I am playing an FCOM game with Level_Rates_Modified_x5.esp. So I want my skills gain to be very slow. Unfortunately Mercantile is leveling up very quickly. I tried installing Smarter Mercantile Leveling on the highest difficulty (Chuck Norris) but that didn't seem to help either. Would I need to load it after Level Rates Modified or even after the Bashed Patch for the slower Smarter Mercantile Leveling to work? If it makes any difference, I am using Enhanced Economy.

Any suggestions on how I can best slow down Mercantile?

Ok, I tried loading the Smarter Mercantile Leveling esp after the Bashed Patch and it did the trick. Is it because the Level_Rates_Modified_x5.esp is merged into the Bashed Patch?

It would depend on the load order, bash tags and if you rebuilt your patch after making the change.

I didn't put any bash tags on Level Rates Modified or Smarter Mercantile Leveling because BOSS did not suggest any. But Level Rates Modified x5 was automatically merged. The BOSS suggested load order was Smarter Mercantile Leveling then Level Rates Modified. When there was no change I tried swapping the load order. When again no change I put it after the bashed patch and voila!

And yes, I rebuilt my patch after every change. So having that information does it sound like it was indeed because the Level_Rates_Modified_x5.esp was merged into the Bashed Patch? I'm asking so I understand the mechanics. Thanks alot!

Well, I'm not sure. I've never used those plugins.

My guess would be that Level Rates Modified is overwrting Smarter Mercantile Leveling, but I've never looked into the mechanics of how those work, since I always use OblivionXP, obviating the entire issue.