Caravan difficulties - one always profits, the other never profits

[Ted Striker]

Hired two caravans. One in Galend far west, one in Baltakhand far east. Both companions are basically the same shield maiden type.

The Galend caravan consistently makes a profit. It varies but there's always something.

The Baltakhand has yet to make a profit. I've chased it down and checked on it and it moves around the map just fine buying and selling, but after weeks now it hasn't made a profit. All I see for an entry is it's wages.

Bugged I'm assuming? Or is there some hidden mechanic regarding the town you hire a caravan in that determines how successful it will be? And on that note, when do they actually realize that profit? Do they have to return to where you hired them or do they just run around seemingly at random like it seems they do?

Not that I plan on continuing this save much longer. Vlandia is already wiped out and the game is still fairly new, which to me may as well mean the game is over (no faction should be wiped out like that so soon, if ever). I'm using the game now to try to figure out how these caravans work and why one consistently succeeds while the other is perpetually useless.

 

[Ted Striker]

No insight on caravans anyone? I haven't found a pattern to them or a reason why one would stay stuck without profits.

 

[Offline]

How long have you had the caravan for?

Also, can you post a screenshot of your income breakdown? ?

 

[Wolfsblut]

I start to think theres some kind of rng into it.
Can't say anything about caravans, but my workshops drove me nuts.

In my first session i had 3 spread around Battania which gave between 130 and 200 cash each after some time.

Now i got 2 in Seonon, one carpenter and one smith.
The town got hardwood and iron ore close by, i bought a crapload and stuffed it into the city.
After 2 weeks they make around 50 cash each <.<
Only a couple of years and i got my the 28.000 back i invested ?

 

[Ted Striker]

How long have you had the caravan for?

Also, can you post a screenshot of your income breakdown? ?

Been a few weeks now. I literally sat in place in fast forward for a long too to see what might change and nothing did.

That caravan only appears in the breakdown as an expense.

Adgil's caravan is the problem.

 

[diablojob]

I could be wrong but I believe their profit is directly controlled by the cost of goods in the town you start the caravan. For example trade goods in Ocs hall cost a small fortune. I know this because i was manually bringing trade goods from Seonon and selling them there. I started a caravan in Ocs hall and watched for weeks as it drained my income and paid nothing in return. I then started a caravan in Seonon where I knew goods sell cheap. The caravan in Seonon consistently making me good money while the Ocs hall has made 0. I may be wrong but there seems to be a correlation here.

 

[diablojob]

I start to think theres some kind of rng into it.
Can't say anything about caravans, but my workshops drove me nuts.

In my first session i had 3 spread around Battania which gave between 130 and 200 cash each after some time.

Now i got 2 in Seonon, one carpenter and one smith.
The town got hardwood and iron ore close by, i bought a crapload and stuffed it into the city.
After 2 weeks they make around 50 cash each <.<
Only a couple of years and i got my the 28.000 back i invested ?

I think the workshops prices are also determined by the cost of the trade good they are producing in the town. For example if you make a brewery in a city where beer is super cheap to buy, it will make you nothing. While if you make a woodshop and the hardwood prices are steep at said city, profit should be good. I have tested this only twice and it seems to have boosted my income at my workshops. Further testing would be good.

 

[Adrivan]

Only a couple of years and i got my the 28.000 back i invested ?

You get more than that, because you can also sell your workshop for cash. When you buy a workshop for 14k you can instantly sell it back for 10k. So you only need to make 4k with each workshop to break even.

 

[Pejot]

Ok so your profit from caravan changes everytime they enter a city. For example you see that caravan have 1000 excess gold but then it enters city and excess gold changes to 700. The case is the caravan sold some goods and bought some that were more expensive and potentially it will be sold at better price in next city.

Caravans that have long distances between cities make more unstable profit. They can make 2000 and next day 0.
Caravans starting in cities producing goods like oil make bigger profits.

 

[Ted Striker]

Ok so your profit from caravan changes everytime they enter a city. For example you see that caravan have 1000 excess gold but then it enters city and excess gold changes to 700. The case is the caravan sold some goods and bought some that were more expensive and potentially it will be sold at better price in next city.

Caravans that have long distances between cities make more unstable profit. They can make 2000 and next day 0.
Caravans starting in cities producing goods like oil make bigger profits.

