question of economics

[Ayachuco]

I apparently have a prblm with economics. I am losing faith from my people and they do not like me. I've already lost a lot of money and land. Could it be the high taxes or what? I tried everything to make my economy stable and to have my people accept me as their king. Is there anything else I could do to improve my economy. Maybe I could read a book about economics. Hmm

[naut]

Firstly, what era?
What faction?

[Sensei Warrior]

I apparently have a prblm with economics.

I can run through some of the real basics. First, there are 2 types of income, farming income and trading income. Farming income is stable and does not change, but typically does not make as much money as trading. Trading can get you insane amounts of cash, but the amount of money you can make can vary wildly and it takes quite a bit of build up.

You can change how much money you make from farming by building the farming developments (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%). If you right click on one of those buildings in the building panel, a sheet comes up saying how much money that provence will make if you build that building. Each provence produces different amounts of cash from farming. Some produce very little, some quite a bit. You should develop the provences that produce alot first.

Trading involves a number of factors. You need ports in the provences that have a trading resource (you can find that out by right clicking on the provence), merchant buildings (these buildings can be made only in provences with a trading resource), and the ability to make ships. These ships have to stretch in a continuous chain from your ports to ports of different factions or rebels. When that happens, and you are not at war with those factions you will trade with them. If you are at war with a provence you cannot trade with them. Ships from factions that you are at war with also disrupt the trade route, and you can no longer make money.

That's the real bare bone basics.


I am losing faith from my people and they do not like me. I've already lost a lot of money and land.

By faith do you mean religion, loyalty, or zeal? Religion can be fixed by priests, bisops or alims depending on what religion your faction is. Loyalty can be fixed by a governor with high dread or piety, more garrison troops or by lowering taxes. Zeal is tricky and I don't think you are talking about that.

How have you lost land? By rebellions? If that's the case look above for the answer.

How you spend your money is very important as well. If you click on the button that brings up the expense report it will tell you how much all your provences make, your expenses, and how much profit you will make every year. If you do not spend any more money on buildings and troops then you have you will not go broke. For example, if you have 3000florins in the beginning of the year and spend 2000 florins to start building improvements and 750 florins on troops then that year you will spend 2750 that year. When you hit the end year button, in the beginning of the next year you will have 250 florins + whatever profits you make in a year.

Remember troops have a support cost and can cause your profits to shrink from year to year. You should balance fiscal improvements with troop improvements, and keep an eye on how many troops you have overall.


Could it be the high taxes or what? I tried everything to make my economy stable and to have my people accept me as their king.

When I started my biggest pitfalls were:
1. Building so many troops my country could not support them and have money left over to improve my provences. If that is the case, then either disband some of your troops or start a war and let casualties decrease the costs of your army.

2. Building to many military improvements at once and going over budget. Then I would see the "all building orders could not be started" message. If thats the case only build what you need, and check that your not overextending yourself. This will involve math.

3. Relying to much on trade and watching my profits plummet when I go to war or someone starts a war with me. You will have to figure this one out on your own.


Is there anything else I could do to improve my economy. Maybe I could read a book about economics. Hmm

In the MTW guides, there is a guide about economics. It has alot of good info. Much more than the little bit I gave you here you can start there and it will help alot.

Also, answering Rythmics questions of faction, and era, and type of game you play (vanilla, XL, BKB, etc) will get you alot of really specific advice, from a bunch of us, I am sure.

[gaijinalways]

Sesei Warrior,

Great post for the basics! The only other thing I can add for economics is don't get excommunicated, this will drop your loyalty and earnings too (as your taxes must be decreased to keep loyalty up high enough to avoid rebellion).

As to the faith of your people, also check where your king is, is he in the center of your kingdom on a well developed province? It's better to influence your kingdom, though also having your king win some battles (or his princes or a good general) will also boost your king's influence, hence your people's happiness. Losing too many battles will sink it quick.

[Sensei Warrior]

Thanks gaijinalways. I hoped it gave enough good info to defend its length.

Good points I forgot about excomms and king positioning. Make sure your king doesn't get cut off from your empire, like sending him on a crusade to the other side of the map via boat and watching your army destroy the port in the provence you crusaded to. Your king being isolated from the rest of your country and make a really big mess with the people's loyalty. Think of Robin Hood and you'll get the idea.

Another one is the built in self-destruct that happens when you take over a large portion of the map. I think it happens just after the 60% early out when you are playing a world domination game. When your kingdom is larger than that number, it is built into the game for you to start having problems with loyalty, rebellions, and re-emergences.

With the headaches you get it can sometimes make you wish you took the minor victory. :dizzy2: