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Lords of the Earth
Campaign Twenty-Eight

Merchant Rules

DEFINITIONS
Click on Examples to see a relevant map illustration.

Trade Route: A way to generate income that represents good being sold and exchanged between to Trading Partners.

Trading Partner: The two nations earning income from a given Trade Route.

Route Distance: The number of seazones that must be crossed in a given Trade Route.

Viable Trade City: A controlled city (At NT status or better) that is connected to your capital city via a contiguous series of controlled regions (At NT status or better). You may cross Rivers and Ferry Arrows while tracing control, but not seazones.

Example: Spain - Capital City of Madrid. Barcelona in Catalonia is a Viable Trade City. Palma in Bealerics is not. Rabat in Merrakesh is not, though if Spain were to take control of Morocco from Portugal it would be (Spain could then use the Morocco to Andalusia Ferry Arrow to trace control).

From City: A Viable Trade City that you use as a starting point for calculating Route Distance between you and another Trading Partner.

Example: Spain - Capital City of Madrid - Seville, Madiera, Valencia City, Barcelona, and Bilbao are all eligible as From Cities. Again, Palma and Rabat are not.

To City: A foreign Viable Trade City that you use as an ending point for calculating Route Distance between you and another Trading Partner.

Example: Spain (Capital Madrid) to Venice (Capital Venice) - Venice is the only eligible To City. Rome and Naples are not.

Base / Anchor / Harbor City: The city at which you anchor the MSP of a given Trade Route or Merchant Fleet. Merchant Fleets may be anchored anywhere. Trade Routes may only be anchored in cities that can be feasibly reached by the route in question. Port Cities on regional lakes may only anchor Merchant Fleets.

Example: Mamelukes - Trade Routes to Europeans may be anchored in any of the cities on the Gulf of Cyprus and the Nile (Alexandria, Q'arum), but could not anchor routes going to Arabia or India. If the Suez Canal were built, that restriction would then be removed. The city of Amman may only anchor Merchant Fleets.

Conduit Limit: The maximum number of Conduit Cities that can link on a Trade Route for a given Trade Partner.

Trade Range: The maximum number of seazones that can be crossed between two nations (Open Nations) or between two Conduit Cities (Seafaring and Renaissance Nation) on a Trade Route.

Conduit City: A controlled Port City (At T status or better) that Renaissance and Seafaring Nations may use to extend their Trade Range. You may use up to your Conduit Limit of Conduit Cities on a single route. Each Conduit City must be within Trade Range seazones of another Conduit City or Viable Trade City.

MSP: Merchant Shipping Points - These are the equivalent of Cargo Space on Transports (Or decommissioned Warships) being assigned to Trade Routes or Merchant Fleets. The more MSP you have on a Trade Route, the more income you will make from it.

eMSP: Effective Merchant Shipping Points: This is how effective your MSP are on a given Trade Route. This number is calculated by the simple formula:
eMSP = MSP * ( Trade Range / Route Distance )
So if you have 10 MSP with a 6 Trade Range on a Trade Route with a 3 Route Distance, you actually have 20 eMSP. Hence, both the shorter the Route Distance and the better your Trade Range the better your eMSP.

Route Capacity: This is a value which represents the total number of eMSP that can fit on a given trade route. This number is gained by adding up the International Trade Values between you and your trading partner.

Port Capacity: The number of MSP an Anchor City may contain,

International Trade Value: This represents the overall value of the trading power of your nation. This value is calculated by total City Levels controlled (at T status or better), number of Trade Centers controlled (at T status or better), number of Monopolies held, and number of MSP assigned to Internal Trade Merchant Fleets. The higher your Trade Value, the better.

National Market Value: This is a multiple which affects your trading income for Trade Routes directly. This value is affected by: Nation Type (Open Nation, Secret Empire, Religious Primacy), BL Rating, INFRA Rating, Society Type and Economy Type. The Higher (Or closer to Open) the better.

RULES CLARIFICATIONS

Calculating Route Distance

Clacultating Route Distance between you and your partner is usually straigtforward. In the below graphic, a standard Trade Route between France and Algeria is easy to calculate. For this example, we are assuming all nations have a Trade Range of Four, and a Conduit Limit of One.

From: Provence
G ulf of Lyons [1 Distance]
Bay of Tunis [2 Distance]
To: Algeria

The Route Distance is Two. Easily within both partner's Trade Range, so both are able to add MSP to the Route.

With the Renaissance addition of Conduits to Open Nations, you begin to create bigger and longer trade routes. Here is how Algeria opens a Trade Route with Leon:

From: Algeria
Bay of Tunis [Distance 1]
Gades [Distance 2]
Conduit: Geb-Al-Tarik
Gades [Distance 3]
Gates of Hercules [Distance 4]
Sea of Portugal [Distance 5]
Bay of Biscay [Distance 6]
To: Asturias

Algeria can reach Leon with a route distance of 6. In the Orders, the Open Route form would look like:

Unfortunately, with only a Trade Range of Four and no conduit cities, Leon cannot reach Algeria in turn. This means that Algeria will be the only one to generate MSP on the Route.

