Money

[Alexander XXI]

I am finding that in the newer version of Empire it is very hard to make money. Currently playing as Prussia and having taken roughly eight regions by 1704, am running very low on money, only making around 3800 a turn. I have some trading ships and have a couple of trade agreements, is there any "quick fix" way to make money? I cannot increase taxation as the peasents will revolt.

[Fisherking]

Well, in the last version, 1.2, it was much worse for most every other faction. Prussia and Poland had cash, but almost no one else.

While Prussia does not have all the cash that it did it is more than workable even without trade spots.

I know I have played several factions that struggled desperately to bring in 2000 per turn and every time you got some increase the game took it away with some background action.

If you think it is bad for Prussia then play a few turns of Austria or better still the Turks.


As Prussia I found it easy to get trade agreements with almost everyone, even when they hated you.

Make all the trade agreements that you can and build up the economy.

[Prussian to the Iron]

what i do every few turns, is check what cities can do with a smaller garrison, and remove just enough so that they dont revolt.

i find that can save you at least several thousand.

also:
make sure that, in all of your cities, your economy is growing. economic growth tends to depend on your upper-class tax. you always want it to be positive, because you will see a steady grwth of income.
in fact, in my current Prussian campaign-in 1751- I have been seeing a rise in about 800-1400 dollars per turn. this is because my economy is growing, and i ave tons of factories.

also: for a less immediate, but still huge source of income, lower the lower-class taxes, which results in a population increase. this means that new towns will develop. exempting from tax usually helps, especially when the income is lower than 600 a turn. when the new towns develop, a message will pop up, and tell you. click the magnifying galss in the message, and then build factories there.

with 23 regions, in all but the 2 i just conquered, i have all of my towns, most fully developed, and some on the way.



also remember that you do not need more than 2 field armies per theatre. with prussia, you probably have to have 2, but with other factions(like spain or sweden) you dont have anything to worry about, so 1 will do.

[Hooahguy]

lower taxes for the poor, raise them for the rich. the rich are easier to please anyways. destory fishing ports and replace with trade expcept about 2 of them, which you need to create a navy. now, dont worry if pirates raid your trade routes. it is MUCH worse if the enemy blockades a port so keep your fleets near to defend them.
right now with 4 ports (one blockaded) i make about 5k through the 3 that are still active. unfortunately the most active of the ports was blockaded and im preparing a fleet to destroy them.

[Prussian to the Iron]

yeah, it can be a real bitch when your main port is being occupied by a single swedish fluyt, that apparently can't be destroyed by any on-shore cannons, or any soldiers put on a merchant ship.

[Fisherking]

I have noticed the Prussian AI spamming ships like crazy though after a few brigs and sloops they build fleets of Indiamen, which are only good for making the other guy rich...

[Didz]

When I played Prussia I found it wasn't really practical to rely on oversea's trade or imports. The Kattegutt is just too easy to blockade and Prussia is bound to end up at war with one or more naval powers willing to do so.

Instead I concentrated on maximising my land based trade routes and managed to make enough money that way until I could secure a clear route to the north sea from Norway.

Its worth noting that many factions will refuse to trade with you unless you offer them a sweetner. Sometimes a 1,000 Thaler will secure you a trade contract which would otherwise be refused, and as most trade contracts net at least 300 Thaler per turn you soon get your investment back.

[Slaists]

also:
make sure that, in all of your cities, your economy is growing. economic growth tends to depend on your upper-class tax. you always want it to be positive, because you will see a steady grwth of income.
in fact, in my current Prussian campaign-in 1751- I have been seeing a rise in about 800-1400 dollars per turn. this is because my economy is growing, and i ave tons of factories.

The economic growth depends on several factors

1. Enlightenment techs (especially the right-most column of them)
2. Industrial techs
3. The upper class tax - the lower the tax, the faster the growth
4. Industrial buildings - most of them contribute significantly to economic growth at higher levels
5. Ports & trade
6. Farms
7. Roads
8. Last, but not least: the ministers (especially the Prime Minister + the monarch himself)

Faction wise: Prussia starts with ridiculously high economic growth from turn 0. Turkey, on the other hand, has negative growth in all of its provinces at the start. It takes quite some building up to get Turkey's economy growing.

lower taxes for the poor, raise them for the rich. the rich are easier to please anyways. destory fishing ports and replace with trade expcept about 2 of them, which you need to create a navy. now, dont worry if pirates raid your trade routes. it is MUCH worse if the enemy blockades a port so keep your fleets near to defend them.
right now with 4 ports (one blockaded) i make about 5k through the 3 that are still active. unfortunately the most active of the ports was blockaded and im preparing a fleet to destroy them.

I would not recommend that (the bold part). High taxes for the rich result in a huge hit to the economic growth of the townships (check your province economic growth as the upper class taxes are raised). Of course, if the towns have no wealth to start with then raising the upper class taxes will not do anything in terms of reducing the current tax revenue. However, you'll feel the hit in the long run in terms of lost growth potential. Having said that, there are some factions for which raising the upper class tax for some short period is advisable. Turkey is a good example. The towns start with no town wealth and negative growth. Raising the tax for a decade or so would help to build up the industrial infrastructure. Prussia, on the other hand, should not raise upper class tax since towns start with significant wealth and are growing fast.