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Any Trading Tips?
- Thread starter Vulhyden
- Start date
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When it comes to trading I usually don't have routes in Bannerlord.
Just travel though the whole continent and sell where I the money received is above average.
I really like to sit in front of towns, wait for the villagers and buy stuff from them before they enter.
You can get loads of stuff quite cheats that way.
So far I haven't noticed them to sell above average price but often times it is way below average price.
I always like to buy grain, iron and wood from them.
You can sell iron and wood basically everywhere and I sell grain to cities just after they have been besieged.
They are usually starving then.
I also like to buy velvet or jewelry if I find it below average. You can't buy much of it but telling can give quite the profit anyway.
Others might have more optimized tipps but I like to do the things I I described
Just travel though the whole continent and sell where I the money received is above average.
I really like to sit in front of towns, wait for the villagers and buy stuff from them before they enter.
You can get loads of stuff quite cheats that way.
So far I haven't noticed them to sell above average price but often times it is way below average price.
I always like to buy grain, iron and wood from them.
You can sell iron and wood basically everywhere and I sell grain to cities just after they have been besieged.
They are usually starving then.
I also like to buy velvet or jewelry if I find it below average. You can't buy much of it but telling can give quite the profit anyway.
Others might have more optimized tipps but I like to do the things I I described
William7667
Regular
To make money you sometimes need money.
The first thing you have to do is get your expenditure down, a party of good troops will cost you daily if you use few troops or poor ones you risk being attacked and killed and your stuff stolen. Buy a workshop or even two if you're getting a positive income each day then every positive trade is profit theres no point travelling 3 days to make 500 if you had to pay 3 days wages of 200 ( 600 ) also if you've some decent troops kill off some looters / bandits along the way and make even more.
What I do is for cheap bulk buying I go to the coast especially top of the map and get fish it sells inland for a lot more
For more low volume expensive stuff I get war horses from the bottom of the map they sell for lot more in middle / top of the map its also worth picking up some dates while you're there as they seem to be the only ones that sell them.
I look at the encyclopeadia and see whos at war and sell to whoever is in multiple wars and buy from the ones at peace.
One of the big issues with trading is your army will eat some of the stuff theres no way to stop them so trying to deal in expensive consumables like beer oil, or wine is pointless as your army will probably eat your profits
If your really skint watch the price of pigs and meat you can often buy pigs slaughter them and sell at a profit in the same town
Though the best way of trading is cutting out the middle man by killing off caravans and getting your goods for free you will end up at war with a few factions and you need decent troops to achieve it. ( A mod like cant run forever also helps and dont try caravans with lots of horse archers till you can handle them. )
The first thing you have to do is get your expenditure down, a party of good troops will cost you daily if you use few troops or poor ones you risk being attacked and killed and your stuff stolen. Buy a workshop or even two if you're getting a positive income each day then every positive trade is profit theres no point travelling 3 days to make 500 if you had to pay 3 days wages of 200 ( 600 ) also if you've some decent troops kill off some looters / bandits along the way and make even more.
What I do is for cheap bulk buying I go to the coast especially top of the map and get fish it sells inland for a lot more
For more low volume expensive stuff I get war horses from the bottom of the map they sell for lot more in middle / top of the map its also worth picking up some dates while you're there as they seem to be the only ones that sell them.
I look at the encyclopeadia and see whos at war and sell to whoever is in multiple wars and buy from the ones at peace.
One of the big issues with trading is your army will eat some of the stuff theres no way to stop them so trying to deal in expensive consumables like beer oil, or wine is pointless as your army will probably eat your profits
If your really skint watch the price of pigs and meat you can often buy pigs slaughter them and sell at a profit in the same town
Though the best way of trading is cutting out the middle man by killing off caravans and getting your goods for free you will end up at war with a few factions and you need decent troops to achieve it. ( A mod like cant run forever also helps and dont try caravans with lots of horse archers till you can handle them. )
I got trading to 275 within a few years. My most important discovery was that an average price is not an average price. You can get for example a lot of grain in Askar and Omor for 6 denars. Cities in trouble will buy that for 18 but the money they pay quickly goes down. @ a price of 12 grain no longer sells "red" but reaches average price. But you don't have to stop selling then. You can sell it down to 10 a piece or so and still make a profit. There is a sturgian town in the northwest of the map where you can bulk buy fish for 6 denars too, fish makes even greater profits than grain and you can sell hundreds of units of fish above average price in landlocked towns. Those give the big turnarounds given you have quite a lot of mules, at least a hundred or more as for trading big in fish/grain you need a lot of capacity.
