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Starting Commercing, By A Beginner

MapelMapel
Mabinogi Rep: 930
Posts: 12
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in Game Guides
You want to start commercing to procrastinate the generations because you don't want to continuously fight but also don't want to do something like cooking because if you have to cook another baked potato you're going to explode? Welcome to commercing, it's your own personal nightmare, but at least you get some gold out of it, right?

I'm Mapel; you're going to learn I'm really lazy, really quickly. I don't do commercing for the gold at this point. I have just over 200k to my name, and it's killing me on the inside. So, where do you get started on commercing? That was my exact question, but sadly, I don't see many posts for beginning this mercantile nightmare journey, so I thought I'd make one. I'm not very good in this skill, only a rank 3 commercing mastery, and I only have a horse-drawn carriage.

1) Don't get discouraged. When I first looked at stuff for it, I couldn't find anything that related to what I needed to know. That, or I didn't have a brain, I'm pretty sure I still don't. However, even when you look at posts for commercing, don't get discouraged while realizing everyone else is better than you. While you were wallowing in self-pity, you could have been traveling slowly from Tara to Bangor in a handcart with hopes of getting enough ducats for a horse-drawn carriage.

2) Make sure you're strong or traveling with others. This one is a given, written in pretty much every guide I've seen. Don't be weak, have at least one talent you're good at and go with it. Make sure none of your goods are taken, or else it'll cut your ducats. The bandits will go through your belongings five times, so make sure to get rid of them before they successfully run away with five stars over their heads.

3) Ignore the assistant imp. He was annoying to me for a while, and I couldn't stand him. Why does he have to exist? With his "3m to the right, 5m to the left, oop you stepped in poo!" You're going to find him frustrating after a while, and if you don't, well, colour me impressed. Just ignore him.

4) Have a lot of patience. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Don't have it? Take it out on that annoying imp, I know I sure do. But away from the joking tone, you need to have patience for this talent, by what I've learned. You travel everywhere, and for a lot of it, on a slow-moving handcart until you manage to rack up 100k ducats.

5) About the 100k Ducats. Save up! Don't get stuff just yet, at least get up to the carriage, because you'll move a lot faster. I never knew I'd make it, and I cried when I did because it took me so long. I'm still working up for the elephant, but I doubt I'll be using it an extreme amount.

6) "How do I get to 100k?" asks the person reading to the lazy beginner, and thus I say, travel. Learn what you can, the best paths to take, the best places to go. Everything is ever-changing. Yeah, it's stressful to keep up with everything, but that's business baby.

7) Learn the map. Learn your way around, because the more time you take, the more time you waste while you could be earning ducats. However, it would be best if you learned your way around. Two places I recommend avoiding (unless you're confident you're strong enough if any powerful bandits strike) are Osna Sail and Sen Mag Plains.
>I recommend avoiding Osna Sail because it is full of wolves that are ready to attack, and if you get into a fight with a bandit, they majorly get in
the way. Not to mention that you can quickly get into a fight due to the thin walkway. So if a bandit is in your path, you're most likely going to have to fight.
>I recommend avoiding Sen Mag Plains because my experience with it is that enemies spawn right under you, which can get very infuriating if
you're not trying to get into fifty fights in one go.

8) The travel is worth it. In the long run, traveling far distances is going to be worth it. The farther you go, the more ducat you'll make, but also the more strong bandits you'll find. Just keep a sharp eye (or ear!) on where you're going, even though you won't always get out of a fight.

I think that wraps up my guide. I don't know much about commercing, so please don't attack me too much, but this is just stuff I've personally found, and I thought would be useful if I happened to stumble upon as a beginner. There may be guides that I couldn't find somewhere around, but I guess I wasn't fortunate.

