Tyvm!

So our game designers might tell it better but, the economy inside the game relies on supply/demand chains,

• Production of villages
• Villager parties carrying products from villages to cities
• Workshops in towns process some of the product to have higher tier materials
• Merchants work in-between cities does actual trade (buy low sell high) of everything in-between

So wars and interventions (banditry, raids, sieges; player clearing out infested trading routes etc.) can and will distrupt or boost the overall logicstics, which could lead into inflations, deflations etc.

You absolutely can play the game as a merchant who doesn’t fight at all and gain power by amassing wealth and influence.

There’s no special UI for trades, except you can find out lucrative business by talking around, running workshops or caravans and leveling up your trade to have UI show what’s cheaper or expensive than average at one point.

If you’re into a merchant roleplay as I do, you can give it a shot. There must be a 2-hr refund time on Steam if you don’t like it :)