The Merchant Guild

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Prosperity.jpg
"Prosperity"
Thanks to Cyc for the Pic!

prof·it:
noun.
1. An advantageous gain or return; benefit.
2. The return received on a business undertaking after all operating expenses have been met.

A. The return received on an investment after all charges have been paid. Often used in the plural.
B. The rate of increase in the net worth of a business enterprise in a given accounting period.
C. Income received from investments or property.
D. The amount received for a commodity or service in excess of the original cost.

Our Philosophy:
We, The Merchant Guild believe that the economy of our nation is the most important segment of it. We believe a strong economy ensures our military is strong, our citizens are happy, and our empire is healthy. Our goals as a nation are only attainable through trade, resources, economic improvements, and the development of land tiles. It is our goal show the government of our nation that economics is above all. It is out belief that corruption is counterproductive to our national goals. It is also our belief that by destroying our enemies economically, military achievements are far easier.

Our Goals
1. To find luxury resources and connect them to our empire as soon as possible.
2. To trade excess luxuries to our peaceful neighbours in a profitable exchange.
3. To find, and control strategic resources. To deprive our enemies of strategic resources is to ensure they are obedient customers and loyal subjects.
4. To work to the improvement of our cities with profitable improvements.
5. To Reduce Corruption in our Empire through construction and sensible planning.
6. To Maximize the potential of land tiles in our Empire to achieve maximum profit.
7. To actively engage in the pillaging of our enemies territories to strangle their nation.

FAQ:
Does The Merchant Guild advocate war with our neighbours to gain resources and luxuries? Added July 22, 2004

The foreign policy and military of our nation is best left to those individuals who are involved in those ministries. Our group has a wide range of opinions, from absolutely not, to war is the only legitimate form of foreign policy.

Members:
Immortal
Civgeneral
SniperDevil
Babbler
Stuck_As_a_Mac
Blackheart
Bacon King
Black Hole
Inkstier
Classical_Hero
Puglover
Civman 2004
Gregski
Draconian Devil
KCCrusader
St. Vidus
Bobby Lee
Sir Donald III
Gulliver
Der Sensenmann
burning_phoneix

Affiliated Groups:
Imperial Oil (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=95296)

I wish to join this group

What do you believe to be the best way the merchant guild can advise the incoming government about early build queues and expansioN?

Personaly, I would see that we would make more workers/settlers than military units. In the early phase of the game, we should focus more of a peacefull expantion and using our warriors to scout out possible good settleling locations to settle before the AI civ comes to play. In regards to the queues, however, I personaly would like to see granaries to be built to help with the settler/worker production. The more workers we have, the more productive our civ would become.

Should our first leader be used for a GW or for an army? I have always been of the opinion that the first leader should always be used to construct an army.

Personaly, Depends how far we are in the Wonder race. If we are fairly ahead and are a few turns at getting the specific wonder. Then the Leader should be used for an army. However, if we are lagging in the wonder race and we need a critical wonder like the Great Library, then the Leader should be used for the GW.

I would like to join this group. I am new to the DemoGame so i hope i can learn a lot here about how everything works. :) I also agree with all your policies, so why Im joining this.

Tell our society about your aims for the nation. How does the merchant guild fit your gaming style? how does it differ? Im just trying to get ya some airtime here (its easier to get elected that way).

I would like to join.

I believe, like CivGeneral, that in the beginning of the gaming there should be more worker units than military units unless other nations interfere. I also believe in peaceful expansion. I like to find many luxuries to keep my people happy so that we do not have to increase the luxury tax. I trade excess luxuries for other luxuries or money or techs even. Economy is very important in my opinion towards how the game will be won. With a good economy you can have a faster tech rate, build units and improvements quicker, and therefore lead the way for other nations to follows. Those are the main reason why i have joined this group because they are basically what you have just said.

Im in. I personally feel that at the start, queue production should concentrate on workers and settlers to expand (and increase the profit margin) the nation.
As to the FAQ, only when absolutely necessariy. We have a wonderful UU for this game, and it could come in handy to deprive our foes of resources, luxes and other such items. But, if I recall correctly (if memory serves me right! Iron Chef (had to.. i love that show)), we decided we might want to try for a Diplo victory

SaaM

Ahh, since everyone else has I will post my personal feelings on foreign policy:

War is the only legitimate form of foreign policy.

Im an old fashioned war monger, but *puts on top hat* capitalist will do for now.

BTW the merchant guild will make for very interesting role playing should anyone decide to do it. We can be travellers, diplomats, even spies :)

Obviously because of the nature of the group, there is no leadership and there is no Chain of Command. However do we want to be a loose affiliation or do we want structure within this group?

Obviously because of the nature of the group, there is no leadership and there is no Chain of Command. However do we want to be a loose affiliation or do we want structure within this group?
I personaly feel that we should have a loose affiliation so that everyone is equal.

