Tips on productive enterprises

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MrDrudy

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I would appreciate some tips on what enterprises in which cities are the most profitable.
I know Iron Works in Curaw is a good one (currently 600 per week for me), but i've been looking in more cities but i cant seem to find any one over 300 denars.
 
Linen weavery (fudge how do you spell that?) in Shariz and Dye works everywhere else except Jelkala (go for tannery there).
 
What I usually do is, I check how much the enterprise costs to set up and compare it to the cost it makes per week. After a while you get a good idea of which enterprises are good and which ones aren't, based on that ratio alone. The more expensive the enterprise, the more time it takes to reach break-even (return of investment). This is the price range I'd say is good and worth investing in:

Mill (1500): 200+/week
Brewery (2500): 250+/week
Tannery (8000): 450+/week
Wine (5000): 400+/week
Oil (4500): 350+/week
Iron (3500): 300+/week
Velvet (10000): 620+/week
Wool (6000): 350+/week
Linen (6000): 350+/week

Here's a list of my current enterprises and how much they make:

Left: Character 1 (day 485, neutral), some wars going on (Swadia vs Vaegirs, Nords vs Sarranids).
Right: Character 2 (day 665, Nord), lots of wars going on (Nords vs Vaegirs/Sarranids/Rhodoks)


From there I hope you'll get an idea of which enterprises are good in which towns, but do keep in mind that things may vary from game to game.
 
Aure said:
Linen weavery (fudge how do you spell that?) in Shariz and Dye works everywhere else except Jelkala (go for tannery there).

I do something similar, Velvet on anywhere but Jelkala, tannery there.

The investment will be high, 217k, but it will compensate, specially if you do that on the eraly game, while you are still a freeman/trader. Don't be misguided by "It's a town that produces lor of flax, so let's build a weavery and stock on the inventory and sell somewhere else, etc." the fact is, economy never works as it's supposed to. With this investment, you get a total of 10-12k/month if your kingdom is not at war with anyone. Saves you the trouble of manually supplying or selling anything too.

If you have a bad relationship with the town's lord, just do quests for him until it reaches 0 or seek out a lady of the realm and try to do something to win her favour so you pay 3k for the usual -3 rel. that you get with some guys without you having done anything to them, not even met them.
 
In my most recent game I've been developing a trader/businesswoman character who's neutral with everyone (except bandits, heh) to maximize profits from enterprises (i.e. no risk of sequestration due to war, minimal negative relationships with town lords). I was interested in seeing which businesses would run well without me having to supply them with goods or ferry their products elsewhere to sell.

First of all, a good rule of thumb is to try and focus on products that demand high prices in towns where the raw material needed to make them is relatively inexpensive. A good example is that in Veluca, olives are usually not too expensive (~75-100 in the market), but oil is always pricey (it is everywhere except occasionally in Suno). This is probably why oil presses in Veluca work out well for a lot of people. Another example is Ahmerrad where they have cheap iron but expensive tools, which makes building an ironworks profitable usually.

Other businesses that have done decently for me:
~ Tihr: wool weavery
~ Shariz: linen weavery (flax is cheap there for some reason, head 1 town over to Durquba and it's a different story)
~ Yalen: brewery (LOTS of cheap grain in the area; not a ton of income but it was cheap to build and I haven't seen a loss thus far)
~ Sargoth: tannery
~ Bariyye: linen weavery

A good thing to do is to ask the guild master how trade is in his town; he will tell you what goods they are in need of. If you see a product that is in demand, and the GM doesn't also mention that they need the raw mats needed to make that product, then that might be the product you'd want to invest in. So, if he says they need wool cloth but doesn't also mention wool, then a wool weavery might be a profitable thing to build.

If you just can't figure out the supply/demand structure of a given town, or if you are rolling in dough, then you can't go wrong with a velvet weaver/dyeworks. They will turn a nice profit in every town except for Jelkala.
 
Meadows said:
What I usually do is, I check how much the enterprise costs to set up and compare it to the cost it makes per week. After a while you get a good idea of which enterprises are good and which ones aren't, based on that ratio alone. The more expensive the enterprise, the more time it takes to reach break-even (return of investment). This is the price range I'd say is good and worth investing in:

Despite the dyeworks taking a very long time to pay for itself... the extra income I get every week from having (currently 5) of them over what my other options would be is a godsend.

Yes it cost me a small fortune to set up.. and is going to take several months to pay for itself but my games (currently day 280) tend to run  for 1000+ days... they will more than pay for themself and be vital parts of my economy in that time. You cannot just look at the ratio... Sure that brewery is going to pay for itself in 12 weeks while my dye works will take 20... difference is by week 50 my dyeworks has made more for me than that brewery has.
 
tannery in Jelkala, linen weavery in Shariz, Dyeworks everywhere else as somebody wrote. I had ironworks in Curaw and it made a good money, but one-two wars, 5 sieges and it stops. So I builded dyeworks then and its makes about 100 more profit.
 
NJSQRL said:
Despite the dyeworks taking a very long time to pay for itself... the extra income I get every week from having (currently 5) of them over what my other options would be is a godsend.

Yes it cost me a small fortune to set up.. and is going to take several months to pay for itself but my games (currently day 280) tend to run  for 1000+ days... they will more than pay for themself and be vital parts of my economy in that time. You cannot just look at the ratio... Sure that brewery is going to pay for itself in 12 weeks while my dye works will take 20... difference is by week 50 my dyeworks has made more for me than that brewery has.
This.

