How??????

[Archlight]

I apparently need some serious help.. I see all these guides and such that talk about fielding multiple stacks of troops, and I can't even begin to field more than one full stack I have read as many economic posts as I can get my hands on but still I'm baffled.

Of course, maybe I will see the florins start rolling in once I hit the high period, but is there anything to help us beginners that are in the early period get started towards these prodigious amounts of cash? I know how trade works and such, but when to start reaching for world wide trade? How do you balance building up your provinces while maintaining enough troops to keep what you have and expand further? Am I just not being patient enough? I pretty much always have stuff in the building queues, and it seems the build AI goes for anything BUT castle upgrades when it decides what to build next. Every turn I'm insufficient funds

Any pointers would be vastly appreciated.

[kawligia]

Well I'm still pretty new myself but...

To get more money you can build farming upgrades in provinces that deserve it. (don't pay all that money to improve farming when the province only gives you 100 florins.)

If there are some tradable resources having a port and trading posts and ships connecting you throughout the world can give you lots of money...but as soon as there is war your lines can be cut off...not to mention that this is all time consuming to set up.

The other way to get cash is to pillage another provence. The more advanced the provence the more there is to pillage. This can give you loads of money.

Also in the very beginning nobody has the infrastructure to support multiple stacks. After you've done some conquering and you have more lands to tax you will have a hihger income and THEN you can support huge armies. Also in the beginning the opponent won't have huge armies either so its not neccesary to have thousands of troops to win.

[bighairyman]

maybe you are building too many things. before i built anything in my province i select what king of province it's gonna be. moneymaking, or for built soldiers. for enconmic provinces, only built military building need for basic defense. most i only have a spearmaker and a bowyer. make sure ur economic provinces are rich, you get different money from from buildings, so select right provinces, and make sure it's trade goods, 3 is perfered, but there's like 5 province in the game that have 3 so, 2 is fine. early ages just built farm buildings and mines. by the time you reach late, build a port and trade buildings, build cheap ships and trade with other nations. in my current game sicily(3 trade goods) is making 3,000 per turn. that is not good if you are a good player, so.

and in your military provinces, make sure you have iron depotsits. and built apporite buildings for units.

hope this helps you http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[HopAlongBunny]

This is a little over-generalized, but 20% farm upgrades in all provinces is a good idea; examine your provinces and right click to see how much revenue the farms are currently giving you-right click the next possible farm upgrade to see how much extra income the upgrade will supply; first upgrades are those with the highest payoff. A province that has starting revenue below 100 florins should be left with no more than 20% upgrade, until you have nothing left to do with your money http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

Check coastal provinces for trade goods. Provinces with 2 or more trade goods should get a trading post; provinces with 1 high value good (like silk) should get a trading post as well.

Build a fleet http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif If you have secure borders you might want to start on this right away. Select 1 or 2 provinces initially that you will build fleets in. Provinces with poor farms and/or trade are best for this. Build to keep asap, port, dockyards...crank out ships http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Examine provinces for unit production. Some give a valour bonus for specific unit types produced. Focus on upgrading these to build units with valour bonus asap.

You have to balance income with security. Early in game you can probably live with no more than one province producing spears, one producing missle troops, and one dedicated to light cav.

[motorhead]

Everyone makes good points. Perhaps if you gave more specifics (which version of MTW, your faction, the age you are in -- the more the better) you could get more specific advice for your situation. Certain factions in certain ages simply have a tough time of making ends meet.

[Pedders]

The key in the early going is to have the nerve to delay building up your military forces in order to spend your initial cash on money making buildings.

Also, the upkeep cost of units is (to my mind) more important than the initial build cost. When garrisoning castles there is a big difference between paying the upkeep for a unit of longbows and men at arms, when militia sergeants and crossbows would do. Multiply by the number of garrisons you've got and it will make a huge difference.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Pick a good faction with a healthy economy to teach you the ropes of cash control. The Byzantines and English, plus the Egyptians and Almo's in all periods have a good balance to start with. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[LestaT]

Seems that all that need to be said is already been said. Depends on which faction i usually need to have at least 5 province before i can built up armies. For faction that starts with low province (ie Spain), try to grab the neighbouring rebel provinces first. I usually try to bribe of El Cid. Get the farms build up first (been said many times). Built mines when you got portugal. The first 10 years the pope really hasn't been very organise with the excom order so i usually grab Aragon.

