Making Money

[knoddy]

Running LTC 3.1 so without kingdoms, and i have a major problem of not making any money :/ ive never had this sort of issue in original medieval or rome, but in m2tW i have always had money issues. anyone have some tips to generating some monies.

normally i have nearly all towns with only a few castles in my homeland for training purposes. i generally dont use alot of merchants, should i be putting them on every avaiable resource? i upgrade all my towns with markets etc, and i still have troubles

the only thing i can assume is that ill have to leave smaller garrisons, attack with smaller armies and not waste so much money on building stuff i dont need :D

any suggestions would be helpful

Cheers Knoddy

[Askthepizzaguy]

Running LTC 3.1 so without kingdoms, and i have a major problem of not making any money :/ ive never had this sort of issue in original medieval or rome, but in m2tW i have always had money issues. anyone have some tips to generating some monies.

normally i have nearly all towns with only a few castles in my homeland for training purposes. i generally dont use alot of merchants, should i be putting them on every avaiable resource? i upgrade all my towns with markets etc, and i still have troubles

the only thing i can assume is that ill have to leave smaller garrisons, attack with smaller armies and not waste so much money on building stuff i dont need :D

any suggestions would be helpful

Cheers Knoddy

Merchants are worth the trouble, but not if you aren't budgeting properly to begin with.

MOST of your expenses should go to offensive armies.

Defensive (free) militias and perhaps a well placed defensive stack in the heart of your territory or near a hostile border is fine.

The rest of your expenses should be on public order until maximum taxation is reached, then focus on your biggest trade centers and upgrade with farms, ports, grain xchanges, etc.

offensive stacks can be disbanded or sent on kamikaze missions if you need to balance your budget. Just send any good troops and your generals home first.

Merchants make money via distance from capital, value of merchant, and value of resource. If you travel across the globe for timber... good luck making any money. If you have gold, but in your backyard, it won't be worth AS much. Probably still more than the timber.

Of course, if your merchant is still grade one, you won't ever make any serious money with him. As long as you can make back your 500 initial florins, you're fine.

Money is better spent on expanding your empire, building raiding armies, and developing your own trade with neighbors.

Don't overload yourself with defensive troops, field too many offensive armies if you aren't a blitzer who is confident in his abilities, or build trade buildings in a population 1000 village.

Build up your main cities first, expand your trade routes, and don't waste money on little cities. Lower their taxes, field a chivalrous governor, and then watch it expand rapidly. Then you can build public order and trade buildings.

My blitzkrieg theory doesn't suggest any major economic planning... the slow growth of your cities doesn't necessitate much construction, and pillaging florins pay for your necessary armies.

[Poncho400]

Um, this may sound stupid, but do you have trade rights with other countries?

By the way you describe it, you either A) don't have any trade rights, or B) have way too many soldiers.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Um, this may sound stupid, but do you have trade rights with other countries?

By the way you describe it, you either A) don't have any trade rights, or B) have way too many soldiers.

It's not a stupid question. Being at war with all bordering nations and having trade rights is unlikely.

I maintain alliances, military access, and trade rights until I am ready to do a massive, sudden backstab that cripples or destroys a nation (or nations) in a single turn.

Trade rights assist in your early development. But having more cities is better than having trade with rival nations.

I DO have way too many soldiers. That's why I am an insane blitz warlord. Check out my threads below.

[knoddy]

i have trade rights with heaps of peoples so thats not the issue. i think i just waste too much money on buildings i dont really need and try and have too many troops for my size :)

[Askthepizzaguy]

i have trade rights with heaps of peoples so thats not the issue. i think i just waste too much money on buildings i dont really need and try and have too many troops for my size :)

You say you have too many troops. I say there is no such thing.

(different styles of play, for sure...)

If you have troops, you have a disposable weapon with which to expand your empire or weaken your enemy.

You could use those troops to box your enemy in, to guard river crossings, to rack up devastation in his lands, to sack his cities, to cover his ports and force a sally. You can send them on suicide missions and replace them easily.

Troops are better than money. but if you don't use them, they are merely a drain.

Give yourself some kind of advantage.

Either take a risk with few troops and build up florins, or build up troops and take a risk with few florins. One has got to give. Having massive troop levels and massive florin levels is only possible after you have built a massive empire. I favor the more troops method to build that massive empire. Some favor the economic game.

Pacifism is the slow route to victory, or the fast route to defeat.

[WhiskeyGhost]

beware if giant army costs. Don't have a stack of high cost units just sitting around, unless they all happen to be veterans or something. To stave off the high upkeep costs of some units, only build them if your going to apply them ASAP. I often do this with things like Peasants, where i expect to throw them into a fight in 3 turn max from when i train them.