Another thing is villages on the way also sell stuff, but often only at average price or even above. So fish in a fish village often costs 12 even though they got a hundred units or more. But you may be able to sell that fish for 20 in a town nearby (not the town where the village belongs to) so still profitable.
Trade rumours also help though until you get to that city things have often changed.
Along the way slaying some bandits and selling their stuff also helps with money, though selling loot will NOT ugrade your trade skill. Same for smithing parts, only iron ore and hardwood work towards trade skill.
So the big trade route is for me: Getting wool/meat/hides/fur around khergit territory, moving south, buying grain (@6-10)/beer(below 40)/dates (below 30) in aserai cities. (don't buy too much beer, I got a beer inflation in my game where beer was cheap everywhere thanks to too much breweries or so). Then move to vlandia, sell grain/dates there and buy olives below 30 or so and oil below 100. Then battania, get hardwood there in hardwood villages and buy wine and grapes if you get some cheap. Also iron ore if a decent price is there and take the green/cheap stuff. Also hides and flax can get good profits, but you can't trade them in massive numbers like fish. Sell a few hides and price reaches average quickly.
Then move to sturgia (buy fish/fur/grain and cheap stuff) and from there into the empires where you just buy cheap/sell expensive. But you need to get a feeling for prices. Here are my price "feelings" (maybe not 100% accurate is from the head)
grain: buy below ten/ sell above 12
fish: buy below 12, sell above 15 or so.
olives: buy below 30, sell above 40
beer: buy below 40, sell above 50
dates: Buy below 25 or so and sell above 40
olives: about same as dates can't remember.
salt and flax are "good" trade goods, you can trade them in bigger numbers with profits. Buy salt below 20 and flax below 12, sell@ sometimes massive profits of salt above 50 and flax above 20.
Wool: Buy below 100, sell above.
forgot clay, also a good one, forgot the numbers but can give good profts^^
meat, cheese and butter are difficult trade goods. Rarely you will get some cheap. Hard to trade and little numbers of them.
Then the rare stuff, hides silver ore, iron ore, hardwood pottery etc. trade in small numbers or don't bother.
Leather: Leather is always scarce in my game. Can't trade it.
jewelry: buy below 200, sell above or don't bother, tiny numbers.
So if you want to progress quickly stick with the bulk stuff. All refined goods like oil and wine are very rare, especially wine. You sometimes get oil, and beer is the most abundant advanced good. Sometimes too abundant. So you can actually ignore the rare stuff and stick with grain/fish/dates/olives/grapes/flax/clay/salt and beer. The rest is often not worth the effort or only good for a little side denar here and there.
PS: hardwood is scarce everywhere and cheap nowhere. You can often only get it from villages and @average price if you are lucky. Buy below 40 or even 50 and sell above. the green/red price system doesn't work for hardwood, you can buy it red and still make profits. Better still use it for smithing. The crafted weapons you can make can quickly reach massive values. I can make a javelin with a hardwood shaft, iron tip and wrought iron accessoire and sell it for 90 k now^^ No need to make expensive steel/fine steel/thamascene steel. To level smithing quickly, all you need is the smithing skill that gives you crude iron everytime you smelt, which basically means you get endless iron. (if you also smelt your crafted weapons while leveling smithing). All you need is charcoal and that means a lot of hardwood, I mean thousands of it. Tip: "smelt" pitchforks for 3 hardwood^^
Also there is a hardwood axis. From battania to khuzait, in the north I wrote myself down the hardwood route from village to village. From east to west there are 15 hardwood villages. I start in: odrysa, soutern empire, then omrotok, khuzait, then tepes, khuzait, then temhern, northern empire, then alebat, sturgia, then west of it, agalmon, sturgie, then west of that uthelaim, battania, then west of that andurn, battania, and west of that ebereth, battania, and then west from there near each other Tor Leiad and Glenlithing, battania. West of that the last villlage is the only vlandian hardwood village, Mareiren.