Err. we're talking bout money right ? well, the first battle when they have a lots of royal knights, send spears hold them ransom. I luckily get the king once and the ransom paid about 10,000 florin. Quick momey

[Bevan of Hertfordshire]

Really if you want quick money you want to attack neighbouring povinces, although this only gives you a quick cash boost. Another way is too smash into an enemy province and kill the garrison and destroy every building then leave.

Its a handy thing to do in crusades when you have to move from Edessa to Antioch. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[CarolusXII]

Never let a province be un-governed...and check your tax rates almostly yearly in new provinces and periodically in your older ones.
Early in the game loyalty is the most crucial factor for governors, but try to find a halfway loyal man with at least a couple of acumen quills. Sometimes there is a man with great acumen and low loyalty, so give him both a title and an office and even marry a princess to him and voila, you have a great governor.
Don't have more than one item at a time in your building cue until later in the game when you are making money faster than you can spend it.

[Archlight]

Hey all, thanks, I suppose I really should have been more specific. I'm playing Normal, English, version 2.0(VI installed). I've conquered the British Isles, Norway and Sweden, and crushed France. I also hold Navarre. My border with the HRE consists of Flanders, Anjou, Tollousse(sp) and so on. I have 2 ships each in the seas surrounding Britain and Sweden, but haven't yet trailed them down the French coast to Spain or the Med. It's about 1165. I have Wessex building agents, Aquitaine building Cav, Mercia and Scotland building foot and Wales building archers. I could try to get the saved game and send it to someone, but can't host it myself. Sad huh? I'm the biggest geek I know and I don't even have any webspace.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

Thanks again all.

[Fortebraccio]

First, stretch your navy. Keep one ship per sea zone and build new ones until you reach the Mediterranean Sea. The real trade money lies in the East: Adriatic Sea, Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean. You should make sure you have a continous chain of ships leading from your own ports to the ports of very rich provinces, such as Venice, Costantinople, Tripoli. Of course, you need advanced trading facilities in your trade provinces (those with two or three trading goods displayd on the info box)...initially a merchant house would do.
If you need extra cash fast to support your growing trades, you can always resort to raze and pillage, but I advise you to mantain peace with your potential trade partners.
When you finally achieve a decent naval trade system, you can bother reinforcing your fleets, but right now it's just a waste of resources.

[Archlight]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Just kind of an update.
I stretched my navy to the beginnings of the Med, and I have money coming in now, thankfully. The Germans attacked me at Flanders when I'd pulled my major stack there to set up for an attack on the Aragonese, so I counter attacked in force and am now finishing up seiges in Friesland and Lorraine. Germany is having a civil war as well, so a lot of their provinces went over to the Rebels and I will clean them up later.

The Byzantines are pretty much blanketing the eastern part of the map. They are at war with Turky, but that's it. I think I'm probably thier next target which is NOT GOOD. Wish me luck

[Revenant69]

Quote[/b] ] I pretty much always have stuff in the building queues, and it seems the build AI goes for anything BUT castle upgrades when it decides what to build next

From the sounds of it you have the build AI enabled. My advice: TURN IT OFF. It is horrid at managing your empire, instead build buildings yourself. Prioritise your provinces into Economic/Military ones and queue up the buildings accordingly. The AI wastes money on building inappropriate buildings IMHO.

Besides that, you got plenty of good advice here already.
Cheers http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[squippy]

My rule of thumb is that if my annual net income is under a thousand florins, I build money making improvements.

And yes it is definately worth saving and concentrating your build plans in a few loications than building a little bit everywhere.

[Drucius]

In my experience, it's virtually impossible to get enough money together to build surplus troops (for invasions, etc.) using just farm upgrades and local trade, unless you leave your castles ungarrisoned. The first thing I usually do is get my fleets going, and before you know it, you're pulling in 30000 Fl. profit p.a.