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Thread: Economic Strategies for NTW

  1. #1

    Default Economic Strategies for NTW

    Now who has a good handle on this?

    I have never be the best at developing these. Some players report being flush with cash but all I seem to be able to do is break even or even lose a little ground as I expand.

    What is best to build to give you that boost?

    Which are the juicy regions to go for?

    Where are the best trade spots?

    I am playing France and have trouble keeping income above 2500 which only pays for militia so I can move on.

    What are the answers to a good cash flow?

  2. #2

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    I'm finding it's real easy to make money in the France campaign. Here's what I did:

    1. Disband all national guard. Regular militia are cheaper and do the same job: police bonus. I don't like relying on militia to defend areas anyway.

    2. Disband all canons but the two 12 pounders and the 8 pounder the army has in Italy. This is a personal preference but I find I really dislike 6 pound guns now and they aren't worth the upkeep.

    3. Disband all crappy frigates you start with except one to claim the ivory spot near Gibralter. Once you have a trade ship on the ivory spot disband that frigate. Try to claim as many ivory/spice/tea spots as you can. Never stop building trade ships. Keep the admiral and his two 74 gun ships. The British will never bother you around Spain and the Med but they can at least raid supply lines the british use.

    4. Destroy the trade port in north France. The British will blockade it and it is useless then. Build trade ports in southern France ports and one in the west coast of France. Use your northern ports for combat ship building later on when you feel like taking the British on and have the income to support a real navy.

    5. Upgrade the college in Paris and research exclusively civil and industrial technologies there. Trade for combat technologies from allies or research them at another college.

    6. Upgrade economic buildings in your high income territories first such as Paris. I also try to upgrade roads each turn. My method is to build cobble stone roads in one territory a turn till they are all covered. Then work on metaled roads. Supply depots that are not being utilized are bad. Turn them into markets. The higher tier markets and trade ports increase region wealth growth everywhere so they are worth building. Make sure the tax office is the highest tier available in high income regions - especially Paris.

    7. Reduce taxes as much as possible. I try and maintain at least 5k income a turn and use that as my guide. Reducing taxes is good in the long run for town wealth growth.

    8. All territories that only have 2 building slots (usually whatever/and star fort) should have tax offices intead of things like barracks/artillery foundry. Recruit units from places like Paris/Vienna/Berlin instead.
    Last edited by Fotchimus; March 16, 2010 at 11:52 AM.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    The key to my economic success is constantly upgrading roads and keeping my taxes at the lowest rate. With taxes as low as they go town wealth and population grow at a rapid rate and even with taxes at the lowest you will still be swimming in cash in a few years.
    I also find that if the town is around 1000 its better to have a opera house than a tax house because the fixed bonus will equal out to be more than the percentage bonus if your town income is too low.
    Theirs not to make reply,
    Theirs not to reason why,
    Theirs but to do and die.
    -Alfred Tennyson

  4. #4
    Primicerius
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    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Quote Originally Posted by The_Reckoner View Post
    I also find that if the town is around 1000 its better to have a opera house than a tax house because the fixed bonus will equal out to be more than the percentage bonus if your town income is too low.
    It depends where you are in your campaign. If at the beginning, sure, an opera house might give you a better long-run return due to growth. However, even in the middle of the campaign you will not have sufficient number of turns left to make an opera house more profitable than a tax house over the remainder of the campaign. So, I'd suggest switching your lone opera houses to tax-houses some time mid-campaign.

    As to the original post. It depends what faction you are playing. If the question is about France, here is what I did. There is a disclaimer to what I am laying out here though: it might not work in a multiplayer campaign because humans tend to behave very different from the AI.

    1. DO NOT listen to the folks suggesting destroying the French trading harbor in Northern France. British AI rarely raid anything. Just park a militia unit in all your ports. Later switch those militia units out for merchantmen ships (much lower upkeep). Even if a trading port is blockaded, it improves your finances tremendously through the growth bonus it brings.

    2. DO NOT disband your militia and national guard units. They come in handy in your military affairs and provide garrison bonus, which you might need until your repression mechanism is built up.