From there go east again and visit the last three: montos western empire, then popsia southern empire, then hetania northern empire.
That is the big route. Can be quicker though to stick around the battanian villages and buy all their hardwood. As inventories of villages resupply qickly.
PPS: Ah yes buy workshops, tanneries make you 400 profit almost everywhere in khuzait territory, tanneries and wool workshops are fine. They don't have grain but a lot of sheep villages. Check for wanderers with N (encyclopedia) and get those with medicine/scouting and high attributes regarding charm/intelligence. They make great leaders of caravans for money (caravans don't up your trade skill yet it is a bug). Or make spin off parties with them, give them some recruits and in time they will level nicely. Engineers you will need later as governors but you need to reach clan tier 4 or so first and have fiefs etc. So don't have your companions in party as surgeon etc, do all yourself to level your character quicker. It's painful at the start but it well worth it, when you level scouting and medicine etc yourself. engineering levels ultra slow and you need to do a lot of sieges for that, so an engineer with 80/100 skill can be very good... same for leadership, you will need to lead armies a lot of times to level that. Painfully slow.
Another thing is villages on the way also sell stuff, but often only at average price or even above. So fish in a fish village often costs 12 even though they got a hundred units or more. But you may be able to sell that fish for 20 in a town nearby (not the town where the village belongs to) so still profitable.
Trade rumours also help though until you get to that city things have often changed.
Along the way slaying some bandits and selling their stuff also helps with money, though selling loot will NOT ugrade your trade skill. Same for smithing parts, only iron ore and hardwood work towards trade skill.
So the big trade route is for me: Getting wool/meat/hides/fur around khergit territory, moving south, buying grain (@6-10)/beer(below 40)/dates (below 30) in aserai cities. (don't buy too much beer, I got a beer inflation in my game where beer was cheap everywhere thanks to too much breweries or so). Then move to vlandia, sell grain/dates there and buy olives below 30 or so and oil below 100. Then battania, get hardwood there in hardwood villages and buy wine and grapes if you get some cheap. Also iron ore if a decent price is there and take the green/cheap stuff. Also hides and flax can get good profits, but you can't trade them in massive numbers like fish. Sell a few hides and price reaches average quickly.
Then move to sturgia (buy fish/fur/grain and cheap stuff) and from there into the empires where you just buy cheap/sell expensive. But you need to get a feeling for prices. Here are my price "feelings" (maybe not 100% accurate is from the head)
grain: buy below ten/ sell above 12
fish: buy below 12, sell above 15 or so.
olives: buy below 30, sell above 40
beer: buy below 40, sell above 50
dates: Buy below 25 or so and sell above 40
olives: about same as dates can't remember.
salt and flax are "good" trade goods, you can trade them in bigger numbers with profits. Buy salt below 20 and flax below 12, sell@ sometimes massive profits of salt above 50 and flax above 20.
Wool: Buy below 100, sell above.
forgot clay, also a good one, forgot the numbers but can give good profts^^
meat, cheese and butter are difficult trade goods. Rarely you will get some cheap. Hard to trade and little numbers of them.
Then the rare stuff, hides silver ore, iron ore, hardwood pottery etc. trade in small numbers or don't bother.
Leather: Leather is always scarce in my game. Can't trade it.
jewelry: buy below 200, sell above or don't bother, tiny numbers.
So if you want to progress quickly stick with the bulk stuff. All refined goods like oil and wine are very rare, especially wine. You sometimes get oil, and beer is the most abundant advanced good. Sometimes too abundant. So you can actually ignore the rare stuff and stick with grain/fish/dates/olives/grapes/flax/clay/salt and beer. The rest is often not worth the effort or only good for a little side denar here and there.
