Assassin’s Creed 3 Economic Encyclopedia (and Homestead Über-Guide)
I will be using the spoiler tags throughout this post for organizational purposes, and not for spoilers. There shouldn’t be any story spoilers in this post.
Double McStab with Cheese’s Assassin’s Creed 3 Economic Encyclopedia (and Homestead Über-Guide)
This has been a long time coming.
I wanted this guide to be simple. But the truth is that the economy system in Assassin’s Creed 3 is not simple. As such, I’ve put as much raw data together as I could, as efficiently as I could, and will leave the conclusions on how to make your money up to you (you’ll find the prices here, but I’m not going to write conclusions on what to craft in each sequence and where to sell it to give you the most profits).
Again, consider this post the ultimate resource for raw information. As for the ins and outs of crafting, etc, I’ll leave that to you to figure out from the tutorials in game (and from Solid_Altair’s Guide, which has some nuts and bolts along with his opinions).
Note: Before I go further, you must know this. Although the economy system in Assassin’s Creed 3 is extremely rich, it’s also mostly useless. With the exception of a few things, you don’t need to purchase anything in game to beat it. The more useful thing is crafting of your consumables and special weapons, which I have included here as necessity anyway. 
At the very end of this guide, you will find the excel document where I compiled all the data. Everything in the excel document is color coordinated, and I tried to keep the colors consistent in this post. There are 7 sheets to this single excel document. For the sake of this post, I will refer to each sheet as an independent Mini-Guide.
Assassin’s Creed 3 Economic Encyclopedia
- Artisans Mini-Guide - artisan recruitment and leveling
- Encyclopedia of the Common Man Mini-Guide - the list for completing this prolonged side quest from Achilles
- Stockpile Mini-Guide - where to get your raw resources
- Crafting & Recipes Mini-Guide - full list of crafting recipes
- Merchants & General Store Location Mini-Guide - where to find the merchants
- Where to Sell Mini-Guide - where to get the best value for all your goods (Sequence 12 specific numbers)
- Merchant Multipliers Mini-Guide - the true value of your goods
- Convoy Times Mini-Guide - how long convoys take to complete deliveries
- End Game - download the excel document, my parting comments, and other sources for information
Artisans are the lifeblood of the economy system. The first thing you need to do to kickstart the Assassin’s Creed 3 economic system is to recruit artisans to your homestead. You can do this beginning in Sequence 5.
Artisans fall into three categories – providers, crafters, and neither.
- Providers
- Lumberers – Godfried and Terry
- Farmers – Warren and Prudence
- Huntress – Myriam
- Miner – Norris
- Crafters
- Woodworker – Lance
- Innkeepers – Oliver and Corrine
- Blacksmith – Big Dave
- Tailor – Ellen
- Doctor – Lyle White
- Neither
- Priest – Father Timothy
Every homestead recruitment and leveling mission will show up on your map. It is a black icon with a white house inside of it. Some do not unlock later in the game unless others were done earlier. Some artisans have missions that link them together too, so it’s not like you can just level up one artisan and not the others. Therefore, if it is your goal to maximize your opportunities in this rich economic system, it is highly recommended that you do these homestead missions whenever you see them. Some missions are part of the main story and are not missible. Most are not, however. (A lot of these missions are of the “Pick some flowers for Sofia” variety).
Note: There have been many reports of homestead missions not appearing on your map. My personal opinion is that this likely occurs when someone skips missions and wants to level up artisans later in the game. I don’t know if the missions disappear or if the icons simply disappear. For this reason, I recommend doing them early and often.
This mini-guide does not go through what the missions are, but only when to find them, and what they unlock. Missions are listed in the order I did them. Most of the time, you will get 2-4 missions at a time and you have options for the order to do the missions until this chunk is done, then another chunk is unlocked.
Chronologically Unlocking Artisans
for each entry:
who – what it unlocks – other notes
Sequence 5
- Lumberers (level 1) – charcoal, oak bark, oak lumber available for purchase – Some around the internet say this must be done in the Summer only.
- Woodworker (level 1) – woodworker crafting
- Farmers (level 1) – beeswax, eggs, honey, milk – Mission is not located in Homestead but in Frontier.
- Lumberers (level 2) – ash lumber, kindling, walnut lumber
Sequence 6
- Achilles – begin Encyclopedia of the Common Man quest – see below
- Lumberers (level 3) – pine lumber, spruce lumber
- Farmers (level 2) – apples, fresh water, vegetables, wool – Some sources state that this must be done in the Summer only. Again, I’m not convinced.
- Huntress (level 1) – catnip, snakeroot, beaver pelt, deer pelt, hare meat, hare pelt, – Huntress items in red can be hunted on your own. As the sale price of items is the same as the purchase price, it makes little sense to purchase these items, unless you don’t like hunting, are in a time crunch, or would rather focus on crafting.
- Miner (level 1) – clay, iron ore, sand – Mission is located in Boston.
- Huntress (level 2) – rosemary, St. John’s wort, fox pelt
Sequence 7
- Innkeepers (level 1) – innkeeper crafting
- Miner (level 2) – copper ore, limestone, rock salt – Achilles will send you on another side quest prior to these Sequence 7 missions.
- Lumberers (level 4) – hickory lumber, maple lumber, rosewood lumber
- Farmers (level 3) – cow hide, pork, poultry meat
- Miner (level 3) – lead ore, sulfur
- Farmers (level 4) – barley, flax, rye, wheat
Sequence 8
- Miner (level 4) – gold ore, silver ore
- Blacksmith (level 1) – blacksmith crafting – Located in Frontier. Some sources say must be done in Summer.
Sequence 9 – this is where the crafting system really opens up!
- Tailor (level 1) – tailor crafting – Found in New York.
- Priest (level 1) – not a damn thing… moral guidance for homesteaders?