So, be patient, and learn your routes, especially plan out where you're going to find the easiest and/or fastest way to travel. Not everything will be happy and carefree, but really, what is? Good luck on your journeys, merchants!
anthyKensamaofmariFeldingAvan

Comments

  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
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    edited October 11, 2019
    At the very very beginning buy the cheapest good in Tir and ship it to Tail. Don't be afraid to wait for a good price. Then buy the cheapest good in Tail and ship it to Tir. Repeat this process. The reason for this is these two goods have the highest rate of return of any good in the whole system; around 100% is normal. Later on, most other goods will have a lower rate of return but will have higher overall profit. But early on, when you don't have enough ducats to fill your transport, leaving some of your shipping capacity idle, it's all about strict rate of return. As you get richer and can fill your transport with ducats left over then you can shift to other goods for higher overall profit. If you do as outlined above, go there and back twice (four trips) and you will have enough for a handcart with a reasonable float left over.
    KensamaofmariMapel
  • KensamaofmariKensamaofmari
    Mabinogi Rep: 34,745
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    In early stages most goods will give you good returns, but as you progress, bulk and volume is what helps get it done.
    I personally like to diversify my loads as to not put all my eggs in one basket in case someone beats you to the same destination with the same goods that would drastically affect the price.

    Don't be afraid to change course to another destination with your load if something happens to prices.
    Mapel
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
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    Another thing to address in commencing is DPS. In this case that's Ducats Per Second. Long-haul routes may be more profitable but may produce profit over a less efficient amount of time as short-haul routes. Of course it all depends. The other thing to keep in mind is that bandits will only steal so much then they'll leave you alone. In fact, one of the throw-away phrases of the bandits is "Pay the toll.". When I was weak and had no chance against the hardest bandits, I still traded top value good out of Tara, via elephant, solo. I did short-haul. If I got jumped, since I was too weak to do anything, I would hide behind something and wait. The bandits would take their fill and would then leave me alone for the rest of the trip. If I was robbed I then switched to an alternate long haul route to make up the difference. In those days I kept a float of about 500k ducats, as I would expect most of that to be in the pipeline coming back to me via bounty hunters. You still come out ahead. So, if you are weak, the trick to bandits can be summed up with a line from the movie Lawrence of Arabia; "The trick, Mr. Potter, is in not minding that it hurts." It's very much a Buddhist approach to commerce, but it does make it less stressful.
    Mapel
  • MapelMapel
    Mabinogi Rep: 930
    Posts: 12
    Member
    edited October 13, 2019
    Helsa wrote: »
    Another thing to address in commencing is DPS. In this case that's Ducats Per Second. Long-haul routes may be more profitable but may produce profit over a less efficient amount of time as short-haul routes. Of course it all depends. The other thing to keep in mind is that bandits will only steal so much then they'll leave you alone. In fact, one of the throw-away phrases of the bandits is "Pay the toll.". When I was weak and had no chance against the hardest bandits, I still traded top value good out of Tara, via elephant, solo. I did short-haul. If I got jumped, since I was too weak to do anything, I would hide behind something and wait. The bandits would take their fill and would then leave me alone for the rest of the trip. If I was robbed I then switched to an alternate long haul route to make up the difference. In those days I kept a float of about 500k ducats, as I would expect most of that to be in the pipeline coming back to me via bounty hunters. You still come out ahead. So, if you are weak, the trick to bandits can be summed up with a line from the movie Lawrence of Arabia; "The trick, Mr. Potter, is in not minding that it hurts." It's very much a Buddhist approach to commerce, but it does make it less stressful.

