Merchants & Market questions and answers
These are the published Merchants & Market questions, with the answer under each one.
Are resources lost if the destination village becomes ownerless?
Usually not. A new shipment cannot be dispatched to an ownerless village. If the destination becomes ownerless while merchants are travelling, the cargo is not delivered and no delivery report is created; it returns with the merchants and further repeats stop. The resources are restored only if the source village is still owned by the same player when the return leg settles.
Can a resource shipment repeat automatically?
Yes, with an active Plus account. One trip remains free for every account; Plus players can choose 2 to 5 total trips. After the merchants return, the next extra trip is attempted. If Plus expires during the schedule, the current shipment finishes and the merchants return, then the schedule stops before another load is deducted and a report explains why. Deleting either the sending or destination village also ends the schedule, and normal shipment checks can stop the sequence early.
Can I send resources back to the same village that is dispatching them?
No. The selected village cannot be both sender and recipient of the same shipment. You may send to another village you own when the normal shipment requirements are met.
Does a Marketplace offer reserve its resources and merchants?
Yes. Creating an offer immediately removes the offered resources and reserves the required merchants, so they cannot be used for another shipment or offer. They remain reserved until the offer is accepted or cancelled.
How does the Trade Office increase merchant capacity?
It increases each merchant's capacity by building level. Romans gain 20% per level, reaching 5 times base capacity at level 20. Other tribes gain 10% per level, reaching 3 times base capacity at level 20.
How is merchant travel time calculated between villages?
The shortest tile distance between the villages is divided by the tribe's merchant speed, converted to seconds, and rounded up. The world wraps at its edges, so the shortest route may cross a map boundary.
How is the current number of available merchants calculated?
Available merchants equal the Marketplace total minus merchants already travelling and merchants reserved by standing offers. The displayed result never falls below 0.
How is the number of merchants required for a shipment calculated?
The total resources being shipped are divided by one merchant's capacity, then rounded up to the next whole merchant. The same rule is used when creating and accepting Marketplace offers.
How many merchants does a village have?
The merchant count follows the Marketplace level. Level 1 provides 1 merchant, and the count rises with each level to 20 merchants at level 20.
How many resources can one merchant carry?
A merchant's capacity depends on the player's tribe and the world's market-capacity setting. The Trade Office increases that capacity according to its level, and the final result is rounded down to a whole number.
What are the base capacity and speed of each tribe's merchants?
Romans: capacity 500, speed 46. Germanic: capacity 2,000, speed 42. Greeks: capacity 1,750, speed 44. Arabs: capacity 2,200, speed 50. Game-world settings may scale the effective values.
What are the requirements for building a Marketplace?
You need Main Building level 3, Warehouse level 1, and Granary level 1. Every currently playable tribe can build a Marketplace in a capital or non-capital village.
What are the Trade Office building requirements?
It requires Marketplace level 20 and Stable level 10. Once built, it adds 20% merchant capacity per level for Romans and 10% per level for other tribes.
What does an offer's maximum time mean?
It is the longest one-way travel time, in hours, that the offer creator accepts. A player whose trip exceeds that limit cannot accept the offer. A value of 0 means unlimited travel time.
What happens when I accept a Marketplace offer?
Your village dispatches the requested resources to the offer creator, while the offered resources are dispatched from the creator's village to yours. You need enough merchants for what you pay, and an offer can be claimed only once.
What happens when I cancel my Marketplace offer?
The offer is removed once, its resources return to the village that created it up to that village's storage capacity, and its reserved merchants are released. Selecting another village before cancellation does not redirect the refund.
What is the largest resource shipment a village can send at once?
The maximum equals the number of available merchants multiplied by one merchant's capacity. A shipment, or the resources needed to accept an offer, cannot exceed that capacity.
When is accepting a Marketplace offer rejected?
Acceptance is rejected if your village lacks the requested resources, enough merchants or carrying capacity, or if the travel time exceeds the creator's limit.
Which accounts can send or receive resources?
Both accounts must be allowed to play and must not be blocked when the shipment is dispatched. Guest, provider-only, unverified-password, and pending-deletion grace accounts may still send or receive resources. System villages cannot receive shipments.
Which building enables resource shipments and Marketplace offers?
The Marketplace, building 17. A village needs a completed Marketplace at level 1 or higher to send resources or create and accept trade offers; a first level still under construction does not count.
Which Marketplace offers can I see?
You can see public offers on your game world. If you belong to an alliance, you also see alliance-only offers from that same alliance. The My Offers view shows offers from villages you own.