- Doctor (level 1) – doctor crafting
- Blacksmith (level 2) – crafting upgrade – Found in Homestead. Requires travel to New York.
- Huntress (level 3) – madder, bear pelt, wolf pelt
- Woodworker (level 2) – crafting upgrade – Found in Homestead. Requires travel to Boston.
- Tailor (2) – crafting upgrade – Found in Homestead. Requires travel to New York.
- Tailor (3) – crafting upgrade
- Priest (2) – better moral guidance, I guess.
- Blacksmith (3) – crafting upgrade – Here’s the reason I don’t trust elsewhere. Everywhere online this mission is listed as “Sequence 10” and “Summer Only.” I did this mission in the Winter of Sequence 9 (the beginning of Sequence 9). Essentially, this mission – and Doctor (2) – must be after Priest (2).
- Doctor (2) – crafting upgrade – Requires travel to Boston. This is another mission that is listed elsewhere as “Sequence 10” but I accomplished in Sequence 9. Just must be after Priest (2).
Sequence 10
- Blacksmith (level 4) – crafting upgrade
- Woodworker (level 3) – crafting upgrade – Found in Homestead. Requires travel to New York .
Sequence 11
- Doctor (level 3) – crafting upgrade – Some crafting recipes require a level 4 Doctor. I don’t recall ever leveling the Doctor to level 4, and I can’t find anywhere online about it. Either everyone is missing it, or the Doctor skips 3 and goes straight to level 4 at this time.
Sequence for Unlocking Artisans by Artisan
for each entry:
who – sequence recruited – level 2 – level 3 – level 4
Lumberers – Seq 5 – Seq 5 – Seq 6 – Seq 7
Woodworker – Seq 5 – Seq 9 – Seq 10 – n/a
Farmers – Seq 5 – Seq 6 – Seq 7 – Seq 7
Huntress – Seq 6 – Seq 6 – Seq 9 – n/a
Miner – Seq 6 – Seq 7 – Seq 7 – Seq 8
Innkeepers – Seq 7 – n/a – n/a – n/a
Blacksmith – Seq 8 – Seq 9 – Seq 9 – Seq 10
Tailor – Seq 9 – Seq 9 – Seq 9 – n/a
Priest – Seq 9 – Seq 9 – n/a – n/a
Doctor – Seq 9 – Seq 10 – Seq 11 – ??
Encyclopedia of the Common Man Mini-Guide
Talk to Achilles in Sequence 6 to start this quest. He will tell you to go watch your artisans completing actions. Your observations of the artisans eventually turn into the Encyclopedia of the Common man. Essentially, you will have to scan your artisans performing a set of actions.
To scan your artisans, first find an artisan and activate eagle sense (left 
). When you see a gold artisan, this means they are performing a scannable action. When this is the case, target them with 
. After about a second of scanning, a notification will pop up telling you that you have successfully scanned the action (or that you have scanned the action previously). To complete the quest, you can follow one artisan around scanning all their actions until you get the “complete” notification and move on to the next artisan. When you are done with a particular artisan, their encyclopedia entry will be available in the in game database.
I reproduced this list from elsewhere. Also, I didn’t reference this list a single time when actually scanning the actions. Therefore, I don’t know if it’s accurate or not.
Let me preface this list with a comment from TheMethodicalAssassin:
“The majority of them sound like slang terms for sex, beating off, or farting.”
Lumberers
- chopping wood
- using the saw
- hauling wood to the wagon
Woodworker
- checking the fence
- sanding a chair
- sanding wood
- writing in a log book while taking stock
Innkeepers
- cutting meat
- whipping the bull
- turning meat on a spit
- pitching hay
- watching animals grinding wheat
Miner
- mining with the pickaxe
- panning for gold
- lighting a mine lantern
Farmers
- pouring grain
- plowing the field
- milking a cow
- cutting wheat
Huntress
- maintaining her musket
- firing the musket at game
- cooking food on her spit
Blacksmith
- hammering metal
- sharpening an axe
- building/repairing a wagon’s wheel
- nailing on horseshoes
Tailor
- checking out the chair
- taking measurements for a shirt
- sewing while sitting
- washing clothes
Doctor
- tending to the herb garden behind his house
- playing a game of bowls
- reading on a tree stump
The 4 providers (Lumberers, Farmers, Huntress, Miner) provide you with access to raw resources. You purchase them from the artisans from within the Stockpile menu in game. Access to better raw resources is gained with artisan leveling (see above).
Here, you will find the cost for the raw resources. I will not put the sequence availability of resources here (because they are all in the Artisans Mini-Guide), but in the excel document at the end of this entire guide, resources are also color coordinated by sequence availability.
Farm Products (from Farmers)
- apples - £6
- barley - £25
- beeswax - £2
- cow hide - £15
- eggs - £5
- flax - £27
- fresh water - £5
- honey - £5
- milk - £4
- pork - £17
- poultry meat - £16
- rye - £30
- vegetables - £8
- wheat - £24
- wool - £10
Forest (from Lumberers)
- ash lumber - £12
- charcoal - £5
- hickory lumber - £30
- kindling - £5
- maple lumber - £27
- oak bark - £3
- oak lumber - £8
- pine lumber - £15
- rosewood lumber - £32
- spruce lumber - £16
- walnut lumber - £10
Herbs (from Huntress)
- catnip - £3
- madder - £9
- rosemary - £7
- snakeroot - £5
- St. John’s wort - £9
Hunting (from Huntress)
- bear pelt - £240
- beaver pelt - £160
- deer pelt - £120
- fox pelt - £100
- hare meat - £20
- hare pelt - £30
- wolf pelt - £130
- bear claws - not purchasable - must hunt for yourself
- bear grease - not purchasable
- beaver teeth - not purchasable
- bobcat claws - not purchasable
- bobcat pelt - not purchasable
- castoreum - not purchasable
- cougar fangs - not purchasable
- cougar pelt - not purchasable
- deer heart - not purchasable
- deer marrow - not purchasable
- deer tail - not purchasable
- elk antlers - not purchasable
- elk heart - not purchasable
- elk meat - not purchasable
- elk pelt - not purchasable
- fox tail - not purchasable
- rabbit’s foot - not purchasable
- raccoon pelt - not purchasable
- venison - not purchasable
- wolf fangs - not purchasable
Minerals (from Miner)
- clay - £8
- copper ore - £15
- gold ore - £35
- iron ore - £12
- lead ore - £16
- limestone - £10
- rock salt - £8
- sand - £3
- silver ore - £32
- sulfur - £22
Here are all the crafting recipes in the game. I repeat, here are all the crafting recipes in the game. Normally, you earn recipes in game. Ways you gain recipes are through opening chests, artisan leveling, accomplishing certain missions and memory sequences and through completing sets of collectibles. Here’s some good news for you though, you can “craft blind.” That is, you don’t need to have earned or unlocked the recipe to actually use it. Since this is a list of recipes, feel free to craft away!
