Trading For Dummies
A comprehensive guide.
By Squill
Are the markets a mystery to you? Are you left in the dark while your neighbors
have that new skylight in their keep? Do you know how they managed to afford
such a luxury? Read on and you will be enlightened.
They
played the market; wised up to the ways of Illy trade and sold their soles. Now
it your time to turn in a profit and walk the Silk Road. Follow your feet as
you follow this guide.
"Look at market fluctuations as your
friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it."
Warren Buffett
Buildings:
The first
thing that you should upgrade/build to start earning a profit is a Market
Place, and then followed by a Common Ground, and a Paddock. Upgrade these
buildings (not at the expense of upgrading other buildings) continuously, the
higher you upgrade the faster you produce the more profit. Certain research
requires that you have certain building already built. All these buildings can
be found under the City Research Tab.
Most
Profitable Resources To Sell (In descending order):
Chainmail - Blacksmith
Cows - Common Ground
Swords - Blacksmith (You can only build one type
of product at a time in a Blacksmith)
Books - Book Binder (Horses replace Books in
this spot during Tournaments)
Horses - Paddock
Plate
Amour - Forge
Bows - Fletcher
Beer - Brewery
Spears - Spear Maker
This list
was created by the examining the cost of basic resources; advanced resources,
and gold required to produce an individual product. Also note that while
Saddles are the most expensive resources on the market they require two cows to
produce; this in turn lowers their profitability. Another important observation
is the producing siege block and selling them on the market is operating on a
loss; so I would not suggest building a siege workshop at all as you can just
buy siege blocks for much less.
Research:
Most
research under City is required in order to build Advanced Resource producing
buildings. Additionally, research under Trading is also important as this
allows you to have more caravans in your town; also enabling you to increase
the carrying capacity.
Research
required produce:
Chainmail
- Smiting
Cows -
None
Swords - Smiting
Books - Bookbinding
Horses -
None
Plate
Amour -Forging
Bows - Fletching
Beer - Brewing
(under Quest)
Spears - Spearmaking
More
Caravans - Haggling, Bartering, Trading, Mercantilism, Cartels ... (under Trade)
Higher
Carrying Capacity - Improved Loading, Reinforced Cartwheels ... (under Trade)
The Market:
The market
place is where everything comes together. This is where you are able to buy and
sell resources. The market is fickle and largely dependent on what is going on
around you.
-
The
price of advanced resources such as spears, saddles, swords, bows, horses,
chainmail, plate amour, and leather amour are all used in large quantities when
producing troops. So in times of war, and tournaments: when players produce
more troops, these Advanced Resources become more expensive.
-
Cows
and books are not directly used in war, so there prices remain relatively
steady. Cows however are used indirectly in the production of troops because
they are used to produce leather amour and saddles; the prices of cows remain
relatively calm because people tend to produce Advanced Resources regardless of
war. This is of course a profitable exercise so I suggest you do the same.
-
The
price of Basic Resources will continue to rise because as new players enter Illy
they mostly require basic resources; so their demand will increase and thus
their prices.
-
Selling
Advanced Resources that you have produced continuously is the only method that
can bring you a large amount of wealth; taxing your cities is relatively insignificant
until you have a huge population.
Buy and Sell
Buying and
Selling is a simple process; if you desire a product you can accept a sell
order or place a buy order. If you want to make a profit sell: Resources by
placing a sell order. Buy orders only require one caravan to carry the gold,
sell orders require as many caravans as the goods can fit into.
-
Always
remember to place your buy order or sell order with a relatively reasonable price;
insure that the price you place it at; is the price that will see that your
order is at the top of the list. If it is not there when you place it then it
is unlikely that your order will be fulfilled.
-
I
also believe in buy orders to get a much better price for goods: you should
place buy orders instead of accepting sell orders. This might mean that you
wait for a while; but in a relatively short period time, your buy order will be
accepted for a much better price.
-
Do
not place large sell orders for advanced resources (over 500 products), this
requires you to wait longer for you product to be sold because some people do
not need that many Advanced Resources, or they do not have the funds for it.
Other wealth gaining tips:
-
Sovereign
plots require a lot of Basic Resources and gold. The bonuses they provide do
not amount to the price of the goods they require. So do not build them; especially
if you are new to Illy.
-
Set
your tax to 0 percent when starting out as this provides you with more Basic
Resources; this is far more valuable then gold at smaller populations.
-
Do
not produce troops when you are new to Illy; rather sell the resources that you
require to build those troops. A rune is much better protection at younger
stages.
That
concludes this guide, further editions and alterations may be made later on to
keep up with current trends.
Edited by <Squill> - 21 Oct 2011 at 15:13