Remember, an army that isn't out killing something, is essentially just eating up your florins. If you end up with peace agreements and hostilities cease with your neighbors, keep a border garrison, maybe a half stack of re-enforcements, and get rid of any superfluous units (especially non-high ranked high upkeep units like cavalry).

When i first started playing, i always wondered why my income was low, until i realized that last mission I completed gave me 4 units of 250 upkeep cavalry which basically drained 1000 florins every turn they sat around doing nothing

[Askthepizzaguy]

If you end up with peace agreements and hostilities cease with your neighbors, keep a border garrison, maybe a half stack of re-enforcements, and get rid of any superfluous units (especially non-high ranked high upkeep units like cavalry).

When i first started playing, i always wondered why my income was low, until i realized that last mission I completed gave me 4 units of 250 upkeep cavalry which basically drained 1000 florins every turn they sat around doing nothing

P..p...peas... gree... mens?

What is this... "pease aggreemens" you speak of? I am familiar with the term hostilities, but peace?

I love it when I am gifted massive amounts of insane cavalry for completing a mission. Aim them at the nearest small rebel stack and win a free general!

Now, call a crusade, hire a few mercs, and go take down an empire or three.

[Poncho400]

Yea, don't let good soldiers fill your cities as garrisons (unless they have free garrison). I personally keep a small peasant garrison in each city to help with public order. I'm taking all the units I've built while fighting now extinct factions and guarding vulnerable settlements, and I'm going to throw them at my close enemy. This will rid myself of enemies on my borders (I'll have an ally and two neutrals), get rid of unneeded troops without disbanding them, and further exapand my empire. Once I've done that, I can stick to keeping small garrisons and build up my bank account. Once I get a sizeable amount, I can rebuild a massive army to once again expand.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Interesting point I absolutely HAVE to make:

Latest HRE campaign (the legend-in-the-making) involved taking the entire map as quickly as possible. I got excommunicated.

There wasn't even a single riot in my vast empire. None.

Not even pathetically undefended Jerusalem.

Why?

Glory bonus and fear. The more rivals you destroy, the more places you sack, the stronger you are and the higher your public order rating.

Public order becomes no concern at all once you've slain a few empires. So do it quickly and win a crusade or jihad.

Then crank taxes to maximum and watch money problems disappear as quickly as your enemies.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Unless you do plan to blitz at the start, I've found your economy develops a lot better with low tax rates. The growth brought about by having low taxes soon brings in more cash than high taxes on a smaller population. In addition, this gets you high chivalry Generals that can massively increase growth in your settlements. In my current Turkish campaign, Caesarea was a Citadel by the time I got the eastern horde message, and was training Qapukulu by the time they arrived.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I actually find that the strategy of lumping 8 or more generals together and going on a VERY QUICK crusade or jihad, and having them all take the target in a single stack nets you 8+ high chivalry (5+) governors.

FAR more effective than lowering taxes.

Admittedly a useless strategem for Orthodoxies.

[Rhyfelwyr]

The problem with that though, especially with Crusades, is that your high chivalry characters may all be on the other side of the map, with no way to get home except fighting or annoying everyone by walking on their land. In my current campaign as the Turks, I'm letting some characters gain chivalry through having low taxes in cities, and I send the ex-Jihading characters to my castle settlements.

I only have one dread character in that campaign right now, mostly because he picked up a very cool ancillary I have never seen before, the Dread Knight. Looks like something out of warhammer...

Anyway, through having low taxes, building religious buildings, and not building brothels etc, my Generals in cities typically pick up at least 6 chivalry, while the low taxes themselves contribute to growth.

[glyphz]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I only have one dread character in that campaign right now, mostly because he picked up a very cool ancillary I have never seen before, the Dread Knight. Looks like something out of warhammer...

Anyway, through having low taxes, building religious buildings, and not building brothels etc, my Generals in cities typically pick up at least 6 chivalry, while the low taxes themselves contribute to growth.

Dread knight retinue sounds pwnage! What are its stats? and might you know you got it/triggered getting one. i'd add that quick to my already dread FLeader (8dread despite being a grand crusader, due to assasins).

Oh another (?): So generals in cities w/ low taxes (or is it normal)will add to his chivalry? Wouldn't he get something like sloppy taxman or later worse?

[Old Geezer]

I just won my first LTC campaign (as France) and I had trouble getting used to the slow development caused by low income. I micromanaged a lot and build farms and roads first. I did as Ryflewyr suggested, lowering taxes to stimulate growth. It really helped to go on crusades as often and for as long as possible, because your upkeep costs are dramatically lowered, especially if you take a couple of generals and your high maintenance units. You can sack and exterminate crusade targets and not take a loss in rep or chivalry, which really helps out the cash situation. Just don't be stupid like I was and join a crusade against an ally without first cancelling the alliance.