As far as how to craft, there is an in game tutorial. Essentially, just follow in game menus from any logbook – in your manor, or in any of the 9 general stores in the game – and it will become obvious.
The Artisans Mini-Guide will tell you when you can gain access to certain raw resources and artisan levels.
As was mentioned previously by Solid_Altair, you have to pay each artisan when crafting an item, and the amount you pay is not constant; but it is predictable:
- Each artisan has a Minimum Artisan Cost (MAC) of £25. If you craft a single item using a single artisan, it will initially cost you £25 + resources. If you craft a single item using two artisans, it will initially cost you £50 + resources.
- This value will not increase after one item crafted (second item for each artisan is still £25). However, after the second, and each subsequent, item, the artisan cost increases by £25. Therefore, for your first item it will cost you £25; second, £25; third, £50; fourth, £75; fifth, £100; etc. (I think this is indefinitely, but I didn’t got more than about £700 for a single artisan when compiling this guide).
- Each artisan raises their cost independently of all other artisans.
- Finally, artisan costs reset to MAC after just 5 minutes of gameplay (ie, not in a menu or paused). This is not a gradual reset – it drops all the way back to £25 after 5 minutes regardless of previous cost. Since this is longer than all convoy times, it should reset before a convoy returns to you and you need to craft again.
In the full excel workbook, I include base profits for each item crafted. The store used for these base profits was sending a land convoy to Hancock’s No. 5 in Boston during Sequence 12 (this is important as per the Merchant Multipliers Mini-Guide). These profits use the MAC as well as all resource costs for crafting an item.
Crafting, at a certain point, is no longer profitable until the artisan costs reset.
For the below recipes:
- Red typeface indicates items that you can acquire for free through hunting. As such, no resource cost is associated with them in the full workbook at the end of this guide.
- Blue typeface indicates materials that must be crafted independently.
- Special iron ingot is acquired through a special miner mission (a homestead mission). Quantity is limited, and you can’t purchase more. You will have to choose which craftable items that use this resource you want to have available to you in the game. However, upon completion of Sequence 12, a chest appears on a cliff face behind the manor/stables with enough special iron ingot to complete crafting of all items that require it.
- Underlined typeface indicates the sequence limiting resource or artisan level. If a material is needed in the same sequence as the limiting artisan, I have labeled the material as limiting, as it has to be crafted in advance. Refer to the Artisans Mini-Guide for more information on artisan leveling and resource availability. Each item is also labeled with earliest sequence craftable (so you don’t have to go back and forth between miniguides).
Each recipe requires one or two artisans and one, two or three resources/materials.
Without further ado, the recipes – in the order they appear in the crafting menu (mostly alphabetical).
Consumables – craft your consumables so you no longer have to purchase them, may or may not be cost effective, I didn’t do the math for each item
- arrows (seq 8) – blacksmith (1), woodworker (1), iron ore, kindling
- bait (seq 7) – innkeepers, hare meat, poultry meat, vegetables
- cartridge (seq 8) – blacksmith (1), lead ore
- poisoned dart (seq 9) – blacksmith (1), doctor (2), lead ore, sulfur
- rope dart (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), tailor (1), cow hide, flax, weapon blades
- smoke bomb (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), black powder, clay, dyes
- snare (seq 9) – woodworker (2), cow hide, kindling
- trip mine (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), black powder, clay, flints
Inventions – recipes earned for collecting almanack pages, Ben Franklin’s inventions are useless, more or less craftable trophies for your manor
- busybody (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), iron ore, sand
- electrostatic generator (seq 11) – blacksmith (4), doctor (3), copper ore, iron ore, sand
- Franklin stove (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), iron ore, silver ore
- glass armonica (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), charcoal, sand
- Joseph Priestley soda apparatus (seq 8) - innkeepers (1), fresh water, glass bottles
- kite and key (seq 9) – tailor (2), kindling, linsey-woolsey
- Leyden jar (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), copper ore, fresh water, glass bottles
- orrery (seq 9) – blacksmith (1), woodworker (2), copper ore, rosewood lumber
- Watt steam engine (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), fresh water, iron ore
Special Items – these 29 items are unlockables and are useful in game, many are new weapons or upgrades to old ones, many use special iron ingot – pick your crafting carefully
- broken sword knife (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), special iron ingot, weapon blades – additional weapon
- cartridge pouch 1 (seq 9) – tailor (1), hare pelt – increases cartridge capacity
- cartridge pouch 2 (seq 9) – tailor (2), deer pelt, sewing threads – increases cartridge capacity
- cartridge pouch 3 (seq 9) – tailor (3), fox pelt , sewing threads – increases cartridge capacity to 40
- English flintlock pistol (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), woodworker (2), flints, oak lumber, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- French coat pistol (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), flints, iron ore, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- iron blade war club (seq 9) – blacksmith (1), woodworker (2), ash lumber, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- Italian flintlock (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), woodworker (3), flints, maple lumber, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- land convoy capacity upgrade (seq 6) – woodworker (1), kindling, pine lumber – increases convoy capacity incrementally to maximum 8 items