I just watched my caravan in question sell at Rovalt. Still no profit.

It must have something to do with starting it in Baltakhand. It's been running around the map just like my profitable caravan.

I'm betting if I disband it and start a new one in another town it will be profitable. Right now I'm traveling to the town I created it to see what it produces and if that's why it's losing money, like diablojob said.

 

[Ted Striker]

Oops it was Ortongard not Baltakhand I created it at. Ortongard has cheaper cheese, hardwood, clay, wool and linen. Don't know what about that is causing it to constantly lose money.

Maybe it has to do with who I talked to to create it. It's an influential merchant. Again, don't know how that might influence profit, if at all.

As an experiment I will disband this caravan and create a new one at the same NPC.

 

[Ted Striker]

Ok new one is making a profit one month after creation. Same town, same NPC I talked to, but different companion. Doubt the companion is the reason. They're both women, lol is that it?

Has to be a bug. There is no reason I can see why the one I disbanded was never making a profit.

 

[Wolfsblut]

You get more than that, because you can also sell your workshop for cash. When you buy a workshop for 14k you can instantly sell it back for 10k. So you only need to make 4k with each workshop to break even.

You are right, i forgot the option to sell it with not too much loss.
Still i would like to have some kind of deeper statistics like what transcactions the workshops are doing to figure
out what make them so bad actually.

Curious what happens when i got the money to start a caravan in Seonon where my workshops are...

 

[Karl_Magnus]

I'm not sure how you get to this low revenue. My caravans incomes are always something between 500 and 1000 denars.

As for workshops, you really just need to take some time to figure the prices for both raw ressources and final product, and also see for towns' local villages and what they produce (workshops and caravans still need some rework, but even now you can make profits if you just analyse a bit)

Also, make sure to go into towns you have a workshop in to buy out all the final product from the market to sell it elsewhere. It will make sure your workshops sells its product at higher prices. You can also pour in a good amount of the raw ressources to lower the town's prices so your workshop buys at a lower price, but I don't suggest it unless the ressource is in actual shortage. Not much of a point doing this for a brewery (with grain) or a linen weavery (flax), since their base cost is so damn low already and doesn't go to high even in shortage.

In support forums, I suggested the ability to make deals with merchants so they'd export your product and import ressources for it, and I'm also hoping that at some point in the future we can actually have more control over the caravans and tell them to buy our workshops product to sell it at a profit.

And btw I'm not sure the town in which you start a caravan in matters much in term of profits your caravans will make. I had started caravans in Epicrotea and Ocs Hall. They really just wander on the map, buy stuff when it's low and try to make profits in town they pass in, as far as I know. Maybe not, though, all I know is I don't have much of a hard time making money.

 

[diablojob]

If you are to start a caravan I have heard from another thread that the most profitable cities are Ortysia, Jalmarys, Amitatys and Poros. I would love some clarity if these towns actually make a killing or not.

 

[Karl_Magnus]

If you are to start a caravan I have heard from another thread that the most profitable cities are Ortysia, Jalmarys, Amitatys and Poros. I would love some clarity if these towns actually make a killing or not.

Uh... I mean, I did start a caravan in Ortysia and it was profitable, but I'm not sure the place you start a caravan in matters much after a week or two.
Probably the best way to start would be in towns in which expensive products like velvet, silver, jewels, leather and fur are cheap, so they can buy those right away and sell for big money in towns where the price for those is regular or high.

 

[diablojob]

Uh... I mean, I did start a caravan in Ortysia and it was profitable, but I'm not sure the place you start a caravan in matters much after a week or two.
Probably the best way to start would be in towns in which expensive products like velvet, silver, jewels, leather and fur are cheap, so they can buy those right away and sell for big money in towns where the price for those is regular or high.

I just stated all that in an above comment, I was just asking if those cities make more profit than others because it is clear that some cities are making more with their caravans.

 

[solaire95]

Choose a prosperous and a centrally located town next time.

 

[Ted Striker]

Choose a prosperous and a centrally located town next time.

I purposely chose the farthest towns to keep them away from the war and getting captured. Wasn't sure if towns that constantly changed hands and lower prosperity from the war would affect the caravan.

Next caravan will be a central town.