I won't spend much time to write this guide and I don't want to write a novel for you to read neither. Therefore I'm gonna list few topics, without a specific order.

I'm not a native english speaker and I will gladly correct every mistakes/misunderstanding you may point out. Don't hesitate! ;)

Useful sayings to keep in mind :

• There are no small savings
  
• Money is the sinews of war
  
• Knowledge is power

Link toward the discussion in the forum

Help sharing knowledge If you like it :

You should consider Influence as a secondary currency.

Therefore you want to produce/earn as much as influence you can because you are going to spend everything above 200 to bargain better bounties. (Mercenary recruitement aside - the highest amount an NPC can ask you to pay is 200 influence.)

Each bounty can be negociated (and maxed out) 3 times :

• 20 influence (100% chance of success)
  
• 30 influence (90% chance of success)
  
• 45 influence (80% chance of success)

Each negotiation increases by 20% the reward

Examples :

• Base reward > First negotiation > Second one > Third one
  
• 100 > 120 > 144 > 173 ( 95 influence = 73 gold)
  
• 130 > 156 > 188 > 226 ( 95 influence = 96 gold)
  
• 200 > 240 > 288 > 346 ( 95 influence = 146 gold)
  
• 315 > 378 > 454 > 545 ( 95 inluence = 230 gold)

Conclusion : On average and roughly 1 influence = 1 gold (between 0.75 ~ 2.5 gold)

That's why you should consider influence as a secondary currency.

Tip : Generate as much as influence you can, and max out every bounty.

• Knowledge bar start off at 100 (The cap is increased by 10 each time you earn a new KP)
  
• Extra KP (knowledge point) do not affect the cap
  
• Each time you craft a new item you earn 40 knowledge
  
• Each time you discover a place you earn 25 knowledge (40 for main places like cities)

• Frugality (10% discount on wages)
  
• For money (+5% gold after battle)
  
• For glory (+5% influence after battle)
  
• All Restorations (+5 armor points repaired per raw material)
  
• Rationning (-3 food required)

Link toward the wiki page about achievements[wartales.fandom.com]

Here's the list of every achievement that will help you with your income (the underlined ones are the most important). Check the wiki to know the requirements.

A raw material cost 5 gold and repair 10 armor points. The blacksmith can do the same job for only 4 gold for 10 armor points.

Lets do the maths with 120 armor points (10 armor points/raw material):
120/10 = 12 raw material needed:

• 12 * 5 = 60 gold spent with raw material
  
• 12 * 4 = 48 gold spent with raw material on sale
  
• 12 * 4 = 48 gold spent at the blacksmith

Conclusion : Make your repair to a blacksmith or buy repair material on sale

Tip 1 : Achievements and perks are also applied to the blacksmith.
Tip 2 : At the begining of the game, do not repair your armor too quickly. You can sell broken armor/shields for the same price and replace them by new ones (crafted or bought)
Tip 3 : The same raw material can't be used to repair 2 different pieces of equipment

Potion cost 38 gold
Heal in town cost 20 gold

Flowers cost 5 gold to buy (but also 4 gold to sell)
Empty bottle cost 10 gold

10 gold (empty bottle) + 2*4gold (normal flower) + 2*4gold (snow flower) = 10 + 8 + 8 = 26 gold

But... you get back empty bottles !

2*4gold (normal flower) + 2*4gold (snow flower) = 8 + 8 = 16 gold
Heal in town cost 20 gold

Conclusion :

• Never buy healing potions
  
• Empty bottle aside, crafted potions are better (if flowers are gathered or bought on sale) than healing in town
  
• Empty bottle aside, crafted potions are the same (if flowers are bought) than healing in town

Tip : At the begining you can sell almost all flowers in you inventory. It's a substancial early source of money (they respawn in few days/weeks)

The common gold/food ratio is 1.5 gold/food

• 1 apple/cabbage/... provides 2 food cost 3 gold
  
• 1 lamb/eel/... provides 4 food and cost 6 gold

You can decrease this ratio to 1 gold/food

• by buying only on sales
  
• by buying only dried fish/meat

• 1 pork (6 gold) + 1 salt (2gold) = 6 food for 8 gold ( 1.33 gold/food or 0.83 gold/food if you buy everything on sale)
  
