Trade and Economy

The trade economy in Anvil Empires sits on top of the regular crafting and resources loop and adds a layer of zone-locked specialty goods that have to be moved across the map before they can be turned into the strongest weapons and armour. Three rotating trade resources, a Marketplace where players buy and sell with each other, and the Silver currency together form the economic backbone of a faction war effort. The system was introduced during the Three Empire War update and has been iterated on across subsequent tests; the most recent observed state is described below.

Silver

Silver is the in-world currency. It is earned by completing bounties posted at Town Centers, by selling goods at a Marketplace, and from town-tier sources tied to keeps. Silver is then spent on Avatar recruitments, Marketplace purchases, Place Order escrow, and structure upkeep. Silver does not persist between pre-alpha tests; every war begins with the economy reset.

Marketplace

The Town Marketplace is a placed structure inside a settled town that enables player-to-player commerce. Building a Marketplace costs fifteen Wood Planks and requires either an Iron Hammer or a Flint Hammer; placed Marketplaces decay over forty-eight hours if not refreshed, which keeps the trade network rooted in actively maintained towns.

The most recent development update added vehicle trading to the Marketplace: Donkeys, Horses, Carts, Handcarts, and Caravans can now be bought and sold. Selling a Horse or Donkey requires paying a small Livery Fee, and the animal must be well fed before it can be listed. Sealed barrels no longer have to be unpacked at a dedicated station before trading; they can be packed and unpacked at Keeps, Camps, and Homesteads, can be partially filled, and are packed by dragging and dropping items into them. Homestead owners can also rent access to their facilities for Silver, which helps residents reach structures they do not own and offsets the owner’s upkeep costs.

Rotating Trade Resources

Three localized resources appear in specific regions of Calligo and rotate to new spawn points annually inside the game's calendar. Securing a faction's trade-resource zone is a strategic objective in its own right because the processed forms feed the strongest weapon and armour recipes.

Trade resources are extracted from specific node types in their current zone, hauled overland by caravan or short cart, and processed at a Marketplace town that has the matching workstations. The combination of zone-locked spawn and overland haul keeps the trade economy intertwined with the war economy: cut a supply line and the enemy faction's superior production stalls.

Superior Tier Feeds Off Trade

The Superior weapon tier introduced in the most recent build (Superior Short Sword, Superior Spear, Superior Short Bow, Superior Shield) consumes trade goods alongside deep Underworld resources. Heavy Armours similarly draw on trade goods plus deep Underworld metals. A faction that loses control of its rotating trade zone gives up a meaningful share of its top-tier production for the war.

Place Order Strategy

Place Order is the most underused mechanic for new players. By escrowing Silver up front against a specific shopping list (twenty Linen, fifty Lead Ingots, a set of Iron Spears), a player creates a steady income for the production crews who fulfill the order. Faction Discord channels usually post the going rates so the escrow amount is competitive without burning surplus Silver. Trade-route runners then plan caravans that fulfill several open orders along the way.

Bounties, Bandit Camps, and Forts

Pre-Alpha Test 43 reworked Silver acquisition around a dedicated bounty system. A bounty is a contract that exchanges a trophy item for Silver, and a Bounty Board now sits inside every Tavern in a settled town. Players access the board through the tavern interior or through a dedicated menu button; available contracts list the required trophy and the Silver reward up front.

Trophies drop from animals, creatures, bandits, and rival faction players, and stack in the regular inventory until they are turned in at a board. A player's pool of available bounties replenishes on a real-time twenty-four hour cycle, which prevents a single farmer from monopolising the high-tier contracts.

To support the bounty economy, the map now seeds Bandit Camps and Bandit Forts as neutral hostile locations. Camps and forts spawn hostile NPCs that drop bounty-eligible trophies and small caches of low-tier gear, which gives early-war groups a Silver-positive activity that does not require crossing into enemy territory. Forts are the larger of the two and typically reward higher-tier bounties; both contest the surrounding region until cleared.

With this change, Silver becomes a bounty-first currency. The Marketplace and Place Order loops still move Silver between players, but the only way to add fresh Silver to the economy is to complete a bounty.

Caveats

• Marketplace and Silver flows are still being tuned across tests. Specific prices, rotation timing, and the exact mix of trade resources consumed per recipe may shift between pre-alpha tests.

• Place Order escrow remains locked until the order is filled or canceled. Cancellation refunds the Silver, but a stalled order ties up working capital until it is closed.

• Trade goods are not exempt from theft; a Marketplace inside a captured town can be raided. The risk of losing inventory makes town defense a direct trade-economy concern.

Related Pages

• Crafting and Resources

• Logistics and Supply Lines

• Settlements

• Weapons

• Armours