Economy gone bad! help!

[landish358]

I am just playing my first game of MTW.

All was well until a message came up advising of never ending winter and my yearly profits fell through the floor. Can I look forward to this situation changing for the better again or is it permanent?

At present I am just about managing to keep my head above water, but I have no money to actually do anything, it has made the game a little boring. Any ideas?

[Armchair Athlete]

As far as I know all the income changes due to events are permenant. The main way you make money in MTW is by trading anyway, so just build a few trading posts and ships in different seas regions (the ships must be in an unbroken chain, and there must be ports that other factions have built and you are not at war with) and you'll see your income skyrocket. Its not impossible to get trade incomes of about 5000-6000 per turn with some of the better trading provinces

[QuantumEleven]

Just to expand on what Armchair Athlete said - you can get your main income from three sources: farming, mining, and trading. Of these, mining is your most reliable income source - if a province has salt, copper, silver or gold, just build the mine and you have a guaranteed, fixed (if not overly high) income. Farming is slightly more fickle, but can often get you more income. Each province has a "basic" farming income, which you can improve by building farm upgrades. However, these are generally quite expensive and the higher-level upgrades are only worth building in high-income provinces. Farming income can be affected by famine, droughts, floods, or events like the one you experienced.

Trade income is the most fickle but potentially the most profitable. Any province with trade goods (check the province information screen) can earn trade income as soon as you build a trading post. A landlocked province can only trade with its neighbours, and this will not earn you a great deal of money. But if you have a province next to the sea, you can build a harbour and trade with any other province that has a harbour (for some reason, you can only trade with provinces which are not yours and whose faction you are not at war with). In order to trade with a province, you need an unbroken line of ships between your province and your target province, and they must not have identical trade goods (eg if your province produces wool, you won't get any trade with another province that produces wool). As soon as you start building up a small fleet of ships, you will start earning most of your income from trade. Unfortunately, trade can be disrupted by storms sinking your ships, or enemy ships blocking your line of ships (press V to see if any sea regions are blocked).

This is only a very brief summary, though - see https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=32726 for a much more detailed analysis of trade ~:)

HTH!

[bretwalda]

In my Eary, Hard, Hungarian game I managed to conquer Central Europe without any trade income, though I ransomed four times big (~10k) and sacked and razed quite a few provinces... But it is hard to do high quality troops without trade income.

By the way: which mod increases farm and mine income while decreasing trade income? I heard that there is such mod...

[Odin]

By the way: which mod increases farm and mine income while decreasing trade income? I heard that there is such mod...

The XL Mod, seems to go by the theory "land is power" seems right for the time period of the game.

[Kommodus]

The "Years With No Summer" event only affects farming income in certain provinces, some of which apparently belong to you. Others have suggested trading and mining, but you said you don't have the money to do anything, which means you'll have trouble building the necessary trading posts, ports, ships, and mines unless you disband some of your military. If your yearly profit is near zero, however, you must have a fairly large army, even if your gross income has taken a hit from the bad weather.

Thus, here's what I would recommend: expand. Take that large military and attack a vulnerable nation. Go for the wealthiest provinces first, and take them with conquest as your aim. You'll make some immediate money through pillaging and ransoming, and you'll then get the yearly income from the land. Hopefully, your new provinces (if they're in the right area) will not be affected by the wintery frost.

By the way, it's a well-known fact that farming provides the overall best source of income in MTW. Mining is slightly more reliable, but much less lucrative. Trading can net large sums quickly, but is harder to establish and can easily be disrupted when war breaks out. Go the farming rout, prioritizing agricultural upgrades in your wealthiest provinces. Occasionally, a province here or there will be hit with a famine or plague, and its income will suffer, but only for one year. Most of the time, you'll have a stable (and impressive) income. Events that affect farming income are usually not permanent.

[Procrustes]

I agree w/ Kommodus. In MTW the quickest way to get money is to take it from somebody else. I got my self in this situation a lot when I first started playing, as I didn't understand the economic builds and I also tended to keep too many troops around. (I still get myself here sometimes now.) Gather your forces under a good general and make war on a wealthy and not-too-powerful neighbor. Try to capture and ransom as many prisoners - especially royal family members - as you can. Use up or disband any mercenaries you are carrying. Once you are back on your feet start building fewer troops and more farms.

[landish358]

Thanks for your help!!

I have used a combination of the above advice. Needed to 'take' some money in the first instance, bit of a risk because my military was a bit stretched. I then invested the money in trade, and the cash is flooding in. Enough for me to build up a nice reserve for when I go to war again.

I think my main trouble was that I did not appreciate how much money can be got from trade, I had tried before, and gave up when it was not making me thousands with only trading post and 2 ships. A growing trade route is magic, making far more than before my economic collapse!!

[Procrustes]

Cool. Be ready, though - trade can collapse in one turn if your trade routes are broken. Watch the other factions - if one gets a lot of ships in the water and then goes to war with you you won't be able to trade with any province you don't have a clear sea lane to. Invest in extra ships and don't neglect to build farms while you have the cash.

Best,

[claymore]

To add to all the good advice above - when I found myself in a similar position of a negative balance and negative annual income; depending on your situation and faction you can invade enemy provinces and if you aren't ready for massive expansion - as your income won't allow you to build up newly conquered provinces and so generate additional income simply destroy all the buildings in your enemies province.

You will get a cash sum for each building destroyed which works off your "overdraft". Some buildings such as castles and higher grade buildings can give you 1000 florins or more. In addition you will get the income you ransack from the province.

You can also set the taxation to very high so you squeeze as much revenue from the province as possible - then move your stack either back into your own province to avoid excommunication or onto another of your enemies provinces and do the same again.

Do not garrison the first province and you should see rebels pop up - you can go back and defeat the rebel army therefore gaining more income, and you won't get into trouble with the Pope (assuming you are a Catholic faction) for attacking a fellow Christian you have to leave it a year or two I think before going back.

If you choose to continue into your opponents territory (perhaps if you are an Orthodox or Muslim faction) or simply don't care about excommunication - perhaps the pope or your king is old (once either die the excommunicaton is null and void), and continue this strategy you will make life very difficult for him and you can simply split his territores with his other greedy neighbours

Obviously don't choose to pick on a faction who has control of the seas or your trade income will suffer. But it is quite a good opportunity to severely screw a nation of smaller or similar size to your own without engaging in a war with a superior opponent and starting a massive revenue sapping war.

I have done this and reduce an overdraft of approaching 200,000

I hope this helps be careful with this strategy as it is risky but can have some pretty good outcomes if you're clever with it.