Merchant wars..

I think merchant battle is the hardest in the game :laugh4:

I can win one or two takeovers, but will lose them just as fast. Now, soldiers on the BF, I have a certain degree of control over the outcome (I mean, I can do my best to win), with Merchants, I can just look at stats and go or no go. I find myself losing every merchant over some time, even if I try to trade in my backyard (And if someone has a backyard, it's Denmark, save for maybe England and Scotland as soon as they throw the other one of the Isles.)

Are people investing in merchants a lot? I play VH btw., that probably doesn't help either..

I'm very close to completely giving up on merchants. They take soooo long to get up to level 4 or 5 and even then, when you go on the offensive, the AI has level 6 or 7 merchants hunting you down. It sucks and I hate it *tantrum*.

Somebody did an excellent thread on merchants BTW - including lots of useful tips on how to make them profitable. Twas an excellent post indeed - I'm just no good at implimenting it cause I don't have the patience to wait for a whole week's gaming before I actually move a merchant.

In my first game as the English (I changed the TimeScale to 0.5 which is why it is still going on) I have merchants on all my trade resources in the UK but I have pretty much given up the battle in France... There are so many Danish, Italian, Fench, Spanish, HRE and even Russain merchants floating about it is near suicide for any but the most talented merchants to be sent over the channel...

When I took the Daish capital I tried setting up merchants on the amber and fish resources there, but some near max skill level Russain merchant turned up and started buying out my guys so I retreated the rest to the nearest city...

I have to try one of the trader nations next time to see how that goes...

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Originally Posted by Bob the Insane

I have to try one of the trader nations next time to see how that goes...

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What is a "trader nation"? :dizzy2: Surely, historically, England was a trader nation?

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Originally Posted by maestro

What is a "trader nation"? :dizzy2: Surely, historically, England was a trader nation?

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True, but...

I was thinking Milan or the Venetians, or maybe the Danes...

get the guild houses, once you have a merchant guild master house you turn out a level 4/5 merchant every turn.

Merchant guild house helps you alot.

One trick I have learned is that if you manage to take one or two of your neighbours merchants out. Start surrounding his cities with your advanced merchants. His low level merchants start walking out from his cities (capital mosty) after you take older out. If you have somewhat experienced merchants ready for them you will have 95% change capturing his merchants.

Leveling gets much easier this way.


Another tip is to keep your low level merchants on AI territory (they level faster) but near watch towers or have spyes keeping an eye on the surroundings. Once the experienced enemy merchants start walking towards you, simply move your merchant off the resource. The AI won't attack you (atleast on h/h) if you don't sit on a resource. You can attack enemy merchants while they move but I am not sure if you get less money by taking over a moving merchant.

Once you get high level merchants start actively hunting down AI merchants.

I trained a few merchants up in sweden on amber in my Danish Game, but indeed, even my 8 points merchant fell prey to a Moorish (for crying out loud) merchant there. I just dont have assasins yet. Maybe then it becomes doable..

Having the Assassins Guild HQ helps give your merchants a higher resistance to assassins too.

Also, do not try to get too much profits on just resources alone. The real profit is in the aquisition of another merchants assets.

If you get 50/50 situation or better to grab the other merchant's business, it works out OK since you should be getting 1000+ florins if you make it.

It is sometimes like flipping coins, just a game of statistics... If your odds of making 2000 florins are 1:1, then it is worth it, since a merchant costs you 550 and the expected reward is 1000, works out fine when you try it multiple times. Even better, since once you win, the odds get better along the way.

I have stopped trying to "roleplay" my merchants to high ratings and just made it a numbers game...

Actually, highly skilled merchants in far-away lands do provide better profits than hunting around for foreign merchants to take over... In my current campaign, Timbuktu gold mines, owned by Moors with whom I have a trade agreement going, provide me (England) with 1400+ florins per turn each. I have lvl 10 Merchants sitting on them. For these guys (lvl 10 merchants), unless the takover target merchant for would be below 4 stars, my chances of taking over successfully with a 10-star merchant would not be that high.

Ivory brings in pretty good money too (currently, about 500 florins a turn, but the merchant on it is a 6-star guy).