I couldnt find a proper evaluation of the Saracen market bonus, so i did that on my own. Since farming for food (incl. wood) is no fun at all, i thought that this bonus might be underrated due to the differences of real gather rates.
Results in short:
Trading gold for food (with the 1st gold upgrade) is beneficial for 33 trades (24 trades without the upgrade). By then 4572 gold have been traded into 3300 food, while it takes 12060 VS to mine the gold and would have taken 13260 VS (incl. wood) to farm the food. So the maximum market benefits after all are 1200 VS or 465 wood (but since it's also beneficial to trade stone for gold for 11 trades, the number's slightly higher).
That's the sum at the end of all trades, the benefits are decreasing greatly over time (from both sides of the trade), so it's boosting in early feudal converging to break-even late fedaul/early castle depending on the units queued up.
So, what are 465+ wood worth at this stage and what is it worth to have this boost early feudal?
Results in short:
Trading gold for food (with the 1st gold upgrade) is beneficial for 33 trades (24 trades without the upgrade). By then 4572 gold have been traded into 3300 food, while it takes 12060 VS to mine the gold and would have taken 13260 VS (incl. wood) to farm the food. So the maximum market benefits after all are 1200 VS or 465 wood (but since it's also beneficial to trade stone for gold for 11 trades, the number's slightly higher).
That's the sum at the end of all trades, the benefits are decreasing greatly over time (from both sides of the trade), so it's boosting in early feudal converging to break-even late fedaul/early castle depending on the units queued up.
So, what are 465+ wood worth at this stage and what is it worth to have this boost early feudal?