Army upkeep.

[8-bit]

When a city produces a unit of soldiers is that city then continually charged for that particular unit's upkeep or are the taxes decided differently?

[Ludens]

When a city produces a unit of soldiers is that city then continually charged for that particular unit's upkeep or are the taxes decided differently?

It's done differently: the total upkeep of units, ships, agents and family members is divided across all cities of your empire, with the larger cities paying more. Because tax/trade income does not grow proportionally with population, this often leads to the largest cities in your empire (which produce the most income) seemingly being at a deficit. This is because they bear a disproportionate amount of unit upkeep - in reality, they contribute most to your economy. You can see how much an individual city pays for upkeep on the detail scroll.

[8-bit]

Thanks for reply, seems a little more complex than I had first thought. I'm surprised to hear that tax does not increase with population, I always boost my pop to try and make money! :s

[Ludens]

Thanks for reply, seems a little more complex than I had first thought. I'm surprised to hear that tax does not increase with population, I always boost my pop to try and make money! :s

Tax does increase with population, just not linearly. Check out this old thread on investigation of tax income (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?37831-Tax-Income) for details. I also think population affects trade income.

[8-bit]

Thanks, will check it out.

[Vincent Butler]

That is also why you don't always exterminate when you take over a town. More people means more money coming in. Maybe a bigger cash payment right off, but it takes longer for it to be effectively prosperous. I usually check the public order before deciding what to do, looking at the color of the unrest. If it is city level, especially large or huge, red means exterminate. Also, after a revolt or conquering an Egyptian city, I exterminate, but other than that, usually not.

[LordK9]

Don't like those Egyptians, eh? I know, the culture is alien to all others so causes unrest - I'm just being a bore. :)

[Vincent Butler]

Don't like those Egyptians, eh? I know, the culture is alien to all others so causes unrest - I'm just being a bore. :)

Ugh. No, I don't like dealing with the Egyptians. At least with my Seleucids I was able to wipe them out before they got to their (unrealistic) Pharoah's Guards and Pharoah's Bowmen. I did discover that my Phalanx Pikemen are extremely vulnerable to Chariot Archers. And my army did not have archers yet, so I virtually lost four or five full Phalanx Pikemen units. And yes, they do go to unrest very easily.

[weejonnie]

Ugh. No, I don't like dealing with the Egyptians. At least with my Seleucids I was able to wipe them out before they got to their (unrealistic) Pharoah's Guards and Pharoah's Bowmen. I did discover that my Phalanx Pikemen are extremely vulnerable to Chariot Archers. And my army did not have archers yet, so I virtually lost four or five full Phalanx Pikemen units. And yes, they do go to unrest very easily.

When considering improving a town/ city, queue the intended improvement and then look at the information scroll. You will usually see some items are in a paler colour and some may be flashing.

The ones in a paler colour are those that will be added to the town's properties, whilst those that are also flashing are those that will be removed from a town's properties i.e. currently exist, as a result of the proposed improvement.

If you hover over the items you will get exact values on how the changes would have affected the city this turn. Simply by comparing them you can get a good estimate of e.g. should you build/ upgrade a law and order building - which will e.g. reduce corruption by 200 or should you build that market upgrade - which will result in 220 increase in trade but also a 100 increase in corruption.

From then on, it is simply a case of working out your best ROI (return on investment) on all improvements in all towns to decide the order in which you upgrade. (Although of course you do have to take into account rate of growth of population with some upgrades.)

[weejonnie]

Taking Memphis means that there is no culture penalty. A sine-qua non of taking when dealing with Egypt. If coming from the East and you have port facilities on the red-sea, cross by boat. Egypt is gung-ho for expansion northwards and so the powerhouse-3 cities are very vulnerable if you can get to them.

[Vincent Butler]

Egypt is gung-ho for expansion northwards and so the powerhouse-3 cities are very vulnerable if you can get to them.

Ain't that the truth. They are always very vulnerable to surprise attack. It seems that even if your expansion is going that way, they don't defend those cities that well. Now, I will not do what I used to do, and that is take them when the rest of my empire is nowhere near them. That only hurts financially. However, I find it very important to take those towns quickly. Usually you can take Alexandria, then Memphis (or the other way around) quickly, as it seems they don't have too many large armies in that area. Again, they seem to think nobody will attack those towns. I will take my main army and either take one, then take half of my army and take the other, or split the army and take both at the same time.