Civilization 5 Specialists and Great People
Great Merchant & Merchant of Venice: Abilities & GPP Guide for Brave New World
Great Merchant Info
Great Merchants can boost the income of your Civ either over the course of the Eras or in one lump sum. These masters of Commerce can be purchased with Faith once you've finished the Commerce Social Policy Tree, starting at 1000 Faith and rising in cost with each purchase. Players who choose the Venice Civ will not receive Great Merchants, but instead Merchants of Venice, which have the ability to instantly purchase a City-State and make it a puppet. This with their ability to purchase in puppeted City-States makes them very powerful if you want to take over a particularly valuable piece of land.
Constructing buildings with Merchant Slots and Wonders with a flat rate of GPP per turn for Great Merchants is the primary means of getting them. Use buildings like the Garden that increase great person growth, along with some Social Policies and Ideologies that allow you to get an instant Great Person of your choice.
Great Merchants have two roles in your Civilization. First, they can construct the Customs House Tile Improvement, which will give +4 Gold Per Turn, +5 with Economics Researched. That may not seem like much, but with Banks and Stock Exchanges in your City, along with other bonuses, it provides a large amount of gold over the course of a game.
Their other ability is to Conduct a Trade Mission, which will give you an instant lump sum of Gold and +30 Influence with a City-State, possibly turning them to your Allies. If that is not enough to do the trick, you can use the free gold to buy them out and get their luxuries and any other benefits they provide your Civilization.
Early in the game, the Customs House is your go-to. Later on, you will want more City-State allies particularly if you are going for a Diplomatic Victory.
| GPP | Building | Building Bonus | Tech to Unlock |
| +1 | Mausoleum of Halicarnassus | +100 Gold Each time Great Person is used, Marble and Stone tiles provide +2 Gold | Masonry |
| +1 | The Colossus | +1 Culture, +2/1 for Trade Routes , +5 Gold, Free Cargo Ship/Extra Trade Route | Iron Working, City on Coast |
| +1 | Great Lighthouse | Military Naval Units +1 Sight/Movement, _1 Culture, Free Lighthouse | Optics, City on Coast |
| +1 | Machu Pichu | +25% Gold from City Connections, +2 Faith, +5 Gold | Guilds, City within 2 Tiles of Mountain |
| +1 | Notre Dame | +10 Happiness, +4 Faith | Physics |
| +2 | Big Ben | Cost of Gold Purchasing -15% in Cities, +4 Gold | Adopt Commerce, Industrialization Tech |
| +2 | Eiffel Tower | +1 Culture, +5 Happiness, +12 Tourism | Radio |
| +1 | Neuschwanstein | +3 Gold, +2 Culture, +1 Happiness per Castle. Gives Double in Parent City | Railroad, City within 2 Tiles of Mountain |
| +2 | Pentagon | +1 Culture, Upgrading Military Units costs 33% Less | Combined Arms |
Social Policies and Ideologies Related to Great Merchants
- Entrepreneurship
Requires Commerce, Medieval Era
Great Merchants are earned 25% faster. - Adopt All Commerce
Requires Commerce
Finishing the Commerce Social Policy Tree will increase the gold from Trading Posts and double the Gold you receive from Great Merchant Trade Missions. - New Deal
Requires Freedom Level 2
Increases the yield of all Great Person tile improvements like the Customs House by +4, particularly potent with Gold.
If you'd like to learn more about creating Great People, don't miss the first section of this guide dedicated to Listing Great People and Maximizing GPP through Buildings and Wonders. Share your tips about using and generating this Great Person through the comments form at the bottom of the page where your strategies can help players new to Civilization 5 and the Gods & Kings and Brave New World DLCs.
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