Foundation

Foundation

62 ratings
Foundation Trading 101 (Alpha Build Guide)
By Minotorious
A simple step by step guide on how to set up Trading Routes in Foundation
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Prerequisites to Trading
  • Enough resources to unlock a trading route
  • Sufficient production of the product(s) you want to sell OR sufficient gold to buy the product(s) you want
  • A Warehouse with a villager working as a Transporter assigned to it
  • Patience for the neighbouring village trader to come by and trade with your village
Unlocking a Trade Route

Unlocking a Trade Route is quite simple. Once you have the required resources, for example 20 Planks for the first Trading Route and 20 Bread Loaves for the second click on the respective "Unlock trade route for X" button and your new Trading Route is ready to use!
Setting up the Trading Window
In the trading window you can select which resources to buy, sell, or not trade at all (default) and in what amounts.



The numbers in the trading window shown above are:
  • When you select sell: The number you set is the stock you want remaining after the trade happens. That means that the trader will buy as much as he wants to buy until he reaches your limit if he can reach it.
    • If I have a stock of 100 stone, I have set the sell value to 40, and the trader wants 50 he will buy 50 so that my remaining stock is 50, above the 40 I have set.
    • If I have a stock of 60 stone, I have set the sell value to 40, and the trader wants 50 he will buy 20 so that my remaining stock is 40.
  • When you select buy: The number you set is the stock you want to have after the trade happens. That means that the trader will sell as much as he wants to sell until he reaches your limit if he can reach it.
    • If I have a stock of 5 tools, I have set the buy value to 20, and the trader wants to sell 50 he will sell 15 so that my final stock is 20.
    • If I have a stock of 5 tools, I have set the buy value to 100, and the trader wants to sell 50 he will sell 50 so that my final stock is 75, below the 100 I have set.

It is extremely important not to buy or sell too much. From my experience so far the trader comes once every week so your weekly profit to buy goods and your weekly production of the goods you want to sell should be considered when assigning product amounts in the Trading Window

  • Buying too much, i.e. items costing more than the money you have or make in a week will cause you to run into debt and your villagers will start abandoning your village
  • Similarly selling too much can cause you to fail to meet your villagers' needs and again they will start abandoning your village

The second very important thing you should note is what the neighbouring village, that you have unlocked a trading route to, actually wants to buy and sell. This information is outlined in the first tab of the Trading Window where you unlocked the Trading Route.

As shown in the screenshot below this village has unlocked two Trading Routes with the neighbouring villages of Davenport and Northbury.

  • Davenport is buying Berries, Stone, and Planks and selling Tools, Bread, and Marble
  • Northbury is buying Wool and Clothes and selling Coal and Iron Bars


Setting up the Warehouse

Setting up the Warehouse to accept the goods to be traded (both bought and sold) is the most important step in the trading process. This is the step most people forget and then come to Discord or Steam Discussions asking why their Trading Route is not working.

Outlining this vital detail was the number one reason I decided to write this short guide, so let's get to it.

Once you build a Warehouse first and foremost you need to assign a villager to work there as a Transporter and move goods to the Warehouse for the trader to find and buy. For the Transporter to do that you need to open the Warehouse panel and accept the items you want to trade. As can be seen in the screenshot this village has allowed Tools, Stone, Clothes, and Planks in its Warehouse and is refusing everything else, this was done to have Clothes, Stone, and Planks in stock for the trader to buy and have the Tools option open for the trader to be able to sell.
Thank you for reading this far
Thank you for reading my quick guide, hope you found it helpful :)

For any comments/suggestions don't hesitate to post in the comments below or message me here on Steam or Discord.
24 Comments
gwenvidick 9 Sep, 2023 @ 9:41am 
Mes quêtes ne sont jamais validées, je ne dois pas fournir les bonnes informations sur le tableau de vente , j'essaie différentes solutions malgré la quantité suffisante, refus. I have difficulties with the quests, until I have enough fournitures, it's fail How to complete the commercial board, please
D 4 Jul, 2020 @ 11:14am 
I was struggling with the warehouse settings, this definitely helped me to understand how to set it up!
Niko_chikito 8 Jan, 2020 @ 4:07am 
Nice guide... this is a great game, but the trading system is really bad :winter2019angryyul:
Textfield 24 Jun, 2019 @ 12:55pm 
It's clearer in the screenshots but after some updates they messed with the Icons. There's Accept, Stock, Refuse. And same Icons are also in Trading and it's really confusing.
Starheart 16 Jun, 2019 @ 6:52am 
how do you unlock fishing?
Merlin69 17 Feb, 2019 @ 2:48am 
superb
bigburger.17 16 Feb, 2019 @ 6:23am 
Ok, das erklärt einiges. Ich dachte, im Handelsfenster wird der Preis festgelegt. (facepalm)
Drumor 11 Feb, 2019 @ 7:09am 
Honestly that trding system is not good at all. I understand that you cant buy or sell anything but, especially on the beginning, is really unpractical. And in the late game is otherside useless. I hope that the econimical model will be reworked little bit, because, from my point of view it is not working in this moment.
Bess 7 Feb, 2019 @ 8:46am 
One of my transporters or traders got stuck in the graphics....LOL I get a reminder over and again but I cannot release the poor thing.
Suggestions or just a wee bug?
Bess 7 Feb, 2019 @ 8:43am 
the trade panel I found the hardest to figure out, and I had no clue that the warehouse was only for the trade market. It seemed natural that the people would have their goods in there also. SO if I understand correctly, only four goods are in each warehouse? Therefore you need at least four warehouses etc to accommodate all the traded goods?