I am not making enough money, help!!

[Explodingcannonballfromhell]

Playing as GB i have just completed my mission objectives and have gotten control over 13 colonies.Thing is that i am not making enough money atm, i already raised taxes but i am affraid to go higher.I am in control of much land but i am not getting any decent returns from it.What must i do to raise my economy?

Trade ships maybe, but how do i use those?

[anweRU]

Do you have trade agreements with other countries? Trade with other nations is he biggest income producer.

[Beskar]

Smaller army and build factories. Don't blitz.

[Sheogorath]

Remember that just having ships in trade zones by itself doesn't give you much money. It gives you trade goods.

If you dont have a buyer, those goods dont make any money.

[Gaiseric]

use dragoons for garrison duty. You only need a few per city because they are great at supression. Then you can raise taxes, build up your economy a little, add some trade routes, and go back to world conquering in no time.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Try to get a trade route with Maratha. It is very profitable. Most cities don't need a garrison if you build a pleasure palace in that region.

[Gaiseric]

Thats true, but a workshop in the same place adds to your base tax, and can be upgraded. I wonder where the trade off ends? If I'm doing my math right you shold only consider building pleasure palaces where you need 3-4 dragoons to keep order. You can then build a pleasure palace and leave the city undefended. This is actually a good idea. I might try it out in my next game.

[ZombieFriedNuts]

Invade India you will have more money than you know what to do with

[Beskar]

I rarely need to keep garrisons except in odd provinces and never have bothered with pleasure palaces.

[Megas Methuselah]

...i already raised taxes but i am affraid to go higher.

No taxation without representation.

[Explodingcannonballfromhell]

Well i took some advice and disbanded most militias i had recruited in provinces that are relatively safe. I also started researching my industrial line of upgrades and i developed my new towns with workshops.Atm i am making 6000 a turn and rising.
I also took out the cherokee and i got the iriquos cornered, the french seem to be doing nothing.This allows me to safely upgrade my industry and i will soon be reaping the returns from that in trade.

[andrewt]

Remember, ETW is different from earlier games in that a land grab doesn't necessarily mean your income skyrockets. As UP, I conquered the Spanish provinces in the Americas first. Since I cut taxes because I wanted to grow them faster I was getting no tax income from the newly conquered provinces for a long while.

The only way to make money on these newly conquered provinces (unless you tax them) is to build/upgrade the trade buildings they have. However, some of them don't have a port to start with and have no land route to a port. For example, Panama and Guatemala can't export anything until the port in their region grows. They're connected to each other and to Mexico/Bogota but by forested regions, not roads. I'm pretty sure Caracas is the same thing. Florida doesn't start out with a port, either.

So for a lot of these provinces, you won't make any tax income if you want to grow them and you won't make any trade income until a port in the province grows.

And yes, disband your militias. Town watch is cheaper but there's a limit into how much repression it can do.

[Explodingcannonballfromhell]

Remember, ETW is different from earlier games in that a land grab doesn't necessarily mean your income skyrockets. As UP, I conquered the Spanish provinces in the Americas first. Since I cut taxes because I wanted to grow them faster I was getting no tax income from the newly conquered provinces for a long while.

The only way to make money on these newly conquered provinces (unless you tax them) is to build/upgrade the trade buildings they have. However, some of them don't have a port to start with and have no land route to a port. For example, Panama and Guatemala can't export anything until the port in their region grows. They're connected to each other and to Mexico/Bogota but by forested regions, not roads. I'm pretty sure Caracas is the same thing. Florida doesn't start out with a port, either.

So for a lot of these provinces, you won't make any tax income if you want to grow them and you won't make any trade income until a port in the province grows.

And yes, disband your militias. Town watch is cheaper but there's a limit into how much repression it can do.

I taxed regions to much and they wouldend grow, thats why my empire wassent making money. Same with teritories you take from the indians, they have basic farms that you need to destroy before building your own quality farms because you cant upgrade those indian ones, this and "no taxation" helps town growth a lot.

