Military Upkeep Cost? Please Help!

[TitvsJuliusScipio]

I have a serious problem balancing my budget. The military upkeep cost especially is killing me! My military upkeep is at 166000 dollars. When I first acknowledged this I immediately stopped unit production and cut 1/3 of my military force. At the time I controlled the Mediterranean except for Rome, Brutti, and Scipio. For some messed up reason the military upkeep cost did not decrease!!! Why??

I admit, I cheated and added some money. Even with the extra money I wasn’t able to afford anything because I was loosing 50000 dinari per turn!! Did the cheat increase exponentially my military upkeep cost?

Any help anyone can offer on balancing the budget will be *greatly* appreciated.

Thank you

PS: Is it just me or does this website not have a search engine?

[Stuperman]

there's google search bar in the top right on my screen.

as for military upkeep...what version are you playing? If you bought Rome Total War Gold it's version 1.5, that's the version I have and there are no financial bugs that I know of, I'm not sure about earlier versions.

And I assume that you are Julii?

The only units that you should keep in cities are town watch or peasants, they have the cheapest upkeep, by far. I usually only have 2 or 3 TW as a garrison, then put a 1/3 stack in a fort in a central location and use it fight rebels.

Get rid of expensive mercs (Barbarbian mercinaries are 200/turn, and crappy fighters, get rid of them)

Always keep taxes as high as possible (blue face), it'll make you more money, and give better traits to whoever is governing the settlement.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi TitvsJuliusScipio,

I have a serious problem balancing my budget. The military upkeep cost especially is killing me! My military upkeep is at 166000 dollars. When I first acknowledged this I immediately stopped unit production and cut 1/3 of my military force. At the time I controlled the Mediterranean except for Rome, Brutti, and Scipio. For some messed up reason the military upkeep cost did not decrease!!! Why??

May I request information on which version you are using? You can investigate this by entering your "Options" menu on the main screen. In the top left hand corner there should be a number. If it is not 1.5, then you may wish to see if patching will resolve your problem.

Which version you possess will effect which patches your require. Sadly, only some patches are cumilative which creates this complication.

If you have version 1.0 or 1.1, then you will firstly have to download and install the 1.2 patch. You can then step up to the latest version by downloading and installing the latest 1.5 patch.

If you have version 1.2 or 1.3 and don't have a copy of Barbarian Invasion installed, then you can simply download and install the 1.5 patch with no problems.

If you have version 1.3 and have a copy of Barbarian Invasion installed, then you will have to download and install the 1.6 patch. This upgrades BI to version 1.6 and Rome: Total War to version 1.5.

I admit, I cheated and added some money. Even with the extra money I wasn’t able to afford anything because I was loosing 50000 dinari per turn!! Did the cheat increase exponentially my military upkeep cost?

May I ask if you are currently anybody's protectorate? Protectorates automatically pay money to their protectors if their treasury reaches a certain size. Other than that, or a drastic increase in other costs, I cannot think of any other causes.

Hope this helps, good luck, cheers!

BTW, the search function can be found here. You can also locate it from any .Org page in the main bar. The search function also exists at the top of threads and individual forums to search within them.

I'll also add a little more on finances in the morning (GMT). I haven't really got time now. Sorry.

[TitvsJuliusScipio]

First, thanks for the advice from you guys.

there's google search bar in the top right on my screen.

lol. Yes I see it now. I feel stupid. :)

as for military upkeep...what version are you playing? If you bought Rome Total War Gold it's version 1.5, that's the version I have and there are no financial bugs that I know of, I'm not sure about earlier versions.

The game I am refering to was played with the out of box 1.0 retail version. I then installed the 1.3 patch. Then I intalled barbarian invasion upgrade package. I will now install the 1.6 package as Omanes Alexandrapolites advised. Is the military upkeep a known bug for 1.0? Seems hard to beleive they would sell a game with such an obvious, blatent, game ruining bug such as that.

And I assume that you are Julii?

Yes.

The only units that you should keep in cities are town watch or peasants, they have the cheapest upkeep, by far. I usually only have 2 or 3 TW as a garrison, then put a 1/3 stack in a fort in a central location and use it fight rebels.

I didn't realize that different units had different upkeep costs. Is their a list or is it specified in the units information page? Anyhow though I kept about 3 town watch in each of the cities. But then I tried to increase the tax's and then they became riotous and then I had to build more units. Then when I acknowledged the military upkeep cost and cut the force by 1/3 the upkeep cost remained the same!

May I ask if you are currently anybody's protectorate? Protectorates automatically pay money to their protectors if their treasury reaches a certain size. Other than that, or a drastic increase in other costs, I cannot think of any other causes.

I am not sure by what you mean by protectorate? I assume you mean if other countries are paying tribute?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

I didn't realize that different units had different upkeep costs. Is their a list or is it specified in the units information page?

It's specified in the unit's information page right at the bottom of the statistics column. It varies drastically between units, so should be taken heed of when deciding what to train.

I am not sure by what you mean by protectorate? I assume you mean if other countries are paying tribute?

The protectorate agreement is a kind of treaty that can be proposed by a diplomat to his enemies. You can read more details on how protectorates work here.

[TitvsJuliusScipio]

Does anyone know where I can find a list of bugs grouped by patch release versions?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Does anyone know where I can find a list of bugs grouped by patch release versions?

Sadly, although there are two, they only apply to the 1.5 release and the 1.3 release. Sorry.

[Barbarossa82]

It's usually best to cut taxes in a city rather than opting for a large garrison. The increased unit upkeep will outweigh the revenue gain and you'll end up making a loss. With taxes lower, your city will grow (despite what everyone tells you, this is a GOOD THING), and revenue will rise. You make more money out of a 30,000-pop city on low taxes than a 15,000-pop city on very high. City pop will eventually peak, then briefly fall, then stabilise.

For the same reasons, build farm upgrades.

Personally I never go above ten units of garrison except in very rare cases of huge cities very far from my capital. Since learning how to manage cities properly, I have never had a revolt except within the first 2-3 years after conquest.

[TitvsJuliusScipio]

Thanks for the advice Barbarossa82. I wonder, do you build arena's , academy's, and temples in all your cities?

[Barbarossa82]

Yes, I build any public order buildings I can. This makes more sense than a high garrison because buildings only have a one-off construction cost, not a turn-by-turn upkeep cost. I'll build the highest level of public order buildings I can in a given settlement. Since I use player1's excellent BugFixer, the academy line of buildings actually confer the bonus they were meant to under 1.5. Where temples are concerned, I always go for the pure public order versions in outlying territories, building the military or trading temples only in cities near my capital.

The culture penalty is very important. I always make sure to bulldoze all foreign culture buildings in a settlement as soon as possible, after completing any necessary retraining, or upgrade them to higher level buildings of my own culture.

[Caius]

The culture penalty is very important. I always make sure to bulldoze all foreign culture buildings in a settlement as soon as possible, after completing any necessary retraining, or upgrade them to higher level buildings of my own culture.

I will add a little thing:

Destroy the enemy Shrine/Temple/Large Temple/ of an enemy faction. Why? Two reasons. One is, as stated by Barbarossa82 before, gives you penalty culture. Also, you can not improve those religion buildings. Second. Bulldoze that building (notice that you receive a few denarii) and start building a shrine of your favourite faction God. You will receive the benefits, and you will be able to upgrade it as the city grows.

Cheers

Garci'