Total War: Rome Remastered is, for the majority of the gameplay, nearly exactly the same as the original Rome: Total War from almost two decades ago. While almost of the graphics have been updated with increased texture allegiance and upscaling to 4k, virtually of the actual mechanics take been untouched.

That is except for one new addition: the Merchants. These are new agents bachelor in Total War: Rome Remastered and echo the Merchants found in Medieval two: Total War. If you didn't play that game and haven't encountered the Merchant agent before, here'due south everything you lot need to know nearly how they work and how to use them effectively. But every bit a quick just important note: Merchants might even exist a little flake broken in Remastered.

Merchants Generate A Minor Amount Of Income Per Turn

merchant northern italy rtw remastered

Merchants are very simple and piece of work much like they did in Medieval 2: Full War (one of our favorite Medieval strategy games of all fourth dimension). You lot train them (yous need a Market building in your City or Town) and send them out into the world to look for Resource nodes, marked on the map with a little image of a pile of woods, a pot of wine, or whatsoever resource is mutual in that region.

Leave your merchant side by side to the Resource node and they will generate a small amount of income per turn. This scales with the overall level of the Merchant, which is boosted past either surviving a rival Merchant's buyout or by successfully outpricing another faction's Merchant on a nearby resource.

And so, the nuts:

  • Merchants can be trained at a Town or City with at least a Market building nowadays
  • Merchants act like other agents (Diplomats, Spies) and tin move around the map
  • Resources nodes are represented past icons on the map (Wood, Stone, etc)

It should too be noted that resources are relevant to the area. There's a lot of wine and pottery in Northern Italy, for case, only y'all won't find any vino in the wooded wilderness of Southern Britain.

How To Make More than Money With Merchants In Total War: Rome Remastered

large roman town in rome remastered

This was always a big problem with the Merchants in Medieval ii: Full War. No one really bothered with them because it didn't seem similar they made much coin. Yet, with the proper strategy, Merchants could turn into absolute money-generating powerhouses. There's a similar strategy that works well in Total War: Rome Remastered.

Things to go along in mind:

  • Merchants have no upkeep costs, everything they generate is pure profit
  • Each urban center tin can train up to three merchants
  • Sending out an army of Merchants is a flake like utilizing Priests in Medieval 2... pretty strong!

The Further Away A Resource, The Better

It seems similar Feral Interactive took the mechanics of Medieval 2's Merchants and slotted them right into Rome Remastered. This makes sense: the games were originally designed on the same engine. That means whatever tips and tricks you had for Medieval iiwill work hither, too.

  • Resource that are far abroad from the empire typically generate more coin
  • Resource that are very uncommon near your empire too generate more coin

That's to say if you ship a Merchant down the road to a nearby settlement and leave him at that place for 40 years generating money from woods (when there is wood literally all over your empire), he won't make as much coin equally he would if you sent him halfway across the world to purchase and sell expensive (and rare) dyes.

Merchants Tin can Now Establish New Trade Routes

This is a fresh mechanic that is brand new to Rome Remastered. Merchants can now constitute new trade routes that didn't exist earlier. For anyone who previously played Rome: Full War, you'll know that Trade was completely busted in terms of gold income. That hasn't inverse, and at present Merchants tin can complement a larger trade network.

My Merchant Keeps Getting Bought Out, What Do I Exercise?

merchant in sardinia rome remastered

It's no employ sending a freshly trained Merchant all the fashion to Northern Africa to secure a load of ivory if he doesn't take a clue what he's doing. Merchants spawn with an (almost) random amount of experience, although city-specification and market-level do have an impact on how strong your Merchants begin.

Weak Merchants volition exist bought out. Constantly. This was a large problem in Medieval two, merely at that place is a mode to work around information technology. A strategy that developed on Medieval ii also works on Rome Remastered, information technology turns out.

How To Level Up Your Merchants In Rome Remastered

The best fashion to strengthen your Merchants quickly is to move them in periodic stages across the map. Don't stay in ane location for likewise long. Spend a few turns here and in that location on resources of different types. Merchant experience is worked out by distance traveled and the types of resources being sent back to your empire.

Once you accomplish the ideal merchant spot, something like Ivory in Africa, or Dyes across the Egyptian Empire, your Merchant should be at a high enough level to stand up his basis against any nearby Merchants looking to buy his business organization. This obviously works in opposite equally well: if you're playing as Egypt, sending a Merchant across the world to United kingdom to await for Furs is the equivalent.

General tips for leveling up your Merchants:

  • Move your Merchant to different resource every ten or so turns
  • Go on a goal in mind: unique resources that are far from your empire make the almost coins
  • Keep an eye on Merchant traits: like Medieval 2 there are Traits for Merchant effectiveness
  • One time your Merchant is a high level, you can send him to buy out other Merchants and generate extra coin
  • The game will now spawn Rebel merchants who are often low level and proficient candidates to attack with your own Merchants
  • You tin can identify Merchants inside cities too every bit on resource nodes, large cities can provide a decent amount of experience

Overall, Merchants shouldn't be ignored in Total State of war: Rome Remastered. If everything goes to plan, like it oft did during Medieval 2 campaigns, y'all can have an army of Merchants generating thousands of coins per plow. Better go practicing, because Merchant management is going to fill the adjacent couple of months until Humankind is eventually released in August.

NEXT: Every Single Total War: Three Kingdoms Faction, Ranked

New Eeveelution Has Already Been Practically Confirmed By The Anime

Read Next

About The Author

Harry Alston (490 Articles Published)

Harry Aston is a lead specialist writer at TheGamer.

More From Harry Alston