Struggling to figure out valuable trade goods in 1.4.1....

[Old-Bull]

I used to make quick money trading furs. Now the price at the village is about the same as the sale price. That used to be my go to trade good for early game.

Ive noticed that you can make money trading mules and sumpter horses.

Has anyone figured out other high profit trade goods in 1.4.1?

 

[The Auditor]

Same issue, furs now $100 all over the map (some exceptions). Horses similar - used to be able to pick up dozens of desert horses around Aklat for c.$100 and sell for 200 in Vlanndia. Today - saw 280 of them for sale in Aklat for 350 each - average sell price in Vlandia - and in fact anywhere was barely at the level - more usually around 250 mark. Similar story with Steppe versions. Hardly supply and demand when they are all stuck at a premium price where produced and cheaper sale price where they are scarce.
Managed to get trade to 90 with 5 FP and 7 social mostly just running fish and hardwood by the thousand but hell of a grind.

EDIT: Been using 1.4.2

 

[Old-Bull]

Same issue, furs now $100 all over the map (some exceptions). Horses similar - used to be able to pick up dozens of desert horses around Aklat for c.$100 and sell for 200 in Vlanndia. Today - saw 280 of them for sale in Aklat for 350 each - average sell price in Vlandia - and in fact anywhere was barely at the level - more usually around 250 mark. Similar story with Steppe versions. Hardly supply and demand when they are all stuck at a premium price where produced and cheaper sale price where they are scarce.
Managed to get trade to 90 with 5 FP and 7 social mostly just running fish and hardwood by the thousand but hell of a grind.

EDIT: Been using 1.4.2

I always start the game by raising money for a workshop through trade. This patch threw me for a loop. The price of furs cut the profit margin in half. Hides used to be a gold mine but now there are only a few towns that buy them.

Finally I shifted my focus to mules and sumpter horses I could buy in Battania for cheap and sell in Epicrotea, Omor, Balgrad, and Vlandia...

I like the change to lower starvation in towns. It just took my a while to figure out my new primary trade good since furs tanked.

 

[Big_Bitter_Bear]

yeah, same problem. before this i could always tell when i got into the shop screen what was selling and what was not. but now, with them making it a global price instead of a local price, things are screwy. now you can only sell a few before the price drops drastically.

 

[Nakh]

Sumpter Horses and Mules working for me for now. But it's hard to get enough of them to make focusing on trade worthwhile.

 

[Big_Bitter_Bear]

i know my last, sorry current game the way to quick money was to stop villagers, buy the old work horses from them cheap, then butcher them for the meat and then sell the meat. didnt get any trade skill, but you can start from your original 1k denars to 10k in just a matter of minutes.

 

[Old-Bull]

Sumpter Horses and Mules working for me for now. But it's hard to get enough of them to make focusing on trade worthwhile.

Yep. I just do it to raise my first 15k so I can open a workshop. I don't know what the hell you would do for a sustained trade play through.

 

[Rik Halderman]

Yep, I'm only early stages in this recent restart but am not finding the obvious and lucrative trade routes that easily in this latest build. Basically just spot trading small amounts here and there for now until something becomes more obvious. Loot from looters and raiders is what's topping up my coin at the moment. Hardwood is starting to show potential in the north east, however I'm not risking bulk purchases just yet.

 

[Bronk the Raven]

I tend to just pick a route to hit a bunch of different towns. I buy whatever seems cheap. If it seems on the cheap side, but by a small margin, I just buy a few of that item. Maybe even just one to either use as a reference for price point or bump the morale from food variety if the trade good is food. Then I sell at the next town or the one after that if the price margin is good.

I prefer playing as a Battanian, so I usually spend at least some time in Battania. In that region (including the neighboring Vlandian, Sturgian, and Imperial towns) I've found that I can usually find neighboring towns that allow me to make a 300% gain on iron ore, hardwood, and meat. Notably, butter and cheese bought at Poros sells near triple or more at nearby town, name starts with a Z, to the west. Good starter coin.

I've seen much better gains travelling farther distances for butter, salt, oil, wine, and horses, but almost every time I plan big trips for a single item, the price drops by the time I get there because a caravan unloaded before me.

I get the most money trading by hitting town after town buying anything cheap, only selling later for at least double, and then betting my gains on any tournaments I find.

 

[Maximum997]

I really hate this eraly game money grind. And TW increases it more and more.

 

[Dabos37]

It is always about getting habituated with new prices. Some tips:

Buying Iron the first 5 days in Seonon is still profitable. Buying mules and horses in Car Banseth me Seonon and selling them in other towns is pretty profitable. Bying olives in Galend and Pravend and selling them in Ocs Hall too.

It is still easy to get a lot of money in early game with manual trading.

 

[Gelimer]

Now in 1.4.2 you have to avoid buying too large quantities because of hidden tariffs.

If you trade only one type of goods, like grain, you buy it for 9 denars and when you arrive at the town you want to sell it, it says you can sell it for 17, it is valid only for the first few batches.

If you sell 1000 units, maybe the first 50 will be sold at that price of 17 but the price drops quickly as you sell more units because the game does not treat it like you sold 1000 pieces in one go for the price of 17 a piece. No, the game treats it like you sold every single piece of these 1000 separately and for each piece sold the price continually drops as they get more of that type of goods to a point where it is cheaper than what you bought it for..

