Raising money?

[Adamdc]

I'm having trouble financially in the campaigns. For the first hundred years or so, everything's fine but then the upkeep costs end up running very close to my income. I really try to clear forests and get some farms and I almost always keep my tax rates very high (provided that the masses are content).

Any tips on staying 'in the black'?

adam


ps just a note, i've only played 3 campaigns and they've all been as the Scots in VI.

[Oaty]

Check your finances. If it says your annual profit is low(you have to make your own decision but I have my cutoff at 2000 once the game is going). So when I see that I have less than 2000 florins to spend I am very cautious on the troops that I will purchase if any. If I have a bunch of high quality troops. I'll train 1 or 2 units that have low upkeep, while trying to upgrade farming and building abbey's.

Heres how I build my economy for VI. I look at the provinces I have and what I am able to tech up to build. I take my richest province and tech it up to train a low upkeep unit and then it is income upgrades all the way. I then look at my second richest province and tech that 1 up up and try to tech up a 3rd province for income after some time if the money looks like its starting to dwindle I train less troops or invade if all is looking well.

[Tozama]

Most basic mistakes I used to make were:
1. Queing non-stop every building in every province as if there's endless money trees in the fields. **Build according to a needs plan at the start/mid-game until your treasury is sound (sound for me is 25,000+ in the bank with a positive cash-flow)), then start building the bonus buildings. Do you really need 10 provinces with spear guilds for churning out spearmen? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif **
2. Churning out troops (expensive ones) just because I can build them and not with a specific attack or purpose in mind. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wall.gif **This skyrockets your support/upkeep costs especially if you are producing them in many provinces at once. They sit idle for 100 years and cost you thousands each year.**
3. Hating peasants so much that I refused to build them. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/barrel.gif
**Until your treasury says its ok, use peasants to garrison against low loyalty. Their upkeep is much less than most units and of course the build cost is cheaper.**
4. Trade? What is trade? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-stunned.gif
**THE BIGGEST single secret IMHO to financial soundness in MTW is to build a good trade network ASAP. Plenty of threads here at the ORG on this. Go search them. I'll not restate it all.**

[Xiphias]

Personally I start Abbies in year 3 for all provinces and follow them with boat builders in coastal provinces and forest clearings in inland provinces.

That's assuming you're playing a reasonably safe or powerful faction. You may want to hold off the farms until you're bigger than the picts.

[katank]

go for farms to get your income high enough to afford teching for ships and setting up trade.

once trade is good, your financial woes are over.

I find that early blitzing of a neighboring faction in terms of increaed land, pillage, and ransoms can put you on a nice financial footing as well.

the minimal expenditures is also important.

I try to have peasants in provinces to maintain loyalty and taxes and my early defensive armies are only spears/archers which are cheap and effective.

One bane is the use of royal BGs.

I never build royal BGs except for a good hero general.

otherwise, the only royal BGs I get are the royals.

the reason is though they are high powered, their support costs are crippling.