Navarre, on the other hand, has a conduit city in the Baelerics:

From: Gascony
Bay of Biscay [1 Distance]
Sea of Portugal [2 Distance]
Gates of Hercules [3 Distance]
Gades [4 Distance]
Conduit: Baelerics
Bay of Tunis [5 Distance]
To: Algeria

Both partners of this route can reach eachother, so both will be able to add MSP to the Trade Route.

Currently, the STATS program only has a single value for Route Distance. I suspect this will change in the future, but for now is the case. So, for now, I will use the shortest of the two distances as the actual Route Distance. This is a GM call. So the above Trade Route between Algeria and Navarre has a Distance of Five.

Closed Routes

Trade Routes may be closed by players. When this happens, the route ceases to generate Income for both Trade Partners, and the MSP and Duration Values of both sides begin to decline. This trend will reverse once the route is opened. Routes may also be closed when Nations lose cities or regions, and they no longer count as Viable Trade Cities. Once trade is reestablished (Either through another City, or regaining control of the old) the route will be reopened.

Primacy Trade

Primacies may only launch trade from their capital site (Usually their Holy City). Any normal control levels (if the primacy controls regions and cities directly) may also be used following the normal Open Nation rules. Port Cities which contain Religious Sites may be used as Conduit Cities (Again, following normal Conduit Limit and Trade Range rules).

Note that Primacies compete for Port Capacity with Open Nations.

Secret Empires

Secret Empires may not Trade with other Nations. However, they may use Merchant Fleets. These do not compete with Open Nations.

Explorers

Explorer Nation Types may not have Trade Routes.

Silk Route Trade

Nations which can trace a series of controlled land regions from the Capital City to a Silk Route Region, may then trade with any other Nation with the same qualifications. They do not block each other

Currently, Eligible Nations are:

The Persian Empire
The Baber Empire
The Kingdom of Shu
The Kingdom of Wei
The Kingdom of Wu

The Silk Route will disappear once a Renaissance Nation is able to establish Sea Trade with any of the Chinese Kingdoms (Shu, Wei, Wu).

Trade Through the Sahara

Nations bordering the Oasis Regions in the Sahara may trace Trade through those regions which are either:

A) Controlled by your Nation
B) Uncontrolled by any Nation

Example: The Mamelukes can trade with Songhay in this manner.

Restricted Sea Trade

This occurs mainly when a Sea Power can reach a Target Nation, but the Target Nation has no viable port. Trade may still be opened under certain
conditions:

1) You supply both the From City and the To City.
2) The supplied To City can trace to the target's capital city or homeland by crossing only:
A) Regions controlled by you at NT status or Better.
B) Regions controlled by them at NT status or Better.
C) Uncontrolled Oasis Regions
D) The Silk Route

Example: Let's assume Venice (Capital of Venice) cannot reach any Port Cities controlled by Bosnia (Capital Belgrade).

1) May supply the To City as Cattaro.
2) May Trace control to Bosnia's Capital via:
A) Illyria (Owned By Venice)
B) Croatia, Bosnia (Owned by Bosnia)

Example: looking at Milan, because Milan controls Algiers in Algeria, they are eligible for Restricted Trade to Songhay using the uncontrolled Oasis Regions.

Sea Trade vs Land Trade

Routes will always default to Land Based Trade where possible, even if Sea Trade would potentially give better benefits.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ALLOCATION

This is the section of the stat sheet in which I list the details of your Trade Routes. Each Port City listed on the nation's Controlled Region and City Listing is listed here with its Available MSP. Any MSP being used in the port city is also listed. Right now, we are just concerned with the listing of Sea Routes.

Base Port/Activity: This lists what Port City is being referenced, followed by a list of all MSP activities within the City. (Sea Trade, Internal Trade, Fishing Fleet)

MSP: The number of MSP assigned to the activity.

Route: The Trade Route Number for Sea Trade. Merchant Activities (Internal Trade, Fishing Fleets) will be marked as 00000.

With...: What nation you are trading with.

Units: In L28 - This is where I list the To City and From City for the route.

Notes: In L28 - This is where I list any Conduits used by your nation on the Trade Route. Note that No Conduits by itself means that you simply don't need any Conduits on the route. Your Trade Range is enough to reach your partner directly. No Conduits: Cannot add MSP on the otherhand, means that you cannot reach your partner at all while they can reach you (Because of better Trade Range or a better Conduit System). Until you can reach the To City listed, you will not be able to generate or assign MSP to the Route.

Here is what Algeria's Merchant Shipping would like like for the Trade Routes listed in the graphic above.

Here is what Leon might look like

HANDS-OFF-TRADE (HOT) and YOU

Mainly what HOT does is establish an automated system that tracks generation and deletion of MSP on your various trade routes. If there is Route Capacity free on a Trade Route, MSP will be generated. If there is negative Route Capacity, MSP will be deleted from the Trade Route.

