In Civilization 7, merchants are your gateway to unlocking powerful trade routes that can transform your empire’s economy and diplomacy. Mastering how to research, deploy, and direct these vital units not only grants access to coveted resources from other civilizations but also paves the way for economic dominance and strategic alliances. Ready to boost your settlements and outsmart rivals? Here’s everything you need to know to harness merchants and build thriving trade networks across the map.
Our Civilization 7 guide will tell you what you need to research to unlock merchants and trade routes, and how to use the trade resources you get from them.
How to unlock merchants in Civilization 7
To unlock merchants in Civilization 7, you need to research specific technologies or civics depending on the Age your civilization is in. In the Antiquity Age, merchants become available after researching the Code of Laws civic, which requires prior research of Mysticism and Discipline. In the Exploration Age, merchants are unlocked by researching the Economics civic, and in the Modern Age, you gain access to merchants by researching the Steam Engine technology. Once unlocked, merchants can be trained or purchased in your cities or towns to start establishing trade routes with other civilizations.
Before you can set up any trade routes, you’ll need to unlock merchants. Merchants are unique to each age, so you’ll have to unlock them three times over the course of a game:
- In the Antiquity Age, you’ll find them under Code of Laws in the Civic tree. You’ll need to research Mysticism and Discipline first.
- In the Exploration Age, they’re under the Economics Civic node, one of the first options you have.
- In the Modern Age, they’re unlocked by Steam Engine in the Tech tree, also one of the first options.
Once you’ve unlocked merchants (or your civilization’s version of merchants), you’ll need to train them in a city or town.
How to use merchants in Civilization 7
In Civilization 7, merchants are units used primarily to establish trade routes that provide access to valuable resources from other civilizations and independent city-states. To use merchants, you first need to unlock them by researching specific Civics or Technologies depending on the Age: Code of Laws in the Antiquity Age, Economics in the Exploration Age, and Steam Engine in the Modern Age. Once unlocked, you produce merchants in your cities or towns. To create a trade route, send a merchant to a foreign settlement with which you have at least a neutral relationship. Upon arrival, select the option to “make a trade route,” which will grant you access to that settlement’s resources, boosting your empire’s economy and growth. Merchants can also build roads between settlements, improving movement and connectivity. Efficient use of merchants is crucial for economic development and achieving an Economic Victory in the game.
Merchants have two uses in Civilization 7: building roads and establishing trade routes. Roads are a way for your settlements on the same continent to be connected together, speed up travel between them, and share food. Some settlements get connected by roads automatically, but not all, and that’s when you’ll need a merchant.
Merchants also create roads between the settlements of two different civilizations when you use them to create a trade route. Trade routes are a way to import resources from other civilizations and (certain) independent city-states.
How to establish a trade route in Civilization 7
To establish a trade route in Civilization 7, first unlock and produce a Merchant unit by researching the appropriate Technology or Civic, such as the Code of Laws in the Antiquity Age. Then, use Scouts to find other civilizations or city-states with which you can trade. Once you have a Merchant, select it and view the list of potential trade destinations showing available resources. Move your Merchant physically to the chosen foreign city or town-this may take several turns. Upon arrival, click the Merchant and select the option to create a trade route, which will consume the Merchant and grant you access to the destination’s resources. Finally, allocate these resources to your settlements via the Resource Allocation menu to boost your empire’s growth and relations.
The first step in setting up a trade route is finding someone to trade with. You could send out a merchant to wander aimlessly, but this is better done with a scout – the first unit you should train in every game anyway.
You’ll need to find someone else’s town or city. You can’t trade with city-states until they’re aligned with you and you’re their suzerain.
And finally, you’ll need a relationship of unfriendly or better with whoever you want to trade with. Basically, you can’t actively be at war with them.
Once you’ve got someone to trade with – and you’ve researched the necessary Tech or Civic to unlock merchants – you’ll have to train (or purchase) a merchant. Merchants require about 40 Production to train.
When your merchant appears, you’ll get a pop-up with a list of potential trade partners and the improved resources those settlements have. You can send your merchant wherever you want, or you can click on a settlement from the list to zoom the map to your destination automatically.
