Mercatorio Season 5

Posted by on Aug 16th, 2025

Season 5 of the medieval economy simulator Mercatorio starts on September 1st and will include revamped and boosted transport operations, as well as many new buildings and production methods, with special focus on attachments that offload their host buildings and allow for more flexible control of production that may have more than one output.

Transport updates

Transports can now choose from a range of operation procedures, just like how production buildings can choose from a range of production methods. This will allow for more flexible and efficient operation depending on prevailing market conditions, and let lower level transports receive gains from access to higher level inputs.
Trade ranges generally increased and movement points reduced somewhat
- Handcart: trade range increased from 444 to 500, movement points reduced from 2314 to 2000
- Tumbrel: trade range decreased from 1333 to 1200, movement points reduced from 4626 to 4000
- Snekkja: trade range increased from 666 to 800, movement points reduced from 3333 to 3000
- Cog: trade range increased from 1333 to 1400, movement points reduced from 4444 to 4000
- Hulk: trade range increased from 2222 to 2400, movement points reduced from 5925 to 5600

Cargo capacities increased across the board, especially for the tumbrel:
- Handcart: from ~~40 to 50~~ 30 to 40
- Tumbrel: from 45 to 80
- Snekkja: from 200 to 250
- Cog: from 600 to 800
- Hulk: from 1000 to 1400

Product updates

Bellows and gold bars are shrunk to half the size to make the usage more stable, all production and consumption is doubled
Rigging is introduced as a more complete product consumed by ships instead of cloth/sails and ropes/tackles.

Building updates

Several new attachment buildings: Flaying station (attaches to Butchery), Skinning hut (Hunting Lodge), Manure pit (pasture), Milking Bay (pasture), Muckery (Stable), Resin Camp (Logging camp and Charcoal hut), Steeling forge (Bloomery)
A new attachment category is introduced for Flaying station, Skinning hut and Steeling forge, with their maximum operation being limited to the current operation of the host building. Eg. if no cattle is being butchered, the Flaying station won’t be able to operate. If linked to a warehouse, these attachments require the host building to be linked to the same warehouse, and be sequenced in front of them (as they consider the host operation a dependency for their own operation).
Existing attachment Apiary is extended so it can also be attached to Vignobles
Attachments get reduced management point cost (first attachment of a type costs 0.5 management points, down from 1)
The Carburising forge is added, and carburising of iron into steel (previously called refine steel) is moved there.
An additional tier of productivity upgrades is added, gated behind master skill level, while the existing tiers have their requirements reduced (no skills required for productivity 1, journeyman required for productivity 2)

Pasture with a Milking bay attached in the front

Production method updates

Steel production is moved from the Bloomery to the new Carburising forge as well as the new Bloomery attachment, the Steeling forge. The former will transform wrought iron into steel like before, while the latter takes advantage of the fact that the bloom produced at the Bloomery may contain trace amounts of steel among the high carbon parts that would normally be discarded. At the Steeling forge they extract that steel and forge-weld it into proper steel ingots, with no negative impact of the wrought iron production at the Bloomery
Production of hides, resin, milk and manure are moved from their respective buildings to new attachments of those buildings, allowing their production to be controlled separately from the main activity of the host building.
Boil dye changes class from textile to crafting
Higher level boardinghouse production methods will consume furniture and cookware, while cloth and garment consumption is slightly reduced
Lots of smaller balancing changes

The sturdy Bloomery (with an expansion) can be seen on the right, with a Steeling forge to extract steel from its blooms attached to it to the north, and a new Carburising Forge for processing wrought iron into steel on the left.

Commoners

The commoners will shift their spending slightly from Clothing towards Household items
The population growth gain from good health is boosted by 33%

Prestige and household spending

Two new household spending categories are introduced: Household, mirroring the category of the commoners, and Gear, which includes weaponry and armour the head of household may want to be seen owning.
Some prestige production methods will consume more furniture
The park now generates a small amount of health for the town

Read more or try it yourself at Mercatorio

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