What to do with Great Merchants?

[Danghis Khan]

I've usually tried to avoid Great Merchants, but in my most recent game I heavily specialized a city in commerce (playing as Elizabeth with tons of cottages). Of course this has left me with Great Merchants and while I'm comfortable with using the other Great People, I was less sure of what to do here.

So a poll on what you generally do with a Great Merchant (probably asked some time ago, but can't seem to find it).

 

[Fihri]

Moving them to an AI capital city and constructing a trade mission can net lots of gold. The further the city, the better.

I have gotten as high as 3500 gold on some of these.

 

[Zombie69]

I love Super Specialist merchants for the food they bring, and the gold is also nice. Add them to your holy city where all the gold bonuses are for best results. Market + Grocer + Bank + Wall Street = 200% bonus. With this, your merchant Super Specialist makes 1 food and 18 gold per turn! Add to this 3 beakers if you're running representation. This is much better than a trade mission. In my opinion, merchants make the best Super Specialists in the game.

Get just a few such merchant Super Specialists in your gold city and you can pay for your entire empire and run at 100% science for the whole game.

 

[Stangler]

How much commerce would you have to use to get 1000+ gold? Now take that commerce and see how many beakers you can get.

That is roughly the value of a great merchant in terms of beakers. I know I am usually building a lot more buildings that enhance my beaker production compared to buildings that enhance my gold production.

 

[Andrei_V]

In early game you won't have too much from the trade mission, but a small and steady amount of gold will serve you quite well during the next 200+ turns. Later in the game I would research a tech or go for 2000+ gold instead of even +18 gold for the next 100- turns.

 

[AngryPants]

I love the Great Merchant, they are second only to Great Engineer in my book. I love to build at least one uberhuge city in most of my games, and the Great Merchant helps with that.

 

[The Lardossen]

Depends on when I get them (usually late/very late), if it does come early, it's more efficient to make a SS out of it. Otherwise, trade route.

Most of the time it can't do research for something I want, since it always picks the lowest tech you haven't researched yet. And I backtrade on those most of the time, so all those vials are wasted.

 

[Bengalsfan58]

Most often, especially mid-late game I will take the trade route. The influx of gold (have gotten up to 5700) is great for upgrading the army.

 

[culdeus]

Using them for Civil Service is also sweeeeet.

 

[Archbob]

Generally I go for super-specialist. But I do get trade routes at times, Helps is rushing the wonder under Universal Suffrage.

 

[Dueck]

Superspecialist merchant > *

 

[aviator99_uk]

These are the best GP ever.

I deliberately created nothing other than GM GPs one game and found an AI capital giving 5100 gold per GM. 100% research and upgrades no problem for all the mid game caravel > free religion. It was wonderfull.

 

[mnf]

Usually in early to mid-game I settle them as super specialists. Especially in cities that simply will need the food even after Biology come into play. Then later in game it's trade missions because I'm likely going to need that gold for military upgrades and deficit research. If not, I'll just use him on technologies.

When I can get them around the time when Civil Service or Currency is available, though, it's always a hard decision.

So it really depends on the situation, what I need the most when that Great Person pops.

 

[Jotakami]

Using a Great Merchant to research a tech is a waste, IMHO. The other two uses are awesome:
(1) Trade mission, which is better in the late game and can net a massive amount of gold. I've gotten over 6000 before... the amount you receive depends on the distance from your capital and the size of the city. I'm guessing the game speed affects it too, but you can't really control that in the middle of the game. Upgrade your troops, run at 100% research for a while... if you've got Universal Suffrage, this money can be translated into hammers in any city (even better with Kremlin).
(2) Super specialist, which has quite a variety of applications. If you want to take advantage of the gold he generates, drop him in your Wall Street city and get up to +18 gpt. Alternatively, you can use the food he generates in your GPP farm to help support even more specialists, which could led to even more GMs. The ultimate combo would be a holy city with shrine, Wall Street, National Epic, and a high population. Drop a few merchants in there and you've got a powerhouse of a city.

I just thought of a nice use for the trade mission in the early game... If you have the Pyramids and can access Universal Suffrage, you can probably hurry a sizeable medieval/renaissance army with the cash and dominate a few opponents. Might have to try that sometime...

 

[illram]

I dont use GM's for trade routes, ever, for two reasons:

1) Late in the game, if I put my science down to 0 or close to it I should be getting close to 2000 gold per turn or above anyways. I always make them specialists in my commerce heavy cities since they provide 1 food- the more food, the more towns I can work. It seems people usually only net around 2000 at most anyways so this is a waste IMHO.

2) Early game, no brainer use as a specialst. I could conceivably see the situation where a quick boost in cash enables you to run science on 100% for a while, but in the long run you're getting more for your money by making a specialist.

Golden Ages are very weak compared to what they were in civ 3. 8 turns is a waste considering what these specialists could be doing, unless you have an artist and, say, an engineer while you are in Universal sufferage and have the Kremlin or something...

I just thought of a nice use for the trade mission in the early game... If you have the Pyramids and can access Universal Suffrage, you can probably hurry a sizeable medieval/renaissance army with the cash and dominate a few opponents. Might have to try that sometime...

This, actually, is a good idea. Never thought of that and that could be a very useful utilization of an early GM.

 

[Danghis Khan]

Thanks for the feedback.

I figured that the Tech and Golden Age were a waste. I used my 1st GM to boost a commerce city further (it needed the food too) and sent my 2nd on a round the world journey to find out how much I could get if I sent it to the best city in the world (sadly it wasn't mine). Turns out I got 1800 for the GM after spending 14 turns getting him there, however the timing was perfect as I was just about to discover rifling and Isabella was about to declare war on me. She ended up landing her troops (conquistadors and catapults) in the middle of a bunch of redcoats instead of longbowmen and musketmen.

A follow-up question would be: Does the amount of gold received relate to your diplomatic status with the other civ? (i.e. do you get more for having an open border agreement? Do you get more if they are pleased/friendly?)

 

[josephstalin]

You could travel to opponents city only with OB. Their altitude will not affect gold, the distance between capitals and their city size will.
I always use GM for trade mission. I get them late and not a lot.

 

[robinm]

Put them in your GP factory as super merchants.
Build grocer, market, bank, wall street in it.
If you have a shirine in there all the better.
Specialise the GP city with many merchant specialists. You will make a huge amount of gold, and the more Great merchants you add, the more specialists you can run (due to the free food from the Super Merchant), so the more money you make and the more GP points you make.

 

[mnf]

robinm: Wouldn't settling Great Merchants in the GP farm influence your ability to control the probabilities? I was under the impression that one of the GP farm's most valuable strength is the freedom to choose what kind of Great Person you want.

 

[Dueck]

Mnf, super-specialists don't make GP points, so you don't need to worry about them influencing the GP type that will be produced. Only normal specialists produce GP points.