Dacian Economics AKA Blood From A Stone
The hardest part about playing Dacia is the economics. This is probably why it isn't a playable faction without a manual unlock. On VH/VH you start the game with 3000 dinarii in the bank and an income of -888. That means that even if you don't spend any money at all, you'll be flat broke in 4 turns. Guess what... you've got no prospects to be profitable anytime in the near future. Sounds like fun, eh?
The key to surviving the early period of financial hell revolves around windfalls and queing. Diplomacy and aggressive expansion are the only ways you can survive. First things first, check your starting generals and stick the one with the highest management in your capital and set it on Very High tax. Stick the next best management general in the second city. Take whoever is left and scrape together ALL of the forces that you can manage. In the beginning you can leave a general alone in a city without anything else and still maintain order just fine. You should be able to get about 3/4 of a stack with your starting troops. Take them ALL and head west towards the rebel held provinces.
Also on the first turn, grab your diplomat and make a b-line for the Thracians. This single diplomat is your only chance at survival. You should contact the Thracians and Macedonians very quickly. Make trade agreements with both and Ally with them if you can. Then sell your map for as much as you can. Do a lot of haggling to get as much money as you can. You should almost exclusively go for a single lump sum. If they do offer you a decent amount of tribute, you can take it, but ONLY if the tribute is over 2000/turn. If it isn't, you won't see a penny of it since it will be eaten away by your negative income. You need spending cash and you need it now.
On the very first turn, blow ALL of your money. I recommend queing up roads and markets and spending the rest on a small peasant garrison for the second city and a few warbands and/or archers in the capital. From now on until you are in the black, spend EVERYTHING you have on any particular turn. Anything you leave sitting in the bank will disappear. You may find yourself in a huge debt hole, but without spending the money you won't have the infrastructure or the military to eventually make yourself profitable.
Continue pushing on west with your army. There are about 4-6 rebel held procinces west, southwest, and northwest of your starting provinces. Grab as many of them as you can as quickly as you can. DO NOT ENSLAVE OR SLAUGHTER THEM. They are all small and will not give you much as it is. It is highly unlikely that you will have any ports for the beginning, so most of your income will come from farming and taxes. This means you need a high population. Grab a city, garrison it with a general (they should marry-in or Come Of Age regularly) and a couple peasants ASAP, set it on low taxes to grow population fast and keep your army rolling west. Proper use of archers will help keep your casualties to a minimum. This is a necessity, since you probably won't be able to replace them for a long time. Unexpectedly large casualties in a battle can have disasterous effects in the long run.
After your diplomat hits up Thrace and Macedonia, take him into Italy. Going this way will allow you to sell your map to the Gauls, Julii, Senate, Brutii and Scipii. That's FIVE major cash infusions to build economic structures (roads, markets, farms & farm bonus temples). When you have the money, also build a second diplomat. Dispatch this one to the Germans and Scythians, then take him east around the Black Sea and into the Middle East. This will be a long trip, but you'll be glad you did it when you get the cash influx from map sales there later in the game. Your Italian diplomat should head west into Spain after he's done with Italy. Try to contact the Brittons along the way, then trade with Spain and Carthage when you meet them. Keep in mind, spend EVERYTHING when you make a trade. Try and build up a second army of warbands and archers in your capital if you have the spare cash. Do not build any sizeable force anywhere else. You need the population to grow in the other cities and you can only spare a drop in your capital. You can use this second army to clear rebels out of your provinces. You'll have a lot of them, and they will have a negative impact on your all-important income due to devestation and trade distruption. Knock the rebels off quickly, you need every penny. It would be a good idea to invest in at least 2 archer units for your rebel clean-up group. Again, you don't want to take many casualties... so use the archers for long-distance pounding before you assault them.
Fortunately, I found that your neighbors aren't TOO aggressive. You've got some time before anyone goes after you, and you've also got a lot of potential allies around. Thrace and Macedonia will eventually go to war. If you get the chance, side with Macedonia and take the Thracian ports. They will help a great deal. The Macedonians will be dealt with by the Brutii eventually anyway. In my current game, the Gauls launched a surprise attack upon my western provinces so I was unable to exploit the Tracian/Macedonian War. However, by this point I had 6 provinces (4 captured from Rebels) and I had just managed to turn profitable at about +300/turn. Whoever you end up going to war with, expand aggressively until you become profitable. Once you do, play defensively for a little bit, taking only those provinces that are strategic locations that allow you to defend your borders with fewer armies. Use your slow trickle of income to increase your populations and your income. Tech up to Chosen Swordsmen and Chosen Archers. These guys are fabulous and will stand up well in combat against most anything.
Once your economy is healthy and your armies are stable, the game is all yours. Time to start ruling the world, Dacian style. North, South, East West... go which ever direction strikes your fancy. If you've survived long enough to become financially self-sustaining, then you're probably good to go.
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After playing one for many more turns, I have yet to achieve the self-sustaining point. Chosen Swordsmen and Chosen Archer Warbands are necessary for survival, but they are simply too expensive to maintain in large numbers with finances in the black. I keep dipping into debt on a regular basis and have only managed to sustain myself by sacking large cities and selling everything that's not nailed down through diplomacy. I have even sold myself as a Protectorate twice. If anyone else has played Dacia and achieved financial success, please post how in here. Next time I play them, I plan on trying to go south into Greece. Those large cities and ports should significantly help income. As it stands now, I only have one province that is even on the water! Farming and tax simple isn't good enough to maintain a military.
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we now have to fight a team using the Greek City States. I was wondering about tactics, and what we should buy with our 1000 denarii
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Originally Posted by Rikdemedici
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