Settlements you can create trade routes with will be green and those you can’t will be red (more on this in a second). Once your merchant makes the trip to the settlement, you’ll get a new button that creates the trade route.
On the next turn, you’ll be able to assign the trade resources you get from it to your settlements.
Why can’t I set up a trade route in Civilization 7
There are a lot of reasons you might not be able to set up a trade route, but most of them aren’t easy to figure out on your own. A lot of the time, it’s safer to assume you can’t, and wait for your economic adviser pops in to tell you about an opportunity.
First, you have to be able to reach the settlement you’re trading with either overland or by sea. And the distance to the settlement has to be within your maximum trade route length. All of that is affected by the Civics and Tech you research, your choice of leader, your choice of civilization, and what age you’re in. At the default, your maximum trade route distance is pretty short.
The settlement you’re trying to trade with also needs to have a trade resource to give you. Resources – the square-ish icons on the map – come in three types: Empire Resources (resources that stay inside your empire), City Resources (resources that can only be assigned to cities), and Bonus Resources (resources that can be assigned to either towns or cities). Only City and Bonus Resources can travel on a trade route. What type of resource something is doesn’t come up on the popup when you hover over the resource, though. As a general rule, Empire Resources are things that give you Production bonuses to building buildings and wonders, and the other (trade-able) resources give you bonuses to the other yields like Food and Happiness.
Finally, you have to have an available trade route with the target civilization’s leader. You start with one trade route per other leader.
How to make more trade routes in Civilization 7
To create more trade routes in Civilization 7, you first need to unlock and train Merchants by researching specific Technologies or Civics depending on your current Age (such as Code of Laws in Antiquity or Economics in Exploration). Once you have a Merchant unit, send it to a friendly or neutral foreign city or town to establish a trade route. By default, you start with one trade route per leader, but you can increase this number by using the “Improve Trade Relations” diplomatic action in the Diplomacy menu, which adds additional trade route slots with that leader. Exploring the map to discover more settlements and maintaining good relations with other civilizations will allow you to unlock more trade opportunities. After sending your Merchant to the chosen settlement and arriving there, you can finalize the trade route to gain access to their resources, which can then be allocated to your own cities or towns.
You’ll add trade routes with the Improve Trade Relations Diplomatic Action. Each time you do this, it immediately adds one possible trade route with that leader. The problem is that you can’t actually see the number of available trade routes. It’s easy to end up with way more trade routes than the other leader even has settlements.
If you can, it’s better to bank up some Influence and wait until you have a merchant trained. When you see that there are no routes available to them (the cities are in red), go Improve Trade Relations with who you want. It’s instant, so you’ll be able to hop right back to the merchant and set up your new route.
Want to discover the secret to unlocking powerful trade routes in Civilization 7
Unlocking powerful trade routes in Civilization 7 hinges on mastering the use of merchants-special units that connect your empire with others to import valuable resources and build economic strength. To get started, you must first research specific Civics or Technologies depending on your current Age: Code of Laws in Antiquity, Economics in Exploration, and Steam Engine in the Modern Age. Once unlocked, train merchants in your cities and send them to friendly foreign settlements to establish trade routes, which not only bring resources but also improve diplomatic relations. Expanding your trade network involves exploring the map with scouts to find trading partners, maintaining neutral or friendly relations, and using diplomatic actions like Improve Trade Relations to unlock additional routes. With merchants paving roads and forging connections, you can boost your empire’s growth and edge closer to an Economic Victory.
What are the key research milestones to unlock powerful trade routes in Civilization 7
The key research milestones to unlock powerful trade routes in Civilization 7 depend on the Age you are in:
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Antiquity Age: Unlock merchants by researching the Code of Laws Civic, which requires prior research of Mysticism and Discipline.
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Exploration Age: Unlock merchants through the Economics Civic, one of the early Civics in this Age.
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Modern Age: Unlock merchants by researching the Steam Engine Technology, also an early choice in the Tech tree.
Once you have unlocked merchants by researching these Civics or Technologies, you can produce merchant units in your cities or towns to establish trade routes with other civilizations.
