How to make money

[Oafe101]

So I was wondering how you guys made any money in the game? You only start out with 10,000 gold or watever and are already like minus 3 or 4k. So how do u get an infrastructure up n running? Only way I've been able to play is with the money cheat n I'd like to stop using it. Thanks.

[Wildfowler]

I had this problem. I found you have to manage taxes very carefully!
I have found that if you build sertain buildings revenue does go up.
Also taking another county increases your income. Recently on a Royalist Campaign I went down to minus 6000.

However by completing a mission set by my war council and ransoming some POWs I actually got back up to 5000. Then it is easier to get the right buildings etc.

I feel this is very close to history as the Royalists were chronically short of money. The Queen even pawned the crown jewels!

Parliament managed better but they leviede quite heavy taxes and also sequested Royalist estates etc.

[Ciaran S]

That´s the real challenge. The best start, I´ve found, is to bring all the field armies into cities in the first turn, and then push up the taxes as high as possible. You won´t see a lot of green settlements throughout the game (or if you try, you´ll be worse in the reds than you´ll be anyways), live with it. Yellow isn´t so bad and blue still is tolerable. Don´t try to build coffee houses or printing presses in the first turns to improve happiness. I did. It didn´t work out. Port buildings which give you merchant fleets are good. Don´t spend all the money on trade improvements, though, their effect on income is rather limited and you´ll need the cash from the start to pay your troops. If you can, carefully consider whether you need all of them. Trayned Bands are free of upkeep, if the higher tier regiment can´t be recruited in the settlement, but only two units at maximum, and they´re as expensive as your "regular" regiements. So carefully consider a few units to disband.
It goes without saying that, once the war broke out, you should sack the settlements which you capture.
Don´t be too afraid of battles. Ransom can give you quite a bit of revenue, especially if you´re lucky enough to capture an enemy character, but the losses you suffer will also decrease your army upkeep. In my first Royalist campaign I won a battle with Ruperts army and I had lost practically the whole army, save for Rupert and a very depleted unit of cavaliers. But they managed to capture the other general (I don´t remember who it was) as well as a lot of his troops, and the ransom, together with the drastically decreased upkeep costs, was a real savior for my finances.

[Bernem]

disband most of your cavalry in the beginning and sack as much as you can!