Firstly I attempted to use the search and for some Benin reason it came up with no response then when I tried to search again I had to wait 120 seconds, I did so
.I tried again and the same thing again , so I am going to post the question. Sorry if it has been asked already

I play as the Japanese for some reason I always have. I am no newbie of the game I have played all civs since civ 1. I actually bought a new laptop just to play civilization 4 .

One thing in this game remains partially unclear and vague to me mercantilism.
Firstly I have read some peoples text on it and I still don’t understand the government civic?. This is what I do understand about the civic. That YOU don’t get foreign trade routs however, other civs can STILL trade with you. This somewhat contradicts the manual on page 80 were it clearly states;

“Mercantilism refers to government policy that strictly manages the nation’s economy. The nation may ban all FOREIGN IMPORTS.”

This is the opposite of what has been said an apparently happens. It would seem that what actually happens is that all your NATIONAL EXPORTS are banned however foreign imports remain constant.
(r.e. this is not a complaint or a dig or asking for the game to be changed I am just trying to clear up what actually happens when I activate this civic)

The turn after the anarchy the only thing I notice that happens is my money drastically falls. Other than activating the civic on the civic menu do *I* personally have to do something on the city screen to gain the benefit of mercantilism . I can’t find any positive impact this civic has? It seems strange as it has a massive draw back and a medium upkeep?

Finally does it make a difference at all if you pick your leaders favorite civic? Does it make your people happy? Do you get secret benefits?

Thanks for all the help that can be provided ?

Mercantilism is good for empires without many friends, or with smaller cities that mostly have national trade routes, not foreign ones. It can be quite useful in certain circumstances, not to mention that it gives GPP from the free specialists.

Leaders' favorite civics only boost relations if the AI likes a civic and you are using that civic.

what gpp mean and how do you know you are getting the free specailist i don't see it added on my city screen ?

GPP = great people points.

And umm, you should see a specialist assigned that you cant remove (if you hover over the "-" (i think) it tells you "One free specialist"). If not, I dunno, your game is broken ^^

The confusion that many people have with Mercantilism is that people don't understand what "Foreign Trade Routes" are. Trade routes are the invisible connections that your cities make with other cities. Each "route" brings in a certaing amount of commerce to the city. You can see the current trade routes in each city by going into the city screen and looking on the left side. To start the game each city only gets 1 trade route, and as you unlock certain civics and learn certain techs, and build certain wonders the number of trade routes a city can have increases.

Domestic trade routes are those you have with your own cities. Foreign trade routes are those with AI civs, with whom you have open borders. The game automatically picks the most lucrative trade routes possible for each of your cities. Without mercantilism, the choices are picked from all cities you have contact with (assuming open borders with all the Civs in question). With mercantilism, the choices are only your own cities.

Generally, foreign trade routes will be more lucrative than domestic ones. So, the situation for Mercantilism is one in which you haven't met anyone else, have closed borders with everyone, are at war with many civs, or can make more benefit from the extra specialist than the extra income.

As far as import/export, I think it's correct in it's wording, you're just thinking of it backwards. Mercantilism is gaining money from exports, while restricting imports (IE: our country is just fine without your help, but you can buy our stuff if you want). If you look at RL, that's pretty much the definition of mercantilism. It's more of an Imperialistic view of an economy...protectionist/isolationist.

If you have open borders with other civs, then in many cases, your foreign trade routes will be more valuable than mercantilism. That's why you see your cash drop. If you are more of an isolationist, and tend to keep borders closed, then you wouldn't lose anything by switching to mercantilism, and gain the free specialist in every city.

It's confusing in that you lose money for importing things at first, because you have to purchase them. But you can't think of just the initial "trade". Your nation overall, benefits from having imports, which is what is being portrayed in the foreign trade routes. Money coming in from foreign trade routes signifies imports.

As for not seeing the free specialist...uhhh...post a screenshot. Remember that "citizens" (the ones that give +1 hammer when you can't hire any other type of specialist) count, and might be what you have if the city doesn't have any other options available to it.

And don't confuse TRADE ROUTES with TRADING. Trade routes are...as mentioned in an earlier post...found on the left side of the city screen, and are automatically generated.

Under Merchantilism, even though you don't have foreign TRADE ROUTES, you can still TRADE with other civs (trade techs or resources, for example). That is not affected.

I must admit that I'm adicted to Mercantilism and Pacifism, even with non-philosophical leaders. Of course I've been experimenting with Culture wins, so the GPPs kinda go hand in hand with that.

I should reprioritize getting the Pyramids though, free speech really early would seemingly help alot to get a decent culture base before you switch off science and then production in your culture cities.

It probably Would make the civic more realistic and useful if it also stopped foreign cities from getting trade routes with yours (ie foreign trade routes requre Open Border, Trade Access AND no Mercantilism on either side) Which I know does not happen, at least to a Human player when the AI becomes Mercantilist.

It probably Would make the civic more realistic and useful if it also stopped foreign cities from getting trade routes with yours (ie foreign trade routes requre Open Border, Trade Access AND no Mercantilism on either side) Which I know does not happen, at least to a Human player when the AI becomes Mercantilist.

While it may make it more useful, it isn't necessarily realistic. Mercantilism promotes exports, but not imports. That's how it's set up in game.

@licker:

Pyramids doesn't allow free speech (legal civic), only government civics (first column).

And umm, you should see a specialist assigned that you cant remove (if you hover over the "-" (i think) it tells you "One free specialist"). If not, I dunno, your game is broken

I think you don't even see the "-" button when you only have the free specialist.

I must admit that I'm adicted to Mercantilism and Pacifism, even with non-philosophical leaders. Of course I've been experimenting with Culture wins, so the GPPs kinda go hand in hand with that.

Don't forget 'Mercantilism' and 'Representation'.


Keep in mind that part of mercantilism's power is also that other nations cannot trade with you either and so they will also lose in trade. So, if you're a large nation, it can be a great advantage to chose Mercantilism.

Keep in mind that part of mercantilism's power is also that other nations cannot trade with you either and so they will also lose in trade. So, if you're a large nation, it can be a great advantage to chose Mercantilism.

This isn't true. Mercantilism does not block foreign cities from trading with you, it only blocks your cities from trading with them. Foreign cities can still have trade routes to a civ with mercantilism, and so foreign economies are completely unaffected.