What on earth?

[Darth Nihilus]

Okay, I'm really confused about something. How do the ai merchants make so much money? Case in point right here;

In the Timbuktu region there is ivory that can be traded by merchants. I put my merchant on it and he is generating 46 florins per turn on it. His skill is a 5 out of 10. So I move him and put him on the more profitable gold. 2 turns later a Spanish merchant starts trading the same ivory for 264 florins per turn! And the worst part is that the Spanish merchant had the exact same amount of ability as my merchant (5 out of 10)! What the heck is going on here. Earlier in my campaign I saw some Moorish merchants on gold generating 790florins per turn on gold. What am I missing here. Obviously merchant skill isn't the key to making this much per turn.

[PaulTa]

In my experience, the further the merchants are away from your territory, the more money they generate.

A spanish merchant, for instance, would generate a lot of income on a trade resource in africa, while an egyptian merchant wouldn't generate as much. I think it might be related to the fact that you'd already generate tons of income on regular trade in the first place.

[Darth Nihilus]

Well, when I saw the Moorish merchant making 790 florins per turn, it was in his own territory. I have seen to many merchants in own territory making crazy money, so its more than likely somthing else.

[Senta]

trade agreements, proximity, having monopolised the resource etc all comes into play, just as merchant's skill do

[Spendius]

There is a bug with merchants. Try to change your capital to another city (and back), and the game should display the correct values. You need to do that every time you load your game.
My spices merchants in Antioch went from 47 to 200 after that.

[Wandarah]

Interesting! Hadnt heard that one.

[Oleo]

There is a bug with merchants. Try to change your capital to another city (and back), and the game should display the correct values. You need to do that every time you load your game.
My spices merchants in Antioch went from 47 to 200 after that.

tnx for the advice: 66 -> 476 per turn is a very nice improvement, especially since I have two merchants with those numbers.

[OMGLAZERS]

There is a bug with merchants. Try to change your capital to another city (and back), and the game should display the correct values. You need to do that every time you load your game.
My spices merchants in Antioch went from 47 to 200 after that.

SAY WHAAAAAAAT!!!



I hadn't heard this!