How to Use Merchants and Trade Routes in Civ 7

In Civilization 7, merchants are like mobile salesmen in your empire—but they sell not vacuum cleaners, but trade routes and resources. If you lack gold, food or other important supplies, maybe it's time to let these economic giants cross the map. Here is a guide on businessmen and trade routes:

How to get a businessman in Civilization 7

You need some businessmen before you start making profits. Here's how to get them:

• Entering the Ancient Times – About halfway through, you will see a message called "Trade Opportunity". This means it's time to start a quarantine exchange.
• Train a businessman – Go to your city’s production menu and scroll down until you find the “Businessman.” This takes about three to four rounds to produce.
• Buy with Gold – If you don’t have the patience, you can buy a merchant with about 400 gold coins.

Merchants can train in cities or towns, so be careful where you produce them in order to get the best trade routes.

How to establish a trade route

Merchants are more than just decorations – they need to establish trade routes to bring supplies. Here's how to get them to act:

1. Select your businessman – Click on your businessman and view the available trade routes on the map. The more cities and leaders you discover, the more options you have.
2. Choose a settlement – ​​Choose a settlement with the most valuable resources or resources you need.
3. Right-click on the settlement capital – This will get your businessman on the road. Depending on the distance, this can take several rounds.

Merchants are smart enough to handle their journey without continuous micromanagement, so you don't need to move them manually every turn.

Expand your trading network

You are not limited to only one trade route per city. If you want to send multiple merchants to the same settlement, you need:

• Spend influence – Go to the portrait of the leader and use influence points to start an additional trade route.
• Check Relationship Status – If there is a green number next to the portrait of a leader, they are friendly. If it is red, it means they would rather not do business with you, or they are actively planning your demise.

If a leader doesn't like you anymore, don't waste time trying to trade with them. They will just say no, you will take a businessman with nowhere to go.

What should a businessman do after he arrives

Once your businessman reaches his destination, it’s time to make a decision:

1. Establish a Trade Route – Click on the Trade icon (two arrows and a plus sign). This will lock in the trade agreement and start bringing resources.
2. Send merchants elsewhere – If you want to take risks, you can send them to another city instead of establishing a trade agreement. Unless you really need to reach a better destination, this is not a good idea.

• Merchant sent to the city → The resources you receive can only be used in your city.
• Merchants sent to town → Additional resources can be allocated anywhere in your empire.

If you don't set up a trade route, you're just letting merchants take expensive road trips, meaningless.

Why You Should Always Have Active Business People

Always getting some businessmen to work is a reliable strategy because:

• More resources – The more trade routes you build, the stronger your economy will be.
• Better diplomatic relations – Other leaders love you to deal with them.
• Bigger and stronger cities – More resources mean your settlement has better properties.

Instead of hoarding gold and waiting for resources to appear magically, start sending merchants across the map and letting them work for you.

Now, go ahead and make some transactions - your civilized survival and wealth depend on that.

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