    I never thought that could work, but that's really cool information! I'm more of the brute force kind of person when it comes to commercing, so I didn't really think about a generally more peaceful way to take things lol. I also followed that Tir to Tail and Tail to Tir thing, which I definitely forgot to put in, so thank you for bringing it up! I just used Tara to Bangor as an example since it's a pretty common route by what I've seen.
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
    Posts: 5,764
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    Mapel wrote: »
    Helsa wrote: »
    Another thing to address in commencing is DPS. In this case that's Ducats Per Second. Long-haul routes may be more profitable but may produce profit over a less efficient amount of time as short-haul routes. Of course it all depends. The other thing to keep in mind is that bandits will only steal so much then they'll leave you alone. In fact, one of the throw-away phrases of the bandits is "Pay the toll.". When I was weak and had no chance against the hardest bandits, I still traded top value good out of Tara, via elephant, solo. I did short-haul. If I got jumped, since I was too weak to do anything, I would hide behind something and wait. The bandits would take their fill and would then leave me alone for the rest of the trip. If I was robbed I then switched to an alternate long haul route to make up the difference. In those days I kept a float of about 500k ducats, as I would expect most of that to be in the pipeline coming back to me via bounty hunters. You still come out ahead. So, if you are weak, the trick to bandits can be summed up with a line from the movie Lawrence of Arabia; "The trick, Mr. Potter, is in not minding that it hurts." It's very much a Buddhist approach to commerce, but it does make it less stressful.

    I never thought that could work, but that's really cool information! I'm more of the brute force kind of person when it comes to commercing, so I didn't really think about a generally more peaceful way to take things lol. I also followed that Tir to Tail and Tail to Tir thing, which I definitely forgot to put in, so thank you for bringing it up! I just used Tara to Bangor as an example since it's a pretty common route by what I've seen.

    Another really nice route is Bangor<-->Belfast. Few do it, these are the number two and three most profitable cities to trade out of, and it's pretty much a short-haul trip.
    Mapel
  • KensamaofmariKensamaofmari
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    Most Bangor routes have decent yields
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
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    Most Bangor routes have decent yields

    Hence, why I said Bangor and Belfast are the second and third best towns to trade out of.
  • KensamaofmariKensamaofmari
    Mabinogi Rep: 34,745
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    Helsa wrote: »
    Most Bangor routes have decent yields

    Hence, why I said Bangor and Belfast are the second and third best towns to trade out of.

    The other day I was running some trades, the Belvast goods look like they would cause bankruptcy.
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
    Posts: 5,764
    Member
    Helsa wrote: »
    Most Bangor routes have decent yields

    Hence, why I said Bangor and Belfast are the second and third best towns to trade out of.

    The other day I was running some trades, the Belvast goods look like they would cause bankruptcy.

    1x4dzk.jpg
  • KensamaofmariKensamaofmari
    Mabinogi Rep: 34,745
    Posts: 7,909
    Member
    edited October 21, 2019
    Helsa wrote: »
    Helsa wrote: »
    Most Bangor routes have decent yields

    Hence, why I said Bangor and Belfast are the second and third best towns to trade out of.

    The other day I was running some trades, the Belvast goods look like they would cause bankruptcy.

    1x4dzk.jpg

    -1000s everywhere.
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
    Posts: 5,764
    Member
    Helsa wrote: »
    Helsa wrote: »
    Most Bangor routes have decent yields

    Hence, why I said Bangor and Belfast are the second and third best towns to trade out of.

    The other day I was running some trades, the Belvast goods look like they would cause bankruptcy.

    1x4dzk.jpg

    -1000s everywhere.

    Poor boo.
  • MapelMapel
    Mabinogi Rep: 930
    Posts: 12
    Member
    Helsa wrote: »
    Most Bangor routes have decent yields

    Hence, why I said Bangor and Belfast are the second and third best towns to trade out of.

    The other day I was running some trades, the Belvast goods look like they would cause bankruptcy.

    I deal with the same issue, I never really go from Belvast to somewhere, usually Bangor to Tara/Taillteann/Belvast, or Taillteann to Belvast/Bangor. Belvast doesn't seem to give much when you're coming from, and when you're trying to grind up a bunch of ducats, I don't think buying things in blue is exactly the way to go (or generally the way to go lol).
  • KensamaofmariKensamaofmari
    Mabinogi Rep: 34,745
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    Mapel wrote: »
    Helsa wrote: »
    Most Bangor routes have decent yields

    Hence, why I said Bangor and Belfast are the second and third best towns to trade out of.