- land convoy (seq 5) – woodworker (1), oak bark, oak lumber – additional land convoy – maximum of 3
- large saddle bags (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), tailor (3), gold ore, sewing threads – allows you to refill consumables from your horse after using horse whistle
- Washington’s battle sword replica (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), silver ore, special iron ingot – additional weapon – I think they screwed up the coding and flipped “Lincoln” and “Washington” in the alphabet…
- medium saddle bags (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), tailor (3), sewing threads, silver ore – allows you to refill some consumables from your horse after using horse whistle
- naval axe (seq 10) – blacksmith (3), woodworker (3), hickory lumber, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- naval convoy (seq 9) – woodworker (2), bear grease, oak bark, spruce lumber – gives you a naval convoy – maximum of 2 – a DLC can give you access to crafting a third
- naval convoy capacity upgrade (seq 10) – woodworker (3), kindling, maple lumber – increases convoy capacity incrementally to maximum 15 items
- naval duckfoot (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), flints, lead ore, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- poison dart pouch upgrade 1 (seq 9) – tailor (1), beaver pelt, hare pelt, sewing threads – increases poison dart capacity to 5 – unlike cartridges, even though the other pouches say “1,” there is only 1 upgrade available
- quiver 1 (seq 9) – tailor (1), woodworker (2), ash lumber, cow hide – increases arrow capacity to 16
- rope dart pouch 1 (seq 9) – tailor (1), hare pelt, sewing threads – increases rope dart capacity to 5
- royal navy sea service flintlock (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), flints, gold ore, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- royal pistol (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), flints, silver ore, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- small saddle bags (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), tailor (3), copper ore, sewing threads – allows you to refill some consumables from your horse after using horse whistle
- snare pouch 1 (seq 9) – tailor (1), sewing threads, wolf pelt – increases snare capacity to 20
- smoke bomb pouch upgrade 1 (seq 9) – tailor (1), cow hide, sewing threads – increases smoke bomb capacity to 5
- twin holsters (seq 9) – tailor (2), rosewood lumber, wolf pelt – allws you to carry two guns
- war tomahawk (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), special iron ingot – additional weapon
- Lincoln’s sword replica (seq 10) – blacksmith (3), dyes, special iron ingot – additional weapon
- trip mine pouch upgrade 1 (seq 9) – tailor (2), cow hide, sewing threads, fox pelt – increases trip mine capacity to 5
Materials – initial goods that can be sold as is, or used to craft other items
- barrels (seq 5) – woodworker (1), oak lumber
- belt buckles (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), copper ore
- black powder (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), lead ore, rock salt, sulfur
- buttons (seq 9) – woodworker (2), hickory lumber
- candles (seq 9) – tailor (1), beeswax
- disinfectant (seq 9) – doctor (1), apples – an apple a day keeps the doctor away, afterall
- dyes (seq 9) – tailor (2), vegetables
- flints (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), iron ore, lead ore, limestone
- flour (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), wheat
- glass bottles (seq 8) – blacksmith (1), sand
- inks (seq 10) – tailor (2), woodworker (3), madder
- linsey-woolsey (seq 9) – tailor (1), flax, wool
- nails (seq 8) – blacksmith (1), iron ore
- paper (seq 9) – tailor (1), woodworker (2), flax, oak bark
- sewing threads (seq 9) – tailor (1), wool
- weapon blades (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), charcoal, iron ore
- weapon handles (seq 9) – woodworker (2), maple lumber
Alcohol
- ales (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), barley, barrels
- ciders (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), apples, barrels
- spirits (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), barley, barrels, rye
Clothing
- belts (seq 9) – tailor (1), belt buckles, cow hide
- boots (seq 9) – tailor (2), belt buckles, fox pelt
- clothing (seq 9) – tailor (1), buttons, linsey-woolsey
- coonskin hat (seq 9) – tailor (2), raccoon pelt, sewing threads
- fine clothing (seq 9) – tailor (3), buttons, linsey-woolsey, wolf pelt
- fine hats (seq 9) – tailor (3), beaver pelt, hare pelt
- fine shoes (seq 9) – tailor (3), beaver pelt, belt buckles
- fox tail scarf (seq 9) – tailor (2), fox tail, sewing threads
- hats (seq 9) – tailor (2), beaver pelt
- moccasins (seq 9) – tailor (2), elk pelt, sewing threads
- quilts (seq 9) – tailor (2), dyes, linsey-woolsey, sewing threads
- shoes (seq 9) – tailor (1), belt buckles, hare pelt
- tool belts (seq 9) – tailor (2), woodworker (1), belt buckles, cow hide, nails
- wigs (seq 9) – tailor (2), dyes, sewing threads, wool
Food
- bread (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), eggs, flour, milk
- deer jerkey (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), rock salt, venison
- deer marrow soup (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), deer marrow, fresh water, vegetables
- jugged hare (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), hare meat, vegetables
- meat pies (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), flour, hare meat, pork
- poutine (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), bear grease, milk, vegetables – much more delicious in real life than this sounds
- salt (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), rock salt
- salted elk meat (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), elk meat, rock salt
- shepherd’s pie (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), pork, poultry meat, vegetables
- smoked elk meat (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), elk meat, maple lumber
