Sicilian Wealth

[King Flambard I]

After helping out in A Nerd's money thread I have realised that I may have a talent when it comes to making money. My talent, however, is only down to my gaming syle and not to supreme genetics. In yet another campaign I am struggling to keep under the fifty thousand corruption threshold.

Currently as Sicily I control Tunis, Palermo, Naples and Bologna - all as cities. These are generating around six/ seven thousand florins of profit per turn, around thirty turns in.

I cannot spend this money. Building queues are maxed out (even though you only pay for them when they commence construction) and the Italian Spear Militia are not able to be recruited for another turn at least. A possible exception could be one availiable in Palermo.

Maybe I should have kept up a steady stream of militia units throughout the campaign? Maybe I have been lax in preparing for war?

Also I am thinking that Tunis should have remained a castle, despite the fact that the Italian Militia units are quite capable for another half century at least, despite how I got excited by the trading possibilities of Carthage's younger brother.

If you think about it it is a delightful position to be in. Aside from bribes and such, though, how can I shift this wealth?

[A Nerd]

What if you provide money to prop-up weak allies? Perhaps you could instigate war between troblesome neigbors and take the weakened one when the time is right? Launch some crusades then gift the conquests to the pope? I've never been in your situation so my ideas may be alittle lame, but it's all I could think of at the moment.

[King Flambard I]

Giving away my money is certainly an option. Unfortunately, though, I see this as a bit of a waste. I mean, what was the point of buiding all those ports and markets if my proceeds are just going to be handed to another faction?

I was more looking for advice on whether you would change a few cities to castles or invest in a huge navy or something.

[A Nerd]

I thought it might decrease corruption and add some depth to the campaign where as you expand some other factions land and influence where they had been unable to do otherwise. You could change cities to castles and have a good navy but if you are in few wars and have no impressive neighbors, what would be the point? Though, gearing up for the mongols and timurids might be a good reason for this, but they too can be at times rather unimpressive.

[King Flambard I]

I will be firing up this campaign again later. I have had a little think about this and I have come to the conclusion that i don't want to give the imcompetant AI any money what so ever, I may give the Pope a little bit of something though.

Therefore Tunis is going to becoem a castle once again, and possibly Bologna. I'll let you know how this turns out.

[dzidek]

Only castle you need is Sicily... at the beginning ofc...
As you need it for Norman Knights only... the rest of the army can easily be made in a city with italian spear militian and crossbow pavise militias...
Once you get hold of some castle on the continent you can switch Sicily to a city also...

I would advice to make the two little islands also a city:
1 - to generate more money
2 - as they will be constantly under attack you need solid, cheap and easy to retrain units, just like italian militias

Later when you take Rodos, Crete and Cyprus i would advice the same.

I would also advice not to ally wtih everyone around you as making war with just one nation could result in terminating the trade agreements with several countries.

[King Flambard I]

I would bet against taking the islands for two reasons; A) they are money spinners and B) They come under near constant attack from all kinds of factions, even allies. Both of which, interestingly, you said as a reason for taking them.

[Old Geezer]

If you want to turtle and stay broke try playing as Scotland.

[Myth]

In my current England campaign the Pope refuses all my gifts, be it gold or a province... Anyway, how many stacks do you field currently? 3-4 full armies will drain your gold quite well. Especially with 6-8 cav units per stack.

[Bilgediver]

I had a similar situation as Milan, but I realized the playing style. I kept very few units garrisoned, and only had one or two active armies roving about. Its amazing what unit upkeep does to your money. Italians are great for spamming money because their militias are so strong. I swear you can conquer the world with Pavise Xbow Militia and Italian Spear Militia (or Genoese Xbow Militia). Castles and knights drain your treasuries fast they do.

[Smellycat]

After helping out in A Nerd's money thread I have realised that I may have a talent when it comes to making money. My talent, however, is only down to my gaming syle and not to supreme genetics. In yet another campaign I am struggling to keep under the fifty thousand corruption threshold.

Currently as Sicily I control Tunis, Palermo, Naples and Bologna - all as cities. These are generating around six/ seven thousand florins of profit per turn, around thirty turns in.

I cannot spend this money. Building queues are maxed out (even though you only pay for them when they commence construction) and the Italian Spear Militia are not able to be recruited for another turn at least. A possible exception could be one availiable in Palermo.

Maybe I should have kept up a steady stream of militia units throughout the campaign? Maybe I have been lax in preparing for war?

Also I am thinking that Tunis should have remained a castle, despite the fact that the Italian Militia units are quite capable for another half century at least, despite how I got excited by the trading possibilities of Carthage's younger brother.

If you think about it it is a delightful position to be in. Aside from bribes and such, though, how can I shift this wealth?

You make less money on VH and by turn 30 you should be at war with just about everyone (need an army) on the map so your harbors are blockaded. something tells me you not playing VH campaign