    The other day I was running some trades, the Belvast goods look like they would cause bankruptcy.

    I deal with the same issue, I never really go from Belvast to somewhere, usually Bangor to Tara/Taillteann/Belvast, or Taillteann to Belvast/Bangor. Belvast doesn't seem to give much when you're coming from, and when you're trying to grind up a bunch of ducats, I don't think buying things in blue is exactly the way to go (or generally the way to go lol).

    Those are really the only options out of Belvast these days. Takes the fun out of it.
    Been calling for a commerce revamp for years. Make the market realistic.
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
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    Trades between Belfast/Cobh/Dunbarton are ALWAYS blue; it was deliberately set as such. When they first introduced commerce this wasn't the case but they nerfed those sweet runs. If any other trades out of Belfast are blue they are so because people are trading out of Belfast. When the prices are good out of Belfast they are very good, making Belfast normally in the top three of towns to trade out of.
  • KensamaofmariKensamaofmari
    Mabinogi Rep: 34,745
    Posts: 7,909
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    Helsa wrote: »
    Trades between Belfast/Cobh/Dunbarton are ALWAYS blue; it was deliberately set as such. When they first introduced commerce this wasn't the case but they nerfed those sweet runs. If any other trades out of Belfast are blue they are so because people are trading out of Belfast. When the prices are good out of Belfast they are very good, making Belfast normally in the top three of towns to trade out of.

    Until it's not.
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
    Posts: 5,764
    Member
    Helsa wrote: »
    Trades between Belfast/Cobh/Dunbarton are ALWAYS blue; it was deliberately set as such. When they first introduced commerce this wasn't the case but they nerfed those sweet runs. If any other trades out of Belfast are blue they are so because people are trading out of Belfast. When the prices are good out of Belfast they are very good, making Belfast normally in the top three of towns to trade out of.

    Until it's not.

    Like every other town.
  • KensamaofmariKensamaofmari
    Mabinogi Rep: 34,745
    Posts: 7,909
    Member
    Helsa wrote: »
    Helsa wrote: »
    Trades between Belfast/Cobh/Dunbarton are ALWAYS blue; it was deliberately set as such. When they first introduced commerce this wasn't the case but they nerfed those sweet runs. If any other trades out of Belfast are blue they are so because people are trading out of Belfast. When the prices are good out of Belfast they are very good, making Belfast normally in the top three of towns to trade out of.

    Until it's not.

    Like every other town.

    Reason for commerce revamp.
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
    Posts: 5,764
    Member
    Helsa wrote: »
    Helsa wrote: »
    Trades between Belfast/Cobh/Dunbarton are ALWAYS blue; it was deliberately set as such. When they first introduced commerce this wasn't the case but they nerfed those sweet runs. If any other trades out of Belfast are blue they are so because people are trading out of Belfast. When the prices are good out of Belfast they are very good, making Belfast normally in the top three of towns to trade out of.

    Until it's not.

    Like every other town.

    Reason for commerce revamp.

    I'd be happy with a simple tweak where the prices don't drop so fast and recover quicker.
  • KensamaofmariKensamaofmari
    Mabinogi Rep: 34,745
    Posts: 7,909
    Member
    Helsa wrote: »
    Helsa wrote: »
    Helsa wrote: »
    Trades between Belfast/Cobh/Dunbarton are ALWAYS blue; it was deliberately set as such. When they first introduced commerce this wasn't the case but they nerfed those sweet runs. If any other trades out of Belfast are blue they are so because people are trading out of Belfast. When the prices are good out of Belfast they are very good, making Belfast normally in the top three of towns to trade out of.

    Until it's not.

    Like every other town.

    Reason for commerce revamp.

    I'd be happy with a simple tweak where the prices don't drop so fast and recover quicker.

    Which is why there needs to be events where the commerce goods circulated are actually consumed and various factors that could affect supply and demand.
  • HelsaHelsa
    Mabinogi Rep: 23,380
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    Event = Revamp?