Greystoke Family/Edmund
Contents
The Art of Trading
I thought I would try my hand as a trader. The constant go to a battle, wait for the takeover to finish, back to refit, on to the next battle was beginning to seem a little dull. I didn't have enough honor or prestige (or something) to become an infiltrator, and the realm didn't seem to need any beaurocrats.
It turns out there must be an art to being a trader that I haven't discovered, or the class needs serious work. Maybe I haven't learned all the tricks yet. I will impart what I have learned so far....
As a trader, you must consider several things --
- Troops and Paraphenalia
- Gold and Commodities
- Trading Information
- Politics
Troops and Paraphenalia
At first I assumed that a trader should travel alone. This would arouse the least amount of suspicion when travelling in foreign realms. The manual states that when you buy caravans, they come with the men needed to work them.
However, a friend suggested that I might appear as an infiltrator that way. He said it might be best to retain about 7 men as guards. Without thinking too deeply on this subject, I decided to follow his advice.
You don't need a banner, but you do need caravans. I started out with the idea of needing many caravans, but decided to start small. It is well I did so, as I have yet to fill both of the ones I purchased. Each caravan holds 100 bushels of food.
Gold and Commodities
A trader is different than a teamster, in that the trader buys the goods and sells them after transportation. A teamster is merely paid for the transportation. The game doesn't support teamsters, only traders. That means we must first buy the goods we want to sell. You will still collect taxes. In some realms you will collect less taxes than a Troop Leader because you don't have the men to support.
When it comes time to buy the goods, if you don't have enough gold, you can borrow from a bank. Ethiala on South East also has two trading guilds which I joined. They will each allow me to borrow from them.
It seems at first as if the world supports two commodities - food and wood. In practice, however, it appears as if wood is so plentiful and consumed so little as to make it nearly useless as a trading commodity. That leaves food. Perhaps I am wrong to do so, but I concentrate entirely on food as a commodity.
Trading Information
As a trader, the idea is to buy low and sell high. I understand that the best way to do this is to buy in one realm and sell in another. I believe this is because a realms banker can readjust food as needed between regions within a realm, thus reducing the need for a trader.
So, to buy low and sell high, the most important tool for a trader is information concerning food selers and food buyers. The tools for finding this information are:
- Actions -> Chat with merchants
- Actions -> Trading
- Actions -> Visit the black market
- Orders -> Send out Scouts
- Information -> Trade Information
Chat with Merchants
Chatting with local merchants will produce results such as those provided in the example below:
Chatting forever with the local merchants in Talex, here is what you learn about some interesting deals:
Region Food Wood
avail Sell Buy notes avail Sell Buy
Talex 0 - 12 1170 - 3
Erahol 0 100
Isular 0 25 5 500 10 5
Lenamaziel 0 460
Anrimap 0 22 3 150 25 -
Upasael 0 25 5 0 10 5
Remton 0 - 25 1150 40 10
Tunozo 0 15 5 100 10 -
Pesol 40 - 12 420 - 3
The harvest will be in 2 days.
The example provided has several points of interest. The purpose of the "chat" (as can be seen from the example) is to provide the trader with rumors of the selling and buying prices in a random selection of regions. It will also provide the availability of the resource.
First, to buy some food you need a food source. If you were armed with only the report provided as an example, you would see that only Pesol has any food available. Unfortunately, (as can also be seen) the dash means they are not selling any. This fact seems to be extremely common in the game. No food sources!
Next, who could you sell food to? In the example shown above, only Remton will pay higher than any of the other regions selling prices. This is also an extremely common situation in the game. No regions will pay enough to make it worth your while to transport the food. Even a 1 gold difference would make 100 gold per caravan! Yet all I've found is regions where the buying price is much lower than the selling price!
Beware, the conditions found in this report are very short-lived. In most cases the deal viewed in the report is gone by the time you get to the region!
Your Caravans You own 2 caravans, currently loaded with 10 bushels of food. (free capacity: 190 units)
Trading
The Ornaz Warehouses Good Stored Reserve buying for selling for buy... sell... Food 63 250 (not trading) (not trading) (N/A) (N/A) Wood 109 (not trading) (not trading) (N/A) (N/A)
All prices are per 100 units. Remember that the prices are from the regions perspective, e.g. what they are selling you food for when you buy some. Also note that prices are always rounded in the warehouse's favour.
Scouting
Trade Postings Good ca. stored Buying for Selling for Food 50 units 12 gold (not trading)
Trade Information
Food and Harvest Information:
* It is Summer. The weather (harvest tomorrow):
East Coast: Average
Trade Postings in Ornaz Good ca. stored Buying for Selling for Food 50 units gold gold Wood 100 units gold gold
Politics
To further complicate matters, if you do find a seller or buyer, there is a good chance they will be in an enemy realm. Now that politics are involved in your trading you will probably need permissions from the governments of both realms to travel between them. Your own government might not want you helping an enemy, even if you are making a profit on the transfer.
