How do caravans even work?

[Fresh Yuuka]

Im getting piss all from them, usually around 300 to even as low as 70+-. Hardly worth the 15k investment. Am i missing something here? Do I need to do something to up their earnings?

[Anon]

Is your companion specialised in trade? You can see their stats before you employ them. Names that end with "the Spicevendor" or "the Swift" are good traders so they're made for caravaneering.

[Fresh Yuuka]

How much trading do i need? I have 142 on the companion.

[V Hubris LOL]

I've seen cravans get north of 700 sometimes but it does fluctuate.

Also there are many methods to make big some of money in game however,

Caravans and workshops are actually more about "not losing money." They are not for making big money. Use so you can maintain bigger and better parties. But that does not necessarily mean all troops should be max tier either

[Anon]

Originally posted by Fresh Yuuka:

How much trading do i need? I have 142 on the companion.

If your companion has 142 trading then I don't know what you're doing wrong. Only thing I do differently is that I get the 22,5k denar caravans. Maybe the 15k caravan isn't protected enough and instead of going to their destination they avoid big bandit parties which hinders them from trading.

[Fresh Yuuka]

I see.

Thanks for the help! Ill try saving up for the 22.5k caravan and see if that helps. If not, I'll probably try to find a mod to fix it.

[DutchToast]

over time the economy stabilises too. at the start you're prone to higher fluctuations but keep your caravans active and after several in game years they'll start to make more. clearly this does not take into account armies visiting towns and dumping all their inventory, cratering prices.

Additionally, there are certain perks that make parties move faster as well which helps. faster movement = more trades = more money. on top of that any perks that reduce troop wages help with profits.

[Panthaz89]

Scouts make the best traders simply because traveling faster and safer is more efficient than higher trading by comparison so putting points/attributes into scouting first is better. Idk if anyone ever had a guy with maxed scouting out there but I Imagine a trader with 275+ scouting would be able to make a ton of money over time.

[WingT74]

ugg, was really hoping this was improved. Bummer

[PiercyBear]

I sent my brother out as a caravan leader, then he got married and I made his wife the Governor of Lageta. He somehow got her pregnant. Lazy, work shy and shagging whilst on the clock.

[Antiga]

Workshops and Caravans remain flawed. Pretty much same state as the first early access release. Cannot depend on them, and chances to earn back your investment, let alone see any profit are minimal if you're part of any kingdom. The only way to make these things work is to remain neutral for hundreds of in-game days, until the world economy stabilizes and the ~100 a day you get from a workshop or the ~200 a day from a caravan have earned themselves back.
Or to use mods to for example not make you lose a workshop due to war.

[Clovis Sangrail]

Originally posted by Antiga:

Or to use mods to for example not make you lose a workshop due to war.

The air is redolent of Liederkranz.

[Rhapsody]

Caravan leaders also need trade skill to turn profit, exactly same way as it does for players. Other skills will play a hand in caravan operation as well: Scouting, Tactics, even Roguery, and all the other "mental" skills except maybe Charm and Engineering can have a positive effect.

[Grizzly]

it takes time for them to get better, my 7 caravans make each 800 after 3 years

[redhongkong]

maybe caravan need to pair with things like caravan enter ur town u get 30 gold XD

[lar unuruur]

every two days, your companion can earn around 45-60k by smithing its stamina out. think about it, how many years its caravan have not to die, to earn money this same companion can safely print in four days.
my advice, do not waste companions on caravans. companions are best used as captains or governors. caravans are total waste.