Economy Observations, Tips, Etc.

[Madae]

I think province income is revenue * (tax rate*(1-administrative costs)). When I say mines are bad, I meant in comparison to other buildings. Right now, it costs around 5k to upgrade my gold mine from 800 to 1400 wealth. In comparison, upgrading a port to a trade port adds 700 wealth and assorted other bonuses for around 3k. Upgrading inn to market is around 2k for 360 to 720 and upgrading from 720 to 1260 is around 3k. These have other bonuses as well.

Apples to oranges. You're comparing a first level upgrade (port [no income] -> trading port [700]), where a trading port would be the first level of the income side, to a second level upgrade (800 for first level gold mine -> 1400 for second). How much is it to build a first level gold mine that goes from 0 -> 800? Right off the bat it's making more than a port. Knowing how much that first level is is important information.

I also forget if that trade port can be upgraded further for more income. It would be worthwhile to know what the cost of a trading port -> next level would be, and how much of an income increase that is, which is what you should be comparing that 800 -> 1400 to.

The 720 -> 1260 is another argument altogether. You're sacrificing potential income for other bonuses, which is all fine and dandy, but a gold mine is pure income. The 240 disparity isn't much, but that's what you're paying for when you pay that extra 2k. However, we would also need to know what levels those are. A gold mine has the potential to make, I believe, 2100 (for somewhere between 10-15k). The 1260 is the max level inn or whatever, correct?

Upgrading the city line increases the tax rate in addition to giving an extra build slot. I was wondering how big of an increase that would be compared to upgrading something else.

From a purely economical standpoint, there isn't a single thing that can make more money than a gold mine, trade ports and trade notwithstanding.

Are you referring to a provincial wealth increase of 500 or an actual tax revenue increase, which is a fraction of the wealth? With taxes at 30% the revenue on 500 wealth would be 150, would it not?

You lost me - math is not my strong point. I was going off a base value, whatever that is, that if you spend 10000 for a revenue increase of 500, it would take 20 turns for that 500 (once the building was completed) to pay off the 10000 by itself. Percent bonuses would factor into it afterwards, such as the 10% bonus from the geisha, which would make it 550 (and 18 turns instead of 20). This is, of course, not counting the other income the province may be making, which would probably benefit more from the 10% as a whole.

I have always assumed that if you spent money to increase the income by 500, that was after taxes, not before. In other words, if that 500 is being taxed and you're really only getting 150, then why go to all the trouble to confuse the builder and just say its a 150 increase?