Markets vs. Stalls

# Introduction

The age-old debate is back, and I, Acularius, want to help guide you through the issue to the best of my ability.

## Stalls

Stalls are annexes built by 'Producing' buildings such as farms (unlocked by fair exchange). They consume 0.5 of a Porco worker per stall type built.

So it follows that farms, as an example, would be mono-cultural (only produce one good) for maximum efficiency.

**Pros:**

* Only the goods the stall signifies from that building will be distributed. It doesn't go into the storage to pull out more. Just the production. This feature makes it great for supply chains and export. Ex. 'Apples' & 'Pottery' to 'Cider'.

* Granular. Lowest level merchants will sell up to 7 goods (Improves as the level increases), and will always try to sell the maximum amount allotted. The stall will just sell the goods selected from that building.
* More wealth for the producers. No middlemen.

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*I need more proof to see if it increases taxes for the state due to the increased wealth of producers trickling to the state.*

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* Goes up in a few seconds. Great for that initial transition to fair exchange. No resource cost.

**Cons:**

* Takes 0.5 Porcos of productivity from a building.
* Doesn't sell excess from the inventory
* (Farms Only) For maximum efficiency, would need monoculture farms (A farm that focuses on one good).

## Merchants

Merchant buildings are available at the same time as stalls. They just require a free porco to become a trader to run the building. The first level building will sell up to 7 goods.

**Pros:**

* Can access the storage (Means you can distribute imported good and sell excess)
* In relation to the above point. Means it can sell the produce of multiple buildings. I would like to stress this point, one Porco can now take up the slack of the stall Porcos. Stall Porcos can increase the throughput of their respective buildings (more farms, more production, more input demand).
* Employs a Porco (More employment, more potential taxes)

**Cons:**

* Distribution interferes with industrial production.
* Employs a Porco (in smaller settlements, this might not be ideal if you want the workforce somewhere else)
* Lowers wealth of the producers it buys from (Sailors, Hunters, Farmers & Artisans).
* Costs resources. Takes time to build.
* Attempts to sell the full 7 amount of goods, even if it doesn't.

## Markets vs. Stalls (Situational Use)

So we now return to the topic at hand. Both buildings have their uses and their use should be based upon the situation
at hand.

What are good situations for stalls?

* Need to get the goods out there quick in the initial transition to 'Fair Exchange'.
* Small settlements where you want to focus production of certain goods outside of agriculture (you need to feed the people) but you don't want to spend a whole merchant to do it. When Porcos are a premium.

* Small scale production. You don't need maximum efficiency as you haven't reached the usage cap or can't fully meet inputs demanded. So new farms and fledgeling industries.
* Early supply chain management. You can set aside a building to produce just for the stockpile (for industry or export) and determine which buildings sell to the local market. It's more granular.

What are good situations for markets? When should you transition?

* Mature or Larger Settlements. At one point, you'll have plenty of Porcos and they would be better off working.
* Mature supply lines and a commodity market. Eventually, you can produce so much that moving over to maximizing productivity would make more sense for your market and the large throughput of merchants would work better.

Would recommend building merchants based on their 'throughput' as a threshold. If you produce 7 goods (early merchant throughput), opt out of stalls and get a merchant to sell it. Do a mix. The merchant sells 7, stalls sell granular.
Avoid disrupting supply chains. This also allows Merchants to make the most money since income is shared among a class.
Maximize their productivity (the merchant's), make sure each merchant sells close to their throughput (like usage for any other building)