The experience points (XP) are an index of your success in the game. Experience is gained by combat, trading and building on bases. Although trading is mentioned second, it usually accounts for the majority of the player's experience points quota.

XP affect many aspects of the game. Nothing is affected by experience itself; instead they are affected by levels. Levels are a simple representation of ranking and the tables for converting XP into levels can be found by viewing the requirements page.

How do the levels affect your life in Merchant Empires, you ask?

Well, most notably, the ships have a level limitation (i.e. if you're not of a high enough level, you can forget about the ship dealers letting you board a certain ship).

The other part where levels have an important part, is combat. The first thing that levels affect is the accuracy of your cannons. Each level adds to your accuracy, letting you cause more damage to your opponents. For further information, check the Fighting page.

Also, levels affect the infamous cloaking device's effectiveness. If you meet someone who is cloaked and is of a lower level than yourself, you can see through his/her poor attempt of concealment. The inverse is also true, so beware...

Be careful with your life in Merchant Empires, because every time you die, no matter in what way, you lose 15% of your total XP. Fortunately, this is the only known way of losing XP.