Getting to Timbuktu!!!

**Indy1958** · 06-25-2007, 16:15

Dear All:

Good morning from Canada!!! I hope this finds you and yours well. As for me, I could complain...yadda, yadda, yadda.

I'm writing to ask the best way to get to the above town, not to mention the best way to go about it. I've been another thread on this very topic, and it's got me thinking. Right now, I"Ve got my merchants trading everything from soup to nuts but I think when I got a nice cash flow going, I'll start to specialize. The first commodity I'd like to specialize in is ivory. I do know that the people of the MIddle Ages used that stuff by the truckload!!!!

Secondly, could one of you nice people provide me with a list that can tell me what the most valuable resources were back then so I can get more bang for my florin!!!

Live long and prosper, take care and thank you kindly!!!

Sincerely yours always,

Indy.

**Bijo** · 06-25-2007, 18:41

Hmmmmm. The shortest answer would be to simply move your merchants or armies (or whatever) to the African continent until they reach Timbuktu and deal with trouble as it comes.

The most valuable resources to trade in in-game are possibly slaves. In any case -- going by my memory -- if you go southwards somewhere in the African deserts you should encounter resources you would find very profitable.

**John_Longarrow** · 06-25-2007, 19:26

Play as the moors and produce your merchants in Marakesh. Send them all towards that gold you can see at the bottom and divert them as needed when they get close.

Of course as any faction you can always just march an army down there, take the place, and use it to create your merchants. Once you get the merchants guild going down there you get a LOT of money out of that area. No need to cheat and you can still make over 5K / turn.

**WhiskeyGhost** · 06-25-2007, 20:27

Gold is probably one of the best trade resources, if not the best one (short of the Meso-American ones that show up late game)

The single gold mine in Zagreb, coupled with the ones in Timbuktu (making 3 total i was merchant on) brought me in a good 5k or so in trading.

**Ethelred Unread** · 06-25-2007, 20:42

As someone else said in another thread on Merchants, send an assasin and a spy with them and then you can assassinate rivals.

I always send fresh merchants down there as they skill up quickly when they have a monopoly so a assassin is invaluable

**brandybarrel** · 06-25-2007, 21:52

Hi Indy1958

If you are not playing as the Moors then bring a spy to navigate your way through the two paths through the Atlas Mountains. The area is wide and unit travel is slower across the desert so expect this to take some time.

Your assassins or merchants can help to knock off the incumbent merchants but this will not be an easy task since you should expect them to be of high rank when you get there - and more easily replaceable by their closer cities.

Taking the city is a better option but an investment in time because you have to fight off the Moors, deal with religious unrest, and distance to your capital.

Gold has the highest trade value in the game (see below) and you should find a few mines there. Ivory and slaves can also be found but do not give you as much return as gold.

If you are wondering, I played as Spain a while ago and oft sent an expedition to the barren area in search of legendary wealth - with some success, I might add.

Good luck!

Resource trade value
gold 20 (mine)
chocolate 15
tobacco 15
ivory 12
silk 12
spices 12
amber 12
silver 12 (mine)
marble 10 (mine)
sugar 10
iron 9 (mine)
wine 8
dyes 8
textiles 8
cotton 8
slaves 8
wool 6
timber 6
tin 6 (mine)
sulfur 5 (mine)
grain 5
fish 5
coal 4 (mine)
furs 3

Source: descr_sm_resource.txt

**hoof** · 06-25-2007, 22:30

Owning the town helps, I vaguely recall that if you build a mine on a gold resource, your merchants can make even more money. I was playing the moors once, and had a merchant making 1200/turn on a mined gold nugget near Timbuktu (which I owned). The mine added 800/turn as well. Very nice :)

**Askthepizzaguy** · 06-28-2007, 08:52

In my opinion as a bloody warlord, I say the best way to get there is by doing the following:

Join a crusade on the very first turn (you can start one yourself), doesn't matter what the target is.

Get a general and a bunch of horsemen together (as many as possible) and head straight towards timbuktu. Get there by ship (to northern africa), and charge straight through the desert.

You can use the (leave crusade/join crusade) exploit to not lose any troops, or just use whatever surviving troops you have plus christian mercenaries from spain and nubian mercenaries from timbuktu itself. Should only take a few turns to reach it.

Once there, build a city and build a grain exchange. Now you can spawn your own merchants without making a long voyage.

I dont like wasting 20 turns to get there. Do it the fast way, through a crusade or a jihad. Use the exploit or don't, there is usually enough mercenaries once you get there.

Who agrees that this method is actually quicker and more productive?

Only the orthodox factions cannot do this, and their best bets are stockholm and dongola, (byzantium) and antioch/constantinople (Russia), not travelling all the way there.

**Didz** · 06-28-2007, 10:38

Originally Posted by askthepizzaguy

Who agrees that this method is actually quicker and more productive?

Its obviously quicker....crusading armies move at double speed.

Whether its more productive is less certain. You're effectively using a general and a minimum of eight units and probably giving up the benefits of winning a crusade. That's probably a potential loss of around 10,000 florins in recruitment and pillaging.

Also, at this stage of the game you are probably not going to be able to build many merchants anyway, (perhaps two or three) and so there isn't really that much to be gained by rushing to capture Timbukto. It could probably wait until you have spare troops free to ship down there.

Its a clever idea though.

Mind you if you can call a Crusade or Jihad on Timbukto it would be brilliant, but you would have to wait until it was taken by a rival first.

**Askthepizzaguy** · 06-28-2007, 12:08

Originally Posted by Didz

Its obviously quicker....crusading armies move at double speed.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Mind you if you can call a Crusade or Jihad on Timbukto it would be brilliant, but you would have to wait until it was taken by a rival first.

Hmm... two things

1) You can send multiple generals on crusade, so this would not affect your chances of winning one. I highly recommend crusades in general. Unless you have no family members and dont promote captains. Also, you can always recruit more troops. Thats never a problem. The more troops you send on crusade the better. I would use only my most useless mad retarded general on this particular quest, and then hit Arguin and let him die in the desert like a fool.

2) the idea of waiting for the computer to take it... I dunno. They never take it in my games, because I destroy them quicker than it takes for them to get there. And it would defeat the whole purpose of getting there quickly.

But, I am glad the idea is out there being considered!

Thank you

**phonicsmonkey** · 06-29-2007, 02:01

to get to timbuktu:

- select army stack

- hover the mouse pointer around in the bottom left hand corner of the map until it goes green (ie. indicates land you can walk to)

- right click

- let them walk there automatically at the end of each of your turns until they arrive.

takes some of the boredom out of the long hike...

**WhiskeyGhost** · 06-29-2007, 03:41

Originally Posted by phonicsmonkey

to get to timbuktu:

- select army stack

- hover the mouse pointer around in the bottom left hand corner of the map until it goes green (ie. indicates land you can walk to)

- right click

- let them walk there automatically at the end of each of your turns until they arrive.

takes some of the boredom out of the long hike...

indeed, when i take it i do the exact same thing, send an army on autopilot to there and check on it once every 5 turns