Magnificent Steward +110% farm

A governor has to build 8 farms in order to gain the magnificent steward virtue and gain an extra +30% to your farming income, so you can increase crop yields in a province by 110% by building the following.

20% farm, destroy farm
20% farm, gain steward virtue, destroy farm
20% farm, destroy farm
20% farm, destroy farm
20% farm, gain great steward virtue
40% farm
60% farm
80% farm, gain magnificent steward virtue

The entire thing costs 8000 florins and takes 28 turns, but works well in rich provinces. For instance constantinople which earns 491 florins with no governor, farms and with a very high tax rate, will be making an extra 540 florins per turn after all this is put in place.

That's nice but it takes long and is expensive. Wouldn't you rather develope trade? I've had Constantinople with 9500 income once.

well now it can earn 1040

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Might be worth the try in Syria.
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Originally Posted by Mouzafphaerre

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Might be worth the try in Syria.
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Yeah. You should try that in a province which doesn't have sea trade but has a good farm income.

And in some mods which reduce trade income, like XL mod

I would say that it is not worth the trouble. Since the governor will most likely pick up a few vices sooner or later that will reduce it down again.

This falls under the category of things that are not realistic but also are not cheezy.

Things like giving yourself 1000000 florins to start or swiping are cheezy, and should be avoided.

This build farms/destroy farms practice isn't realistic (no one in history destroyed their own farms in order to get improved farm income later). Its like letting provinces rebel so you can quash the rebellion and get virtues. No one did that, and its really an exploit of the game code.

Since this isnt really cheezy, its a matter of style if you use it. Since I try to follow some rules (like being a good Catholic and not upsetting the Pope, or using only Royals for guvs, or not assassinating loyal generals because they got their ass kicks once and picked up a good runner tag) and playing the game is more important than winning, I prolly won't use it.

ichi:bow:

ichi:

Not entirely true. The Aztecs, for example, made a habit of provoking their neighbours with enormous tributes to make them rebel against their authority, so that they could beat down the rebellion and gain slaves for sacrifices and to keep their huge army busy. Likewise, colonial european instigated rebellions on several occations to justify harsher treatments in their territories.

However, it didn't occur in Europe in this era as it can be done M:TW, so it is definately an exploit. ~:)

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Originally Posted by ichi

This falls under the category of things that are not realistic but also are not cheezy.

Things like giving yourself 1000000 florins to start or swiping are cheezy, and should be avoided.

This build farms/destroy farms practice isn't realistic (no one in history destroyed their own farms in order to get improved farm income later). Its like letting provinces rebel so you can quash the rebellion and get virtues. No one did that, and its really an exploit of the game code.

Since this isnt really cheezy, its a matter of style if you use it. Since I try to follow some rules (like being a good Catholic and not upsetting the Pope, or using only Royals for guvs, or not assassinating loyal generals because they got their ass kicks once and picked up a good runner tag) and playing the game is more important than winning, I prolly won't use it.

ichi:bow:

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I don't remember the name of the Roman general who fought against Atilla when he first attacked Rome, but at that time the Huns were a part of the empire, and the emperor purposely denied the Huns thier yearly tribute in an attempt to encite a war and crush them before they gre too powerful.

Actually building a 110% farm is completely congruent with history. Yo9u spend 1200 florins and 4 years building something that only gives you half as much as a 20% farm, you then spend another 6 years and 1800 florins to get something equal to a 20% farm, but you then get the bonus of being able to improve your agricultural yields as per normal with an added 20%...

This sounds very much like the development of agricultural infrastructure, the info for a 20% farm says that it allows villagers to work together to tend to an area of land, it is obvious that when you are building and destroying these farms the villagers are at work draining swamps, building irrigation canals and windmills etc etc..

As you progress up to 60% you are gaining +20% aswell from your great steward virtue, so you are on equal terms with any ordinary +80% farm, except you can go that one bit further, because of the increase in fertility and extra land you have prepared.

That's pretty funny, actually.

Seems a little far-fetched for the villagers to say, hey lets go out and destroy our farmlands so we can rebuild them in order to make governor become virtuous.

Whatever, play any way you like, I'd rather just build up my farms and trade and not exploit code.

ichi:bow:

But, if it wasn't meant to be discovered why did they put in a Magnificent Steward virtue in the first place. Seeing as though you can't get it other than by "exploiting" the game. And if the virtues are just linked in a long string to number of times a certain 'building' type is built, it would have been easy to write in an exception to the Farm line.

Wait, there is a nother way right? Just have one unit be the governer (and be present in the province) in a few provinces as they build the farming upgrades. Sure you have to do fiddly things with re-assigning titles and such with emmisaries. But that works too right? And shouldn't be viewed as "cheesy". ~:)

I don't want to build farms cause they're boring. I like sea domination. I build ships in a large number and then trade which is much more profitable.

it takes 3 years to build a ship and if you are a small nation in the north sea and in a stalemate with a large empire and have to field lots of troops to deter an invasion, then it's only logical that you build a boat builder and trading post and then spend cash on building boats and a 110% farm

Eh, I can usually get plenty of magnificent stewards. My King is usually one and my main governers are usually(the ones that ge shuffled around) one.

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Originally Posted by Patron

small nation in the north sea

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You mean the Danes. I've never played with them so I don't know how would I play. I like Mediterranean nations like Egys, Sicilly,...

gah Glitch Exploiters Every where !

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Danes are one of the easiest and most fun factions to play. There's a nice guide (shameless self plug ~D) at the relevant section. ~:)
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I think it was said, I beleve that virtue was put in the game more for that Ruler of a faction to get. I to get magnificent steward Kings simple by improvment of farming in every provence I have.

Trade will definitely bring in a lot more cash in the unmodded game than farming, but once everything falls apart and you suddenly find yourself at war with all the other major factions (whether intentionally or not ~;) ), you suddenly lose all your income. Farming is less profitable in peacetime, but is more reliable overall, so it's nice to have your farming infrastructure in good shape regardless of your trade condition, so that you don't unexpectedly start running a huge deficit.

Ajax

I prefer farming since it's reliable and in XL at least, your 40% farms are permanent, giving the AI a decent lasting infrastructure. This definetley smells of exploitation.
Trade is very fickle and in vanilla, far too powerful, you can easily build up a big enough surplus to survive the leeching that occurs when you go toe to toe with a naval power.
I love playing the Danes, the key is to think like a viking (durr?!), pick on the weak and those lacking in naval power. The inner stppes around Crimea are usually a good target, and the Turkish coastal holdings.:duel: