manage your merchants correctly, you can be making several hundred florins per turn for each merchant.

The first important task you should do is to try to get a Merchants Guild HQ in one of your settlements. Just pick a settlement where you want it, and then constantly build the market line of buildings as well as the merchant wharf line. Also, train all of your merchants out of that settlement. This will allow the settlement to accumulate a lot of points towards the Merchants Guild. Try to pick a large city to do this in because each level of the Merchants Guild buildings has a city level requirement. Once you have the Merchants Guild HQ, you will be spawning merchants with very high levels of finance from the start.

The next important thing is that resources will generate more income the further away they are from your capital. Do not try to trade resources which are near your capital unless they are very valuable. They will usually be worth very little. Rare resources far away from your capital are where the money is.

One other tip, which is kind of an exploit, is that you can stack 20 merchants into an army. So you can just train one unit of militia, stack 20 merchants into it, and then put the militia unit on your most valuable trade resource. Then all of your merchants will be able to trade that resource.

I am confused how you earn 50,000 florins in ~40 turns with a merchant.

Thats over 1,000 a turn.

The best I can get out of a gold mine is around 150-200 per turn. Your best merchant is 5x better than my best merchant? How is this?

Where are you getting the 40 turns number? This is inaccurate. Merchants will live for about 80-100 turns.

[fredtrotter]

Where is your Capital? I find that you can get around 500 to 1000 on any resource in Timbuktu with a newbie merchant, and this increases with age. Perhaps I was a bit ambitious with 50000 but you still get lots of florins with those merchants in Timbuktu.

[PapaRosario]

Where is your Capital? I find that you can get around 500 to 1000 on any resource in Timbuktu with a newbie merchant, and this increases with age. Perhaps I was a bit ambitious with 50000 but you still get lots of florins with those merchants in Timbuktu.

No, 50 thousand florins is a perfectly legitimate estimate. Good merchants can definitely make around 500 florins per turn, and with a 100 turn lifespan, that's 50 thousand florins.

[Alexanderos]

The further your merchants are from the cities , the better.

Example : Scotland -> send merchants to Timbuktu or Constantinople(cash flower)
Spain/Portugal or other sourthern -> Send merchants in Caffa , or in Scandinavia.

[PapaRosario]

The further your merchants are from the cities , the better.

Example : Scotland -> send merchants to Timbuktu or Constantinople(cash flower)
Spain/Portugal or other sourthern -> Send merchants in Caffa , or in Scandinavia.

It only depends on your capital. The rest of your cities don't matter.

[MDCCLXXVI]

Even my level 10 merchants can not pull over 200 on even a gold mine.

Right now am playing as Scotland, capital is London.

All my my merchants are trained out of Timbuktu and I am sitting on every resource in Timbuk/Arguin regions, and combined total revenue per turn is still only around 600-700.

And how does a merchant last 100 turns?

Mine pop out of the settlements at around 20-30 years old, and die in their early-mid 60s. Thats roughly 40.

[PapaRosario]

Even my level 10 merchants can not pull over 200 on even a gold mine.
And how does a merchant last 100 turns?
Mine pop out of the settlements at around 20-30 years old, and die in their early-mid 60s. Thats roughly 40.

Characters age once every two turns. 40 years of living = 80 turns in game.

Also, check out this picture.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://i.imgur.com/zOW6f.jpg

Not sure why your level 10 merchant is only making 200 gold. Are you playing a mod? Perhaps merchants got tuned down in that mod? Not sure, but in Vanilla they can be quite good.

[Enarec]

I don't know about vanilla merchants, but in mods like SS and BC they are excellent moneymakers if you can put them to merchant in the correct places and on the correct resources. In SS I was making 7000+ florins every turn with merchants at about turn 100 and that was my first try on a merchanting empire. In BC it's turn 45 and my merchants are already making 4000+ florins every turn and I haven't even expanded that much... yet. I'm hogging all the gold/silver/timber/sugar/marble, will probably move on to fur too, soon.

Btw, merchants are affected by how far they are from your capital, if I recall correctly (I read that somewhere and in my games it seems to be true). The farther the better so it's sometimes beneficial to move your capital.

[PapaRosario]

Sorry, I meant to embed that image. Why can't I edit my posts? Did editing get removed from the forums? Or is it because this account is new it can't edit posts?

[tudor93]

you are clearly doing something wrong
look at this pic posted by a guy a week ago (it's SS, but it's not so different from vanilla when talking about merchants)

[PapaRosario]

^Tudor, are you sure that guy didn't modify his merchant's base income modifier float in descr_campaign_db? That number seems a little over the top.