My empire is looking good atm, making a steady income but enemies are starting to blockade my trade routes.I know what i have to do now.

[jsberry]

How exactly do you use a Indiamen fleet for trade? Sail it to American or India?

[Grumfoss]

What you need to do is send your Indiaman/tradeship to the trade areas, i.e. Ivory coast, South America, Find a free location (an anchor in a circle) and plonk your Indiaman on it. If your trade ship is traveling with an escort, separate it first (before you put on the trade zone) otherwise it may cause problems. i.e. trade not working.

Hope this helps

[Melvish]

I've notice sometime with UK i make something like -6000 on the "other" (diplomatic & protectora) line in the income screen. It has been like that for more than 20 turn. I suspect a bug, it either a recurrent payment gone wrong or the 13 colonies run a deficit and i'm paying for them.

Check your income screen and trade screen, it will give you a hint of what happening. If all seem ok try disbanding some armies and try to take control of more trade area (Brazil, Ivory Coast, etc)

If this could be confirmed as a bug and not a "feature", i'll publish the bugged save game via 4share

[Prodigal]

Something about trade routes.

Still finding my feet so haven't tried this on H/H or higher yet, but in the first turn send all your ships out to the trade routes, while building indiamen in port, by turn 3 you should be able to disperse your fleet & take up alot of the trade route ports, then steadily replace them with indiamen freeing up your original navy. In the early stages grabbing as many slots as you can without having to attack anyone helps the cash flow.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Something about trade routes.

Still finding my feet so haven't tried this on H/H or higher yet, but in the first turn send all your ships out to the trade routes, while building indiamen in port, by turn 3 you should be able to disperse your fleet & take up alot of the trade route ports, then steadily replace them with indiamen freeing up your original navy. In the early stages grabbing as many slots as you can without having to attack anyone helps the cash flow.

I have done that. I own most trade spots on the Ivory coast and Madagascar and some on the other trade theaters. I never put twenty ships on a spot because after a certain time or amount of Indiamen the world prices were beginning to drop. Now they are up again and since I am stinking rich (around 1750) I don't need those extra ships.

[leothtang]

if you want to increase your tax money, don't increase your tax rate. In ETW, they have a new system on tax. The tax amount is calculated as a percentage of your region wealth. The region wealth would increase if you have industries, farms and trade ports. Upgrading them would add a lump sum amount and some building would generate a small amount each turn. In contrast, the growth is decreased by taxation. If you have a high tax rate on the nobles, the region growth would decrease, become stagnant or even negative. A negative growth means that the region wealth is decreasing and therefore you tax would decrease too. For the long term, decrease your tax rate for both noble and lower classes (A higher population growth also helps the region wealth). So your region can thrive. And upgrade those economic and industrial building. If you really want to have a large tax quickly, conquer region with high wealth. They are typically large regions with lots of building. A fraction capital also almost guarantee a region of good wealth.

[Sheogorath]

Ivory is generally the most valuable trade resource, so you should make it your business to rush the Ivory Coast and Madagascar if you're going for a trade empire. Maybe even help the competition to the door, being a polite superpower.

A few little wars never hurt anybody ;)

[Quillan]

Slight little side note on ivory: I've read (here) that the trade value of trade goods fluctuates based on several factors, including both the number of factions trading in that good as well as the total amount being traded. When I started my UP campaign, I spammed merchant ships, starting with Fluyts and following them up with Indiamen. By 1720, I had 4 spots in the Ivory Coast, 4 spots in the Straits of Madagascar and two spots in the East Indies taken up with trade fleets. Each fleet consists of 3-12 merchant vessels, most being 3-4. In this game, ivory is currently down to 13 in value; spices, cotton, tea, and even coffee are more valuable, probably because I'm monopolizing the source of ivory and flooding the market with it.

I'm thinking it's probably better to keep the trade fleets at no more than 4 trade vessels as well as not getting more than 4 total ivory spots in the hopes that the value stays high. I know in my GB campaign ivory and spices both stayed at around 22 value for the entire campaign.