How to make LOTS of money

[Ibrahim]

if you cut the Hierosolyma garrison in Half (1 prodromoi and 3 pezhetairoi), then you can save around 2000 mnai..
hey, you said the Ptollies weren't a threat!

I can squeeze 5-10000 mnai in SPQR within 5 years, though I usually end up making only 1-2000 as a result of ruinous wars with Carthage.

[Cartaphilus]

In my actual KH campaign I'm saving 50000 mnai per turn.

[Digby Tatham Warter]

artaxerxes, You didn't say(or I missed it) what year you were in, I'm playing Seleukids V1.0 in 184 BC.

I have reasonable garrisons, 3 very strong balanced armies(each with armoured Nellies) and 5 top tier fleets(9,000 each per turn).

35% of the map is mine, and my profit is about 50,000 per turn after all expenses paid out.

It's not just getting good port cities in trading groups, or the mines, but grooming Governers in top schools, swopping retinues etc. This can easily double a top cities income, partic places like Pella, Athens etc.

PS don't forget to keep trade roads clear of rebels. Pella went up from 10,800 to 11,800 once I removed the rebels off the trade road.

[artaxerxes]

grooming Governers in top schools, swopping retinues etc. This can easily double a top cities income, partic places like Pella, Athens etc.

In short: HOW do you groom governors? I know VERY little of this, so excuse my complete lack of knowledge about it. But I know that Management skills makes money go up if you put the guy in a settlement (Influence helps put riots down or am I mistaken?).
How do you get FMs to increase in Management skills - I REALLY DON'T KNOW!!!!! Impressive, isn't it, but I HAVEN'T got the faintest idead

[Korlon]

In short: HOW do you groom governors? I know VERY little of this, so excuse my complete lack of knowledge about it. But I know that Management skills makes money go up if you put the guy in a settlement (Influence helps put riots down or am I mistaken?).
How do you get FMs to increase in Management skills - I REALLY DON'T KNOW!!!!! Impressive, isn't it, but I HAVEN'T got the faintest idead

Plan to make a settlement your training settlement. Build up all the academy line of buildings. When your family members come of age, stash them all there for a few years. They should get a few nice retinues and maybe even a couple traits.

That was the basic. If you really want to get absolutely terrific governors, you'll have to make sure that governor moves around a heck of a lot. When a town is about to finish building something, stick that governor in there so that he may get some points for building that. This is especially nice if said buildings are mines. Your governor will definitely, sooner or later, get up that miner trait. Then just stick him in Pella or whatever other cities that are producing more than 600 mnai from mines per turn, and watch your treasury soar.

[artaxerxes]

Thx :) OMG I'll actually begin to get rather good at this game

EDIT: How many years exactly (should FM's be stashed in this FM-training-town)? I mean, do they get more management stars the longer they stay or does it depend on how good the buildings are or..?

[artaxerxes]

[QUOTE=Ibrahim]if you cut the Hierosolyma garrison in Half (1 prodromoi and 3 pezhetairoi), then you can save around 2000 mnai..
hey, you said the Ptollies weren't a threat![-QUOTE]
Yeah, so I said... And I mean it! They aren't! And I'm gonna do exactly that (if not even more )

Uh, don't remember the year, but think I was around 200 B. C.... thats prolly it, it sounds correct

[Cambyses]

And unless you have LOADS of money, disband all your fleets. Nothing eats your treasury more than those damned boats! I cant imagine you actually need any ships either as Seleucids, at least not before you invade Greece...

[artaxerxes]

And unless you have LOADS of money, disband all your fleets. Nothing eats your treasury more than those damned boats! I cant imagine you actually need any ships either as Seleucids, at least not before you invade Greece...

Oh I do that at turn 1 ;). However I'm unfortunate enough to be at war with Ptollies and KH and, from time to time with Carthage, leaving all my ports blocked, since they all have massive fleets ;)... But who cares, when I smash them on land.

Generally, I've never really used naval warfare, unless playing a naval powerhouse like Carthage - if fx I'm invading Greece, I'll leave Kydonia and Rhodes till I've completely defeated mainland Greece. The isles are then unlikely to be well-guarded and have nowhere to recieve reinforcements from, so I build a few ships, send over exactly enough units to take the towns AND garrison them, and then disband the boats right afterwards again. Same with other isles, like Cyprus and the settlements in Crimea (which I always take by sea, since I otherwise have no affairs in the northern wastelands )

EDIT: Don't think blocked ports are the reason for low cash flow, since I focused mainly on mines. Have been playing another Seleucid campaign here at my mum's, and my ports are all blocked, but in this campaign, my empire still overflows with wealth, even though its not even as large as the poor one I left at my father's. But I think perhaps I expanded too soon in that game, so infrastructure suffered, leading to numerous riots and general instability, fx in Iran. In my present game, I made Iran love me using cultural structures, BEFORE invading the east. Then I took Baktria first and Parthia second - whereas I was forced earlier to take them at the same time. This means I've been able to secure my possessions instead of just steamroll everything, which leads to less need for anti-riot garrisons = income!!!!