- tea (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), honey, rosemary
- venison heart (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), deer heart, vegetables
Medication
- all-purpose remedy (seq 9) – doctor (2), glass bottles, St. John’s wort
- bandages (seq 9) – doctor (1), tailor (1), disinfectant, linsey-woolsey
- cold medicine (seq 9) – doctor (1), barley, catnip, glass bottles
- cough syrup (seq 9) – doctor (2), glass bottles, honey
- Daffy’s elixir (seq 9) – doctor (2), barley, glass bottles, rye – sounds a lot like the alcohol recipes above…
- digestive tonic (seq 9) – doctor (2), flax, glass bottles
- eye drops (seq 11) – doctor (3), glass bottles, rosemary
- hysteria medication (seq 11?) – doctor (4), castoreum, glass bottles
- insect repellent (seq 9) – doctor (1), catnip, glass bottles
- medical charts (seq 11?) – doctor (4), inks, paper
- medical equipment (seq 11?) – doctor (4), blacksmith (2), disinfecant, iron ore
- poisons (seq 9) – doctor (2), glass bottles, sulfur
- pomade (seq 9) – doctor (1), bear grease, deer marrow
- skin irritation remedy (seq 11) – doctor (3), glass bottles, St. john’s wort, rosemary
- snakebite antidote (seq 9) – doctor (2), glass bottles, snakeroot
- soap (seq 7) – innkeepers (1), bear grease, charcoal, rosemary
- stiffness remedy (seq 11) – doctor (3), elk antlers, elk heart
- stomachache medicine (seq 9) – doctor (1), catnip, charcoal, glass bottles
Metalwork
- brass rings (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), copper ore, fresh water
- golden rings (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), gold ore
- lanterns (seq 9) – blacksmith (2), tailor (1), candles, iron ore
- mining tools (seq 8) – blacksmith (1), woodworker (1), iron ore, maple lumber
- plows (seq 8) – blacksmith (1), woodworker (1), iron ore, walnut lumber
- silver rings (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), silver ore
- woodworking tools (seq 8) – blacksmith (1), woodworker (1), hickory lumber, iron ore
Miscellaneous
- bear pendant (seq 10) – tailor (3) blacksmith (4), bear claws, elk pelt, gold ore
- bear rugs (seq 9) – tailor (3), bear pelt
- beaver tooth knife (seq 5) – woodworker (1), beaver teeth, ash lumber
- blankets (seq 9) – tailor (2), linsey-woolsey
- bobcat pendant (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), bobcat claws, copper ore
- bricks (seq 6) – woodworker (1), clay
- cougar pendant (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), cougar fangs, copper ore
- glass windows (seq 9) – blacksmith (1), woodworker (2), sand, pine lumber
- hair accessory (seq 9) – tailor (1), deer tail, sewing threads
- mounted elk antlers (seq 9) – woodworker (2), elk antlers, spruce lumber, beeswax
- playing cards (seq 9) – innkeepers (1), paper, dyes
- rabbit foot charm (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), rabbit’s foot, silver ore
- toy dolls (seq 9) – tailor (2), wool, dyes
- water drum (seq 10) – woodworker (3), ash lumber, elk pelt, bear grease
- wolf pendant (seq 10) – tailor (2), blacksmith (4), wolf fangs, elk pelt, silver ore
War Supplies
- ammunition (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), black powder, iron ore
- artillery (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), woodworker (3), flints, iron ore, oak lumber
- firearms (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), flints, iron ore, weapon handles
- horseshoes (seq 8) – blacksmith (1), iron ore, nails
- officer swords (seq 10) – blacksmith (4), silver ore, weapon blades, weapon handles
- saddles (seq 9) – tailor (3), beaver pelt, cow hide
- ship masts (seq 6) – woodworker (1), spruce lumber
- ship sails (seq 9) – tailor (2), linsey-woolsey, sewing threads
- swords (seq 9) – blacksmith (3), weapon blades, weapon handles
Woodwork
- buckets (seq 6) – woodworker (1), pine lumber
- crates (seq 5) – woodworker (1), walnut lumber
- fine furniture (seq 10) – woodworker (3), hickory lumber, pine lumber, walnut lumber
- fishing rods (seq 9) – woodworker (1), sewing threads, spruce lumber
- furniture (seq 9) – woodworker (2), pine lumber, walnut lumber
- torches (seq 9) – woodworker (1), blacksmith (3), black powder, pine lumber
Merchants & General Store Location Mini-Guide
Now that you have all the info to craft, the next step in the Assassin’s Creed economic system is to sell your goods to the various merchants or peddlers in the game. There are two ways to sell goods: in person, or via convoy.
To sell your goods in person, you can simply enter the general stores and talk to the shopkeeper, or approach the peddlers. You can only sell goods in your Stockpile in person. Selling anything in person except self-hunted or pickpocketed items is not worthwhile. The price the stores give you for items is the same as it costs you to purchase them. As such, selling in person should not be done unless you need quick cash to buy an item and don’t want to wait for a convoy.
The best way to make money in the game is through convoys. There is a very brief convoy tutorial in game (sending crafted barrels to Boston). The way to sell your goods is through the Trading menu from your logbooks. Once there, it’s self-explanatory, so I won’t discuss it here.
Initially, you won’t have many merchants available as destinations for your convoys. This is because, to add a merchant to your list, you must discover and enter each of the general stores. (Some have reported that you must also make a purchase or sell to each merchant in person first). This makes sense, because to get a new merchant as a trade partner/buyer, you’d likely have to have some previous interaction with him. The best way to set up this dialogue is in person.
There are 9 general stores in the game – 3 each in Boston, New York and the Frontier – and they all look the same – same façade with “General Store” signage. When you get near enough to them, the general store symbol £ will appear on your map, but will be grayed out. Approach the store and you will see the “interact orb” on the door. Enter the store (and make a purchase or sell a pelt) and the symbol will change to white. Once the store is white on your map, they are a viable trade partner.
