User Guide

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A maximum of 20 merchants may hold a
position in a center of trade at any one time.
Each shield displayed in the interface shows the
nationality of the merchants, and the shield’s
position on the chart indicates the number of
that country’s merchants who are in business
there. A country with only one active merchant
will have its shield displayed on the bottom
row; a country with two merchants will be on
the second row; and so on. Normally, a country
may have a maximum of five merchants active
in a center of trade at any one time.
To send a merchant to a center of trade, you
must have a merchant available in your coun-
try’s pool. You will also require sufficient cash
in your treasury to finance a new merchant’s
attempt to establish his business. The cost
required to establish a new merchant and his
chance of establishing himself are shown be-
side the small “send merchant” icon to the left
of the chart. There is an additional requirement
that the center of trade must be on the same
continent as your capital or you must have a
province in your country that is coastal. A land-
locked country cannot conduct trade in distant
centers. Assuming that you have an available
merchant and a sufficient amount gold, click
the “send” button to instruct your merchant to
make the attempt.
It will take some period of time for your
merchant to travel to the center of trade and
attempt to establish his new business. This can
range from less than a week for a trade center
within your own borders; to more than a month
if the center of trade is distant. There is no
guarantee that your merchant will be success-
ful, since competition is often very fierce. You
are far more likely to succeed if the province
containing the center of trade is part of your
realm, or if there are fewer than twenty active
merchants in the center. The more remote the
location, and the more merchants that are ac-
tive, the harder it will be for your merchant to
succeed. We’ll look at several other factors that
affect this in a moment.
Once your merchant makes the attempt,
you will receive a message from him to inform
you whether or not he succeeded. If he failed,
the merchant (and the cost to send him) is lost.
If your merchant succeeds, you will begin to re-
ceive trade revenue each month from that mer-
chant and will continue to do so as long as he
is able to remain in business. You will also gain
a small amount of prestige for having success-
fully expanded your trading network.
Of course, other countries will probably at-
tempt to send merchants of their own, so it is
possible that one or more of your merchants
could be displaced by another. This will result
in a small loss of prestige for your realm, and
you will cease to receive any trade income from
that merchant. A displaced merchant will not
return to your nation’s pool, though you may
always send a new merchant in the hopes of re-
establishing your lost revenue. This is all part
of the cut-throat process of competition.
Competition
Establishing and maintaining a merchant in
a center of trade may not be easy if there are
many other countries attempting to do the
same. There will be continual competition for
the limited number of spots available in each
center, particularly if there is a large volume of
trade passing through the center or if there are
many nearby countries who might wish to cap-
ture a share. Your merchant’s ability to com-
pete is based on your country’s trade efficiency.
The primary factor that determines your
trade efficiency is your country’s current level
of research into trade technology. The more
advanced you are in trade, the more success-
ful your merchants are likely to be. This can
be further enhanced by certain forms of gov-
ernment, by adopting the “National Trade
Policy” national idea, and by your domestic
policies. You can also enter into certain diplo-
matic agreements with other countries that will
affect your chance of competing against their
merchants. And finally, it is usually easier to es-
tablish and maintain a merchant in a center of
trade that already contains at least one of your