Economic Workings

[LordK9]

OK, from reading between the lines on both posts I gather that a trading post will increase trade but adding a port to a trading post province without a naval link will not (directly). I also take that there is no trade bonus for trading with allies and that if they are at war and their enemy blockades their ports, my trade suffers too. I assumed (apparently correctly) that a lot of things going unreported (natural disasters, etc in far off lands) greatly affects my trade.

Quote Originally Posted by caravel: Not really, all an inquisition does is raise zeal to a very high level before the inquisitors go berserk, then zeal drops again drastically. This makes inquisitors zeal raising capabilities a double edged sword. The only economic effects would be if an inquisitor took it upon himself to try one of your governors - thus leaving the province ungoverned and bereft of the additional income bonuses which his governorship produces (high acumen increases tax income/productivity).
Quote by Drone: Isn't there a correlation between zeal and the governor's piety? I was under the impression that a province's happiness will drop when a low piety governor runs a high zeal province, which might affect tax-rate depending on the garrison strength.

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That's what I thought too - but wasn't sure if it was significant. The inquisition helps me as much as not as it targets lords with flaws and lower zeal means less losses to crusades. It does knock down trade for a year those as Caravel noted and that's a bummer.

Poland in high seems to be more affected then others I've played (so far) and those hordes from the east hit them before a solid economy can be built. Makes for an interesting problem.

[caravel]

Isn't there a correlation between zeal and the governor's piety? I was under the impression that a province's happiness will drop when a low piety governor runs a high zeal province, which might affect tax-rate depending on the garrison strength.

As far as I know zeal is only related to crusades and jihads, which is why orthodox factions don't really have zeal as such (well they do, but no manual means of increasing it and no use for it). Zeal gets raised in some catholic provinces at certain dates due to hard coded events and due to inquisitor activity. If zeal does have a bearing on the piety of newly created unit leaders/generals, that's not documented and high piety generals can be a result of a high piety king, etc.

The governors piety influences provincial happiness relative to the religious percentage in a province. So if you have a high piety governor that's good news for your 'core' provinces, but not so good for recently conquered provinces of an opposing religion. In such cases a low piety governor is preferable.

That's what I thought too - but wasn't sure if it was significant. The inquisition helps me as much as not as it targets lords with flaws and lower zeal means less losses to crusades. It does knock down trade for a year those as Caravel noted and that's a bummer.

I'm afraid that's an old myth - the Inquisition when controlled by the AI factions is indiscriminate in who it targets.

[LordK9]

I'm afraid that's an old myth - the Inquisition when controlled by the AI factions is indiscriminate in who it targets.

Oh well! With so many variables, the imagination sometimes wins. :)

[HopAlongBunny]

One more thing to remember: you do not trade with yourself
There was post a long time ago that showed precisely how trade develops; as you take more coastal area=>trade increases (provided you keep trade partners)
There is a point where taking more coastal provinces begins to decrease trade=>ie. fewer people to trade with because you own it all

[LordK9]

That wasn't the problem with my example (I only had one coastal area) but something I certainly didn't know (thanks!).

[Brandy Blue]

As a rough guideline, you get the most trade if half the ports within reach of your fleet are yours and have trade goods, while the other half (with or without trade goods) belong to countries you can trade with (not at war with).

For instance, suppose that there are 8 ports within range of your fleet. If you control 1, it can only sell goods to 7 ports. If you control 7, then each one can sell goods to 1 port, so you get the same amount of profit because 7 X 1 = 1 X 7

However, if you control 4 of the ports, then each of them has 4 trade partners, 4 X 4 = 16 trade relationships, which is more than twice as good as owning just one port or all seven of them.

That isn't taking into account that some provinces have more valuable products to trade. It also is not taking into account that you can't sell a product to another port if it is in a province that produces the same product. So it is only intended as a rough measure.

[Gilrandir]

Make sure your governors have at least acumen 4, especially in the provinces that give the bulk of your income.