Conquest of Empires 2 Advanced Guide II：Merchant Ship Trade

Merchant Ship Trade Introduction and Caravan Setup Recommendations   Merchant ship trade can provide users with a large amount of silver coins and equipment resources. By completing merchant ship trade tasks every day, you can steadily obtain silver coin and equipment rewards, with a chance to acquire orange-quality equipment. Additionally, the trading post currently offers tasks and exchange functions, providing ample rewards. It is recommended to have at least one well-equipped merchant ship trade team to engage in merchant ship trade.

Basic Rules：

1. Merchant ship trading requires the construction of an inner city building - the Trade Port. The port requires the main city castle to reach level 16, which means it can only be participated in once the server reaches the castle age.

2. To engage in merchant ship trading, heroes need to be converted into merchants, with a requirement of 100 internal affairs points.

3. Merchant ship trading can utilize destination ports (without occupying them), but visibility of the destination port needs to be enabled.

4. As long as one hero in the team is converted into a merchant, the team can participate in merchant ship trading.

5. Merchant ship trading teams need to consist of 5-person squads with all soldiers fully replenished.

6. In most cases, merchant ship trading teams sail on the sea, influenced by the speed bonus of the ship's appearance.

7. Ship appearances provide an additional 100 cargo hold capacity.

8. By default, there are 3 tasks available per day, with 1 trading team. Monthly and quarterly cards increase the limit by 1 each, allowing a maximum of 5 trading tasks per day with 3 trading teams simultaneously.

9. The number of executable trading tasks refreshes at 8 a.m., and trading tasks refresh at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. respectively. Completed but unsubmitted tasks can be kept for up to 24 hours, after which trading tasks will fail.

10. Trading requires the use of silver coins, so it is recommended for the city lord to always maintain around 200,000 silver coins to ensure smooth progress of merchant ship trading tasks.

Merchant Ship Trade Basic Process

  After converting heroes into merchants, click on the Trade Port in the inner city and then click on Trade to view the Trading Post window. Green font indicates corresponding high-quality tasks available at the Trading Post. Additionally, every day at 8 a.m. server time, there is a chance for trading rumors to refresh. If you see green rumor information like the one shown in the image below, it means that there are high-quality tasks available at the Trading Post today, where you can earn more rewards by participating.

  If the corresponding port is labeled as "in the mist" as shown in the image above, then that port cannot be accessed, and no tasks can be performed there. Therefore, an important aspect of merchant ship trading is the preparatory work of opening up port visibility early on.

  In addition to directly jumping to the corresponding port from the Trade Port in the inner city, you can also view the Trading Post on the world map and travel there. The currency symbol indicates the location of the Trading Post, as shown in the image below.

  After arriving at the Trading Post, click on "Trade" to view the trading tasks.

  Under the trade interface, it will display the cargo hold capacity available for your fleet. If you attempt to accept a task at a port that is within the fog range, you will be prompted that you cannot accept it.

  When completing a trading task, it will settle the silver coins obtained from this trade, and it will display the number of rewards available to claim.

  If you visit a trading post indicated by a trading rumor suggesting a special event, you will encounter special trading tasks. Upon completion, you will have the opportunity to select rewards multiple times. Currently, trading tasks in the game have qualities of white, green, blue, and purple, corresponding to reward opportunities of 1, 2, 3, and 4 times respectively. Some merchants may acquire skills that grant additional reward opportunities when leveling up their auxiliary roles, and there is also a chance to increase the number of reward opportunities.

The trading post offers both trading tasks and exchange functions.

  All trading posts have one-time trading tasks. When a trading task is completed, you can unlock the trading post exchange function. The trading post tasks mainly include the following types: plundering gold treasures, plundering sunken ship treasures, delivery tasks, and occupying specific buildings tasks (such as windmills, war academies, merchant academies, etc.).

  Each player has 3 exchange opportunities per day, and they can all exchange at trading posts where tasks have been completed. The exchange contents vary between different trading posts. Some trading posts, such as San Francisco (where you can exchange for 100 diamonds), Cairo, and Yanjing (where you can exchange for 5-star skill cards), are particularly noteworthy. Each exchange item has its own cooldown period, so it's important to pay attention and exchange promptly to avoid wasting rewards.

Caravan Setup Recommendations

  The most crucial aspect of a caravan team is its speed of movement, as trading is hardly affected by internal affairs points. Therefore, the most suitable caravan team consists of a vanguard formation composed purely of cavalry. Among the three-star heroes, cavalry commanders such as Zhao Chongguo, Mo Shan, and Rivet are all highly suitable for inclusion in a caravan team. Additionally, due to the low siege attack value but high transport value of cavalry units, it's also worth considering converting other four-star or five-star cavalry heroes into merchants. This way, when there are no siege or treasure-hunting tasks, the high movement speed of the cavalry team can be utilized to quickly complete trading tasks and reap rewards.

  Since only one merchant caravan can be dispatched to each trading post at a time, it's advisable, especially before reaching the kingdom age and when heroes are not particularly abundant, to ensure the existence of at least one caravan team to meet the daily trading task requirements.

  Furthermore, due to the vast size of the world map and the considerable distance between different trading posts, it's a good idea to consider placing subsidiary cities near trading posts and stockpiling some cavalry units there in the long term. This way, when special trading events refresh, cavalry teams can be dispatched from the nearest outpost to the trading post.

  Pro tip: Players can upgrade the cities near trading posts, focusing on upgrading the Command Hall and Cavalry Training Camp. This allows for the accumulation of a reserve of cavalry units. When a special event refreshes and a merchant caravan needs to be dispatched, converting the affiliated city into a subsidiary city allows for the immediate formation of a caravan team, saving a significant amount of time.