Trade

There are three types of trade in Norland, all of them extremely important.

Internal trade

The Finance menu

Internal trade takes place between the population and Market, Tavern or Drug Den buildings. Lords do not use internal trade and take any resources they need for free.

Internal trade is managed in the Finance menu, where wages and prices for all resources used in internal trade are set. On the left side you can adjust the maximum amount of a certain resource that can be sold every day, as well as its cost. On the right side you can adjust the wages for the population. Peasants, Warriors and Unemployed are paid with Gold while prisoners are paid with food and alcohol resources.

Every character consumes 1 food per day, so the amount of food produced should be at least equal to the population and the food price per unit should be lower than the workers' salary. Characters who work also need alcohol every 2-3 days and their mood can be regulated with the quantity and price of the sold alcohol. Prisoners receive food (and alcohol if allowed) for free but require a functioning Prisoner Barns building for that. Internal trade buildings open after 6 PM.

Peasants will buy food from the Holy Caravan if prices are set too high.

Holy Caravan

Market saturation for Flour

The Holy Caravan arrives every 2-3 days and is the primary source of gold, holy rings, books and prisoners. Prisoners sold by the Holy Caravan do not have any Combat skill.

Prices at the Holy Caravan depend on the Trade skill of the lord trading with the Holy Caravan and can also be increased or decreased by buying or selling a large amount of a certain resource. Prices may also change randomly.

Each resource has a local demand and market saturation value. Market saturation increases each time a resource is sold to the Holy Caravan and goes down over time. If market saturation becomes greater than local demand then prices for the resource will drop exponentially at the Holy Caravan, capped at -80%. Resources that are easier to produce have a higher Market Saturation that those that are more difficult to produce. The price of a resource can never fall below 1 Gold.

Sometimes free lords will arrive with the Holy Caravan. Free lords can be hired for 10 days for a price of Holy Rings that scales with the hiring lord's Persuasion skill and must only be paid after the contract expires. While hired a free lord will function like any other lord. There is a 50% discount on the first free lord hired.

Trade deals

Each city will buy one resource and sell another. Trading prices are always better than those of the Holy Caravan but creating a trade deal costs 150 Gold and lasts for 10 days. The prices will be adjusted by a further 3% for every point of Trade skill difference between the two kings. The price of resources sold by the other city will also double if the other city is attacked. Kings will only trade if relations are friendly or they are vassals or allied.

Once a trade deal is mad a button will appear in the trade menu every day at 11 AM to but or sell the traded resource. The resource will be transported by a peasant on the world map. If the city's king has 100 relationship with the lord conducting the trade they will offer far better prices.