Caravan escort pay

[Dunk]

I thought I'd try creating a character in the Caravan Guard mould and spend my days defending caravans.  The thing is though that the pay is so small that it barely seems worth it.  You seem to make as much money taking a single slot of furs from Khudan to Ichamur as you make escorting a caravan half-way across the map.  Then factor in the fact that the Guildmaster insists you need a certain number of troops (is there any way of changing that?) and it all seems a bit uneconomical.  Do the pay rates go up at all or am I stuck getting 200 denars or so for each run?

 

[This_is__CALRADIA!!!]

I'm not positive about this, but, it seems like the pay is not growing.

You seem to make as much money taking a single slot of furs from Khudan to Ichamur as you make escorting a caravan half-way across the map.

Start your own caravan business. Quit working for those thieves.

 

[Dunk]

Yeah, but if I play as a pure trader (as a trader would - avoiding trouble) then I stay at low levels (no experience gained in trading) but have more cash than I can shake a stick at.  Playing as a caravan guard looked like it should be entertaining - need high spotting skill to help avoid trouble, combat when you can't and xp gains for completing the missions.  It seems odd that these Caravan Masters must be making thousands per trip (I know I do) and yet pay nothing for their protection.

 

[This_is__CALRADIA!!!]

Playing a caravan escort or a merchant character is about the same. You run away from large parties of high level deserters and chase smaller bandit parties. The difference is you either get like 200 xp for the trip and a small amount of denars, OR you get much more money and a faster caravan (because you control the pathfinding skill and the horses in your party).
I mean, if you want to play caravan escort, you'ld better do it by yourself. Anyway you could still escort another caravan while making a worthy trip at the same time.