How to make money!

[PershsNhpios]

I'm having alot of trouble in the beginning of my campaigns.
In the previous mods I would cheat for money eventually, however I am determined to play without cheating in this mod.

Yet so far I have lost a Getai, Casse (Which I am writing about), and Sweboz campaign within 10 years.
The reason for this is although I can keep my head above debt, and gain two settlements very fast, the expedition, costs, population decrease and lack of money to assert new governments means that it take over 3 years until I'm capable of launching a half-cast assault on a new settlement.

In the latest campaign, which I have just given away before writing this, as the Sweboz I took the east and south-eastern territories within 3 turns.
I kept myself out of debt by disbanding all unneccessary units.
I ordered roads to be built in the capital.
I then had to wait, and put taxes on Very High in each settlement after I had taken them, for 4 turns before I had enough money to establish one section 2 government in the east.
The capital had no garrison, only the king.
The east had 2 companies of spearmen, one company of archers and a family member.
The south east had one family member and two companies of spearmen.
All units were severely depleted.

By the time I had developed governments and roads in both new settlements I was far overdue for expansion.
So I levied two new companies in the capital, because the new governments had only 400 people each, this put me into deficit.
But I planned to take the settlement north of the Cheruscii before my 3160 mnai would be spent.
However the garrison of the enemy was large (Playing on C Hard, B Medium), so I ordered one company of spearman from each new government to be brought out to meet the levies, and sent a newly come-of-age general to go with them.

It was here I thought I finally was getting somewhere, and as I put the village undersiege, from the east two large Eleutheroi armies came and besieged the southern town.
I lost the battle to the north due to attempting to reinforce the south.

And I abandoned those damned, bankrupted Rhine-dwellers.

What I am asking is for financial advice, how do you all keep yourselves afloat in the sea of great debts?

[bovi]

Ports and mines are important sources of income. But if you want a "softer" introduction to EB, you should try Rome or Carthage, they're a lot easier.

[Sarkiss]

Ports and mines are important sources of income. But if you want a "softer" introduction to EB, you should try Rome or Carthage, they're a lot easier.

definately. forget barbarians and easterners, thay are for player that are more or less used to EB and can get very though at the beginning. Epiros, KH is an easy option too btw.

[Arzeal]

Hi! I'm new to EB too ::)
I played a Lustonia as a start, suprisingly look at my only starting town and my starting big and elite army w. their upkeeps. I ran into debt problems but I have less hostile factions expect 2 weak and nearly non-garrioned Cartharge towns. I conquered until the army itself depleted and gain good income over times - by the time my army is deplepted, I got 7 or 8 towns ^^

[PershsNhpios]

I am currently retrying the Casse.
I thought not having to manage a large empire from the beginning would be the way to start off.

I am playing on Medium campaign difficulty.. I am on my 6th turn, and those northern tribes are sitting right on the border...

Thank you for the advice, I was going to play Lusotania at first, however I got sidetracked with the western tribes.
If I fail in the north I will move south!

I was wondering if some might help by writing here their strategies in general for making money, their priorities and how they deal with the great threat of the Independents?

[bovi]

Casse are the ones with the most threat from the independents ;).

[Bootsiuv]

definately. forget barbarians and easterners, thay are for player that are more or less used to EB and can get very though at the beginning. Epiros, KH is an easy option too btw.

I've been playing EB every waking minute (that I wasn't working or being a dad, which, granted, isn't more than 2 hours a day) for months, and Baktria still gives me a hell of a time. I fear my aar may be the shortest in EB history.

That's why I love this mod....no matter how much you play, it never really gets easy (unless you play on easy/easy of course).

[Ice]

Ports and mines are important sources of income. But if you want a "softer" introduction to EB, you should try Rome or Carthage, they're a lot easier.

Yes, I agree.

You are playing 3 extremely hard factions to begin with. Try something like Rome, Carthage, or even say a Greek Faction. You will have a much easier time making money via the lucrative sea routes.

As Casse though, you won't to pretty much disband every unit you have, and build your economy. Stay at peace with the independent kingdoms, they are a good source of trade. Build roads, trade buildings, etc. When you can support a decent army and are ready, go on the offensive.

EB is a difficult game to learn at first. It is very unforgiving and you have to know what you are doing, or you will go bankrupt very fast. Just give it some trial and error.

[PershsNhpios]

Ha ha ha,
I was following that very strategy as the Casse, when two full stack Independents besieged me!

[bovi]

If you want to play a Casse game successfully, you should use your starting troops, either take the SW settlement, or possibly better search out one of the freemen stacks before they get the chance to merge. Attack it even if you have inferior troops, and withdraw as soon as you run out of javelins or you can no longer stay out of melee. Your faction leader may be a good asset if used well, but be careful with him, he's not suited for melee. If you can get a unit to rout, he can massacre that one while your army retreats. Attack incessantly, and in the end you will be able to beat that stack. Hopefully the other stack will decide to leave you alone so you can rebuild . Any losses are okay, the men are better spent than disbanded .

[skuzzy]

I just started a campaign using Lustotannion (sp?) and accumulated 3 settlements with homeland as early as possible and also killed off Hasdrubal (effectively breaking the alliance so Carthage can't merc rape me) and then began to disband (namely that really expensive cavalry). With no threat other than rebels at the time and no troops to support I went from 30k in debt to + and built a mine in every settlement possible. Rome is just approaching me now but it's about 250BC (not on my computer so not positive as to the date). But even debt ridden it is possible to come out of it with no immediate threats. That is why Pontus etc are so difficult because massive debt and no matter what you have to worry about Arche Seleukids.

[Sygrod]

Here are a couple of ways to solve the problem.

First thing to remember is that you have almost 300 years to do what you want, so don't be in a hurry.

What you can do is make a good enough defensive army and garrison in your towns. A good option is to keep just enough in the towns and a mobile force in a fort between the towns, so that it can respond to threats. This way you can have effectively twice the garrison for 2/3 of the cost. It also gives the enemy a fort to lay siege on. If the fort has a sizeable garrison, it can even break a siege and then reinforce a town on the same turn, after which you send the town garrison to the fort and some of the fort garrison to the town. Make sure that you always top up the troops.

Concentrate on income and happiness improvements. As your income grows, add better troops. Do not disband lesser troops, but combine depleted ones.

As your income grows, you should be able to field an expeditionary army. Take it to a neighbour. I am sure by the time you have the income to support it, a neighbouring faction has already attacked you and you have had to defend against endless waves of enemy armies.

When you have conquered your first town. Select the most favourable government type and make sure that your temple selection is a financially favourable one. Being close to your capital, it should be easy to control in the long run.

If you are getting tired of the endless enemy waves of armies breaking on your walls, get the money mod. It makes the enemies a bit more docile.

Troop composition will have to depend on the enemies you face, but make sure you have plenty of cheap missile units and a few really good melee units that can hold their ground competently. Missile units do very well behind walls of wood and stone as well as defensive melee troops. Hit your enemy at a distance as much as possible. If you manage to have missile supremacy, you can hit enemy units in flank and rear with impunity. Use cavalry mostly to finish off the enemy, since they are expensive to replace. Sometimes they can be used to draw an enemy unit from the enemy line, where it can come under missile fire from units and towers alike.

/Sygrod