How to set up trade routes with merchants in Civilization 7

Trade routes in Civilization 7 are how you’ll get access to another powers’ resources and the bonuses they give you. You’ll need to set up trade routes if you’re going for the Antiquity Age Economic Legacy Path and its milestones. It’s also key for securing an Economic Victory.

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 set up a trade route, 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

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

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

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.

For more Civilization 7 guides, see our explainers on treasure fleets and distant lands. Plus, here’s a list of all victories and our recommendations for the best leaders to start with.