Merchants : how to (get 20,000 florins a turn)

[BigTex]

Merchants pay for themselves. But not by standing on a resource. Standing on a resource is only useful to get them up a few levels so they can start eliminating the competition. You can get an easy 1-2k florins from buying out a rival merchant alot of times. You've also denyed the computer the income from him and made them lose the 550 investment.

But through my playing I've yet to see a resource at anything higher then 70. Does anyone know the trick to finding the really high value resources? I know trade rights increase their value but does distance to your lands do also?

[therother]

Merchant skill makes a big difference. For instance, I have 2 merchants on the amber resources in Stockholm (which belongs to my ally, the Danish). The 6 valour one makes 69/turn, whilst the 10 valour makes 112. Other than these two, the highest I've seen is for the two spices in the Aleppe region (which I own). My 10 guy would also make 100+ there. My capital is London.

On the recruitment price, Rufus the Cunning (my current King) is a master of both spies (-30%) and assassins (-25%), which means his agent recruitment is massively reduced. I pay 275 per merchant when he's around.

[Darkmoor_Dragon]

Folks be MUCH more aggressive with Merchants:

Use them to actively attack the opposition merchants - it doesnt even matter if they are on a trade resource or not - if you take them over you get a LUMP SUM from "acquiring" their business e.g I've just taken out a French level 3 merchant who was wandering near to my borders, he wasnt on a resource - but acquiring his business netted me a lump sum of 1100 florins (this is on h/vh fwiw).

So nab the other guys businesses then trot back to you ownl ittle resource, or go on extended walkabouts taking over any merchant you find and can "assimilate".

The ENTIRE equation for Merchants, as to whether they are worth their 550 florins cost, is completely re-written when you use them aggressively and only hog a resource when they've got no available targets to take over.

And bear in mind that that 1100 florins wasn't much, I *think* i netted over 6k from acquiring an Egyptian merchant in Antioch (didnt remember to keep ane ye on the previous balance, but it was certainly plenty of dosh)..

[Spendius]

Has anyone noticed whether having a merchant on a resource increases trade in the corresponding city ? That would make sense and would not require micro management at least...