Apocalypse Reborn: Guide: Merchants of the Marshlands (Patreon)

Apocalypse Reborn: Guide

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Merchants of the Marshlands

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Commissioned by J.A.

Wordcount: 2500

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Disparate and disorganized, the beast tribes wandered in the wake of blood and violence. Decried as carrion eaters and those who bring ill omens as they pursued wars and battles for profit, all those who sported the features of animals were looked upon with disdain. Cast out from even the smallest of territories, not allowed to own property, and betrayed time and time again be warlord who owed them their rise to power, the Beast Tribes came together under a singular banner: currency.

Like wildfire, the idea spread, the organization was established, and territories all over the world found themselves facing a united, mercantile front. Nearly all caravans fell under the singular banner of the conglomerate that formed between the Beast tribes. Their mightiest became guards and debt collectors and mercenaries for hire. The shrewdest and most charismatic became the faces behind shrouds that even the most powerful of warlords had to heed. Their intellectuals and scholars created roving schools which taught all that they were never taught, while those with the vision and ability were placed at the head of newly-born clans within the greater tribe.

None were surprised that with all their power, wealth, and ability, that they laid claim to a Citadel of the Ancients and arose to bring all others under their banner.

Racial Traits:

The Merchants of the Marshlands are a pure economic faction and have severe limitations in order to limit the simple ability of making so much money that they can win with ease. Barring specific factions, they start at Disliked and have no diplomatic bonuses. Their troops have no combat and morale bonuses and no movement bonuses. Their health and armor is decidedly average at all points of the game. Their cultural spread is the average amongst all the other factions, and their specific Wonders and T4/Ultimate Units are weak without investment.

However, the Merchants of the Marshlands can invest, they can use the units of other nations through the purchase of Mercenaries, and have many other assets at their disposal by utilizing the money that they generate.

Without a doubt, the Merchants are one of the easiest Factions to play, but they are hard to Master.

+Bread, Circuses, and Industry: If a city has a Champion/Advisor with Merchant trait, then they will have increased output in all resources and gold. Additionally, their cities will have increased happiness, but all buildings that increase happiness will cost more to upkeep. Should the city be placed under siege and be blockaded, it will suffer greater losses in morale and have decreased health.

+Deep Pockets: Cities with most of their population made of Merchants will have increased Gold generation. If a city’s population is 80% or greater Merchants, then Gold will receive a flat +500 and a bonus modifier of fifty percent.

+Something to Prove: Increases all the gold costs and upkeep costs of improvements to cities, villages, and towns, however their outputs are significantly improved. These improvements can also be invested into more and generate greater outputs. If the Merchants outproduce all other factions in anything, the buildings and improvements contributing to it will provide happiness.

Cultural Traits:

The Merchants are a conglomerate of different cultures and values. So many, in fact, that they struggle with cohesion and find it difficult to maintain anything besides a ruthless, business-minded commonality amongst themselves. If there is anything that could be truly said about all the tribes involved in the Merchants is that they believe that money is power, that money is itself a form of magic, and that money is often the end and the beginning of all things.

+Greed Is Good: The Merchants have a strong societal focus regarding mercantilism and exchange, which increases their gains from trade caravans. Though money is often left unreported and slips through many hands, there remains a mutual understanding that a state or strong organizational structure is required. Thus, while officials are bribed, things pass through unofficial channels, and more… the coffers of the nation aren’t lacking. Corruptive elements of society, including crime, do decreased damage to the economy of the Merchants.

+Bad Blood: The Merchants consider only a select few to be worth befriending and considering allies. Those that betrayed them in the past are remembered through oral traditions, written grudges, and even voided invoices kept secure for centuries and centuries. Even the smallest claim that they were deserving of their ill treatment can have a city blacklisted from entire markets, until whoever said so is ousted from power. They can limit access to the markets and they wield this power without a hint of shame.

+Fighting For Money: The Merchants suffer from a reliance on mercenaries and the fact that those mercenaries will never fight for them as completely and utterly as a professional army. The fact that many mercenary groups will rush to their call is something that they hold in great pride, but they also know that many of their sellswords will leave in the face of a difficult battle. Decreased Mercenary Morale. Increased availability of Mercenaries and Mercenaries refresh more quickly for the faction.

Military Overview:

The Merchants are an endurance-based faction. Going out of your way to pick fights isn’t advised, rather you should be doing your best for keeping fights in your territory, since Mercenaries can spawn anywhere on your territory after you purchase them from the Market and they’ll be able to move that turn. Invest your money into getting Mercenary Guilds, and improving them. Since no one else will be fielding mercenaries to the same extent as you, you’ll easily gain happiness bonuses from them that will outweigh the happiness decrease from being under assault.

Focus on making sure your cities aren’t taken by hiring mercenaries to disrupt siege efforts, create armies that will be supplemented by your free militia units, and exchange gold to destroy the invaders. Focus on raiding them, killing key compositions with the limited time the Mercenaries are on the field without a Champion and reduced Morale, and killing the enemy by a thousand cuts. In the late game, you’ll be using the Mercenaries as cannon fodder, while your own elites ravage the battlefields.

If you’re playing the Merchants:

Securing your borders is essential in the early game. Use your initial money bonus to hire single units and use them to scout, while using your Champion and actual units to scavenge for artifacts and get the Events you need. The midgame is when you need to turtle and make sure that anyone wandering into your territory dies at cost effective rations. Warden mercenary units and Guardian mercenary units are the best at this, due to being fast and being able to raise Undead as fodder, respectively. Upgrade your Caravan Centers as quickly as possible and send out your caravans, while making sure to use your ability to lock factions out of the market as liberally as possible against any that attack them. Focus on building your economy, investing in your economy, and using your economy to improve your economy.

The Merchant midgame is trying to get new allies and building up and lots of Mercenary armies, along with getting any Champions with the ‘Rogue Troops’ skill, which conceals the Mercenary army as a neutral army. Use them to raze your opponent’s tile improvements and raid settlements in order to destroy buildings, so that more of your improvements and buildings give your population happiness and have increased outputs. You want a monopoly over everything as swiftly as possible. Administrative Champions are recommended, but not essential. Focus on training up Champions that can act as Generals and getting them Artifacts for dueling or lowering maintenance costs. During this phase, build and improve everything you can while continuously spreading your trade routes.

Your late game is heavily dependent on how well you’ve managed your economy. Even with a single Citadel, you should have more gold than three other factions combined. If you have two, then you should have more than everyone else. Make sure to keep your happiness up, research the projects that give you bonus gold when your citizenry is happy. Your T2 and T3 units are your bread and butter, but you’ll need to buy them outright to make them their absolute strongest from the bonuses you can research for bought units.  If possible, rush buying endgame units, because the percentage buffs are ridiculous on them. Focus on heavily armored units that you can heal during and after battle. Your battle is about making very cost-effective trades against the enemy. Mechanized battalions with heavy firepower and artillery are your best bet to win.

For endgame strategies, refer to the endgame strategies page.

If you’re playing against the Merchants:

The Merchants rely on subterfuge and a strong defensive line. Raiding parties to ravage enemy supply lines and burn down improvements, as well as a solid defensive line will be combined to create a nigh-unassailable position. The best way to counter them is by defending against their Mercenaries, or the neutral armies that their Mercenaries are posing as, and whittling down their units. Focus on creating breakthrough points, ignoring fortresses and other strong points, and sending units that can forage and take less attritional damage to ravage their improvements in their territory. If they cannot afford the upkeep for their mercenaries and armies, their frontline will rapidly collapse, and their units will lose many of their purchase buffs.

As for Champions, focus on getting General Champions with anti-attrition bonuses, because they’ll serve as great roaming raiders against the Merchants. The less damage attrition and a lack of supply lines does to your units, the better. If possible, get a Necromancer which is capable of raising lost units as Undead units. However, a General that can recruit Mercenaries at their location is good, if you manage to loot enough towns and improvements in Merchant territory. A General that has the Diplomacy skill can also work, if their stats are high enough, and you have enough gold to out-bid the Merchants (unlikely).

In the late game, when they have completed their Continental Guild and Bank, it will be almost impossible to stop them, as their money will sky rocket and they’ll be able to acquire all strategic and luxury materials at a reduced cost. With happiness booming, they’ll gain more gold. With population increasing, they’ll gain more gold. With more specialists, they’ll gain more gold. It’s an unstoppable tide of gold that will threaten to overtake any player, as they’ll be able to get all improvements on a new settlement instantly and even purchase populations for that city by bribing citizenry to leave neighboring, enemy regions. Their weak early and mid-game leads to them having one of the strongest mid-games and it’s necessary to stop this from happening. Ravage their lands, assassinate their Administrative Champions. If you are aiming for their Citadel for the Domination/Military victory, kill them first and before they can ramp up.

Make sure that they never gain more than two Citadels and develop their regions completely, as it’ll be almost impossible to match their growth rate thereafter.

