Got BI, all I do is hemorrhage money

[Syxx_Killer]

I just got BI a few days ago. It doesn't seem to matter what faction I am. Everytime I start the game, I am immediately losing money. With RTW, I could make money by building roads, markets, etc. With BI, that stuff doesn't seem to help much. Take for instance my latest go at the campaign. I was the Franks. I started off by upgrading my walls to stone. Then I started with the money making buildings. After a couple turns I was losing money. I always seems to be for army upkeep, but I haven't recruited any new units. It is just what they start me with. If I disband some units, I won't have an army that is of any use. Am I missing something? I love the game, but this money thing is something else.:wall:

[Drusus Magnus]

Disband all units you don't need. Recruit peasants, their upkeep is only 20 in BI. I'm always swimming in cash with the Franks. Get trade rights too, try to raid the Alemanni and Saxons, the suckers can't horde, MWAHAHAAHAHHAHAHA

[x-dANGEr]

Watch out for family members, their upkeep is high. So, either conquer in an appropiate speed to the birth rate of your royal family or just kill them.

[Divine Wind]

The Franks are a great faction!

As Drusus Magnus said use peasants as garrison duty, later on levy spearmen when you have the cash.

Start sending out diplotmats straight away to the, Alemanni, WRE, Saxons, Lombardi, Burgundi, and the ERE, requesting trade rights, alliances, and anything you can get money for! I remained allies with the Alemanni for about 100 years, before i attacked them when i needed those last few settlements.

I tend to go for the rebel city to the north of Vicus Franki, and then quickly the other in the north-west, but be quick as the Saxons and the WRE like this town. However if you get there before the other two the WRE wont go near it, and the Saxons will be forced to look elsewhere to expand, usually for me they go straight to Britain.

At the start just have one mobile army, mostly comprised of modded up levy spearmen, using the wotan, and donar temples (stay pagan!), raider cavalry, and the hunter archers. When you start getting cash buy one or two Axe Heerbahns, they may not have the stats of the swordsman, but they are cheaper and they have an armour piercing stat, which makes them much better for stomping those pesky roman heavy infantry, who youll be fighting a lot later.

Keep working your way down the coast of france till you get Samobriva building ports all the time, then i would suggest going for Britain, youll only need one army, but remember to watch out for the Romano British, they will emerge as soon as you take the two english cities. But they are usually quite easy to beat, even though once as the Saxons i saw them with every unit having 3 gold chevron upgrades :inquisitive: I still won but only because Londinium by then had upgraded to large stone walls..phew!

To summarise: Hit off with early diplomatic relations, use one mobile army marching to where they are needed, build stone walls to stop the eventual hordes, concentrate on money buildings, keep one city as a troop orientated builder (i used Vicus Franki), and use Axes rather then swords to save money and have nice armour piercing weapons.

Good luck, and keep us posted with your campaign

[Garvanko]

Divine Wind's strategy is sound. Conquer everything to the north and the west. Get Alliances and trade rights with everyone to the east.

[player1]

Why just not hored and go to France right away?

[Mithras]

focus all remaining resoarces on building up the Economy in italy and nearby provinces. Disband foedertti cavalry and exterminate all rebels for regular injections of cash.

[Syxx_Killer]

Thanks guys. I started two other campaigns - one as the Franks and the other as the Goths. I like the Goths, too, but they got attacked rather early. I went hoard with the Goths and headed towards Italy. I took Ravena (sp?), Rome, and Tarentum. I'm making good money now. As the Franks, I disbanded units I didn't need and used the army I start out with to take the camp northwest of Vicus Franki. I'm using VF as my military center. I'll see how long I can last.:juggle2:

[Monarch]

Don't bother with stone walls until later on, they'll be great horde stoppers but early on they're not needed imo.

With Franks I'd suggest just hording and settling in Rome.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

take as many bordering rebel provinces as you can. manage how many units you recruit strictly.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Build farms, people say don't do it because of the pop boost but its the surest way to stay in the black, as it doesn't rely on peace and trade. This is especially true for the WRE but it holds for the other factions as well.

[Avicenna]

You can never have too much pop in BI really, if you're in Europe. Even when in Europe, peasants are so cheap and pop=$$$