Many people have trouble finding the general stores. Rather than try to talk you through their locations, I will refer you to a youtube video (not mine).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj_u9Pym0As
Boston (3 Stores)
- 1 – 0:53 – Child’s Still House & Dry Goods (South Boston)
- 2 – 1:26 – Hancock’s Store No. 5 (Central Boston – the first store you enter as Haytham)
- 3 – 1:50 – Elizabeth Murray’s Fineries (North Boston)
Frontier (3 Stores)
- 4 – 2:16 – The Walking Haberdashery (Monmouth)
- 5 – 2:45 – Murdoch’s Barter (Concord – near a fast travel point)
- 6 – 3:16 – The Milliner’s Wares (Lexington)
New York (3 Stores)
- 7 – 3:44 – Van Burgh’s Spices (North New York – on east side near border with East)
- 8 – 4:12 – De Lancey’s Imports & Goods – West New York)
- 9 – 4:40 – Rhinelander’s Sugars (West New York – on southern tip, near border with East)
Note: although you can sell to, and purchase consumables from, peddlers in person, they are not a merchant and cannot be a trade partner. (As such, their logos are always grayed out on your map).
With a total of 169 items available to sell in game through your stockpile, crafting and hunting, it would be nice to know each item’s price at each merchant. Indeed, I did this (with Sequence 12 specific numbers – see Merchant Multipliers Mini-Guide).
However, this is far too much data and information to post in this thread in a legible format. So that information is not here. As such, this Mini-Guide name doesn’t make since in this thread – as I’m not listing any sale prices or telling you where to sell. I named it as such to keep it consistent with the downloaded document.
Instead, I will list the Base Price of all the items. Using this list of base prices, combined with the multipliers in the next guide, you can get your items sale price at any point in the game, with a few exceptions. You don’t want me to list 30,000 different prices for all variables that change the price of all 169 items at each individual store, do you? Didn’t think so… you can do some math yourself, it won’t kill you.
The base price is the price to sell an item in person. For crafted items (which I previously said you couldn’t directly sell), I’ve calculated the value that the game uses as the base price of that item. If you’re interested in how, download the document. As a reminder, for items that you purchase in your stockpile, the base sale price is the same as the cost to purchase.
Base Price of Sellable Items
Farm Products
- apples – £6
- barley – £25
- beeswax – £2
- cow hide – £15
- eggs – £5
- flax – £27
- fresh water – £5
- honey – £5
- milk – £4
- pork – £17
- poultry meat – £16
- rye – £30
- vegetables – £8
- wheat – £24
- wool – £10
Forest
- ash lumber – £12
- charcoal – £5
- hickory lumber – £30
- kindling – £5
- maple lumber – £27
- oak bark – £3
- oak lumber – £8
- pine lumber – £15
- rosewood lumber – £32
- spruce lumber – £16
- walnut lumber – £10
Herbs
- catnip – £3
- madder – £9
- rosemary – £7
- snakeroot – £5
- St. John's wort – £9
Hunting
- bear pelt – £240
- beaver pelt – £160
- deer pelt – £120
- fox pelt – £100
- hare meat – £20
- hare pelt – £30
- wolf pelt – £130
- bear claws – £10
- bear grease – £20
- beaver teeth – £10
- bobcat claws – £10
- bobcat pelt – £70
- castoreum – £30
- cougar fangs – £10
- cougar pelt – £90
- deer heart – £10
- deer marrow – £4
- deer tail – £0 – yes, it really is £0 if you sell a deer tail in person. In any convoy, it’s £1 to all shops. You can turn them into hair accessories in the best example of crafting to more valuable goods – base price of £103.
- elk antlers – £20
- elk heart – £10
- elk meat – £60
- elk pelt – £140
- fox tail – £20
- rabbit's foot – £4
- raccoon pelt – £60
- venison – £40
- wolf fangs – £10
Minerals
- clay – £8
- copper ore – £15
- gold ore – £35
- iron ore – £12
- lead ore – £16
- limestone – £10
- rock salt – £8
- sand – £3
- silver ore – £32
- sulfur – £22
Materials
- barrels – £35
- belt buckles – £40
- black powder – £75
- buttons – £55
- candles – £27
- disinfectant – £31
- dyes – £35
- flints – £65
- flour – £50
- glass bottles – £30
- inks – £35
- linsey-woolsey – £65
- nails – £40
- paper – £55
- sewing threads – £35
- weapon blades – £45
- weapon handles – £55
Alcohol
- ales – £125
- ciders – £106
- spirits – £155
Clothing
- belts – £120
- boots – £170
- clothing – £210
- coonskin hat – £145
- fine clothing – £305
- fine hats – £165
- fine shoes – £215
- fox tail scarf – £125
- hats – £135
- moccasins – £185
- quilts – £265
- shoes – £120
- tool belts – £175
- wigs – £185
Food
- bread – £124
- deer jerkey – £120
- deer marrow soup – £55
- jugged hare – £58
- meat pies – £142
- poutine – £5
- salt – £35
- salted elk meat – £130
- shepherd's pie – £81
- smoked elk meat – £97
- tea – £52
- venison heart – £53
Medication
- all-purpose remedy – £119
- bandages – £226
- cold medicine – £123
- cough syrup – £115
- Daffy's elixir – £165
- digestive tonic – £137
- eye drops – £132
- hysteria medicine – £155
- insect repellent – £98
- medical charts – £225
- medical equipment – £208
- poisons – £132
- pomade – £107
- skin irritation remedy – £141
- snakebite antidote – £115
- soap – £62
- stiffness remedy – £85
- stomachache medicine – £103
Metalwork
- brass rings – £85
- golden rings – £120
- lanterns – £159
- mining tools – £119
- plows – £102
- silver rings – £102
- woodworking tools – £122
Miscellaneous
- bear pendant – £260
- bear rugs – £190
- beaver tooth knife – £57
- blankets – £145
- bobcat pendant – £90
- bricks – £48
- cougar pendant – £90
- glass windows – £113
- hair accessory – £103
- mounted elk antlers – £100
- playing cards – £180
- rabbit’s foot charm – £104
- toy dolls – £125
- water drum – £162
- wolf pendant – £210
War Supplies
- ammuntion – £182
- artillery – £260
- firearms – £252
- horseshoes – £117
- officers' swords – £272
- saddles – £165
- ship masts – £56
- ship sails – £205
- swords – £225
Woodwork
- buckets – £55
- crates – £50
- fine furniture – £125
- fishing rods – £116
- furniture – £80
- torches – £208
Merchant Multipliers Mini-Guide
Merchants pay more for items sent to them via convoy than sold in person. How much more can be calculated. That’s what this is Mini-Guide is for – telling you what to multiply the base prices above by to get the actual convoy sale price of an item. I determined all the values post game and thought they were standard. I did some research to see if someone else had done similar and discovered that this was not the case.