    3. MAKE TRADE AGREEMENTS with anybody you can, ASAP.

    4. Turn 0: Start building 2 more trade ports in Northern France (in the empty slots you have); Build a trade port near Marseille; Build a dockyard on Corsica (you will need to strengthen your Mediterranean fleet to protect your trade there from Austrians, Southern Italians and Ottomans). Start building merchantmen in all your existing trade ports. IMPORTANT: use your fleet near Gibraltar to grab a few trade slots near Spain, best go for Ivory and Spices, Sugar and Tea are good too. You start with a small fleet in the Mediterranean too: move those south and on Turn 1 (or 2) grab trade slots near Tunisia (Coffee and Spices).

    5. Do whatever you do for the upcoming turns, but continue spamming merchantmen and send those to the trade slots you secured with your military fleet on turn 0. Soon enough (by around the summer of 1806), you should be able to make around 20K in profit per turn after paying upkeep of around 4 full stacks of army + the original fleet.

    6. When Indiamen become available, crunch a fleet of those out. Indiamen are able warships that can trade (higher upkeep, but still able to pay for themselves when trading) so can be used to reinforce your trading fleets. At the minimum, they should be able to make short work of merchantmen of other nations.

    7. By the way, the demand seems to adjust quite slowly in NTW. So, even stacks of 10 ships per node are able to crunch out huge profits.

    8. Oh, another thing. I found it hugely profitable to offer alliance to Prussia on turn 0, even if I had to pay for it (I also paid them to attack Russia right after they signed the alliance deal; that way, they were focused on the Eastern front and their mind was away from French holdings). By the end of 1805 Prussian trade accounted for about 40% of my profits. I guess, because they had no other way to get access to African goods.

    9. Heh, still another thing. As soon as you have merchantmen replace your frigates in the two trade spots North of Tunisia, move the frigate fleet to the Eastern end of Sicily and start raiding Sicilian and Neapolitan ports. That way, they will never be able to send ships to attack your trade. If you want even more efficiency (frigates can be used more productively than raiding ports), send 2 militia units South from Corsica. Land them at the Southmost tip of Italy (that way AI cannot strike them as they land). March one militia unit North-East, other one - across the straights into Sicily. Hide both in ambush positions in the woods near the ports. Once they have their move points renewed, use them to raid AI's ports and hide them after the raids. AI never finds such ambushers.

    I was able to do the above both on H and VH campaign difficulty settings.
    Last edited by Slaists; March 16, 2010 at 02:14 PM.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Thanks Slaists, I was hoping you would respond. I know you usually have a good handle on this stuff.

    And thanks to The Reckoner and Fotchimus too. + rep to you all.



  6. #6

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Quote Originally Posted by Slaists View Post
    It depends where you are in your campaign. If at the beginning, sure, an opera house might give you a better long-run return due to growth. However, even in the middle of the campaign you will not have sufficient number of turns left to make an opera house more profitable than a tax house over the remainder of the campaign. So, I'd suggest switching your lone opera houses to tax-houses some time mid-campaign.

    As to the original post. It depends what faction you are playing. If the question is about France, here is what I did. There is a disclaimer to what I am laying out here though: it might not work in a multiplayer campaign because humans tend to behave very different from the AI.

    1. DO NOT listen to the folks suggesting destroying the French trading harbor in Northern France. British AI rarely raid anything. Just park a militia unit in all your ports. Later switch those militia units out for merchantmen ships (much lower upkeep). Even if a trading port is blockaded, it improves your finances tremendously through the growth bonus it brings.

    2. DO NOT disband your militia and national guard units. They come in handy in your military affairs and provide garrison bonus, which you might need until your repression mechanism is built up.

    3. MAKE TRADE AGREEMENTS with anybody you can, ASAP.

    4. Turn 0: Start building 2 more trade ports in Northern France (in the empty slots you have); Build a trade port near Marseille; Build a dockyard on Corsica (you will need to build up your Mediterranean fleet to protect your trade there from Austrians, Souther Italians and Ottomans). Start building merchantmen in all your existing trade ports. IMPORTANT: use your fleet near Gibraltar to grab a few trade slots near Spain, best go for Ivory and Spices, Sugar and Tea are good too. You start with a small fleet in the Mediterranean too: move those south and on Turn 1 (or 2) grab trade slots near Tunisia (Coffee and Spices).