PS: hardwood is scarce everywhere and cheap nowhere. You can often only get it from villages and @average price if you are lucky. Buy below 40 or even 50 and sell above. the green/red price system doesn't work for hardwood, you can buy it red and still make profits. Better still use it for smithing. The crafted weapons you can make can quickly reach massive values. I can make a javelin with a hardwood shaft, iron tip and wrought iron accessoire and sell it for 90 k now^^ No need to make expensive steel/fine steel/thamascene steel. To level smithing quickly, all you need is the smithing skill that gives you crude iron everytime you smelt, which basically means you get endless iron. (if you also smelt your crafted weapons while leveling smithing). All you need is charcoal and that means a lot of hardwood, I mean thousands of it. Tip: "smelt" pitchforks for 3 hardwood^^
Also there is a hardwood axis. From battania to khuzait, in the north I wrote myself down the hardwood route from village to village. From east to west there are 15 hardwood villages. I start in: odrysa, soutern empire, then omrotok, khuzait, then tepes, khuzait, then temhern, northern empire, then alebat, sturgia, then west of it, agalmon, sturgie, then west of that uthelaim, battania, then west of that andurn, battania, and west of that ebereth, battania, and then west from there near each other Tor Leiad and Glenlithing, battania. West of that the last villlage is the only vlandian hardwood village, Mareiren.
From there go east again and visit the last three: montos western empire, then popsia southern empire, then hetania northern empire.
That is the big route. Can be quicker though to stick around the battanian villages and buy all their hardwood. As inventories of villages resupply qickly.
PPS: Ah yes buy workshops, tanneries make you 400 profit almost everywhere
in khuzait territory, tanneries and wool workshops are fine. They don't have grain but a lot of sheep villages. Check for wanderers with N (encyclopedia) and get those with medicine/scouting and high attributes regarding charm/intelligence. They make great leaders of caravans for money (caravans don't up your trade skill yet it is a bug). Or make spin off parties with them, give them some recruits and in time they will level nicely. Engineers you will need later as governors but you need to reach clan tier 4 or so first and have fiefs etc. So don't have your companions in party as surgeon etc, do all yourself to level your character quicker. It's painful at the start but it well worth it, when you level scouting and medicine etc yourself. engineering levels ultra slow and you need to do a lot of sieges for that, so an engineer with 80/100 skill can be very good... same for leadership, you will need to lead armies a lot of times to level that. Painfully slow.
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paladinx333
Sergeant at Arms
Play a version of the game prior to 1.4.1. Trading got hit pretty hard in this patch.
I've found buying desert horses in the south and selling them in the north racks up the trade points nicely. Especially during wars.
1. Take notes on paper. Very high and very low looking prices, now it's super easy because you see red. It's not so much for planning, but to analyze it as you scribble. You'll find out some main tradeables like furs and salt and some less instinctive (but easy) ones like beer.
2. Trading in town influences prices at bound villages and scales as you increase volume. Villages base (but not 1:1) their prices on the city they are bound to, but have a cap of 1000g+collected goods.
So in early game especially you may want to buy/sell at villages before getting to main city.
And sometimes you may want to sell at a loss because some other goods are priced down to hell and you need money/capacity.
3. Not sure about whatever patch you're reading this at, but starting prices are all Fd up. When in-game supply and demand has some time to adjust, that equilibrium is waaay different than starting values. Horses are super cheap, always worth to have a big spread. Grain and Fish often have values flipped, single digit fish in 1.4 can triple+ your money in a half a day trip (5 to 7 but 21-25 sell).
4. Horses values are super volatile, but in a reliable way. Scarcity is calculated for each type of horse as of different item. So you can make a few k. selling off 230g mules and sumpter horses. And find 600g warhorses.
5. Have a safety chest. A few days worth of wages on top of whatever cargo (-food) you've got. I sometimes break the rule but only having a specific and sure destination to offload whatever I went all in on.
6. Go to warzones, follow armies and clusters of bandits. You'll find opportunities to sell grain for 20, to or to BUY it for 20 because that lets you sell more iron at 300 or fish at 70.
2. Trading in town influences prices at bound villages and scales as you increase volume. Villages base (but not 1:1) their prices on the city they are bound to, but have a cap of 1000g+collected goods.
So in early game especially you may want to buy/sell at villages before getting to main city.
And sometimes you may want to sell at a loss because some other goods are priced down to hell and you need money/capacity.
