Fluctuating finances!

[SpencerH]

I looked for a similar thread but couldnt find a recent one without the search.

Has anyone else noticed that their income can vary wildly, almost as if there are seasonal (or much longer) effects on trade etc. My empire has been relatively stable, but I've gone from a 10-15K profit/season to a 3-4K loss/season. It's gone on long enough that I'm getting worried that my Selucid empire (on the brink of Rome) will collapse.

[Quillan]

There are always some fluctuations, but that sounds a little excessive. Farming income varies with the harvest quality. And, since the Seleucids control the Hanging Gardens wonder, that income is 20% larger than normal so the fluctuation would be also. Then there's trade, which will vary as trade routes get shifted around due to profitability, war declarations and blockades.

[JeromeGrasdyke]

Sounds like you've take on a protectorate *winces* ... terminate the protectorate agreement and all should be well again. They're slightly broken in the current build.

[Sizzlorr]

Have you declared war on a former ally (or the other way round)? That could do it too, if you suddenly didn't have trading rights with a major trading partner. Don't want to second-guess the Jerome the Mighty though...

I was wondering about the farming question in an earlier campaign as the Julii. Since I had taken all of Gual and most of Germania, it seemed that my winter turns had far lower incomes than my summers. Wonder if this had to do with the snow that blanketed the land? That would make sense anyway. I'm guessing that you're not getting much snow in Seleucid lands though.

Also has your faction leader died? Sometimes they have bonusses that keep income high, I think. Or perhaps devastation is your problem? That accursed devastation!

[Orvis Tertia]

I have noticed that in the middle game, when your profit gets to about 20K a turn, suddenly it will drop to half that. Granted, it tends to be around the time you are building a lot of units, but the drop seems unreasonably sudden and drastic. I haven't done anything to try to figure out what causes it, though.

[Dickun]

Sounds like you've take on a protectorate *winces* ... terminate the protectorate agreement and all should be well again. They're slightly broken in the current build.

I LOVE the game, and VERY much appreciate CA's contributions to this forum.

but "slightly" you are taking the piss right?

[Lord Ovaat]

I think you'll find that your fluctuations are mainly the result of how much you spent during your last turn. To test that, pull up your faction scroll and check your expected finances at the beginning of a turn. Make all of your troop and building purchases, bribes, etc., and then check again. While you may have shown an expected income of, say, 20,000, if you spend 25,000, then you're still gonna be 5,000 in the hole. But you DID make the 20,000. Trouble is, you may have spent it. Some turns find me building in many provinces, while other turns might only see a couple. Building times vary, and spread-out completion times. You will also see minor variations due to harvest yield and what not, but those aren't significant except early in the game (maybe later if you're getting beat). The year-end report that pops-up at the beginning of each turn is a bit decieving at first glance because it shows the NET result for the past turn. MTW showed you expected profits, which you can still find in the faction scroll. I'm still a little foggy on a lot of the finer points, as is most everyone else. Takes time to sort all of this stuff out. Then, we have to share it. I still want to know what farm improvements actually do. Going to the next level for 4800 will give you a +2 or something like that. Plus 2 what? 2 more bucks than the last level? LOL I don't really know.

[SpencerH]

I havent entered into a protectorate. I learned that they were 'slightly broken' quite early on.

I'd like to post a jpeg of what I see but I cant so I'll have to try to describe it. :gnashes teeth:


My financial ranking increased in a linear fashion until turn 140 or so after which I decided to build all necessary/desired buildings every time my cash rose above 200000 (I'm not a micro-manager). So from turn 140-230 there are fluctuations but on average my cash stays around 200000. After 230 there is a sharp linear downturn and now at 256 I only have 90000 despite the fact that I have curtailed my buying. All of which suggests that either my income has dropped unexpectedly or my expenses have increased unexpectedly. I cant think of what happened at turn 230. I may have got to 50 provinces around that time. Is there a corruption penalty perhaps at reaching a certain empire size? My income is now 260K with 66K to corruption (26%). I had a save at around turn 140 where my income was 156K with 31K corruption (20%).

Why cant we attach small pics?

[Oaty]

Heres my guess. You were wreaking havoc when surrounding your capital with friendly territories. So when you were expanding early in the game, the finances were good because you had very little corruption. Now that your on the edges of your empire taxes are low and corruption is high. First of all it would be strategic to move your capital a bit to the west. Second since you are not building anything all the time you should put those territories with high culture penalties on a cultural build policy and allow the comp to construct there. On cultural build policy the comp takes priority in replacing buidings built by another faction so that the city takes on your culture. Once the culture penalty is gone it will allow you to tax at a higher rate. Also build temples that promot law in territories that only provide you with income. Do'nt know if the Parthians have any law temples but if they do that is what you should build.

[SpencerH]

Some good points there. I do indeed have a mass of outlying provinces with high culture penalties since I usually dont bother to destroy buildings I just went to a lot of effort to capture. It doesnt explain the sudden change at around turn 230 though.

[SpencerH]

Strange! Based on your comments I tried a cultural build policy on a problematic huge city (Thassalonica). Instead of destroying a roman building and replacing it with a selucid one, the AI tried to build an improved barracks costing over 6K (that I dont need).

[Bob the Insane]

I don't think it destroys buildings, it just concentrates on replace ones that are not of your culture when it can...

But if you set that mode and destroy the buildings your self it will...

Add to that it is far more worthwhile to upgrade a fairly advanced alien culture building when you can, rather than destorying it and rebuilding from scratch...

[Dead Moroz]

Sounds like you've take on a protectorate *winces* ... terminate the protectorate agreement and all should be well again. They're slightly broken in the current build.

All is "slightly broken" in the current build.

[ToranagaSama]

I'm going to check this out in a few, but last night I recall noticing that something is not correct with the tabulations on the "Financial Tab". For the life of me I cant' remember, but the Totals of Income and Expenses are correct, BUT something's wrong with the relationship of Profits to "Projected xxx" (forget what xxx is called).

The Projected xxx is not correct, because Profits are calculated incorrectly, or something.

I'll check and post later.

Maybe I was just tired....