Not only does each merchant multiply the base price of items by a different number, but merchants also change the prices that they are willing to pay you for the same goods for convoy deliveries as the game progresses. The base prices in the Where to Sell Mini-Guide do not change throughout the course of the game. The multipliers used change by sequence (according to this website , anyway). I have not double checked their numbers for earlier sequences.
Not only do merchants change their multipliers by sequence, but each merchant devalues whole categories of goods to separate multipliers. 
Here are the merchant multipliers for all stores (reproduced from the website linked above – we can double check numbers if we really want to though).
Click to enlarge:
Example
- The base price of a beaver pelt is £160. If you hand deliver a beaver pelt to Elizabeth Murray’s Fineries, you will get £160 profit.
- If you send the beaver pelt on a convoy to this shop in Sequence 7, you will get 3.2 times this amount – £512.
- If you send the beaver pelt on a convoy to this shop in Sequence 11, you will only get 3.0 times this amount – £480.
- If you send Miss Elizabeth a beaver pelt in Sequence 12, you’ll get 3.6 times the amount – £576.
So you have a convoy of goods and have sent it out, when will it return?
Assuming your convoy is not attacked and you don’t need to run to its rescue, below are the times it takes for convoys to complete their deliveries.
Single Destination Convoys
- Boston
- Hancock’s Store No. 5 – 12 min
- Elizabeth Murray’s Fineries – 12 min
- Child’s Still House & Dry Goods – 12 min
- New York
- Rhinelander’s Sugars – 22 min
- De Lancey’s Imports & Goods – 22 min
- Van Burgh’s Spices – 22 min
- Frontier
- The Walking Haberdashery – 17 min
- The Milliner’s Wares – 17 min
- Murdoch’s Barter – 19 min
- Naval Convoys
- Louisbourg – 38 min
- The Bahamas – 35 min
- Saint-Augustine – 32 min
- Virgin Islands – 42 min
Two Destination Convoys
- First Destination (time)
- Second Destination – time added
- Boston (12 min)
- New York – +12 min
- Frontier – +7 min
- Frontier (Murdoch’s Barter) – +9 min
- New York (22 min)
- Boston – +2 min
- Frontier – +2 min
- Frontier (Murdoch’s Barter) – +2 min
- Frontier (17 min)
- Boston – +2 min
- New York – +7 min
- Frontier – +2 min
- Frontier (Murdoch’s Barter) – +4 min
- Frontier (Murdoch’s Barter) (19 min)
- Boston – +2 min
- New York – +5 min
- Frontier – +2 min
- Louisbourg (38 min)
- The Bahamas – +2 min
- Saint-Augustine – +2 min
- Virgin Islands – +6 min
- The Bahamas (35 min)
- Louisbourg – +5 min
- Saint-Augustine – +2 min
- Virgin Islands – +9 min
- Saint-Augustine (32 min)
- Louisbourg – +5 min
- The Bahamas – +12 min
- Virgin Islands – +2 min
- Virgin Islands (42 min)
- Louisbourg – +2 min
- The Bahamas – +2 min
- Saint-Augustine – +2 min
Three-Plus Destination Convoys
Dude. Really? Stick to two or less… you’re just wasting time now.
The Document and Key
Finally, the excel document I’ve been talking about the whole time:
http://www.thehiddenblade.com/sites/default/files/AC3-Economic-Encyclope...
Most of the document has the same color keys I’ve used in this thread.
One key not mentioned here is cell color. Each sequence corresponds to a different cell background color. It starts red at Sequence 5 (for Redcoat control) and is blue at Sequence 11 (for Colonial control). This is just a redundancy for the info in the cell, but it provides a quick reference for what you are able to purchase and craft given the sequence you are in in the game.
One final note on making money: In this Economic Encyclopedia, I ignored taxes. The tax rate in each district decreases with liberation events in that district. The base prices don’t change. You should think of the numbers in this post (and accompanying document) as maximal profit / zero tax baselines.
Sources
Although I did most of this work on my own, I did double check all my recipes, all my dollar amounts, all convoy times, all my other information on other web sites to see what the consensus information was.
I mentioned above specifically where I didn’t do Encyclopedia of the Common Man scannable actions nor sequence dependent merchant multipliers myself.
In addition, I pointed out where my experience was different from the consensus – with the leveling of artisans in specific seasons, or even sequences as the case with blacksmith (3) and doctor (2).
I have checked all the recipes here on my console. There are differences to recipes elsewhere online, but these are as correct as I can make them.
If there are any differences between this post and the document, the document is right. Let me know and I will change this post.
Here are the sources I used to double check my information. Many have more information I did not include.
http://segmentnext.com/2012/11/01/assassins-creed-3-artisans-leveling-gu...
http://www.gamefront.com/assassins-creed-3-how-to-level-up-artisans-guide/
http://www.rarityguide.com/articles/articles/3772/1/Assassins-Creed-3--T...
http://www.gamefront.com/assassins-creed-3-encyclopedia-of-the-common-ma...
http://segmentnext.com/2012/10/30/assassins-creed-3-crafting-recipes-gui...
http://gamersyndrome.com/2012/guides-2/assassins-creed-3-making-money-wi...
http://gamersyndrome.com/2012/video-games/strategy-video-games/assassins...
