Relative Market Efficiency

5 tile minimum trade route, grass flat map:

5 tiles = ~1 gold => .2/tile
25 tiles = ~5 gold => .2/tile
50 tiles = ~12 gold => .24/tile
70 tiles = ~19 gold => .27/tile
88 tiles = ~24 gold => .27/tile
113 tiles = ~42 gold => .37/tile
153 tiles = ~69 gold => .45/tile
173 tiles = ~86 gold => .497/tile
185 tiles = ~100 gold => .541/tile
201 tiles = ~115 gold => .572/tile
210 tiles = ~122 gold => .58/tile

Carts apparantly carry fractions, which add up at the market
after being dropped.

5 tile route:

5 tiles 15 carts for 6mins=>114g/90 cart*mins=1.27
g/cart*min
5 tiles 10 carts for 2mins=>34g/20 cart*mins=1.7 g/
cart*min
5 tiles 5 carts for 2mins=>25g/10 cart*mins=2.5 g/cart*min

25 tile route

25 tiles 15 carts for 6mins=>373g/90 cart*mins=4.14
g/cart*min
25 tiles 10 carts for 6mins=>276g/60 cart*mins=4.6 g/
cart*min
25 tiles 5 carts for 6mins=>142g/30 cart*mins=4.73
g/cart*min

50 tile route

50 tiles 15 carts for 6mins=>536g/90 cart*mins=5.96
g/cart*min
50 tiles 10 carts for 6mins=>357g/60 cart*mins=5.95
g/cart*min
50 tiles 5 carts for 6mins=>178g/30 cart*mins=5.93
g/cart*min

70 tile route

70 tiles 15 carts for 6mins=>589g/90 cart*mins=6.54
g/cart*min
70 tiles 10 carts for 6mins=>392g/60 cart*mins=6.53
g/cart*min
70 tiles 5 carts for 6mins=>196g/30 cart*mins=6.53
g/cart*min

210 tile route (8 player map, southeast border)

210 tiles 15 carts for 8mins=>1839g/120 cart*mins=15.325
g/cart*min
210 tiles 10 carts for 8mins=>1226g/60 cart*mins=15.325
g/cart*min
210 tiles 5 carts for 8mins=>613g/40 cart*mins=15.325
g/cart*min

Conclusion: Trade cart efficiency is more
dependent on length of haul, than on cart congestion, for longer
distances. There is an increase in gold per unit distance with
increasing distance. For all practical purposes, you cannot make
too many carts with respect to cart congestion for long hauls.
All tests were performed with trade carts, but I suspect an
increase in efficiency proportional to the speed increase with
the caravan upgrade.

Trade Caravan Data point:

210 tiles 15 carts for 5mins=>1839g/75 cart*mins=24.52
g/cart*min, or a 60% increase in efficiency.

Market Tips from One_Eyed_King

Market tip: when building a new market to
increase trading distance and therefore increase gold intake,
don’t forget to delete your old market.

Be sure new market is fully built before deleting old. I once
eagerly deleted my old market when new was 97% complete. All my
trade carts stopped dead in their tracks. I had to micro each of
them individually to get them moving again.

For beginners: If your new market is completely finished, then when you delete your old markets, your carts will automatically go to the new market. However, your allies carts will go directly to his or her market and then stand idle, which may block your carts from getting through to trade. So communicate with your ally to keep the gold flowing.