Trade Routes in Civilization 7 work very differently than in previous Civ games. In Civ 6, your Trader units would automatically path to a destination and grant passive bonuses over time. In Civ 7, you have to manually walk them to a destination, and you get one-time Resource rewards instead of Gold and yields.
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But to create Trade Routes in Civ 7, you must first unlock the Merchant unit. This guide to Civ 7 Trade Routes details how to get Merchants and Traders in Civ 7 and explains how to set up a Trade Route with this entry’s overhauled trading system.
How To Unlock & Get Merchants
To unlock Merchants in Civ 7 (Trader units), you must research the Economics Civic. Economics is about halfway through the Antiquity Civics tree, so it can take quite some time to get there, even if you focus on developing Culture.
Once you unlock Economics, Merchants will become available to produce and purchase in your Towns and Cities, listed alongside other units at the bottom of the settlement menu. When you research Economics, other unique Merchants (like the Mandarin unique Ming Merchant) will become available at the same time.
Don’t just buy a Merchant in any location without thought – purchase Merchants in settlements that are close to other civilizations to get Trade Routes set up faster.
How To Create A Trade Route In Civ 7
To set up a Trade Route in Civ 7, you must move your Merchant unit within the borders of a tradable settlement of another opponent’s territory. If you click on the Merchant, Civ 7 players will see a list of potential nearby settlements with acquirable Resources.
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If you send your Trader to these areas, and establish a Trade Route, you will get a copy of these resources. To make a Trade Route, you must literally move your Merchant Unit into the territory of the destination settlement. You can’t click on the settlement in the list of tradable locations, you must move the Merchant there physically over several turns.
Once it arrives, click on the Merchant and look for the “Create Trade Route” button at the bottom of the unit menu. Click this, and you will instantly create a Trade Route and gain all of the resources of the destination settlement to allocate as you see fit.
You cannot establish a Trade Route in your own settlements.
When the Trade Route is created, a Caravan will be created for land routes, while a Trade Ship will be created for oceanic routes. These can be destroyed or taken by enemy forces, like opponents you are At War with or hostile Independent People. If left alone, it will continually provide the Resources to you and Gold to your target Leader.
If an opponent AI sets up a Trade Route with one of your settlements, you will receive Gold Per Turn for each Resource at their destination.
Grand Strategy
Turn-Based Strategy
4X
- Released
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February 11, 2025
- Franchise
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Sid Meier’s Civilization