Merchants in Capital Node

[unmerged(53222)]

It is my understanding that a country's capital province will collect money without any input from the player. Is it beneficial to place a merchant in this node, or should merchants be directed elsewhere?

I'm the Ottoman Empire with merchants in Constantinople and Alexandria. I own/core Constantinople, Alexandria, Tunis, and Basra. I just researched Level 14 admin, and I'm interested in adopting the Trade idea group. My empire is financially stable. Any thoughts would be appreciated beyond the initial question.

 

[joos]

It is my understanding that a country's capital province will collect money without any input from the player. Is it beneficial to place a merchant in this node, or should merchants be directed elsewhere?

I'm the Ottoman Empire with merchants in Constantinople and Alexandria. I own/core Constantinople, Alexandria, Tunis, and Basra. I just researched Level 14 admin, and I'm interested in adopting the Trade idea group. My empire is financially stable. Any thoughts would be appreciated beyond the initial question.

Placing a merchant in your capital node must be your last priority. As the Ottomans, you will stand to gain a lot more by sending that capital merchant to, say, Ragusa to collect, or to one of the Central Asian trade nodes to direct trade.

 

[brifbates]

It's a pretty simple math equation really. In addition to a small amount of trade power the merchant will increase your income from trade in the capital node by 10% so if you can realize more gain than that 10% bonus using it elsewhere you should do so. For example, if you can get enough power in the Tunis node through your holdings there and light ship spam you might want to collect there instead. If you own a lot of the Crimea node you might get more from steering that trade to Constantinople (which few, if any, ai nations will be interested in doing), and so on.

 

[unmerged(53222)]

OK, thanks. I thought it wasn't worthwhile to keep the merchant there, but I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something.