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Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord features a diverse economic system. With caravans ferrying goods across the map, villagers selling their produce, and workshops turning raw materials into finished goods, there is a never-ending cycle of trade across the campaign map. A lot of players are looking for ways to get into this economy and cut out their own share of the market to get rich. There are a ton of ways to make money in this game, but perhaps the best passive way to make money is with workshops. Here’s a guide on how to buy, sell, and change a workshop in Bannerlord.

How to Buy a Workshop in Bannerlord

In order to buy a workshop, you have to enter a town during the day. A town is one of the big-name settlements on the campaign map. You can’t build workshops in castles or villages. You’ll know if it’s a town if there is an option to go to the arena when you enter the settlement.

There are multiple types of workshops available to be purchased in these towns. And best of all, they’re not as treacherous as Bannerlord caravans.

Once you’re inside your preferred town, you can press the alt key and a bunch of names and locations will appear on the screen. Scan your screen for the words “shop” or “workshop”. Travel there and talk to one of the workers. It doesn’t matter what shop you choose because you can always change it’s production – for a small fee!

When you talk to the worker, simply follow the dialogue options to purchase the workshop. It should cost 15,000 gold, which might seem like a lot, but is a small investment compared to the returns your workshop can give you. Campaigns in Bannerlord can last years and your workshop can net you 500-1000 gold a day if you optimize it right. That means your workshop can pay itself back in thirty days! But that’s only if you optimize it right.

How to Make the Most Money with Workshops

Before you purchase a workshop you want to look at the villages attached to the town so that you can get the most income out of your workshop. Every village produces a specific unrefined good. For instance, some grow flax, while others make furs or even raise horses. If you hover your mouse over the village it will tell you what its main product is and it will also tell you what settlement the village is bound to. Each town and castle have two or three villages bound to them.

It’s important to know what the bound villages of the town produce because they influence what workshop will have the most profit. Here is a list of which unrefined goods become which finished goods.

  • The brewery takes grain and brews beer 
  • The velvet weavery takes cotton and weaves it into finer velvet
  • A Linen weavery uses flax to make garments and armor
  • The winepress takes grapes and ferments them into wine
  • The pottery workshop takes raw clay and turns it into pottery
  • An olive press takes olives and refines them into oil
  • The wool weavery takes sheep wool and turns it into garments like the linen weavery
  • The tannery takes rawhide and turns it into leather and light armor
  • Wood workshops take hardwood and make bows, arrows, and shields.
  • Smithies takes iron ore and turns it into weapons and armor
  • Silversmiths smelt silver ore and turn it into jewelry

Another big thing is making sure you don’t buy more than one of the same workshops in the same settlement and that there is only one of the workshops in the settlement because they will make less money due to it being in a competition. You may think that you’ll make more money by having three potteries, but in reality, you’ll just make so much pottery that you drive your margins down and barely make any profit at all. As they say, diversify your portfolio!

Moreover, you also need to take note of when you want to sell your workshop. This is primarily due to the increase in value a workshop experiences over time. How does that work? Simply put, The worth of a workshop boosts as the prosperity level of the city it’s in increases. This is why we always recommend that you sell your workshop only when its value is significantly higher than before to maximize profit gains.

How to Sell or Change a Workshop in Bannerlord

This task is extremely simple click on the (Clan) tab on the bottom next to the (Kingdom) tab go to (other) and click on the workshop you want to sell or change, it will then say (sell) or (change production). From here if you sell the workshop you will get some money back and if you change it to a different product it will cost you a fee.

It’s actually extremely simple to sell a workshop in Bannerlord. Simply click the clan tab in the bottom left menu on the screen or press the C key to open it. Once in there, navigate to the ‘Other’ tab and click on the workshop you want to sell or change. Here you’ll be given the option to sell it and get some, not all, of your 15,000 gold investment or you can change it.

It is quite clear that the profitability of workshops can vary based on multiple factors, including wars, resources and trade routes, etc. We recommend that you constantly take note of the performance of your workshops and make necessary modifications to ensure maximum profits when the moment to sell comes.

Changing your workshop costs a small fee, so it’s better to just change your existing workshop than buy a completely new one if you’re not making as much profit as you’d like.

We hope you enjoyed our guide on how to buy, sell, or change a workshop in Bannerlord. If you’re looking for more Bannerlord content, be sure to check out our other guides!