Great Merchant, how far is far?

StrategeryBush

Warlord
Joined
Sep 8, 2007
Messages
205
I just got a Great Merchant for hitting Economics first. I figure to send him on a trade mission. I am playing on a Pangaea map, and am situated at the east end of the continent. Will I get more Gold from sending him to the far west end of the continent, or by sending him roughly 1/2 way around the world? The west end of the continent is actually closer by square count but that path crosses the "prime meridian" of all qater tiles that all maps have.
 
Halfway around the world from your capital, but that doesn't include trade multipliers.

Generally you want to send him to the city with the most valuable trade route.
 
I've always wondered which is more important city size or distance, or how the equation is.

Dave, since you mention trade multipliers do they also apply to the merchant. Would I get more sending him to a overseas city and do other multipliers like custom houses and the ToA also affect it. I just though it was distance and city size.
 
The profit of a trade mission is calculated as:
[pre]Profit = 500 + 200*CapitalTradeProfit[/pre]CapitalTradeProfit is the income this city would get for a trade route to your capital. All modifiers are factored in (Harbor, ToA, CitySize, ConnectionToCapital, OverSeas, Foreign, PeaceTime). Thus the ToA-city is often optimal, but not if it is an inland city close to your capital on the same landmass. Since the Base Profit of a trade route is Min(SizeOfOtherCity, PlotDistance)/10 you should always attempt to have a big capital (wait for growth before starting missions).
 
It seems like coastal cities (with harbours maybe too?) give you a bit more gold too.
 
So it sounds like you should use a GM on other target players coastal cities. Is that what I am getting from this?
 
It happens that the GM from the original post wound up in Berlin, which was both the closest to 1/2 way around the world, had the Temple of Artemis, and was on a coast, I got 1500 from it.
 
a 5 traderoute sounds rather low... there weren't any oversea locations?
 
Is there a way to see how much you will earn from a trade mission before actually sending the merchant?
 
1500? You get plenty more from just running 0 % research for one turn if you save that merchant for Sid's Sushi in your Wall Street city. But if you need the cash pronto, that's of course isn't an option.
 
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