3. Not sure about whatever patch you're reading this at, but starting prices are all Fd up. When in-game supply and demand has some time to adjust, that equilibrium is waaay different than starting values. Horses are super cheap, always worth to have a big spread. Grain and Fish often have values flipped, single digit fish in 1.4 can triple+ your money in a half a day trip (5 to 7 but 21-25 sell).
4. Horses values are super volatile, but in a reliable way. Scarcity is calculated for each type of horse as of different item. So you can make a few k. selling off 230g mules and sumpter horses. And find 600g warhorses.
5. Have a safety chest. A few days worth of wages on top of whatever cargo (-food) you've got. I sometimes break the rule but only having a specific and sure destination to offload whatever I went all in on.
6. Go to warzones, follow armies and clusters of bandits. You'll find opportunities to sell grain for 20, to or to BUY it for 20 because that lets you sell more iron at 300 or fish at 70.
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FujairahMan
Recruit
I was going to give you my biggest tip on trading, but Beau Vine beat me to it.
My gaming table has a stack of handwritten notes. The color tips (green or red) that the game gives us can be confusing or even misleading, so I track my own trading.
I make lists of how much I pay for items I buy. For example:
Salt 20
Beer 32-34
Cotton 47-52
etc.
When I get to the next town, I try to sell items at prices higher than what I paid for. If I get to another town where beer is cheaper than 32, then I buy instead of sell, and I change my list price.
Beer 24-26
Eventually, I will get to a town where I can sell that cheap beer for a killing.
BTW, I stopped focusing on developing my trading skills in my most recent games. It was just too much of a grind making money that way. Instead, I put most of my effort in developing my smithing skills. When you can craft a decent weapon, you can make a ton of money. It is easier than shifting goods across the map.
My gaming table has a stack of handwritten notes. The color tips (green or red) that the game gives us can be confusing or even misleading, so I track my own trading.
I make lists of how much I pay for items I buy. For example:
Salt 20
Beer 32-34
Cotton 47-52
etc.
When I get to the next town, I try to sell items at prices higher than what I paid for. If I get to another town where beer is cheaper than 32, then I buy instead of sell, and I change my list price.
Beer 24-26
Eventually, I will get to a town where I can sell that cheap beer for a killing.
BTW, I stopped focusing on developing my trading skills in my most recent games. It was just too much of a grind making money that way. Instead, I put most of my effort in developing my smithing skills. When you can craft a decent weapon, you can make a ton of money. It is easier than shifting goods across the map.
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FujairahMan
Recruit
That's what I just now suggested at the bottom of my post. LOL
Get ..
(1) Cheap Olives in Vlandia
(2) Cheap Dates & Horses in Aserai
(3) Cheap Wool in "Mongia"
(4) Cheap Wood in Battavia
.
(1) Cheap Olives in Vlandia
(2) Cheap Dates & Horses in Aserai
(3) Cheap Wool in "Mongia"
(4) Cheap Wood in Battavia
.
FallOfCabal
Banned
if you use Community Patch and have all perks implemented, then developing your trading skills is useful.
Easy way. Buy Desert Horse (100-200), Sumpter Horse (30-50), Mules (30-50), Beer (20-25), Jewelery (120-140) in Askar, Aserai. Sell horses and beer for 2-3 times more in Pravend, Vlandia. Then buy some Olives there and sell it with Jewelery in Marunath, Battania. Marunath and neighboring Seonon are best for buying tones of Hardwood (8-13) and sell in Aserai again, with some Flax, Fur and Fish from Revyl, Sturgia.
Few rounds (focusing on horses) should bring you many trading skill points so you can unlock perks.
It”s not about making money, we all know for profits are javelins and 2h swords
FujairahMan
Recruit
if you use Community Patch and have all perks implemented, then developing your trading skills is useful.
Easy way. Buy Desert Horse (100-200), Sumpter Horse (30-50), Mules (30-50), Beer (20-25), Jewelery (120-140) in Askar, Aserai. Sell horses and beer for 2-3 times more in Pravend, Vlandia. Then buy some Olives there and sell it with Jewelery in Marunath, Battania. Marunath and neighboring Seonon are best for buying tones of Hardwood (8-13) and sell in Aserai again, with some Flax, Fur and Fish from Revyl, Sturgia.
