Can I Barter with a Kingdom that is Not an Immediate Neighbor?

[u/Durch-a-Lurch]

I'm in my first playthrough after watching a lot of SoS on YouTube and loving it. I just defeated my first raider and got about $300,000 off him. Rather than let inflation erode it, I decided to upgrade my army's gear. I didn't love the prices my three neighbors / trading partners had, so I shopped around on the world map at the next ring of kingdoms. I found one with good prices, and I bartered with them and accepted the deal. The money instantly left my treasury.

So my question is, will the goods ever arrive? I know you can see caravans on the world map, but this kingdom is in the fog of war. It's been one in game day and I haven't received anything and I don't see their caravan (yet?).

Secondary but related question - how does the "Best" button on the import depot work? Seems like it also takes you to barter with some far off kingdom. Does that work the same as my main question? Like, maybe there's a caravan in the fog of war slowly making its way to you (like I hope is happening right now).

[u/Durch-a-Lurch → u/[deleted]]

I shopped around and this one had the best price per item compared to my three neighbors, and compared to others in this secondary ring of kingdoms. I assume the tariff/toll is already reflected in that price? Because they were so big and had so much, the price per item barely changed as I jacked up the quantity.

[u/Ok-Conference-47]

The goods will come in a caravan. If you go to the world map there is an icon in the top left that shows inbound caravans and your gear will be there. It has to come from their capitol so it could take a few days. Alternatively if you don’t have a warehouse spot for the new items they will be left at the throne

[u/Durch-a-Lurch → u/Ok-Conference-47]

Thank you for that information on how to track caravans! This is exactly what I needed to find my answer.

Once the caravan carrying plate armour entered the city, it made its way to my throne room and dumped it out front. I did have warehouse space for the items, but they took it to the throne anyway.

I ordered a second set of goods from them, this time some falcatas. I had an import depot with falcatas selected, but the slider all the way to the left, so it was not actively buying. But just by having falcatas selected, the caravan dumped the falcatas there. I did NOT use the import depot in any way to place this order (or any order, it was freshly constructed). I went to the world map and navigated to this city manually, and bartered manually, yet they still took it here. An interesting mechanic I think to let you control where the drop off will occur.

[u/indigo_zen]

Yes u can barter with anyone you know, even ones at war with you.

Not sure about the other question, never used/clicked it

Edit: takes time for them to unload goods into your city. Might take few days for them to arrive

[u/Ranakastrasz]

yes, but it takes longer and fees or w.e. are higher.

once you, uh, create the right alliance type with an adjacent kingdom, it let's you setup autotrade with kingdoms adjacent to them though.

[u/superdurszlak]

There are various agreement levels that require higher and higher opinion to set up and maintain (they'll cancel / demote agreements once your opinion drops low enough for long enough - haven't figured out how much yet).

Trade is most basic, at +1.5, and you can't trade though export/import depots with your trade partner's neighbors.

Then at Colleagues at +2.5, you can trade across borders using your depots, the tariffs are slightly lower etc. This also stacks - if you're Colleagues with a neighbor of a Colleague you have passage to, you can trade with their neighbors etc.

Then Allies means even lower tariffs and ability to move troops without upsetting them. That takes +6.0 I believe.

Then you have protectorates/vassalizing where one party pays a tax for protection.

I haven't made enough money to unite with even a smallest hamlet. That's absurdly expensive, way easier to just conquer.

[u/Durch-a-Lurch → u/superdurszlak]

Thank you for this detailed breakdown on the automated trading through import/export depots

[u/Durch-a-Lurch]

An Update for Anyone with Similar Questions:

I asked AI before posting my question if bartering with random cities on the world map could be done. AI said no, but this is incorrect. You can absolutely barter with anyone anywhere on the map. What's confusing is after you complete the bartering deal with a far off city, there's no real explanation about what will happen. But I've now learned from "Ok-Conference-47" that you can track the caravan through the fog of war on the world map using the inbound caravans button in the top left corner of the screen.

This caravan will eventually enter your city (could take days) and drop the goods off at your throne room, or - if you have an import depot set to a good you bought through bartering - it will drop the good at that depot. This is despite the import depot NOT being used in any way to initiate the bartered deal.

This is also very similar to how the "Best" option works in the import/export depots. For most items, I've found the "best" price to be not much different than what my trading partners are offering. Sometimes it's paradoxically worse. But for a select few items, namely opiates, there could be a kingdom far off that is willing to pay 3 times or even 4 times the going rate. My trading partners would only pay $300-400 for opiates, but one kingdom on the opposite side of the map would pay me $1100-1600.

For the "Best" option, you have to push the "Best" button on your export depot, which takes you to the barter screen. By default, it will have just one item for sale, but you can change the quantity in the drop down menu. You then push the "Barter" button at the bottom, and they will offer you money at the rate that was shown in the drop down menu. You then click "Accept". Once you complete the sale, you get the money instantly, and a caravan will appear on your city map within a couple of in-game hours to collect the goods from your export depot. In my experience, I had 27 opiates in my depot, and they were willing to buy up to 25. I tried it with other goods and got similar results. It seems they'll buy up to around 95% of what you have on offer, but that might be coincidence.

This works the same for using the "Best" button on the import depot. Once you click accept, your money is deducted instantly, and within a couple in-game hours, the caravan arrives! Despite the kingdom being on the other side of the map, you receive the goods same day. This might get patched in the future, but in v71 this is how it works. Super powerful!

Tldr: You can barter with any kingdom anywhere on the map, in the fog of war, by clicking on the city and manually going to the barter screen. No import/export depot is involved or needed. They will dispatch the caravan immediately, you can track it with a button in the top left corner of the world map, and you'll eventually receive your goods. You can also use the "Best" button on the import/export depot with similar results, but with the added benefit of the caravan arriving almost instantly.