Idea for Merchants

[Majd il-Romani]

I remember that mechants in mods like stainless steel were actually good for more than 1 mnai a turn, so they can be modded to be, well, useful and they shouldn't be thrown away. Also, I have no clue if this can be scripted or what but can you make merchants of one faction more "potent" than another. Like when you train one it has more experience than usual based on faction. In example, Carthage would have the best merchants, period. Following behind would be Casse, Saba, and Ptolemies, because they were very rich kingdoms that conrolled a lot of trade. This would only be starting out. So a Carthaginian merchant would start out with like 5 coins (or whatever they use to represent experience stars) but if he isn't used then he'll just stay the same or even go down. A Roman merchant would start out with 3 or 2 but can work his way up to buy out the Carthaginian one. What do you guys think?

[Foot]

We already have plans for the merchant agents. They won't be merchants though.

Foot

[Majd il-Romani]

We already have plans for the merchant agents. They won't be merchants though.

Foot

Ok, but I won't ask, because I know I'm gonna get something like
"they will be trained and have a cost to train an upkeep, and they will be used in some way"

[General Appo]

Hey, don´t jump to conclusions!

[Space_Ed]

Yay I'm glad the merchants are being taken out because I thought they were rubbish when I played M2TW.

[MDPR]

Just throwing in a related idea, that might work even without merchants being used as such. Its basically to let EBII be a bit inspired by the old game Trade Empire, where for instance, the Silk Road, is involved.

For instance, why not add trade-competitions, thus multiple trade negotiations, where example a faction, having builded a certain trade-upgrade, can negotiate trade-deals, with other factions, asking several factions about what they will pay, in order to get a deal up? - trade-competetion. The merchant could then become some sort of specialized trade-negotiating-diplomat.

After all Total War really means war on all fronts, including the economical front, being a front that EB so far really has ignored in the bigger picture.

Some inspiration could perhaps be the old game, Trade Empires:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Empires

- Start out simple, with one merchant and his donkeys. Gradually build up your merchant empire until you control a vast trading web.

- Manipulate the supply and demand economy to dominate the other merchant families. Corner the market. Undercut their prices.

- Explore and Exploit: Continually discover new markets and products, from silk in the Far East to steel in industrial Europe.

- Adapt your family's trading network to an ever-changing economy or instead face defeat when your competitors purchase advanced technology and deliver superior products.

- Span the centuries and the world, in regions from Ancient Sumeria to 19th century Europe.

- Build vast transportation networks, using anything from dirt trails to railroads.

- Compete against other merchant families who are powered by a clever artificial intelligence that plays by the same rules you do.

- More than 200 structures and 30 units in 15 different episodes.

[Brennus]

We already have plans for the merchant agents. They won't be merchants though.

Foot

Slavers! Used by every society.

You could use your mnai to top up your cities population quickly if you needed to, of course it would be at the expense of public order..... no, wait.... that's what armies are for. Silly Brennus.

[antisocialmunky]

The back parts of my mind imagines using merchants as spawns from different philosophy schools. You would debate them against each other until one of the dropped dead from boredom.

That or some sort of off color reference to the inclusion of a Judean faction but that would be inappropriate.

[Brennus]

Whatever character is intended to replace merchants it must fit certain criteria:
1. It must be of significant importance to require control by the player. Armies are significant as they were not everyday occurences (and still are not) in antiquity. Merchants, by contrast, were everyday features of society like farmers and craftsmen.
2. The character must be under state control. Economies of antiquity were nowhere near as centralised as some modern economies, merchants were private buisnessmen. Likewise philosophers were not state employees. Diplomats and assasins would have been under the control of an elite (government) figure.

If you can think of a character which would have been an employee of the state and of such significance that it would not have been an everyday sight in society then you will probably arrive at an answer as to what is due to replace merchants.

Foot, now its your turn to tell me that all I have just written is nonsense.

[vollorix]

The so called "state" is just a burocratic institution. Most Kings/Mighty Chieftains were the personification of the "state". But almost all of those Kings/Governments had to rely on the aristocrathy, local princes, clan leaders etc., who had their own interests and targets. Theoreticaly, one can use those merchants to portrait ancient societies even more detailed, but the question is: what is their particular role in the game, withing the game engine etc.?

[Ichon]

Whatever character is intended to replace merchants it must fit certain criteria:
1. It must be of significant importance to require control by the player. Armies are significant as they were not everyday occurences (and still are not) in antiquity. Merchants, by contrast, were everyday features of society like farmers and craftsmen.
2. The character must be under state control. Economies of antiquity were nowhere near as centralised as some modern economies, merchants were private buisnessmen. Likewise philosophers were not state employees. Diplomats and assasins would have been under the control of an elite (government) figure.

If you can think of a character which would have been an employee of the state and of such significance that it would not have been an everyday sight in society then you will probably arrive at an answer as to what is due to replace merchants.

Foot, now its your turn to tell me that all I have just written is nonsense.

Oracles, seers, etc? Many times the state and the religion worked together or in the extremes like Pharoahs were the same thing. Could be interesting to have some traveling Oracles that gain some bonus for the government/culture they represent. Not sure if merchants can be made to generate something besides money and not sure how prestige could be translated in the engine either.

They wouldn't necessarily be the same as priests because Oracles and such were often associated with a specific place- something similar was probably in many societies in this period of antiquity but I'm not sure how many... most greek, roman, phoenician, celts, and many germanics I'd guess.