Merchants/How do you use?

[Eikon the Magistrate]

Most everyone seems to make em, level em up and then start trying to sieze assets. This is posted as the most effective way to use a merchant and possibly it is... I am probably 1 of the few who dosent do this at least not on a massive scale. Some reasons for this are, the micromanagment of said agents and the risk of failure and loss of investment.

Instead I try to make safe trading areas for my merchants then I build max agents for that area and just leave em there til they expire

Example of a "safe area" would be:

All the British Isles
Stockholm/oslo region (block land bridge) exploit
Palermo region (block land bridge) exploit
Marrakesh/Arguin/Timbuctu (block land bridge) exploit

Take Libya as a castle and DO NOT upgrade the roads to secure all of north africa permamently for your merchants.

I have only had 1 merchant brave enough so far to walk from cairo to timbuctu and by then my merchants there were
generating about 70-120 each turn (x4)and defended themselves easily

I do sieze assets of course, I will try to find pockets of merchants so it makes it more worth while. And I will
try to sieze when I am at war with their faction. But I have never seen the value in keeping merchants in provinces that
border other factions because rarely will they level up enough to protect themselves so I will have only wasted the 550.

If that same merchant goes to your "safe area" they will generate lets say 20 fl. per turn which means it will take around
26 turns at 20 fl. per turn to pay back your initial buy in. However... that merchant would have to be leveled up neways b4
you send him out ...sooo give or take it is about 13-17 turns to pay back. Considering that some agents seem to live forever
(50+ turns) and they generate more per turn than last.. and it quickly works in your favor.


Now consider the expense to you to locate other merchants. Watchtowers/spies/armies/ how much could you save by not trying to
find them?

You can never "lose track" of your merchant in a "safe area" ..youll get notice when he dies and you can replace him instantly

If your province is upgraded your new merchant will generate far more than the investment on mines etc. so in theory you can pay
back the 550 in less than 10 turns and make a profit at the same time. But you cannot send a merchant from cairo to stockholm
in 10 turns or less (w/o cheats hehe)


Sooo thats me.. how do you use them?

[Daveybaby]

I train them up in a safe area close to home (one with multiple identical resources) until theyre at the 'monopolist' stage, then move them to somewhere profitable (i.e. usually somewhere far away).

I perform acquisitions if the opportunity presents itself, but don't otherwise go searching for enemy merchants to take over because its just not worth it, either w.r.t. micromanagement or financially. A high level merchant can make 1000 gold per turn, you're never going to make that much performing acquisitions because much of the time there just isn't anyone around to acquire.

[PBI]

In my current Portuguese game I control Venice, Milan and Genoa while the Pope controls the rest of Italy. I decided I would use merchants heavily in this game since Timbuktu was relatively nearby, so I now have three very experienced merchants sitting on the textiles resources in Northern Italy, hoovering up any merchants which come through.

The Pope seems to be determined to get his merchants out towards the silver in Vienna, and as such every turn he has been training two merchants and sending them North through my lands, where my veteran merchants promptly snap them up. Thus I'm making hundreds of florins every turn from them, plus the money from the actual trade resources.

I've never really bothered with merchants before, but they seem to be very worthwhile for Portugal right from the start since Timbuktu is so close and the AI doesn't ever seem to bother with it. In a previous campaign I once had a single Turkish merchant wipe out my entire trade operation in Dongola, but I've never seen the AI try to get merchants to Timbuktu.

[ReiseReise]

I don't know if this is actually beneficial but it is what I do: I always train my level 1 or 2 merchants by putting them a monopoly in my home territory until they get up to 3 or 4 skill. They don't make much money until you kick them out of the nest, but i hate to send them half way across the map to get knocked off by some medieval Bill Gates. Since they are in your home territory they can always hide in a city if a really bad guy comes around. If I get a level 3 or 4 to start off with they can head straight for the honey pot because they stand a good chance of surviving.

As for acquiring enemy merchants, I don't go looking for target but if I happen to see one, I use the simplest mathematical model possible. You get 750 for knocking off the other guy, and your merchant costs 550, which means you must have a 73% chance of success in order to break even on the replacement cost. Of course this is not very accurate because there are about a dozen other factors you could take into consideration.
Such as: he will not always 'die' if he fails; if he succeeds he will increase skill and make more money and be able to knock off other merchants more easily; successful/failed acquisitions give/lose points towards merchants guilds; if he fails you have to replace him and lose income due to a lower-skill replacement; etc.

But 70% works for me, since even thinking about creating a more accurate model gives me a headache.

[PBI]

So is it a flat 750 for a successful acquisition regardless of the enemy agent's skill?

[Ramses II CP]

Yeah, it's a flat fee to take over an enemy merchant. I tend towards 'fire and forget' merchants. I train 'em at the best facility available, target them at a distant resource, and forget about them unless I happen to see them get blocked or knocked off.

There are a few resources I always take over and dominate though, even if it requires some micromanagement. The gold east of Zagreb, the textiles around Constantinople, and everything between Antioch and Damascus.

[_Tristan_]

So is it a flat 750 for a successful acquisition regardless of the enemy agent's skill?

No, from my experience, the value of buying merchants go up with the acquired merchants level lby a 250 fl. increment like this :

Lvl 0 : 250fl
Lvl 1 : 500fl
Lvl 2 : 750fl and so on...

[Ramses II CP]

...shows how much attention I've payed to merchants. It always seemed to be an even number, so I always assumed it was the same number. I can't test it at the moment, but I'd trust Tristan's advice over my own.

[_Tristan_]

In the present case, I'm quite sure it is so...

I tend to use my merchants for hostile take-overs intensively

[PBI]

No, from my experience, the value of buying merchants go up with the acquired merchants level lby a 250 fl. increment like this :

Lvl 0 : 250fl
Lvl 1 : 500fl
Lvl 2 : 750fl and so on...

Thought that might be the case, my little "kamikaze merchants" exploit would be a bit too good otherwise.

250 florins per merchant per turn is still pretty good though.

[_Tristan_]

It is not 250 per merchant per turn but 250 per level of the acquired merchant.. thus it is a one-time bonus...

[ReiseReise]

Thanks Tristan, that does make more sense. I guess I took over level 3 merchants every time when I was trying to figure it out

[_Tristan_]

Thanks Tristan

You're welcome...

[Yoyoma1910]

I use the bait and tackle method.

This works exceptionally well in France or Antioch/ Damascus, where you can have a nest of Merchants Hanging out at resources with good value, leveling up by controlling markets and/ or hanging out in foreign lands. It's also good to keep one or two merchants in Northern Italy, as there are a lot of both resources (though not as valuable) and factions to produce targets. I also tend to use the duel silver near Wien (Vienna).


Anyway, what I do is use pathetic merchants, you know the ones with 0 or 1 finance from slightly crooked, slave to coin, and the math skills of a antifreeze addicted marmot to lure foreign merchants near to one of my more experienced versions. Then pounce on the coin, and if I'm near enough to my old resource, make it back home before dinner. I find that 40% chance of success or better is usually good enough.


And I don't know why you wouldn't want to cull the foreign merchant pool, because if you let them hang around too long they get more and more difficult to beat. Much better to strike them down as they appear if possible. Although, it can be nice to find a nice experienced merchant, fattened up to 7 or so experience, if you have the skills to beat him. Otherwise they're a nightmare.

[Matty]

I tend to keep an assassin handy in case a highly skilled enemy merchant turns up to threaten my boys. Otherwise, taking over the enemy is a good way of racking up skill.