Players may not normally manipulate this system. However, a new action: Intervene in Mercantile Affairs (IMA) may be performed by the Ruler (K,Q,E) of a Nation (8 AP action) to do so. Once run, the Ruler may freely add and subtract MSP to or from that nation's Trade Routes and Merchant Fleets during that turn.

Players may freely Open, Close and Rebase Trade Routes without needing to run the IMA action.

HOT Port Capacity

Keep an eye on the Port Capacity of your cities. If your port city is at its maximum for MSP, you cannot generate any new MSP for Trade Routes based in that city. That means if your Trade Partner has free space and you do not, he will be the only one generating new MSP. I see more than one player with all of their Trade Routes based in Anchor City and unable to grow. Good for your Trade Partner, not good for you.

Overloading MSP

An advanced tactic people can use is to overload a Trade Route with extra MSP (From other Trade Routes, Merchant Fleets, etc.) by using the IMA action. This lets one Trade Partner add a bunch of his own MSP onto a Trade Route before the other Trade Partner has a chance to.

Secondly, MSP are deleted in equal numbers for both sides when there is a negative Route Capacity. A shrewd player with an abundance of MSP can use this to his advantage.

Example: Spain and Milan have a route opened with a 50 MSP capacity. Circumstances have caused the route to be evenly split, each side supplying 25 eMSP to the route. Spain decides to overload the route and add 50 more eMSP to the route. This puts the route 50 MSP over the capacity, so the program goes to deletion mode. Because it takes evenly from both sides, that means both sides lose 25 of their eMSP, putting Spain at 50 (From 75) and Milan at 0 (From 25). Unless Milan can keep up with the Spanish assignment of Merchants, they will be severely disadvantaged in the revenue of the route.

MERCANTILE ACTIVITIES

In LOTE 28, Renaissance Nations gain many of the abilities normally associated with Merchant Houses. They may target Non-Played Trading Nations for Merchant Sites, Monopoly Acquisition, and other actions. The Newsfax will list which nations are eligible for these actions.

Constructing Merchant Sites

There are four levels of Merchant Sites that players may construct in Non-Played Trading Nations. They are:

[AA] Mercantile Agent
[MF] Merchant Factor
[BO] Branch Office
[CL] Cartel City

Each level generates additional income for the building nation. Merchant sites do not generate NFP. There can only ever be four levels of Merchant Sites in a given location (Region or City). If you wish to construct one and there is no room remaining, you must attack or steal one of your competitor's sites. The number of site levels controlled by a given nation in a given Non-Player Trading Nation will be listed in the Newsfax.

Merchant Sites follow a special set of circumstances for control. Each Cartel City must by within the Nation's Action Range of another Cartel City, or controlled City [NT or Better]. Each Branch office within Action Range of a Cartel City or Control City. Each Merchant Factor within Action Range of a Branch Office, Cartel City or Controlled City. Each Mercantile Agent within Action range of a Merchant Factor, Branch Office, Cartel City or Controlled City.

Gaining Monopolies

Monopolies represent specific goods which drive up the value of your exports. They directly increase the Trade Value of your Nation. There are two ways to acquire monopolies:

Trade Centers

If you control a region with a Trade Center, you will get a number of monopolies based upon your Status in the region:

[T] [PT] = One Monopoly
[EA] [A] [P] = Two Monopolies
[F] [HM] = Three Monopolies

These Monopolies may be given to other nations as part of trade deals, peace accords, etc. To get a Monopoly back from a nation you have given away, run the [NM] Nationalize Monopoly action with your Ruler.

Non-Played Trading Nations

Each of these nations listed in the Newsfax will list how many [mG] Generic Monopolies and [mT] Trade Center Monopolies they hold. These Monopolies may be gained by Players who run the [AMN] Acquire Monopoly action on the Nation. You may choose whether to take an [mG] an [mT] or, if another player has already Acquired Monopolies from the Trading Nation, one held by another player. The [AMN] action may only be run if you are trading with the Trading Nation. The [AMN] action must be run in a city of the Trading Nation.

Preferential Treatment

Nations may desire to 'get in good' with the Rulers of a given Trading Nation. By offering Diplomatic Concessions, Promises of Autonomy, and straight up Bribes the player makes his Merchants the favorite of the particular ruler. In game terms, the player runs the [GPT] Gain Preferential Treatment action in one of the Trading Nation's Cities. If successful, on the following turns the player will receive a bonus to all Merchant actions made in that nation. Additionally, all hostile actions targeting that Nation (Acquire Monopoly, Destroy Combine Location) suffer a penalty. If another player wishes to gain Preferential Treatment for his own Nation he must first successfully run a [DCM] Discredit Competitor action against the current favorite.

Player Control of Trading Nations and Locations

Should a player ever gain direct control of a location containing Merchant Sites, the Merchant Sites have a one turn grace period to be moved or are automatically closed. Should a player ever gain a Trading Nation as a Colony, all Merchant Sites in the Trading (Colony) Nation will be closed and any Monopolies acquired will revert to the Trading (Colony) Nation.