Ahh, since everyone else has I will post my personal feelings on foreign policy:

War is the only legitimate form of foreign policy.

I would disagree. We should always try more peaceful means, if its possible for such means to produce the ends we want. The only time I consider war as an automatic posiblity is when our vital resources are in thier land ;););). Of course, we have a right to those resources :goodjob: :king: :goodjob: , as it is vital to keep military parity with other civilizations.

Im glad a wide diversity of opinions exists in this group. It is very condusive to a conversational group.

Plus I like how pleasent the conversation is!

I wish to join too.

I believe the first leader should almost always be used for an army. Leaders are rare, and after the first army is made, all (if any) leaders after that can be exclusively used for wonders.

Foreign policy should be a mixed of total war and peaceful coexistence. In that I mean assimiliate the weaker nations and exist with the stronger ones until we can absorb them too.

I'll join, this group pretty much defines how i play a game of civ. I belive that our nation's military should only be used for defense, and we should concentrate mostly on producing workers and settlers, at least early on.

I will join this group! I believe the military must be used to secure resources, I like war...

I'd like to join. I like the organization and policy of this group.

I would like to join this group.

I'll join. I highly value the connection of resources to the capitol.

Must the Sister Order of the Merchants prevail in enrichening the glorious Japan!

Count me in as well - I'm a big fan of using economic means to achieve military ends

I see we have a lot of new faces joining.

Why dont you guys tell us a little about your playing style in CivIII and what your most looking forward to doing in this game.

Why hello there!

I'm 16 and I live in Iowa and am Vietnamese. Ingame I don't like to attack other countries until I have a large force and can quickly capture a few cities. Blitzkrieg all the way! I also like to start wars and watch a world war break out :D. I also like cap cities that have important resources to starve the enemy.

I wish to join. Althogh I am more peace oriented and have a strong focus on culture and science, it is all based upon a bulletproof commercial background.

As for my playing style, I mostly tend to attack nations who wrong me by attacking my noble citizens, unless I am in the mood to unify two nations: mine and the victims. Usually attack based on great superiority in numbers and more significantly technology. Rarely go on wild ambush attacks early on.
A city without a marketplace and courthouse is not yet a city.

I would like to join the Merchant Guild.

I would like to join as well.

My playing style is sort of a mix of the previous posted ones. I like to start out in building mode, expanding and building improvements. Once I have a few cities that have 75% or so of the improvements, I begin pumping out my best offensive unit. I find the closest weak neighbor I have and conquer them, usually to entirety. Then Start over, rushing improvements in my original and captured cities to ensure fast expansion, then upgrade/pump out the best offensive unit etc etc etc. You get the point. I am in favor of a very aggressive style of play, resorting to war to gain technology and resources rather than trading.

Thanks.
KCC

Hello, as CEO and Chairman of Imperial Oil (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=95296), I would like for a official partnership to be forged between our groups, if you are interested please reply in my thread.

I would like to join your established and peaceful group, as I am always looking for peaceful ways to make money.

However, I do have issues with the wasteful spending of the government, and the dispertion of funds to certain groups.

Oh and I wish to become part of helping the military out in it's development of nuclear weapons and peaceful solutions.

I am also pro social programs, and that they should be the first priority of keeping the people happy.

Hmmm...my playing style eh? I usually use militaristic tactics but as of late I have been focusing more on the economic orientation. I like to secure strategic and luxury resources as quickly as possible in the beginning stages of the game then I use military force to gather more and more resources when trading isn't possible.

I'm currently trying to master emperor level - have won a few, lost a few at the moment. My preferred tactic at the moment is to grow to about 5 cities, then launch an attack on my weakest neighbour (having researched straight to Iron Working most times). I try to obliterate them and then consolidate within 2 centres of production (hopefully using a GL to rush FP). From there, it's a matter of assessing the global position, and trying to pick and choose my wars to gradually grow into the biggest empire. By that time, it's easy to go for conquest victory, space victory or diplo victory

I would like to join as well.

My playing style is oriented strongly towards the situation I am in but there are basic tenants to it. I never give in to demands from other nations and I believe strongly in both securing resources for my country and depriving other nations of economic means. I believe strongly in generating a strong revenue early on in order to fund a strong military which is then later used to further secure large revenue producing cities and/or cities with strong trading importances (like resources). Basically I believe in useing an overpowering economy to enforce my foreign policy on the rest of the world through whatever means necessary.

Welcome fellow merchants.


WHen the creation chat is finished we will have a better idea of our surroundings anbd hopefully, resources.

Is it also our policy to extort our neighbors for resources and a continued co-existence?

good question, extortion is good...umm, oh i meant co-existance...yesss, coexistance...

