TRADESMAN Deal to Dealer Community-Tested Early Trade Loop

This page documents a specific early-game trade loop posted by a Chinese community player on Steam and refined by replies from other players. It is not a magic route — the game still applies cargo danger on every leg. But the specific buys and sells have been verified by multiple players as a functional early loop.

The full loop

Stop	Buy	Sell	Notes
Guards Camp I	16 Meat	8 Spears	Start here with basic capital
Disaster Village	8 Helmets	8 Clothes, 20 Eggs	Mixed profit and reputation
Guards Camp I	—	4 Armor	Sell excess armor here
Sourwine Town	10 Alcohol	16 Bread	Food loop, low danger
Fishpool	20 Fish	16 Cabbage	Coastal demand
Sourwine Town	—	20 Eggs	Return leg, sell eggs
Fort Pass	4 Armor, 10 Axes	8 Helmets	Military demand zone
Mill Town	8 Straw, 10 Wheat, 20 Flour	20 Planks, 8 Tires	Crafting materials
Lazy Village	8 Clothes	16 Meat, 20 Fish	Food and clothes
Guards Camp II	8 Spears	8 Bows	Second guard camp
Plain City	16 Bread, 10 Saws, 20 Nails	20 Flour	Industrial sink
Riverbend	8 Forks	—	Final stop, sell remaining

This is a loop. After Riverbend you return to the start. Not every leg needs to be completed every run.

TRADESMAN Deal to Dealer My First Look — early gameplay and trading

Community corrections — read before you go

Consider dropping the 4-armor leg. One replier on the Steam thread warns that armor is heavy cargo — it pushes your danger level up noticeably on the road. If the fights on the armor leg feel harder than they should, drop it and reroute through Guards Camp I without the armor.

Do not overstock dangerous goods early. Another player’s summary: keep risky items light in the first hours, or you will wipe a wagon full of profit. The goods tier list matters more than the route list.

Two mechanics that change every route

Danger follows cargo. Every extra stack you carry raises encounter difficulty on the road. The route above works because it keeps the wagon lean at each leg. If you are carrying more than the route calls for, you are making the route harder.

Reputation comes from matching town type, not the demand star. One player reported being misled by the demand star mechanic for their entire play time before discovering that selling goods matching a town’s type raises reputation even without the “in-demand” marker. Selling civilian food in a civilian-type town raises standing even if the stall does not show a star that day.

How to adapt this route to your save

If a town does not have the goods listed when you arrive, do not force it. The route is a pattern, not a script. The underlying pattern is:

• Buy low in towns that produce surplus (guard camps, fishing villages, farm towns)
• Sell to towns that demand that category (military camps want military, food towns want food)
• Keep cargo lean — one full stack beats four half-stacks every time

Relationship with other pages

Use this route with the trade-routes tool open for a broader view of demand tags. Pair with getting started if you are in your first hour. The combat guide matters more as the route gets heavier.

When to stop the loop

A trade route is not a prison. If a leg is too dangerous for your current squad and cart, skip it. The loop will come around again. Players who treat every leg as mandatory are the ones who post on Steam about wiping on an armor run at hour three.

The goal is profit, not completion. A lighter wagon gets there more reliably.