Trade at the start of the game

[Horatius Flaccus]

This could represent the difficulties in setting up major trade routes

And a normal building can't do that?

I'm against the inclusion of merchants, not in the least because it would mean even more micro-managing.

[Cute Wolf]

actually, even you can made them have trade rights at the start, even with EB 1, as long as you script them to be allied before the first turn, set another console command, and break the alliance afterwards...