So basically the best way is to buy goods at their cheapest market value like grain for 9 or fish for 9-10 and dont invest more than 1-2k on it so you limit the loss that you incur as you sell too much of it in that city.

Otherwise if you buy in bulk for cheap, you need to sell a bit here and there small quantities in different cities.

 

[Bronk the Raven]

Now in 1.4.2 you have to avoid buying too large quantities because of hidden tariffs.

If you trade only one type of goods, like grain, you buy it for 9 denars and when you arrive at the town you want to sell it, it says you can sell it for 17, it is valid only for the first few batches.

If you sell 1000 units, maybe the first 50 will be sold at that price of 17 but the price drops quickly as you sell more units because the game does not treat it like you sold 1000 pieces in one go for the price of 17 a piece. No, the game treats it like you sold every single piece of these 1000 separately and for each piece sold the price continually drops as they get more of that type of goods to a point where it is cheaper than what you bought it for..

So basically the best way is to buy goods at their cheapest market value like grain for 9 or fish for 9-10 and dont invest more than 1-2k on it so you limit the loss that you incur as you sell too much of it in that city.

Otherwise if you buy in bulk for cheap, you need to sell a bit here and there small quantities in different cities.

I knew I had the right idea! Lol

I'm sure the reason it is so much better than bulk trading all of a sudden is the tweak to item pricing in response to mass starvation in the game. A few highly prosperous towns would grow into prime selling locations for caravans and end up hoarding all the goods. I enjoy this new balance so far.

Still, the most profitable trade good by far is player made weapons... even early game, with the right amount of luck.

 

[kweassa]

I actually find it more puzzling why people expect there to be an "always lucrative to buy and sell this" in set trade routes between same towns every time. For me, when I'm starting off a merchant career, the most fun part of the game are the initial phases you travel around and looking at local prices, buying small quantities of this or that.

Why should anyone expect a guaranteed trade route that allows mass volume sales of same products every time? I don't get it.

 

[Wulfsdottir]

I actually find it more puzzling why people expect there to be an "always lucrative to buy and sell this" in set trade routes between same towns every time. For me, when I'm starting off a merchant career, the most fun part of the game are the initial phases you travel around and looking at local prices, buying small quantities of this or that.

Why should anyone expect a guaranteed trade route that allows mass volume sales of same products every time? I don't get it.

This.
It is the medieval world with constant wars and lack of speed for information to spread. It only adds to realism.

Trade is hard enough even in 21st century with internet and instant access to all the information you need and most of the world being in peace. Now imagine how it is in medieval times where you don't even know who is the owner of the settlement you are heading to. You don't even know if that settlement still exists.

 

[Grumpy181155]

I actually find it more puzzling why people expect there to be an "always lucrative to buy and sell this" in set trade routes between same towns every time. For me, when I'm starting off a merchant career, the most fun part of the game are the initial phases you travel around and looking at local prices, buying small quantities of this or that.

Why should anyone expect a guaranteed trade route that allows mass volume sales of same products every time? I don't get it.

Sorry but I think most people are only asking for a semi realistic supply and demand.
The problem is now that prices you buy at are not that much different for what you can sell at and there is no rhyme or reason as to why the prices are what they are. For example you would expect that, by shopping around, you would be able to buy desert horses in the desert at a price that when you sell them in the north west (again by shopping around) you should be able make a profit. In the game I have just started there is a surplus of desert horses in the south, 30+ is most towns and villages, but the sale price in the north west where they are at war and there are few horses is less than the purchase price. I've also sat outside a city that has just changed hands where there is no food and a -11 food requirement and they are only offering 8 for grain. You might find that fun but most of the people in this thread don't.

 

[Bronk the Raven]

Sorry but I think most people are only asking for a semi realistic supply and demand.
The problem is now that prices you buy at are not that much different for what you can sell at and there is no rhyme or reason as to why the prices are what they are. For example you would expect that, by shopping around, you would be able to buy desert horses in the desert at a price that when you sell them in the north west (again by shopping around) you should be able make a profit. In the game I have just started there is a surplus of desert horses in the south, 30+ is most towns and villages, but the sale price in the north west where they are at war and there are few horses is less than the purchase price. I've also sat outside a city that has just changed hands where there is no food and a -11 food requirement and they are only offering 8 for grain. You might find that fun but most of the people in this thread don't.

I think most of the issues you've encountered are a result of the prosperity-based multipliers for item prices. My understanding is that prosperity represents a combination of population and quality of life, so a high prosperity is supposed to represent high demand. That variable still most definitely needs some tweaking, but the recent changes improve the long-term health of the economy.

 

[Levity]

My current play through the whole world is over supplied with goods. No starvation, armies have a ton of food supplies and making money from tanneries at my best location is 94 a day. I'm playing on the current beta and it isn't worth trading about mid way through the game.

 

[Nakh]

Well, it looks like devs come closer to their target, which is to invalidate every source of income outside of battle loot.

 

[Bronk the Raven]

Well, it looks like devs come closer to their target, which is to invalidate every source of income outside of battle loot.

Yesterday's hotfix was supposed to address some inflation problem, likely what you guys are having a hard time with.

Like others on the forum, I suffer from restart-itis (not just in M&B), so I've yet to make it to the late game. Especially since I've only heard poor things about the state of succession, immortal lords, and infinitely regenerative armies, I don't feel like I'm missing much.

Can y'all speed through and report back if anything is changed?