• But... it costs you 1 knowledge point to convert 1 type of raw food into a cooked one. It means you need 6 knowledge points to maintain this ratio with everything (eel, carp, lamb, pork, wolf and chiken)
  
• Bread, however, is cheap and light, 1wheat (2gold) + 1salt (2gold) = 1 bread (4food) ( 1 gold/food or 0.5 gold/food if you buy everything on sale)

• Buy meat (8 food for 12 gold) and throw it in the meat dryer (1.2 gold/food or 0.8 gold/food if you buy the meat on sale)

• 2 carcasses in the dryer = 10 food each rest
  
• 20 carcasses = 40kg = 1 pony = 4 food each rest
  
• 20 pork meat = 20kg = 1/2 pony = 2 food each rest

Carcasses are twice heavier than normal raw meat, meaning you need twice carrying capacity for the same result. But it's 10 food every day for free

• 2 eel/carp (8 food for 12gold) provides only 6 food in the dryer (2gold/food.... very expensive)

Conclusion :

• Buy dried fish/meat
  
• Buy every food on sale
  
• Get the meat dryer rack in titltren tracker camp as soon as possible
  
• Cook bread
  
• Throw carcasses in the dryer if you have some free space

Tip : By assigning every merc on happiness production (max +7 every rest) you can eat once every 3 rests without penalty.

Empirical data

Conclusion :

• Roughly, 1 animal = (a litlle less than) 1 carcass, 1 meat, 1 leather & 3 fangs
  
• Roughly, 1 animal = (a litlle less than) 5 food value
  
• Roughly, 1 animal = (a litlle less than) 12 gold if you sell everything
  
• Reward is scaling with the number of animals, not with their level

Advantages :

• Fangs are guaranteed and can be sold for 1 gold. Money isn't guaranteed in regular battles.
  
• Food is free

Drawbacks :

• Time consuming : Looking for animals and fighting them is time consuming. Food traders are in cities or on the road. You don't lose time (travel + fight) buying your food.
  
• Hidden costs : You have to take into account the repair cost for your armor
  
• Weight : Loot is heavy (half a pony for a fight)

The reward for an easy bouty maxed out with influence + loot from the fight will probably still be better than a fight (unrewarded) against animals. Therefore, hunting for food, doesn't seem to be an efficient way to optimize your income.

Some products are guaranteed in towns.
For example Apple, Lamb and leather are guaranteed in Stromkapp

Everything else can be customized by buying everything (it refills with another product)

Therefore you can customize every meat trader in any town in a way it will provide you dried meat/fish

Dried meat/fish is 1 gold/food ratio (same as the food on sale) which is very good.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2769940084
Obviously, don't buy the last one.

Resting in Inns costs you 2.4 gold/food.

The common gold/food ratio is 1.5 gold/food (1.2 gold/food is quite easily reachable)

• Resting in town provides :
  
  • 3 permanent VP
    
  • Safety : you can't be attacked during rest
    
  • Delayed payement for wages
  
  
• Resting in camp provides :
  
  • 2 to 6 permanent VP
    
  • up to 25 influence
    
  • food/repair kit/leather/booze production
    
  • buffs through special meal
    
  • heal your wounds

Conclusion :

• Resting in camp is around twice cheaper than resting in town
  
• Resting in camp provides more overall benefits than resting in town

Tip 1 : You can increase the amount of influence you earn up to 35 by drinking booze/ eating meals providing +2 happiness (you can't stack those items to earn more influence)
Tip 2 : You can eat once every 3 rest if you manage properly your happiness

The following wiki don't take into account the 4 achievements I talked about before. That's why I'm gonna give you somes examples with and without them :

Link towards the wiki page about trading[wartales.fandom.com]

• Selling Trade Goods at a higher price than their reference price also generates 2 Influence
  
• Sale price of Trade Goods increased by 10%
  
• Sale price of all items increased by 5%
  
• Purchase price of Trade Goods reduced by 10%

WITHOUT ACHIEVEMENTS:
5*42(spice) + 5*80(silver) = 210 + 400 = 610 gold

Sold in Brownrock Town : 49*5 + 98*5 = 245 + 490 = 735 (125 gold profit)
Sold in Stromkapp : 50*5 + 100*5 = 250 + 500 = 750 (140 gold profit)
Sold in Cortia : 58*5 + 117*5 = 290 + 585 = 875 (265 gold profit)

WITH ALL ACHIEVEMENTS :
5*38(spice) + 5*72(silver) = 190 + 360 = 550 gold

Sold in Brownrock Town : 845 (295 gold profit) + 20 influence
Sold in Stromkapp : 863 (313 gold profit) + 20 influence
Sold in Cortia : 1007 (457 gold profit) + 20 influence

Conclusion : Trade !