Faction-Specific Leaders and Champions

Leaders:

The Grand Trader: the ‘vanilla’ leader of the Merchants, who emphasizes increased gold gained from all trade routes, and when trade routes are raided or destroyed, 75% of the profit promised is still gained. This leader takes out the ability of enemy factions to ‘strangle’ the economy of the Merchants by blocking their territory. However, with the ill reputation of the Grand Trader, all purchases of military and merchant units are increased by 10%.

The Bureaucrat: A leader focused on overcoming the Merchant’s high gold costs in the endgame and decreasing investment costs. This leader is considered the most balanced of the Merchants leaders, and with good management and planning, this leader will be able to facilitate the most powerful end-game army possible for the Merchants. However, in exchange, all the bonuses from increased Happiness is removed due to more stringent taxation and laws to support the military and investments.

The Cutthroat: The military focused leader of the Merchant. The Logistician halves the cost of all Mercenary units purchased but increases their upkeep cost. This is to facilitate a playstyle that buys bodies and uses them as swiftly as possible to avoid costs. It also introduces a ‘Mercenary Discontent’ system, which increases in stages the more Mercenaries you lose, but decreases the more mercenaries you keep alive. The Mercenaries will gain boosted stats and have increased stats from any investments made on them, however the upkeep costs will rise the higher their veterancy is. Get General Champions to reduce upkeep costs, and you can have any combination of powerful units you want in the game.

Champions:

The Boss:  A skilled and powerful hybrid between an espionage and army-leadership Champion, the Boss is the sole Champion capable of keeping a whole army in stealth in the overworld, which proves to be a potent ability even with half the army slots and limitations on Unit Size. For one turn, long enough to conduct an Espionage action, the army can remain invisible in enemy territory. This flexibility comes at a steep cost: the army he uses has increased costs and must have Elite ranking in order to join him. However, many consider him to be the best for the Merchants, who’ll see themselves regularly surrounded by enemies. Additionally, when at max level, the restrictions on Unit Size are lifted and he can somehow bring even Titan-sized units along. Note: Titan-sized units typically take up two army slots, and he needs specific Artifacts from his quest line to get them up to eight, which allows for four Titan-sized units to be his retinue at max potential.

The Executive: A support Champion that further focuses on the Merchant’s ability to gain immense amounts of money. Weak on the field, and easily assassinated, the Executive is best kept in the Capital and protected.  This severe limitation is overcome by having the best economic skill tree in the game, which provides one-hundred percent increase to gold income when maximized and provides bonus outputs to all mines and increases gold gained from trade routes. Keeping the Executive alive for as long as possible is essential, however don’t get attached. Everyone knows to kill the Executive as quickly as possible.

The Lord Of Gold: A gladiator that rose from power and offered his services to the highest bidder, the Lord of Goal is an excellent army killer and perfect for defending during the early game. With the right artifacts and the right supporting units, he can easily become a whirlwind of destruction that ravages enemy armies all the way to the late game. A no-nonsense Champion with a focus on killing armies and defense bonuses and regeneration, the Lord of Gold is an essential pick if you want an easier early game… or if you’re playing multiplayer.

Opposing Champions:

The Champions of the Merchants are highly-specialized, and take time to reach their full potential, but much like the faction that’s best avoided. Focus on killing any of them to deprive the Merchants of sneaking armies of giants, immense reserves of gold which grow with interest, and finally a simple and straightforward army killer. Therefore, get as many assassins as you can and throw it at them until they stick.

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Comments (23):

ChocolateIsTheBest:

Augh. Furries.

Rara43:

The guys are, but the girls aren’t. A damn shame.

Nublet:

Aren’t cat eared girls furry?

Ex-Nub:

No, there’s a diagram that clearly shows what’s what. If it’s just a tail, ears, and maybe some fur on the legs and arms, they’re not furries.

Nublet:

Huh, that makes sense.

Ex-Nub:

Surprisingly, Chocolate isn’t into furries.

ChocolateIsTheBest.

You can like them. I don’t.

Rara43:

Why not? It’s hot.

ChocolateIsTheBest:

This just tells me you never had pets. Or, should never have one.

Rara43:

…We’re not going to get along, so let’s just agree to not talk to each other.

ChocolateIsTheBest:

Done.

Rara43:

So, what do you guys think? Shouldn’t the girls be furred up, too?

Rara43:

Guys?

Rara43:

Hello?

Rara43:

Oh, fuck off.

ChocolateIsTheBest:

Oh, there’s a mod that takes off the fur from the bodies of the dudes. Half a million downloads.

Rara43:

Dammit.