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RAINBOW SILKROAD
Money FAQ
by Slartifer
(GameFAQs handle: Slartifer)
v 1.0
June 17, 2011
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Rainbow Silkroad is distinguished from other RPGs by the fact that it forces
you to make money, usually by trading, in order to progress in the game. This
process can be pleasant and interesting if you know where the good deals are,
but it can be time-consuming and painful if you attempt to make money off of
long trade routes full of enemy encounters and animal surcharges.
Additionally, a few events in the game can provide you with economic boosts at
key points. This guide lists the most efficient money-making opportunities,
without requiring you to analyze a huge matrix of prices.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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[1] General Considerations
[2] Best Overall Trade Routes
[3] Money-Making Opportunities by Chapter
[3.1] Arabia
[3.2] Persia
[3.3] Mongolia
[3.4] India
[3.5] Cham
[3.6] China
[4] Acknowledgements & History
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[1]
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
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The game world contains numerous possible trade routes and chances to earn
money from events. However, there are only a few that are good enough to plan
around. The major considerations are:
(1) Magnitude -- is it a meaningful amount of money, considering what you
probably have at that point in the game?
(2) Efficiency -- is it fast or slow? You may spend time:
* Talking to merchants and pressing buttons
* Walking, flying, or voyaging from one location to another
* Fighting random battles
(3) Enemy Battles -- Are the enemies annoying? Or are the battles helpful if
you're working towards a new license?
(4) Need -- how much money do you need to accrue before moving on?
Different game elements have an impact on these:
* In general, the more money you have, the faster you can make it grow.
Therefore, it's often worth making more money than you actually _need_ to
progress in a given chapter, because it will make the start of the next area
much easier.
* Several licenses open up trading options that are many times better than what
you'd have access to otherwise. Thus, the less obnoxious random battles are
worth fighting, since you need LP. As the ministers say, be diligent!
* Animals and equipment can be acquired and sold at will, without losing
capital. Animals are necessary for any serious trading.
* Mercenaries, on the other hand, are a sunk cost that cannot be recouped.
Mercenaries give you more attacks, but also attract more enemies, so
depending on the region they may make random battles faster or slower.
* Of course, specific buying and selling prices are very important. I've put
together a chart that presents these numbers along with other relevant
information compactly. You may wish to refer to it:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/565491-niji-no-silkroad/faqs/62490
Based on these considerations, there are a few times in the game where you can
benefit a lot from running a trade route, and other times where it just isn't
worth it.
Chapter 2 gives the short list of the very best trade routes based on these
factors. Chapter 3 goes chapter by chapter and gives more details on trading
options as well as general debits and credits.
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[2]
BEST OVERALL TRADE ROUTES
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Useful licenses:
* Oil -- 500 LP in Arabia (most important -- get 10 free Oil right away!)
* Furs -- 1500 LP in Mongolia (best trade route in chapters 3-4)
* General -- 3500 LP in Cham (best trade route in chapter 5)
* Gems -- 5000 LP or 65000 gold in China (best trade route in the game)
ASTRAKHAN (Marco Polo) Glass 483 --> 965 ( 482 profit) TOTAL: 482 flat
(repetition)
HORMUZ / MUSCAT Glass 990 --> 1100 ( 110 profit) TOTAL:
(1 ship ride) Nothing up to 88 / unit
Ship Ride [ -100 / body]
TARTARY / KARAKORUM Hide 1690 --> 1870 ( 180 profit) TOTAL: 255 / unit
(very close) Fur 1980 --> 2055 ( 75 profit)
BANGKOK / LAOS Tool 3925 --> 4275 ( 350 profit) TOTAL: 700 / unit
(1 ship ride) Myrrh 4620 --> 4970 ( 350 profit)
BEIJING / CHANG AN Dia 5950 --> 6850 ( 900 profit) TOTAL: 900 / unit
(close) Nothing
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[3]
MONEY-MAKING OPPORTUNITIES BY CHAPTER
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[3.1] ARABIA
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Arabia features several dungeons, including one long sequence. Since
mercenaries are not available yet, you'll want to fully equip the hero before
attempting these dungeons.
Arabia also has a number of events that give you money. A few are available
early and can help in funding the equipment for that dungeon trek. The best
money event gives you almost 8000 gold worth of stuff for free, but it is
easily missable and it requires getting an Oil license for 500 LP. Arabia is
the slowest area to earn LP in, but it's still worth getting this license
rather than earning 8000 gold the hard way. Conveniently, however, you can
earn most of the required LP just going through the long dungeons.