Tip 1 : The further you go, the higher the price. The distance seems to be calculated "as the crow flies".
Tip 2 : You can check your trade log here :
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2769486245

Check the travel times in the Time section

Tip: Goods refill every day, one of your first priority is cash-flow (550~610) and carrying capacity (50) allowing you to buy ASAP every goods in the market to sell them the further you can.

A lvl3 miner will provide around 13 irons for each vein (minigame).
You can craft lockpicks or hooks and sell them for 7 gold.




Empirical data

Conclusion (with caution...)

• Vein respawning rate is linear
  
• It takes around 84 hours (3.5 days) for 1 vein
  
• It takes around 168 hours (1 week) for 2 veins
  
• It probably takes 252 hours (1 week and a half) for 3 veins (Tiltren Mine)

A careful way to steal is to wait between crime until suspicion reach 0.

Steal > 0 > Steal > 0 > ...

The most common and easiest stuff stolen are apples/cabbage/cheese/..
Usually around 10 of them. It provides a little 30 gold profit around every 2 days.

Tip 1 : You can steal any tracker recipes and apothicary recipes.
Tip 2 : If you have plenty of money you can endlessly steal tracker/apothicary recipes by talking to the guard to be cleared of suspicion in exchange of money.

You can deliver :

• 3 prisoners in Tiltren
  
• 5 prisoners in Vertuse
  
• 0 in Arthes (there's no prison)
  
• ? prisoners in Ludern (Harag)

Cost and benefits :

• lvl 1 outlaw > 55 gold + 20 influence (cost 0 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 2 outlaw > 60 gold + 20 influence (cost 2 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 3 outlaw > 65 gold + 20 influence (cost 4 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 4 outlaw > 70 gold + 20 influence (cost 6 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 5 outlaw > 75 gold + 20 influence (cost 8 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 6 outlaw > 80 gold + 20 influence (cost 10 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 7 outlaw > 85 gold + 20 influence (cost 12 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 8 outlaw > 90 gold + 20 influence (cost 14 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 9 outlaw > 95 gold + 20 influence (cost 16 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 10 outlaw > 100 gold + 20 influence (cost 18 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• lvl 11 outlaw > 105 gold + 20 influence (cost 20 wages every 3 days, 3 food every day)
  
• ...

Empirical data

• Conclusion (with caution...) :
  
  • Prisonners dissapear one by one over time
    
  • Full of prisoners, Vertruse prison is emptied in 3 days
    
  • Dissapearing rate is not linear
    
  • Based on Vertruse data, Tiltren's prison should be emptied between 25 and 30 hours
  
  
• Hypothesis :
  
  • The fuller is the prison, the slower is the dissapearing rate (the most plausible but how does it work when you fill the prison in several steps?)
    
  • The more you deliver at the same time, the slower will be the dissapearing rate
    
  • ...

Tip : You can also deliver refugees in tiltren lumbermill in exchange of 5 wood and 30 gold.

Wages at level 1 are between 17 and 23 gold (hard simulation)

There's around 4 points of interest per region where you can chop some wood.

They are guaranteed in :

• Bandit Lair
  
• Sawmill/Lumbermill
  
• Tracker camp

You need a warrior to do the job.

Each point of interest provides around 8 woods.

8 * 4 = 32 wood per region
32 * 4 gold = 128 gold

Respawn rate : 24 hours

Rat nest can be challenging if your not used to it. (You can find some tips here and here)

The main objective is obviously to kill the outgrowths. But it is also the most lucrative battle because it's an endless battle with a scaling loot. The higher the number of rats killed, the higher the amount of loot you're gonna sell later.