Extortion, coexistence, all the same to me. Both means we aren't killing the other guy, at least not yet ;). How bout a forced coexistence? They hate our guts and want to raze our cities but we want to live in peace and force them to with our military :lol:?

The Philosophy and Goals seem in tune to my beliefs. (Heck, I've given a speech on the discussion thread that we use the current settler to put City #2 near the horses :D ) Very well. Sign me up.

Count me in.

My playing style? I always try to get as many resources as possible and build a basic defensive military. The only way that I get into a war is when another nation attacks me for not paying tribute to them. I'm such a newbie that I still have to get to the industrial age in chieftain.Oh Yeah I NEVER CONNECT TO IVORY IN CIV3.

:bounce: :banana:

As a money-lov-, I mean FREEDOM-loving citizen of Japanatica, I would also like to join the Merchants Guild. I feel our people have a right to live with access to all the major luxuries and am an exponent of Free Trade, meaning we should have free access to all world markets. I feel the military should take a back seat, but should nevertheless be fully supplied with all resources it may need.

Sorry for the lack of updates friends, Im working 12 hour days right now :)

So as we now have contact with babylon, what do our members feel our policy should be toward Babylon?

Personally, their use as a trading partner will end when our border touch theirs should we ever actually be conected to them. However. they would be useful for technology.

I feel we should keep them alive so they can buy our goods, though we should also ensure they never have any critical resource (luxury or strategic) that they can extort us over.

i assume, this group could also be slightly RPG'ish so therefore i encourage all posters to go and post here.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=96784

sorry if this messes up your thread a bit immo :)

I would also like to join this guild.

About the Babylons, we should expand quickly as they might be a neighbour vying for the same resources as us.

Well, with Furuyama and the singles to the North, we probably won't have to worry about the Babs (or the Romans for that matter) getting some resources we don't have. (And watch as we find out that Babylon was founded on a Fur Forest :shakehead: )

Now all we need to worry about is controling the trade of these resources. The Grapes to the SE are too far for us to control. The Gems are another story, as there is also a Horse nearby, making it a National Security Issue.

Control of Trade = Control of Destiny. At least until the swords are drawn.

I concur with Sir Donald that we need to assert our dominance over the gems and Horse before anyone else does. The military will also most likely take this p;osition as well.

I would like to join this group as it fits my playing style perfectly, which I would describe as aggresively mercantile. I have gone to war countless times for resources, luxurious or strategic. I believe that trading and diplomacy has a place, but only to a point; ultimately, our interests are paramount, and must be secured. Bad deals, insulting demands, and certainly in cases of resource scarcity, are all plausible reasons to declare war in my book.

I strongly agree with Bobby Lee's statement that economy should be used to force foreign policy upon others.

Finally, I definitely agree with Sir Donald and Der Sensenmann on the need to get to the gems and horse as soon as possible, not only for our benefit, but to impede the progress of the Babylonians.

-Alex

Well, with Furuyama and the singles to the North, we probably won't have to worry about the Babs (or the Romans for that matter) getting some resources we don't have. (And watch as we find out that Babylon was founded on a Fur Forest :shakehead: )

Now all we need to worry about is controling the trade of these resources. The Grapes to the SE are too far for us to control. The Gems are another story, as there is also a Horse nearby, making it a National Security Issue.

Control of Trade = Control of Destiny. At least until the swords are drawn.

Nothing is too far for us to control. A late ingame resouce is something for us to worry about though.

I feel that the acquisition of those wines the Romans will surely take should also be one of our relatively early objectives, once the situation is stable enough. Also, I wouldn't mind a nice ermine coat or two, so Babylon may need to be taken down a bit.

We need to connect gems asap in my opinion, with the massive growth we stand to gain from Immo, I really look forward to placing another city around there. Maybe not right now, but soon.

Indeed, we should connect the Gems. So long as the creation of the required workers would not interfere with the creation of Settlers securing Wines and Iron.

I would like to join.

I advocate strong peaceful economic expansion separated by short bursts of unstoppable military power to gain resources and cities. Never conduct a drawn out war.

Your views and opinions are very much parallel to my own (except im an old war-dog aswell)...

I think that wars are a critical (and fun) part of Civilization as this is the main way to expand territory. There's nothing better than seeing your colour slowly expanding to fill the entire game world, and the feeling of accomplishment after you gain a Conquest victory. :king:

However to conduct wars you need a massive economy, and money is a mans best friend (after women and dogs).

I would like to join.....

I wish also to join this great group that it may rise to the Great Emperor's standards.

It is with great pleasure that I can announce (as if you all didn't know already) the completion of the commercial Great Wonder: Smith's Trading Company (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=2288467) in Shorin-Ryu (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=2250279).
With such a significant boost to commerce, Shorin-Ryu has pretty much become the unofficial commercial capital of Japanatica.