LEDGER:
* Damascus 100 gold + 5 Clay
* Baghdad 100 gold + Dirk
125 gold (for selling 5 Clay)
* Jerusalem -100 gold for Incense
* Baghdad 1000 gold + Spear (for completing Palom quest)
50 gold (for selling Dirk)
-1200 gold for a full set of armor
* Bandit Cave 400 gold
* Pyramid 300 gold
* Ruins 1000 gold
-100 gold (for Bridge Builder)
* Aden -200 gold (for ship voyage)
300 gold + 10 Oil (for giving Letter)
* Damascus 7650 gold (for selling 10 Oil)
* Baghdad 1000 gold (for accepting Ugarit escort mission)
As you can see, trading is not actually necessary in Arabia -- and better
routes are available once you gain access to Persia. However, if you do want
to trade, here are the best routes.
MOST EFFICIENT TRADE ROUTES:
DAMASCUS / BAGHDAD Clay 15 --> 25 ( 10 profit) TOTAL: 25 / unit
(close) Wood 35 --> 50 ( 15 profit)
DAMASCUS / BAGHDAD Grain 165 --> 185 ( 20 profit) TOTAL: 40 / unit
(close) Soy 100 --> 120 ( 20 profit)
BAGHDAD / MUSCAT Wood 35 --> 60 ( 25 profit) TOTAL: 40 / unit
(moderate) Clay 10 --> 25 ( 15 profit)
BAGHDAD / MUSCAT Soy 100 --> 130 ( 30 profit) TOTAL: 70 / unit
(moderate) Grain 145 --> 185 ( 40 profit)
BAGHDAD / MUSCAT Soy 100 --> 130 ( 30 profit) TOTAL: 80 / unit
(moderate) Salt 205 --> 255 ( 50 profit)
MUSCAT / MECCA Oil 680 --> 730 ( 50 profit) TOTAL: 115 / unit
(moderate) Coal 580 --> 645 ( 65 profit)
MUSCAT / DAMASCUS Oil 680 --> 765 ( 85 profit) TOTAL: 165 / unit
(pretty far) Coal 565 --> 645 ( 80 profit)
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[3.2] PERSIA
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In Persia, you'll be able to hire mercenaries. You'll want to do this soon --
not only is their strength essential for tackling the major dungeon of the
area, they will vastly increase the rate at which you earn LP. This is because
Rainbow Silkroad throws more enemies at you when you have more party members.
Since your party members (almost) always act before enemies, this makes it easy
for a well-equipped party of four to mow down weak enemies and gain lots of LP
quickly.
There are several opportunities to gather money: land routes, one ship route,
and exploitation of the infinite supply of coupons Marco Polo provides.
LEDGER:
INITIAL MONIES: 10000 gold or so
* Tehran 2000 gold (for accepting Ugarit rescue quest)
* Baghdad 4000 gold (profit from Bukhara Rug sale)
(Use low travel routes or methods to build up a bit more seed money)
TARGET: 22000 gold or so
-9000 gold for 3 Soldiers
-900 gold for 3 Spears
(Trade better routes while earning more LP)
TARGET: 23000 gold or so
-3600 gold for basic (hide) armor for all
* Overworld 3000 gold (from planting Balel's G-Seed)
Once again, you don't *actually* have to trade in Persia. However, you want to
trade a bit -- otherwise, spending money on mercenaries will deplete your funds
and you will waste a lot of time building up seed money in upcoming lands. You
should either trade until you get 1000 LP for the ore license, or save up for
the Mongolian furs license (at 1500 LP). I prefer the furs license. But you
at least one; Mongolian trades are slow without one of those licenses, and you
don't want to wait until India to trade (trust me).
I recommend beginning with either Marco Polo, the Glass route, or the Salt
route. Once you've built up more money and a camel or two, buy mercenaries and
Spears and switch to the Istanbul land routes.
MOST EFFICIENT TRADE ROUTES:
ASTRAKHAN (Marco Polo) Glass 483 --> 965 ( 482 profit) TOTAL: 482 flat
(repetition)
ASTRAKHAN (Marco Polo) Jade 725 --> 1450 ( 725 profit) TOTAL: 725 flat
(repetition)
HORMUZ / MUSCAT Glass 990 --> 1100 ( 110 profit) TOTAL:
(1 ship ride) Nothing up to 88 / unit
Ship Ride [ -100 / body]
TEHRAN / BAGHDAD Salt 225 --> 255 ( 30 profit) TOTAL: 30 / unit
(very close) Nothing
TEHRAN / ISTANBUL Soy 100 --> 130 ( 30 profit) TOTAL: 70 / unit
(moderate) Grain 145 --> 185 ( 40 profit)
HORMUZ / TEHRAN Cotton 300 --> 375 ( 75 profit) TOTAL: 75 / unit
(moderate) Nothing
TEHRAN / ISTANBUL Oil 680 --> 760 ( 80 profit) TOTAL: 170 / unit
(moderate) Coal 540 --> 630 ( 90 profit)
TEHRAN / ISTANBUL Onyx 1090 --> 1210 ( 110 profit) TOTAL: 225 / unit
(moderate) Jade 1390 --> 1505 ( 115 profit)
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[3.3] MONGOLIA
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Mongolia has relatively short dungeons, but steeper monetary requirements.
