newbie questions

[Azmodan]

hy, i'm new to this game and i have some questions:

1. how do I make money from trade. (trade routes). in the ranking dialog i see that some kingdoms make money from trade while most do not. I have trade item available, i even have exotic items imported, i got a merchant knight, i established a trade "convention" with that knight with another frendly empire that has money (when i chose the trade - it said Ottoman empire - 52 gold) and now i have access to another trade item but no money flow in.

2. a city will always have the same units to hire? where i started i have only swordmen, axemen and bowmen, nothing more advanced.... isn't there a way (build something, trade something) to be able to recruit more powerfull units?

3. all the knights i hire are spys. I think almost all enemy empires send a spy against me. so when I hire a new knight the chance to be a spy is pretty big. how can I reduce the chance to hire a spy?


10x

[King Juhafin]

to #2. you can build different buildings to your city, for example you will need fletcher to make bowmen..

[EYE-Q]

#1 Select your Merchant - Click trade - choose a country you have a trade agreement with (there is a list of the expected income) and then select the first option "gold trade". maybe you've forgotten the last step?

#2 in every city you'll have a choice of units to build. just put your cursor over a greyed item and a popup text show you, what buildings you have to build to deploy these units. most of your available units are the same in every province (depends also on your nation), but a few are province specific.

#3 the chance to catch yourself a spy should be influenced by your number of enemies, however even friendly nations tend to infiltrate your court. try to install a spy and leave him without any mission at your court. from time to time upgrade him with some books. this spy will (as long as he has no other mission!) perform some counter-espionage.