    5. Do whatever you do for the upcoming turns, but continue spamming merchantmen and send those to the trade slots you secured with your military fleet on turn 0. Soon enough (by around the summer of 1806), you should be able to make around 20K in profit per turn after paying upkeep of around 4 full stacks of army + the original fleet.

    6. When Indiamen become available, crunch a fleet of those out. Indiamen are able warships that can trade (higher upkeep, but still able to pay for themselves when trading) so can be used to reinforce your trading fleets. At the minimum, they should be able to make short work of merchantmen of other nations.

    7. By the way, the demand seems to adjust quite slowly in NTW. So, even stacks of 10 ships per node are able to crunch out huge profits.

    8. Oh, another thing. I found it hugely profitable to offer alliance to Prussia on turn 0, even if I had to pay for it (I also paid them to attack Russia right after they signed the alliance deal; that way, they were focused on the Eastern front and their mind was away from French holdings). By the end of 1805 Prussian trade accounted for about 40% of my profits. I guess, because they had no other way to get access to African goods.

    I was able to do the above both on H and VH campaign difficulty settings.
    Fairly good advice but I disagree about the trade port in the north. I do put a single militia unit in every port to keep them from being raided but the British will still blockade it. If you have trade lines coming out of said port then you get NO income from the faction(s) you are trading with from that port. Sometimes that can be several thousand in lost income. They do build region wealth which is why I suggest having the one on the west coast of Paris but the towns along the north are not going to grow significantly from these - certainly not enough to counter the loss in income from a blockade.

    And I said disband national guard, not all militia. Militia have their uses in that they keep areas under control and can keep raiders away but not full stack armies. National Guard are just overpriced militia with slightly higher stats and not at all worth it to me. If you are relying on militia as your primary defense then you aren't using enough real armies. By the end of 1805 I keep a half stack army in Paris and its only purpose is to deal with landing British forces. I'll have another 3 armies gaining ground in Europe and staying with the front, easily able to deal with any enemies.

    Also allying with Prussia is up to you. I traded with them but avoided allying because you need Berlin as a victory region to win the campaign. Ottomans are a good ally to have as is Hungary if they emerge (buffer between you and Russia). I steamrolled Prussia fairly easily on H/H.

  7. #7
    Primicerius
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    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Quote Originally Posted by Fotchimus View Post
    Fairly good advice but I disagree about the trade port in the north. I do put a single militia unit in every port to keep them from being raided but the British will still blockade it. If you have trade lines coming out of said port then you get NO income from the faction(s) you are trading with from that port. Sometimes that can be several thousand in lost income. They do build region wealth which is why I suggest having the one on the west coast of Paris but the towns along the north are not going to grow significantly from these - certainly not enough to counter the loss in income from a blockade.

    And I said disband national guard, not all militia. Militia have their uses in that they keep areas under control and can keep raiders away but not full stack armies. National Guard are just overpriced militia with slightly higher stats and not at all worth it to me. If you are relying on militia as your primary defense then you aren't using enough real armies. By the end of 1805 I keep a half stack army in Paris and its only purpose is to deal with landing British forces. I'll have another 3 armies gaining ground in Europe and staying with the front, easily able to deal with any enemies.

    Also allying with Prussia is up to you. I traded with them but avoided allying because you need Berlin as a victory region to win the campaign. Ottomans are a good ally to have as is Hungary if they emerge (buffer between you and Russia). I steamrolled Prussia fairly easily on H/H.
    I kept the British fleet busy and 'concerned' by constantly raiding THEIR ports (with sloops and merchantmen). Anyway, the British naval AI actions seemed completely incoherent and uncoordinated all through 1705, 1706 and 1707 (they started sending serious troops over after that). True, they would blockade that Northern French port now and then, but never stayed there longer than a turn. I do not know why. So, I thought it to be a bargain: I'd get my trade profit from the port in 7-8 turns out of 10.

    National guard I kept for game-play reasons mostly. I just like them as something between line and militia. And it made me feel good that I could defend Britanny from a British raiding party just using National Guards and citizens while my full-stack real army was having a picnic in the near-by forest. By the way, you're right that militia is cheaper for garrison repression bonus purposes.

