Leaders expansions: Is trade commerce allowed during Recruitment phase

Question

Sometimes you will need resources to build your stage of the wonder played. Is commerce allowed particularly in this phase. For example:

The game has begun and we are on the first recruitment phase. Here you are allowed to recruit, build a stage or discard. What if I choose to build a stage or my wonder but I don't have the resources. Am I allowed to trade?

Answer 1

Tl;dr: Yes.

A strict reading of the rules would imply that commerce isn't allowed for wonder construction even in the base game:

Throughout all 3 ages in a game, the players will get to build structures (cards) and Wonders (board).

...

Commerce

Often, a player will want to build a structure requiring resources he or she does not produce. If these resources are produced by a neighboring city...

However, the game designer has explicitly stated that you are allowed to use commerce for wonder stages. Given that clarification, it is reasonable to assume that when the Leaders rules are once again ambiguous on the matter, you can again use commerce for wonder stages there too.

Answer 2

I agree with Benjamin Cosman’s answer, it is allowed.

I think it can be deduced from the Leaders rules, which say about the Recruitment Phase:

b. Build a stage of a Wonder

To build a stage of a Wonder, the player uses the Leader card selected as a construction marker (face down). To do that, the cost indicated on the Wonder board must be paid, and not the one on the Leader card.

Note: this action will rarely be possible during the first Recruitment Phase, as the cities will ­generally not yet have the resources required for the construction of the first stage of their Wonder.

The note says that it will "rarely" be possible in the first phase, so it must be possible somehow.

If there is no Wonder that allows building the first stage only with the Wonder’s starting resource, then this means it can only be achieved with commerce.

I checked all Wonders that were released up to and with the release of the Leaders extension:

• Each base game Wonder has 1 starting resource, and each of the Wonder’s first stages cost at least 2 resources to build.
• The Manneken Pis Wonder has no starting resource, and none of its first stages can be built for free.
• The Wonder from Leaders has no starting resource, and its first stages cost at least 2 resources to build.

So there doesn’t seem to be a Wonder which would make this possible without commerce. Hence commerce has to be allowed, otherwise it would never be possible.