A Trade Cart is a non-offensive unit in Age of Empires II and is used to trade and generate Gold between two or more civilizations. Trade carts do not actually engage in the exchanging of resources between two civilizations; rather, empty trade carts travel to another market empty-handed and return with gold. Trade carts receive their gold from the markets of other players and deposit them at the markets of their owners. The amount of gold gained from trade per trade cart depends on the distance from one market to another; the farther away the market is, the more gold trade carts make. Trade carts may engage in trade with allied, neutral and enemy civilizations; however, trading with enemy civilizations is ill-advised since the trade carts are likely to be slaughtered upon reaching the enemy market.