Few rounds (focusing on horses) should bring you many trading skill points so you can unlock perks.
It”s not about making money, we all know for profits are javelins and 2h swords
Yes, but almost all the trade perks are about making more money and profit. The only two non-money perks are the tiny renown gain (at level 175) and the party size perk (at level 275, not yet implemented). In my opinion, the trade perks are not worth the effort.
FallOfCabal
Banned
True, its just for fun and stats
Wulfsdottir
Sergeant
Buy while price of a good is green. Don't ctrl+buy it. Just buy 1 per click or 5 per click, look if it's still green. Whenever it stops being green, stop buying. Note the highest price you paid (for example you started buying flax when the price was 8 and stopped when it became 18, note down 18 as it's price).
Then go around and sell Flax wherever the price is higher than 18. Again, don't ctrl+sell. Sell one by one or 5 per click until it goes down to 18.
Of course, you should buy few goods per town, anything in green and then sell in different towns, while at the same time buying other green goods in those same towns.
Don't rush to sell immediately. Move around. Only sell when you clearly see the profit.
Also, don't bother with trading in food. They are eaten and drank by your party and it's hard to keep track on them. So, just buy food for yourself and the guys.
Then go around and sell Flax wherever the price is higher than 18. Again, don't ctrl+sell. Sell one by one or 5 per click until it goes down to 18.
Of course, you should buy few goods per town, anything in green and then sell in different towns, while at the same time buying other green goods in those same towns.
Don't rush to sell immediately. Move around. Only sell when you clearly see the profit.
Also, don't bother with trading in food. They are eaten and drank by your party and it's hard to keep track on them. So, just buy food for yourself and the guys.
Clay - buy for 5 around Pen Cannoc, if you clean out villages and the town you can pick up 750 units easily - sell anywhere... Fish, buy for about 8 / 9 around Revyl, again, sell anywhere. Olives pretty good for the same - clean out Vlandian villages and dump in Ortysia, Lageta and Battannia. Actually makes quite a nice trade circuit with an occasional foray to Askar for desert / aserai horses. Got to 225 skill in about 380 days then bought a castle.
Those Aserai ladies are going to stone you the next time you show up, archaicwarrior! So if you're looking for a quality wife, where do you go??!
I like goods that cross the 100 gp line. I'll buy any that are below 100, sell above 100. I especially like to trade mules - I've sold hundreds of 'em for big profits, and it's a rare day I don't have 200 in stock. (Need SOMETHING to haul this other junk!) Other goods in this category include iron ore, wool, hides, linen, pottery, tools (but the last two are always in limited quantities). Silver ore almost makes the cut, but I put its dividing line at 125.
That said, writing down the price you paid will train you to see a deal. I love it when I can load up 75 flax at 4 and sell it all later at 22-25! That's better than quintupling your money, and your warband won't eat flax! Even since they implemented the perk to redline and greenline prices - I don't trust it. I see greenline goods for sale well above my experienced prices. Now, I believe they have reworked the economy enough to respond to war shortages, but if you buy at inflated prices during war and then peace breaks out... So I try to fix my attention on peace-time pricing. After all, if there's war to be had, I want to be leading an army, not hawking my wares!
That said, writing down the price you paid will train you to see a deal. I love it when I can load up 75 flax at 4 and sell it all later at 22-25! That's better than quintupling your money, and your warband won't eat flax! Even since they implemented the perk to redline and greenline prices - I don't trust it. I see greenline goods for sale well above my experienced prices. Now, I believe they have reworked the economy enough to respond to war shortages, but if you buy at inflated prices during war and then peace breaks out... So I try to fix my attention on peace-time pricing. After all, if there's war to be had, I want to be leading an army, not hawking my wares!
FujairahMan
Recruit
I know how you feel.
According to the latest Early Access Update, the colors reflect the global average. This is probably taken as the average price of goods over all the towns on the map.
The colors are NOT profit markers. Because, in theory, you could still make a profit from buying at red, as long as you can sell at a higher price in another town.