While it is again possible to skip trading, you'll be very sorry in India if
you do so.
The least important party upgrade is buying Warriors: as far as I can tell,
their only advantage over Soldiers is that they will get a free second attack
once in a while. I'm estimating this happens maybe 10% of the time. On the
other hand, 2 trips of the furs route will pretty much pay for 3 Warriors, so
this isn't an important point to debate.
LEDGER:
INITIAL MONIES: 22000 gold or so
* Baghdad 5400 gold (profit from Kashgar Honey sale)
* Tartary 1550 gold (for selling found equipment)
3000 gold + Permit (if you sell GoldWool to Khan)
4500 gold (money + items after letter delivery quest)
(Major trading sesion, buying upgrades below as money becomes available)
* Samarkand -2800 gold for 4 Ax upgrades
-15000 gold for horses (sunk cost: will be donating them)
* Tartary -10800 gold for armor upgrades
-30000 gold if you want to upgrade to Warriors
* Karakorum -20000 gold for Increased H2O
(Continue trading to generate money for India and Cham)
TARGET: 90000 gold+
* Ice Castle 1000 gold (for Ax you can sell)
* Cursed Place 2000 gold
* Magic Lake 1000 gold
The ore route isn't any better than the Persian ore route, but if you have the
license for ore, it will help you build up LP towards a furs license. That
license gives you by far the best route available before India, and because
random battles become much more of a hassle in India, I recommend building up
all the money you'll need before going there, using the furs license.
As you can see, you need quite a bit of money just in Mongolia, and you will
need to buy more stuff in India. However, the furs route below is quite short
and will earn you 14025 gold per round trip with 5 horses and enough seed
money.
MOST EFFICIENT TRADE ROUTES:
SAMARKAND / KHOTAN Cotton 310 --> 360 ( 50 profit) TOTAL: 100 / unit
(pretty far) Hemp 410 --> 460 ( 50 profit)
SAMARKAND / KARAKORUM Oil 705 --> 775 ( 70 profit) TOTAL: 140 / unit
(pretty far) Coal 605 --> 675 ( 70 profit)
SAMARKAND / KARAKORUM Onyx 990 --> 1120 ( 130 profit) TOTAL: 270 / unit
(pretty far) Jade 1300 --> 1440 ( 140 profit)
TARTARY / KARAKORUM Oil 720 --> 775 ( 55 profit) TOTAL: 75 / unit
(very close) Coal 605 --> 625 ( 20 profit)
TARTARY / KARAKORUM Hide 1690 --> 1870 ( 180 profit) TOTAL: 255 / unit
(very close) Fur 1980 --> 2055 ( 75 profit)
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[3.4] INDIA
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Since the Mongolian furs route makes it easy to rake in tens of thousands of
gold, I'm dropping low cost fees and windfalls from the ledger.
India has some challenging dungeons and even the overworld monsters are
tougher, so you'll want to be fully upgraded on equipment.
LEDGER:
INITIAL MONIES: 94000 gold or so
* Kabul 2000 gold (for selling Permit)
* Delhi 3600 gold (profit from Madurai Tea sale)
* Delhi -8000 gold for 4 Bronze Sword upgrades
-18600 gold for armor upgrades
* Devil Cave 9350 gold (money + items found)
* Karachi -2000 gold (loss on Compass)
* Bhopal -10000 gold for Magic Rope
Both Lahore and Kalikata are located in close proximity to Delhi, which is
great for trades. Unfortunately, the random encounters in India are a lot
tougher: they CAN kill you, and although that's unlikely, they will usually
take multiple turns to complete. This means they slow down trading a lot more
than the encounters in Mongolia. India's trade routes also don't improve on
Mongolia's, unless you save up 2500 LP for the herbs license. That license is
okay, but Cham's general license (at 3500 LP) is much better. Save up for that
instead. Again, I emphasize using the Mongolian furs route rather than trading
in India.
