Merchant Contract

Merchant Contract
Details
Type	Quest
Company	Merchant Alliance
Related	Merchant Alliance Voyages

A Merchant Contract is a type of Quest or Voyage issued by the Merchant Alliance in Sea of Thieves. These contracts commission Player Crews to find and deliver various Trade Goods such as Animals, Explosives or Resource Crates.

Mechanics

Once Found or voted on, the crews will receive a Merchant Contract Ledger in their Quest Radial Menu, assigning them to fulfil an order for Merchant Alliance Goods that must be delivered to a certain Outpost within a deadline. These Quests can either be found around The Sea of Thieves (from Tattered Parchments, Mysterious Journals or Messages in Bottles), or voted on as a Voyage sold by the Merchant Alliance Representatives. All the necessary info and requirements for the completion of the Contract are on the Ledger itself.

Selling any Trade Goods commissioned by a Merchant Contract fetches 10 times as much Gold and Reputation of their normal value.

Merchant Alliance Voyages

Merchant Contracts issued by Merchant Alliance Representatives as Voyages require Crews to deliver either Animals or Gunpowder Barrels to a specific Senior Trader at a specific Outpost by a set date and time. Any Animal Crates to capture the Animals can be acquired from the Merchant Alliance NPCs. The Animals and Gunpowder Barrels have to be sourced by the Crew. The current time can be tracked with the Pocket Watch and the Outposts can be located on the Map Table.

Trade Good Quests

Merchant Contracts that are found around the seas from Tattered Parchments, Mysterious Journals or Messages in Bottles as singular Quests require Crews to either deliver filled Resource Crates or Gunpowder Barrels to a specific Senior Trader at a specific Outpost by a set date and time. As with the Voyages, empty Resource Crates can be picked up from any Merchant Alliance NPC once the Quest is active, but these have to be filled to a maximum of 50 to be sold. The current time can be tracked with the Pocket Watch and the Outposts can be located on the Map Table.

Locating the Goods

The Pigs, Snakes and Chicken that require to be caught for Animal Ledgers can be found at specific Islands. Large Islands are home to two animal species, whereas Small Islands are home to just one. Note that while Chicken are easy to catch, Snakes will try to bite and Poison you and Pigs will need to be fed Fruit to be kept alive. All of the animals need to be kept safe from harm, as they can easily die from any sources of Damage.

Gunpowder Barrels can be found on Islands at random, but are guaranteed to be found in bulk at Fortress Islands. They can also be found all over Sea of Thieves or be carefully taken from Gunpowder Skeletons.

Resources are very common, but Resource Crates require 50 of the specific type of Item to be sold.

Types and Value of Trade Goods

• Animals
  • Chicken
    • White Feathered Chicken: 10 - 30  or 100 - 300  when Commissioned.
    • Red Speckled Chicken: 30 - 70  or 300 - 700  when Commissioned.
    • Black Plumed Chicken: 70 - 150  or 700 - 1,500  when Commissioned.
    • Golden Chicken: 150 - 300  or 1,500 - 3,000  when Commissioned.
  • Snakes
    • Red Striped Snake: 10 - 30  or 100 - 300  when Commissioned.
    • Blue Dappled Snake: 30 - 70  or 300 - 700  when Commissioned.
    • Black Scaled Snake: 70 - 150  or 700 - 1,500  when Commissioned.
    • Golden Snake: 150 - 300  or 1,500 - 3,000  when Commissioned.
  • Pigs
    • Pink Pig: 10 - 30  or 100 - 300  when Commissioned.
    • Pink and Black spotted Pig: 30 - 70  or 300 - 700  when Commissioned.
    • Black Coated Pig: 70 - 150  or 700 - 1,500  when Commissioned.
    • Gold Striped Pig: 150 - 300  or 1,500 - 3,000  when Commissioned.

• Resource Crates
  • Fruit Crate: 600 - 1,100  or 1,200 - 1,900  when Commissioned.
  • Wood Crate: 600 - 1,100  or 1,200 - 1,900  when Commissioned.
  • Cannonball Crate: 600 - 1,100  or 1,200 - 1,900  when Commissioned.

• Gunpowder Barrels
  • Gunpowder Barrel: 100 - 200  or 500 - 1,000  when Commissioned.
  • Stronghold Gunpowder Barrel: 2,500 - 6,000 

Notes

• Merchants accept both types of Gunpowder Barrels for the same commissioned price, which is quite a lot lower than the regular sell price of the Stronghold Gunpowder Barrel.
• Trying to sell a commisioned crate to another trader prompts a warning that they're not the one who requested it, you can still sell it to them but it won't complete the comission.
• All Trade Goods can be sold without Commissions, however they will sell for 10 times less than when commissioned.
• There are no contracts for Trade Good Crates.
• Explosives are Not given by the merchants as empty animal crates

Patch history

• 1.1.0 (May 29, 2018)
  • Upon starting a Merchant Contract, the UI message will correctly state "Quest Received" rather than "Maps Discovered".

• 1.0.4 (April 18, 2018)
  • Sound Effects - Players will now hear a new sound effect when a Merchant Alliance contract has expired.

• First Release (March 20, 2018)
  • Introduced.