What's better: autotax or manual taxation

**Grand Duke Vytautas** · 02-07-2005, 08:56

I was just wondering if there is a significant difference between automanage taxes and my own tax settings. Which taxation method do you prefer more? Well, I like automanage taxes, but does it have a negative effect on traits, revenues especially early in the game? Thanks for your comments

**Bhruic** · 02-07-2005, 09:19

I was used to doing auto in MTW, so I started that way. After switching to manual, I'd never switch back.

- you can easily see from the campaign map any city that has poor support
- setting cities to low tax causes them to grow much faster than otherwise

Those are the main reasons. I too often want to grow a particular city to let the AI set it at highest tax level all the time.

Bh

**Kaldhore** · 02-07-2005, 10:43

Unless I want an extremely quick campaign I always use manual.

Sometimes - you want your city/town to rebel........

**zbrenhz** · 02-07-2005, 19:01

I for one have never used any other tax rate than low. In MTW there was a real change to choose how much you want to tax, but in RTW you can't even consider using medium in any other towns than capital and the cityes very close to it (and even with those I use low to keep the loyalty up with smaller garrison).

**BDC** · 02-07-2005, 19:21

I always leave it on low. Extra population growth means more income, so soon enough they are making as much if not more money than they would be if on high.

**Doug-Thompson** · 02-07-2005, 19:34

It's a bandwagon: I use low taxes all the time, especially since the patch put a limit on the squalor problem. Low taxes for everybody. Reaganomics all the way.

This is especially true since I tend to massacre populations in far-flung conquests. Make them loyal, then let them grow.

**dismal** · 02-07-2005, 20:16

I do everything manually now. I uncheck automanage at the campaign level. It's definitely easier than trying to keep the AI from doing stupid things in your towns. (The only thing I miss is the gear symbol that tells me where my family members are and aren't.)

Most of the time I keep taxes as high as the city will bear. First, of course, this produces income. Second, most cities grow fast enough or even too fast as it is. Third, having a green face and taxes set below "very high" will give your governor some bad VnV's.

The big exception to this rule is cities that need as much help as possible to get growing. I really don't like the construction queue in a city to go idle. In mosty cities, the city will grow fast enough that I can maintain a constant stream of contruction of desirable buildings at higher tax levels. But if low pop is your constraint to developing a city (not the construction queue) then cutting taxes as low as possible is a good idea.

Cities below 2000 pop are usually where I run low tax rates because they can take forever to grow, can't build much, don't usually merit governors and wouldn't generate much tax anyway at a higher rate.

**SpencerH** · 02-07-2005, 21:01

I autotax. While it may be less efficient, its just too much of a pain to do it manually especially when you have many cities.

**Baiae** · 02-07-2005, 21:33

I always set taxes manually because I try to restict population growth as much as possible in cities I'm not going to use as military bases.

**Razor1952** · 02-07-2005, 23:43

I always autotax, early on I need the money , later on I can't stand forgetting a town or 2 rebelling because I missed setting the right tax. Otherwise I manually manage all building and recruiting.

Growing your cities is a different question largely, I usually choose a few for major growth , then make sure these are the only one(s) with governors and enslave. Or I send over a few peons from elsewhere to boost population.

**katank** · 02-08-2005, 00:01

I go with as high taxes as they can bear. Squalor issues are nasty and denarii are better than population. As for growth, just have a few cities that you want to tech up. Before you conquer a major city, move family members out of all the cities except for those and the enslavement option will channel a massive influx of population into those cities for growth.

**hrvojej** · 02-08-2005, 00:02

I autotax. It's the only auto feature I use and it's basically to reduce the micromanagement. Plus, I really hate the bad VnVs that you get for being kind with taxes - it feels as if the game is penalizing you for playing nice. Growth is usually a headache anyway as soon as I conquer one of the grain provinces.
I was thinking about doing it manually, in order to get less money and earlier access to advanced troops, but by having more money and investing the growth-stimulating buildings I think it kind of evens out in the end. OTOH, if I really want fast growth, I just reduce the garrison.

**Productivity** · 02-08-2005, 06:26

Originally Posted by BDC

I always leave it on low. Extra population growth means more income, so soon enough they are making as much if not more money than they would be if on high.

And more population means more squalor... I've used high taxes to try and keep down population before.