It all depends what you're going for.  If you want maximum profit, then you need to balance cost to build with weekly revenue such as mentioned above.  I think you should actually check a few weeks to even out the numbers since the numbers given by the Guild Master don't pan out.

But after a while you just want the biggest weekly revenue.  At that point it's the Velvet factory that wins pretty much all the time.

In any case you can sell a factory if you're unhappy with the money it generates and you get some money back when you do.  So you can start with something not too expensive and upgrade later. 
Just make sure your relations to the city and lord did not deteriorate into negative values in the mean time or you won't be able to rebuild after selling (true story  :neutral: ).
 
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but this comes up when you're searching for "Warband profitable enterprise." I think ROI or return on investment only counts when interest is compounding. When you get 8% back from a stock per year and the dividend is reinvested. The best investment in the case is the highest number, so you may get 6.3% back on 3,500 denars, but 4.2% return on 10,000 denars is more per week and will be the better investment.
 
I recommend getting one in every town that will let you build a business, if you plan to be a warlord. If you go to war with the faction your businesses get cut off until piece. Spreading them around protects you.  I have done the math too, and it is better to pick the highest % business. It will more than make up for closing it and opening one with more monthly income if you need the money in late game (I never had). 
 
Things have changed with the game a bit since this thread was new, but dyeworks are still pretty much the best way to go almost everywhere.  I still tend to build an ironworks in Curaw first--at 3500, it's cheap enough to do fast, and I keep my party small in the early game so it generally covers my costs.  Plus, when you close it, you get 3200 back, which is great.  Jelkala's still a bad place for a dyeworks, and Veluca's not much better--not in the negative income like Jelkala is, but still very small income, so I build tanneries in both those cities.  Rivacheg's now become the place to build your first dyeworks because the income is so much better than for dyeworks anywhere else, so now everyone's sucking up to Boyar Meriga as soon as possible!
 
Currently I am actually finding olive oil to be a higher profit buisness than almost anything else. In shariz I would get 260 denars for 6000 but if I did oil and not the weavery it would be 340 for 4500.
 
King Ragpar said:
Currently I am actually finding olive oil to be a higher profit buisness than almost anything else. In shariz I would get 260 denars for 6000 but if I did oil and not the weavery it would be 340 for 4500.
With the dye works, you get ~500 every week. It costs 10,000 to build one, but in the long run, it is worth it. You will eventually be making more money. In the earlier parts of the game, I do think building other enterprises can be helpful, but I'd always upgrade them into a dye works when I have the money (except for the mentioned towns where dye works don't give the best income). Rivacheg gives more than double the income with a dyworks compared to other towns, so you should build one there first.

If you have all of the enterprises, you make more than 10,000 denars each week. This allows you to start buying very good armour and training up large armies without worrying about the money.
 
I never knew building an ironworks in curaw was considered good practice by default. As it happens, I did buy an ironworks in Curaw as my first enterprise but that was a decision made on my own and partially influenced by the fact that my fief was Bazeck, one of the villages around Curaw and the Vaegirs were at war with the Nords so I didn't really have time to travel far and wide to find the best deal possible.

My second enterprise was a dyeworks in rivacheg as it happens. It's pretty reliable 600-something a week and I've just bought some raw materials for it in Shapeshte, a village next to Bazeck. At 99 denars, buying raw silk is a bargain.

The tannery in Wercheg isn't working out so well but it's still turning a profit and I can occassionally buy hides at low price from various villages, including Bazeck (and once in Fearichen when it was still my fief but the Nords recaptured Sargoth. We took it again but Yaroglek took the village for himself) so I keep it around.

 
SAUS said:
King Ragpar said:
Currently I am actually finding olive oil to be a higher profit buisness than almost anything else. In shariz I would get 260 denars for 6000 but if I did oil and not the weavery it would be 340 for 4500.
With the dye works, you get ~500 every week. It costs 10,000 to build one, but in the long run, it is worth it. You will eventually be making more money. In the earlier parts of the game, I do think building other enterprises can be helpful, but I'd always upgrade them into a dye works when I have the money (except for the mentioned towns where dye works don't give the best income). Rivacheg gives more than double the income with a dyworks compared to other towns, so you should build one there first.

If you have all of the enterprises, you make more than 10,000 denars each week. This allows you to start buying very good armour and training up large armies without worrying about the money.

When I say Olive is one of the best industries, at least in my game I mean it. I have found more than enough towns where the olive industry is cheaper and brings more profit than any other buisness. I also find many towns where dye works gives me very little money, or negative

I may be totally wrong about this if you mean that dye works get more profit later in the game, but in game I'm nearing 365 days
 
Taleworlds' site warns that flooding the market with too much of a product will drive the market price down a la supply and demand, yet everyone seems to recommend building velvet enterprise everywhere.. what gives? Does the profit margin for velvet outweigh the reaction that the market is supposed to have?
 
I've never gone the route of having dye works everywhere. I usually try to set up a business quick in a town that will let me(often you start with some negative rep with the town lords(not being noble affects this?)). I find breweries are a good all-round early investment, due to low cost(2500), and reasonable profit(150+). They also stay profitable longer. Dhirim and Uxkhal often has low grain price to keep profits up. Curaw is great for Iron Works, due to cheap Iron, which means more profits. Rivacheg makes the best Dye Works (1000+), due to cheap silk. Veluca and and Jelkala makes less profit on Dye works, due to costly silk and low velvet price, respectively. Veluca is often good for an oil press.
 
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