Caravans keep the trade flow alive in the land of Pendor.
Caravans have a % chance (based on the city's prosperity) of improving the prosperity of their destination city. Caravans generate wealth and tariffs for the destination city (and, in turn, the destination city's lord). They change prices of goods in the destination city based to some extent on the prices of goods from the origin city.
Caravans do nothing in particular for their faction.
But, preventing caravans from reaching a specific city will damage that city's chances for growth and lessen the income for that city's lord, which will lessen that lord's ability to raise troops or upgrade his current batch.
There are caravans from every faction, and they travel to any and every city. Caravans will not be sent to cities of a kingdom the caravan's faction is in war with.
If a caravan that you are escorting to a town gets attacked, you can help it fight off the attackers. This will increase your relation with the faction they belonged to.
Caravans do hire guards to protect them, protecting them from small raiding parties, making these caravan parties formed by:
- 1 Caravan Master
- 12-40 Mercenary Armsmen
- 6-12 Maiden Cavalry
- Some troops from the faction the caravan belongs to
Caravans will never chase. If they are weaker, they will run away from the enemy, if they are stronger, they will ignore the enemy party. However, if the player engages a patrol or vassal of a faction and a caravan of that same faction is nearby, the caravan will automatically join in to support their kingdom in the fight.
Interactions[]
- "Tell me about your journey." - This option lets the Caravan Master tell you about his plans for trading. He'll tell you why he's going where, and what he's selling wherever he's going.
- "I demand something from you!" - This option gives you two choices: You can make him pay a toll for crossing the lands, making them give you a small amount of denars, but for this to work you need to be in war with the faction the caravan belongs to and your party must be stronger than the caravan's. You can also say "No, I want everything you have!" and attack the caravan. This option will give you -5 to your relation with the caravan's faction.
- "I have an offer..." - If your relation with the caravan's faction is positive, this speech option appears. If you click it, the caravan will list an amount of denars that they will pay you for escorting them to their destination. Do not confuse this with the Guild Master's caravan escort quest. In this case, the caravan will not follow you, instead, you have to follow them. It's a relatively good form of income, considering that if you have enough troops, you can make easy denars by just chasing off intruders. The amount of denars they offer depends on how far are they from their destination.
Maximum Number Of Caravans[]
The maximum number of caravans depends on the number of cities a faction has.
- 3 or more cities: 5 caravans
- 2 cities: 3 caravans
- 1 city: 1 caravan
- 0 cities: 0 caravans