Here's 2.0 of the Merchant Mod I posted above. I changed quite a bit...its not really the same mod at all. Much better, in fact!
Now, each Merchant has a resource (Strategic, Luxury or otherwise) that it needs to be built. There are 10 merchants (Sheep, Wine, Incense, Silk, Spices, Oil, Coal, Cotton, Sugar, Fur) that vary from 50-70% for a production return depending upon the resource's general availability and value (i.e. Sheep have a return of 50% while Oil has a return of 75%). While active, the unit consumes the resource, so any happiness bonuses or strategic bonuses the resource had activated disappear while the merchant is around. Furthermore, the merchant has a high upkeep, so it is not cost-effective to have a bunch hanging around. All units cost 100 hammer regardless of age.
Once spent, the resource is returned to your imperial resource pool.
The units are scattered about in historically-relevant places (Wool and Fur are Ancient, Incense is Classical, Wine and Sugar are Medieval, Spices and Silks are Renaissance, Coal and Cotton are Industrial and Oil is Modern).
Gazebo's Mercantile Mod
What do you think? Download it and give it a try!!
There are two known problems: 1.) There are no unit pictures for the bottom-left circle. This is because I didn't want to make 10 merchant pictures from scratch. Sorry.
2.) By late game, the unit production menu will have 10 merchant units on it. This is a necessary evil, unless someone more gifted than I with LUA wants to show me how to add a new tab to the production menu list.
Now, each Merchant has a resource (Strategic, Luxury or otherwise) that it needs to be built. There are 10 merchants (Sheep, Wine, Incense, Silk, Spices, Oil, Coal, Cotton, Sugar, Fur) that vary from 50-70% for a production return depending upon the resource's general availability and value (i.e. Sheep have a return of 50% while Oil has a return of 75%). While active, the unit consumes the resource, so any happiness bonuses or strategic bonuses the resource had activated disappear while the merchant is around. Furthermore, the merchant has a high upkeep, so it is not cost-effective to have a bunch hanging around. All units cost 100 hammer regardless of age.
Once spent, the resource is returned to your imperial resource pool.
The units are scattered about in historically-relevant places (Wool and Fur are Ancient, Incense is Classical, Wine and Sugar are Medieval, Spices and Silks are Renaissance, Coal and Cotton are Industrial and Oil is Modern).
Gazebo's Mercantile Mod
What do you think? Download it and give it a try!!
There are two known problems: 1.) There are no unit pictures for the bottom-left circle. This is because I didn't want to make 10 merchant pictures from scratch. Sorry.
2.) By late game, the unit production menu will have 10 merchant units on it. This is a necessary evil, unless someone more gifted than I with LUA wants to show me how to add a new tab to the production menu list.