Now let's say you killed 200 rats:

• rat meat (~1/2 the amount of killed rats)
  
  • 100*3 = 300 gold
    
  • 100*0.5 = 50 weight
• plagued leather (~1/2 the amount of killed rats)
  
  • 100*4 = 400 gold
    
  • 100*0.5 = 50 weight
• infected blood (~1/2 the amount of killed rats)
  
  • 100*2 = 200 gold
    
  • 100*0.1 = 10 weight
• fangs ( ~3 times the amount of killed rats)
  
  • 1000 * 1 = 1000 gold
    
  • 1000 * 0 = 0 weight

You earned 1900 gold, 200 influence and you need around 110 carrying capacity to bring back everything in town.

Conclusion : Roughly, 1 rat killed provides 9.5 gold + 1 influence for 0,6 weight

My old personal record: 3999 gold loot value, 562 influence for 295 weight (2 days and 6 hours of battle a little boring at the end I have to say)
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2734725572

Vertruse is by far the most profitable region :

It contains:

• Valuable items (Providing a huge amount of cash early game) :
  
  • 2 basic skill books (run and first aid) : 420 gold
    
  • 2 mastery books : 420 gold
    
  • 6 gems : 28*6 = 168 gold (+ riddle backpack item)
    
  • Booze and meal providing 15 happiness (= 75 Influence)
    
  • A rare mallet : 80 gold lvl1
    
  • Total : 1088 gold + 75 influence
  
  
• Silver (The most valuable goods) :
  
  • This is the most expensive goods
    
  • But this is also the most profitable one
  
  
• A prison (The biggest one) :
  
  • Allowing you to deliver up to 5 prisonners
    
  • An easy capture (90 gold lvl1) in its basement
  
  
• 2 Inns :
  
  • Offering twice as many regular bounties
    
  • Allowing you to be paid twice for the same mission (if you are patient and organized):
    
    • Flooded Mine
      
    • Sentinel tower
      
    • Bandit Lair
      
    • Colonel Alexa
      
    • Rat nest 1
      
    • Rat nest 2
      
    • Lost companions
      
    • Peasant and Boars
      
    • Abbey
      
    • Beast Camp
      
    • [sleeping/silent partner or sponsor... idk how to call the last one]
• 3 blacksmiths making repair cheaper everywhere

3 drawbacks though :

• Healing :
  
  • You can't heal in town
    
  • You can't find snow flowers easily to craft regular potions
• Bridges :
  
  • Making guard patrol annoying
• Wildlife

Here an example of a "peaceful" start in Vertruse (No commentary, slow paced, but I tried to show case every good habits making the game easier) :

1 game hour = 7.5 sec
1 game day = 3 min
1 game month = 90 min

(Obviously without sleeping nor battles)


Sleeping in camp : 8 hours
Sleeping in Inn : 8 hours

Fatigue bar emptied in (standing still) : 54 hours
Fatigue bar emptied in (walking) : 22 hours
Fatigue bar emptied in (running) : 15 hours

The distance traveled is roughly the same whether you run or walk.


Cortia <> Stromkapp : 12-13 hours (running)
Stromkapp <> Marheim : 11-12 hours (running)

Whole turn ended in battle : + 2 hours

Originally posted by Robin of Spiritwood:

Hello.
There are a couple things that might be considered:
- Endurance Training and Long Distance Running
- Party that Like Long Walks

What food buys for the party is time.
During the interval till the next meal, the mercs must generate enough income to pay for the meal, plus 1/3 of their salaries. Plus the expenses ( repairs, etc.)

The more time the food buys, the better it is for finance. So IMHO the speed of travel and rate of fatigue till next camp determines how profitable the whole thing is.

I might add, you need to plan your moves to be as efficient as possible.


Equipement should be at its best before anything else.

If you have to choose between a better sword/armor or a new guy. Choose the better sword first. You don't pay wages or food for a sword or an armor.


Battles can cost you a lot of money. Aside economical choices, your main concern should be to take the less possible damage in battle to maximize your profit.


You can maintain endlessly a very large group of mercenaries without any battle. (Simply by optimizing every other source of income)


Jumping right into the first battle is rarely a good choice. Explore, gather knowledge and material, trade, iron your team with equipement and then you'll have far better chances, less losses, less injuries and therefore less costs.

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