User Guide

and labor. Once a trade ship has docked, cart pushers
from the Dock busily unload commodities and bring
them to the city’s Storage Yards, and then load any
goods the city is exporting to this partner and bring
them back to the Dock. It’s a good idea to build a
Storage Yard near your Dock to shorten the cart push-
ers’ journeys.
Commodity Pricing
Your Overseer of Commerce knows the going rate for
commodities throughout the world. To see how
much items sell or can be purchased for, click on the
Show Prices button on the Overseer’s screen. Trade
status is replaced with price information. The prices
shown are per transaction. Click the button again to
return to the trade status screen.
When you visit your Overseer of Commerce, you’ll
notice that buyers pay more for a commodity than
sellers receive. Merchants incur expenses transporting
items for sale and make up the difference by charging
buyers more than sellers receive for items. Luxury
goods are an excellent example of the difference
between the buyer’s price and the seller’s price.
Because it is so dangerous to transport luxury goods,
traders charge a large sum to those wishing to buy
them. For the same reason, they pay a small price to
those wishing to sell them.
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the Storage Yards or let the Overseer of Commerce
determine how much of an item should be kept
on hand; then, any surplus items will be exported.
Once you have told the Overseer of Commerce to
begin trading a certain item, its trade status will be
updated in the Overseer of Commerce’s screen. The
screen shows which items are being imported and
exported. It also shows whether you have set your own
trade guidelines or if you have left these decisions up
to you Overseer of Commerce.
Sometimes, you can either import or export a com-
modity, giving you more flexibility as you plan your
industries. Deciding whether to import or export a
commodity depends upon your goals. If you want to
bolster the city’s income, then devote the labor need-
ed to produce the commodity and export it. If you
want to use the city’s labor for another purpose, then
import the commodity. You can never import and
export the same item at the same time.
A good way to make money, however, is to import a
raw material and export a finished product.
Manufacturing products from imported raw materials
is the best way to make money, and no other source of
income will match the potential revenue generated by
manufacturing.
Sea and River Trade
Some of the city’s trade partners come by water. Great
trading vessels float down the Nile, but they won’t do
your city any good if they don’t have a place to dock.
Build a Dock on the coastline for these barges to moor.
To function properly, Docks must also have road access
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