The Marketplace is the building that enables trade. It allows you to send resources to other players, create trade offers, and accept incoming offers. Whether you are supporting an ally, diversifying your resource income, or recovering from a deficit, the Marketplace is an essential tool throughout the game.
Merchants are the units that physically carry resources between villages. They live in your Marketplace and are dispatched whenever you send a trade. The number of merchants you have available determines how many trades you can run simultaneously, and the amount each merchant can carry determines how much you can move per trip.
Merchants are produced automatically as you upgrade your Marketplace — you do not train them like troops
After completing a trade, merchants travel to the destination and return home automatically
While merchants are away, they cannot be used for another trade
Merchants that are captured during an attack are lost
Tip: Upgrading your Marketplace increases both the number of merchants available and, in some cases, their carrying capacity. Keep it upgraded if trading is a core part of your strategy. |
Each tribe has merchants with different carrying capacities. Romans have the highest capacity per merchant, meaning they can move more resources in a single trip than other tribes. Teutons and Gauls have their own merchant characteristics that reflect their overall playstyle. This tribal difference is worth factoring in when planning large resource transfers.
Sending resources to another player is straightforward:
Open your Marketplace
Select 'Send Resources'
Enter the destination coordinates or village name
Enter how much of each resource you want to send
Confirm the trade — your merchants will depart immediately
You can send any combination of the four resources in a single trip, as long as the total does not exceed your available merchant capacity. If you need to send more than your merchants can carry in one trip, you can queue multiple shipments.
Merchants travel at their own speed, which is slower than most troops. The further the destination, the longer the journey. The game shows you the estimated arrival time before you confirm — always check this when time-sensitive deliveries matter, such as sending Crop to an ally under starvation pressure.
Importante Resources in transit cannot be stolen. If your village is attacked while your merchants are away, only the resources still in your storage are at risk. Likewise, resources being sent to you are safe until they arrive. |
Sending resources to alliance members is one of the most important cooperative mechanics in the game. Coordinating resource flows — such as directing Crop to a player building a large army, or pooling Iron for a World Wonder — is how organised alliances gain a competitive edge.
Be aware that automatic resource-sharing limits exist to prevent unfair pushing between players. Refer to the Automatic Resource-Sharing Limits article for details on how these work.
Instead of sending resources directly, you can create a trade offer on the open market. This allows other players to browse available offers and accept ones that suit them:
Open the Marketplace and select 'Create Offer'
Specify what resource you are offering and in what quantity
Specify what resource and quantity you want in return
Set a duration for the offer
Confirm — your merchants are reserved and will execute the trade when someone accepts
While your offer is active, the merchants assigned to it are unavailable for other trades. If no one accepts the offer within the set duration, your merchants return and the offer expires.
You can browse trade offers from other players under 'Find Offers' or 'Market' in your Marketplace. Each offer shows what is being offered, what is requested, and the exchange rate. When you find an offer you want to accept:
Review the exchange rate — check whether it is fair value for your current needs
Confirm acceptance — your merchants depart with the requested resources, and you receive the offered resources when the trade completes
Tip: Trade offers are visible to all players within range, not just your alliance. Check rates carefully and be mindful of what you advertise if you are in a contested area. |
The NPC Merchant is a Gold-funded feature that allows you to exchange your own resources with the game itself, rather than with other players. It converts one or more of your resources into another at a fixed rate, bypassing the need to find a trading partner.
This is particularly useful in emergencies — for example, if you have a surplus of Lumber and Clay but are running low on Crop and cannot wait for a regular trade to complete. The NPC Merchant acts instantly, without requiring merchants to travel.
Nota The NPC Merchant costs Gold to use. It is a convenience feature intended for genuine emergencies or high-stakes moments, not a replacement for regular resource management. |
Trading is a normal and encouraged part of gameplay. However, some trading behaviours are restricted by the game rules to preserve fair competition:
Automatic resource-sharing limits prevent one player from continuously feeding another outside of alliance or confederacy relationships
Using trade to funnel excessive resources to a single player in a way that gives them an unfair advantage may be treated as pushing
Creating a secondary account purely to supply your main account with resources is a rule violation
When in doubt about whether a specific trade arrangement is within the rules, refer to the Game Rules FAQ.
The Marketplace enables resource trading — upgrade it to unlock more merchants and higher capacity
Merchants carry resources between villages; their number and capacity depend on your Marketplace level and tribe
Send resources directly to any village, or post trade offers for other players to accept
Resources in transit are safe from raiders — they cannot be stolen while travelling
The NPC Merchant allows instant resource conversion using Gold — useful in emergencies
Follow the resource-sharing rules to ensure your trading stays within fair-play boundaries
