Resources are what drive your individual settlements forward in Civilization VII. Not only do they improve all of the pertinent stats your empire needs to sustain itself, but they also improve relations with neighboring leaders. The more resources your civilization has access to, the better off you’ll be.
The best way to acquire resources outside your settlements owning resource tiles is by establishing trade routes. Trade routes can only be established by merchants, who are individual units you can produce or purchase in a city or town. However, the process of using your merchants is not as simple as it sounds in Civilization 7.
How to get Merchants in Civilization 7
The message that grants you access to Merchants
Merchants are one of the earlier units you can produce in Civilization VII. In our initial playthrough, we were first able to produce a merchant at the 50% mark of the Antiquity Age. You’ll know you can start producing merchants when you see the first “Trade Opportunity” message appear during one of your turns. The message will state that a neighboring leader has abundant resources, and you should send a merchant to set up a trade route with them.