MOST EFFICIENT TRADE ROUTES:
LAHORE / DELHI Hide 1630 --> 1830 ( 200 profit) TOTAL: 255 / unit
(close) Fur 2055 --> 2110 ( 55 profit)
LAHORE / DELHI / KALI Hide 1630 --> 1830 ( 200 profit) TOTAL: 400 / unit
(moderate) Fur 1910 --> 2110 ( 200 profit)
DELHI / KALIKATA Pepp. 2415 --> 2615 ( 200 profit) TOTAL: 400 / unit
(close) Curry 2890 --> 3090 ( 200 profit)
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[3.5] CHAM
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You can't trade in Cham until completing the pirate mission. Luckily, the
pirate mission involves monsters that are relatively weak, so upgrading your
mercenaries and armaments beforehand isn't necessary. Once you've done that
mission, some great opportunities open up for trading!
Cham also introduces the Zen Warriors, who attack twice every round -- a very
important upgrade for the battles ahead in Cham and China.
LEDGER:
INITIAL MONIES: 72000 gold or so
* Singapore 9000 gold (money + items found)
(Trade to make lots of money to finance your military + seed money needs)
TARGET:300000 gold+
* Bangkok -12000 gold for 4 Iron Sword upgrades
* Bangkok -90000 gold for 3 Zen Warriors
-26600 gold for 4 armor upgrades
* Angkor Wat 9000 gold (money + items found)
* Bangkok 5000 gold (reward for returning Crown)
After doing the pirate mission, ships sailing from Cham are free for you AND
your mercenaries and animals. And from Bangkok, you can get to two of the
other cities in Cham with just one ship ride. This makes ship routes
especially juicy in Cham -- the general goods route can net you 38500 gold per
round trip, usually with no overworld travel! And if the boat does crash, you
end up in one of the better crash locations, relatively close to both cities.
MOST EFFICIENT TRADE ROUTES:
BANGKOK / PAGAN Onyx 1150 --> 1320 ( 170 profit) TOTAL: 340 / unit
(close) Jade 1425 --> 1595 ( 170 profit)
BANGKOK / LAOS Curry 3010 --> 3265 ( 255 profit) TOTAL: 505 / unit
(1 ship ride) Pepp. 2385 --> 2635 ( 250 profit)
BANGKOK / LAOS Tool 3925 --> 4275 ( 350 profit) TOTAL: 700 / unit
(1 ship ride) Myrrh 4620 --> 4970 ( 350 profit)
ADEN (Harasarat) Oil 0 --> 680 ( 680 profit) TOTAL: 680 flat
(faster repetition)
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[3.6] CHINA
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After Cham's huge increase in route power on the one hand, and its long series
of dungeons on the other, China's pretty mild. Pretty much all the fees are
back-loaded. You can do trading either before or after the fighting segments,
but you need to do the fighting segments first if you want to pass through the
Great Wall, the final roadblock of the classical Silk Road.
LEDGER:
INITIAL MONIES:175000 gold+
-36000 gold for 3 Steel Sword upgrades
* Changsha 20000 gold (reward for defeating LinKuei)
(Trade to earn enough money for the game's final requirements)
TARGET: 555000 gold
15000 gold (for selling animals)
-20000 gold for Compass
-450000 gold for ship
-100000 gold for Captain Long
The short diamond route, despite being one-way, is the fastest money-making
opportunity in the game. If you don't have the 5000 LP for the license and opt
not to pay 65000 gold for it, the general route in Cham is about 75% as good.
If you have the herbs license instead, there is a pretty good silk route that
uses pepper. If you have no relevant licenses or have little money to start
with, the other silk routes are useful. The shorter Khotan route is probably
more efficient, but you may want to run the full Silk Road from Beijing to
Baghdad just to have done it -- it is, after all, what the game is named after!
MOST EFFICIENT TRADE ROUTES:
BEIJ/BAGH/ASTR/TUNH Silk 2485 --> 5000 (2515 profit) TOTAL:
(cross-continental) Glass 965 --> 1850 ( 885 profit) max at 3036 / unit
Beast Fee [-4000 / anim]
BEIJING / KHOTAN Silk 2485 --> 3955 (1470 profit) TOTAL: 1610 / unit
(pretty far) Cotton 360 --> 500 ( 140 profit)
CHAN/MUSC/LAOS Silk 2500 --> 4790 (2290 profit) TOTAL:
(5.5 ships + walk) Pepp. 2385 --> 3500 (1115 profit) max at 2612 / unit
Beast Fee [-8000 / anim]
BEIJING / CHANG AN Dia 5950 --> 6850 ( 900 profit) TOTAL: 900 / unit
(close) Nothing
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[4]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & HISTORY
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Acknowledgements:
Thanks to enigmapoeia whose walkthrough was a useful reference work.
History:
1.0 - June 2011 - Initial release