Post Stats
55,000 characters
48,000 characters with no spaces
24 page word document (size 10 font)
4 days to type up and format for the THB forum
new THB record?!?
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
gimme that 
, lol 
Now I can get back to playing the games for fun! 
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Great guide! Very comprehensive.
I wanted to include a map of all homestead missions and a walkthrough of them all.
I ultimately decided not to because I thought it would take away from the economics aspect of the post. That and there are already youtube guides for the missions out there and I didn't want to do any more work. 
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
^This. 
Frontpage as soon as possible please.
Can't wait to craft twin holsters and saddle bags.
gimme that
Stickied! And the spreadsheet file is now hosted on THB servers (updated link, removed note).
^This.
Can't wait to craft twin holsters and saddle bags.
Twin holsters are great with double barreled guns ... virtually no reload times! haha
Then again, I have found that (especially when fast travelling) the game doesn't always know which guns you have. It changes your guns. Makes you have two different guns. (maybe it's the norm to have two different guns, but i don't know how to select two).
This is annoying because at one time I had 4 shots available to me without reload, then i fast traveled and only had 3 available. 
And the saddle bags are the most useful thing to craft in the game, imo. (Also, just craft large, no need to craft small and medium first, i don't think). The one thing it never refills is snares though. Also, i don't think you have to craft consumables for the saddle bags either... it just refills them for free! (don't know for sure, that's why it's not in the official write-up).
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Then again, I have found that (especially when fast travelling) the game doesn't always know which guns you have. It changes your guns. Makes you have two different guns. (maybe it's the norm to have two different guns, but i don't know how to select two).
This was supposedly fixed in the "holiday" patch a couple weeks ago. Is it still broken?
Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
Then again, I have found that (especially when fast travelling) the game doesn't always know which guns you have. It changes your guns. Makes you have two different guns. (maybe it's the norm to have two different guns, but i don't know how to select two).This was supposedly fixed in the "holiday" patch a couple weeks ago. Is it still broken?
As best I know. I haven't been with my game since 12/21 and won't return until 1/6. It could be fixed. I don't know.
EDIT: Just looked up the date on the holiday patch. May not have downloaded last time I played. Two things (well, really 1) that I'm not happy about in they patch though... icons just appearing for you rather than the need to discover them: general stores in New York (for blacksmith mission) and hunting club even when map is fogged. One thing I liked in this game was the need to discover everything on your own, not just being told where to go... oh well...
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
EDIT: Just looked up the date on the holiday patch. May not have downloaded last time I played. Two things (well, really 1) that I'm not happy about in they patch though... icons just appearing for you rather than the need to discover them: general stores in New York (for blacksmith mission) and hunting club even when map is fogged. One thing I liked in this game was the need to discover everything on your own, not just being told where to go... oh well...
The game world is just way too big for that. Most people don't have the sheer amount of time required to find all these things on their own. I'm 100% in favor of this change.
Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
EDIT: Just looked up the date on the holiday patch. May not have downloaded last time I played. Two things (well, really 1) that I'm not happy about in they patch though... icons just appearing for you rather than the need to discover them: general stores in New York (for blacksmith mission) and hunting club even when map is fogged. One thing I liked in this game was the need to discover everything on your own, not just being told where to go... oh well...The game world is just way too big for that. Most people don't have the sheer amount of time required to find all these things on their own. I'm 100% in favor of this change.
And if they are going to do it for the NY general stores... then why aren't they showing us ALL the general stores... seems like they're only going half way here... they need to pick one way or the other.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
It sounds like the general store icons pop up only for that mission.
Given that I'm playing through this right now, would it be helpful for the guide if I gave you a list of where the homestead recruits can be found initially? I only ask because the Farmers in Memory 5 are in the Frontier and not the Homestead, which is where the second half of Memory 5 takes place (I think).
I'm having some trouble completing the Encyclopedia of the Common Man. I need to scan one Norris action and one Ellen action, but whenever I visit them, they perform actions that I have already seen. Does anyone have any tips for increasing the chance I see 'new' actions? Does it matter what season it is, or what weather? If that's the case, can I adjust that with the Animus-hacks or does the game not save my progress when those are active (which seems logical to me)?
I'm having some trouble completing the Encyclopedia of the Common Man. I need to scan one Norris action and one Ellen action, but whenever I visit them, they perform actions that I have already seen. Does anyone have any tips for increasing the chance I see 'new' actions? Does it matter what season it is, or what weather? If that's the case, can I adjust that with the Animus-hacks or does the game not save my progress when those are active (which seems logical to me)?
Game does not save progress when animus hacks are active.
Go down to Norris's hang out and follow him for a morning. Just watching him from the time he arrives at his mine until you get all three actions. He'll light a lantern, use his pickaxe, then go main for gold... At least he did for me. Since he's so far away, try to get him early in the morning and just hang out with him all day. haha
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Given that I'm playing through this right now, would it be helpful for the guide if I gave you a list of where the homestead recruits can be found initially? I only ask because the Farmers in Memory 5 are in the Frontier and not the Homestead, which is where the second half of Memory 5 takes place (I think).
Sure. If I've missed any, let me know.
I've got the one you mention though.
Farmers (level 1) – beeswax, eggs, honey, milk – Mission is not located in Homestead but in Frontier.
Any others that start somewhere other than the Homestead, or require travel to a new location for completion, let me know.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
The spambot's name is Registered. It's genuinely just Registered. Just... Just gave up and was like screw it y'know? No need to have a creative name of garbled letters and numbers when I can just tell it like it is.