Gnu's Trading Post (0.623)

[Gnu]

Hopefully, this will be helpful to some of you.

One day I got tired of running across the map from one town to another while I passed towns that I could have been buying/selling things at. So first, I made a list of towns & goods:

Towns&Goods EDIT: Link does not work...scroll down two posts.

Using this list, I figured out a trade route that hits all of the towns. I can make the run in about 3 ingame days, and on a good run I make around 20.000 denars. I ride a spirited courser & also have 3 coursers in my inventory to keep my lowest speed around 7.3. This speed will let me outrun almost anything. (I once saw kerghit raiders running at 7.5)

To anyone attempting all of the towns in one run, I recommend atleast 1-2 extra horses, a principal of atleast 15.000 denars, and atleast 2 points in inventory management. I wont post my route here, because that could be considered cheating...or lazy in any case!

Also, be careful around Tulga & Reyvadin...the kerghit raiders patrol there and could catch you if you are fully loaded. There is one route we all know as the "golden triangle." This consists of Praven (buy ale), Khudan (sell ale & buy furs), Suno (sell furs & buy oil) and Rivacheg (sell oil). This smaller route obviously takes less time, but it is best to have atleast 8.000 denars to make a decent profit.[/b]

 

[Gnu]

Hmm...apparently that link doesnt work anymore. Could someone tell me how to attach a file? If I need to host it, where is a good free site?

 

[Wanderer]

Gnu, did you find anyplace selling, or demanding, flour? I found wheat/grain, but there are a few double up cities. (such as two places making smoked fish, and the like).

It almost seems like it's the forgotten trade good, it had a place, but was missed in an update file.

 

[Gnu]

@Wanderer

You're right, I forgot to mention flour is not in demand anywhere on the map(afaik), so don't buy it unless you want it for food. I guess it was overlooked in the update, like you said.


Since I cannot get that link to work, I'll just have to post my list like this:

Towns

Curaw:
-Buy iron
-Sell dried meat
Halmar:
-Buy pottery
-Sell linen
Jelkala:
-Buy velvet
-Sell pottery
Khudan:
-Buy furs
-Sell ale
Praven:
-Buy ale
-Sell spice
Reyvadin:
-Buy wool
-Sell velvet
Rivacheg:
-Buy dried meat
-Sell oil
Salt Mine:
-Buy salt
Sargoth:
-Buy linen
-Sell iron
Suno:
-Buy oil
-Sell furs
Tihr:
-Buy smoked fish
-Sell wool
Tulga:
-Buy spice
-Sell wheat, tools
Uxhal:
-Buy wheat
-Sell smoked fish
Veluca:
-Buy wine
-Sell dried meat
Wercheg:
-Buy smoked fish
-Sell wine
Zendar:
-Buy tools
-Sell salt




Goods

Ale:
-Buy in Praven
-Sell in Khudan
Dried Meat:
-Buy in Rivacheg
-Sell in Curaw, Veluca
Furs:
-Buy in Khudan
-Sell in Suno
Iron:
-Buy in Curaw
-Sell in Sargoth
Linen:
-Buy in Sargoth
-Sell in Halmar
Oil:
-Buy in Suno
-Sell in Rivacheg
Pottery:
-Buy in Halmar
-Sell in Jelkala
Salt:
-Buy in Salt Mine
-Sell in Zendar
Smoked Fish:
-Buy in Wercheg, Tihr
-Sell in Uxhal
Spice:
-Buy in Tulga
-Sell in Praven
Tools:
-Buy in Zendar
-Sell in Tulga
Velvet:
-Buy in Jelkala
-Sell in Reyvadin
Wheat:
-Buy in Uxhal
-Sell in Tulga
Wine:
-Buy in Veluca
-Sell in Wercheg
Wool:
-Buy in Reyvadin
-Sell in Tihr

Golden Triangle

Praven
-Buy ale
Khudan
-Sell ale
-Buy furs
Suno
-Sell furs
-Buy oil
Rivacheg
-Sell oil

^^This is a relatively safe route if you keep to the Zendar side of the mountain.

 

[Wanderer]

^^This is a relatively safe route if you keep to the Zendar side of the mountain.

Only on a fast horse. Keep your speed over 7 and you should be fine. 8.5 or higher will pretty much keep you safe from anything you don't outright run over.

Can we tell I liked the merchanting? The list is helpful, I have one on paper. Thanks.

 

[Gnu]

Well, my top speed right now is at 10.0, but usually I run around 7-7.5 when fully loaded. On the other side of that mountain there are kerghit raiders & also dark hunters (saw one near Zendar the other day!). On the Zendar side of the mountain I usually only see pirates & the occasional deserters. Did I mention remaining neutral is a must for merchanting?...unless you enjoy taking the risk of being trapped by 3 or 4 different parties.

 

[Sir Saladin]

Well that looks useful, thank you.

 

[Gnu]

I wanted to add another tip for those who dont already know.

Currently map speed is in no way affected by the speed of your horses. For example, 3 spirited coursers will not allow you to move faster than 3 sumpter horses. So those extra pack horses for running trade routes can be anything...loot from pirates or just the cheapest horses you can find.

Also, I just joined the vaegirs and it doesnt seem to be as bad as I expected...for the moment. All I need to do is stay alert at all times so I dont run headfirst into any war parties.

 

[JohnathanStrange]

Gnu, thanks. Your post is especially helpful for those just getting started and needing to maximize their routes.

This is our version of the classic Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) except with bandits, armor, and spirited coursers. Basically, as you know, TSP involves a traveling salesman who has to visit merchants in a number of cities scattered across the map and then return home. The problem is finding the shortest possible route visiting each city only once.

Now, we Calradians have been unable to solve this problem simple as it sounds for more than a few cities since the the number of possible routes for even ten cities is 362,880 (1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8x9).

In the future, brute force methods will be eliminated and algorithms employing constructive heuristics will allow us to go on the ultimate Calradian road trip!

Till then, we're off to Praven which is somewhere east of here, I think!

A complete historical development of this and related problems can be found in Marnid and Ganzo (1285).

 

[Manifold]

Hahahahah well done, John.