Curious if there are any books/articles/resources that go into depth about the mechanics of ancient civilization trade. I'm less trying to figure out how trade changed ancient civilizations or who traded with who, but more of how it worked mechanically to be implemented into a game.
For example, did trade treaties exist and if so how did they function?
If an Indian pepper trader went from India to Alexandria in 600AD, is there any reason the Byzantines traders couldn't just buy all of the pepper, then sell it back to their neighbors at a higher price? Could Sassanid traders just go to India, buy all the pepper, then sell it to the Byzantines at a very high price? Would there be a bidding war between Sassanid and Byzantine traders over who would buy the pepper? (Just using pepper as an example since that seems to be important from my little bit of research).
If there are books/articles that you could suggest or If you wanted to answer these questions that would be very helpful!
Your best starting point is probably Michael McCormick's The Origins of the European Economy, (Cambridge, 2003). It's huge and comprehensive, with a very detailed appendix of primary sources that you can chase up for real life examples. As a contrast, you should check out the chapter on trade in Chris Wickham's Framing the Early Middle Ages, (Oxford, 2005). Both are 'big picture'-type histories, so you might need to dig into the (extensive) bibliographies and footnotes to get more concrete examples, but they'll be an excellent starting point. Bear in mind however that both are very much Europe/Mediterranean and Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages focused, so aren't applicable to other times and places.