    As to Prussia. I played two French campaigns. In one, I did not ally with them, but rather steamrolled them. It felt boring after I took Berlin, since there was no serious opposition left. Thus, for the aforementioned gameplay reasons, I allied with them in the next campaign and found it to be highly profitable. Also, in the second campaign, rather than steamrolling everyone, I tried to do surgical strikes, try to enjoy fighting the English landing parties in France (allowing them to be controlled by drop-in human players) and help my allies. It felt more fun that way. Even then, my full coffers brought about the boredom monster soon enough.

  8. #8
    TheAussieDigger's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    in NTW NEVER keep taxes at 3/5

    farms no longer provide growth and all regions are at a -0.07% growth rate at 3/5


  9. #9

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    I don't think population growth is important anymore. It used to be extremely important in ETW because that would determine how fast you would get towns to emerge. More towns = more income producing buildings. In both games population does not affect your income in any way though.

    All that matters in NTW is region wealth. One difference in NTW is lowering the taxes on the lower class does increase region wealth growth a bit though not quite as much as lowering taxes on the middle/upper class. I prioritize lowering taxes on the middle/upper class first, then the lower class until I can set them both at the minimum.

  10. #10
    TheAussieDigger's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Quote Originally Posted by Fotchimus View Post
    I don't think population growth is important anymore. It used to be extremely important in ETW because that would determine how fast you would get towns to emerge. More towns = more income producing buildings. In both games population does not affect your income in any way though.

    All that matters in NTW is region wealth. One difference in NTW is lowering the taxes on the lower class does increase region wealth growth a bit though not quite as much as lowering taxes on the middle/upper class. I prioritize lowering taxes on the middle/upper class first, then the lower class until I can set them both at the minimum.
    population does affect income but not too much

    remember the more people there are, the more people there are who are paying taxes


  11. #11

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAussieDigger View Post
    population does affect income but not too much

    remember the more people there are, the more people there are who are paying taxes
    Where did you get this from? Income from taxes is a percentage of the total region wealth of a territory. If you mouse over the areas in region wealth it tells you what each one is. Usually agriculture, industry, ports, etc. There is nothing to suggest in there that population is adding anything in region wealth.

    Population used to affect income in games like MTW2 and RTW but not in ETW and NTW.

  12. #12

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Greetings!
    Quote Originally Posted by TheAussieDigger View Post
    in NTW NEVER keep taxes at 3/5
    farms no longer provide growth and all regions are at a -0.07% growth rate at 3/5
    Thats not a problem in NTW. You dont get new towns as you did in ETW, and there is no relation between population and taxes.
    In fact, the larger the population the more you need to pay for the "automatic garrison thingy" (forgot the name...).
    The recruitment of Militia is illegal.
    Militia-recruiters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the applicable laws.

  13. #13

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Population effects your replenishment rate. I can’t tell that it does more though farms seem more profitable this time a round.

    There is still rep to be had for good strong economic advice.

    If nothing else we can compile it into a guide.

  14. #14

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Quote Originally Posted by Red Hue View Post
    Population effects your replenishment rate. I can’t tell that it does more though farms seem more profitable this time a round.

    There is still rep to be had for good strong economic advice.

    If nothing else we can compile it into a guide.
    Can this be confirmed anywhere? As far as I know farms, roads, supply buildings, and certain perks on generals only increase replenishment rates.

  15. #15

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Greetings!
    Quote Originally Posted by Red Hue View Post
    Population effects your replenishment rate.
    How?
    The recruitment of Militia is illegal.
    Militia-recruiters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the applicable laws.

  16. #16

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Quote Originally Posted by impar View Post
    Greetings!

    How?
    Darn! I read that some where, but I can’t remember where the heck it was...

    It could have been the manual.


  17. #17
    TheAussieDigger's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    i noticed my mistake the other night


    if there are more people there are gonna be more people willing to join the army


  18. #18

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Greetings!
    Quote Originally Posted by TheAussieDigger View Post
    if there are more people there are gonna be more people willing to join the army
    That for the increased replenisihing rate?
    Where is that?
    The recruitment of Militia is illegal.
    Militia-recruiters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the applicable laws.

  19. #19

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Hey, about disbanding the National Guards, the Brits kept landing armies after armies every two turns. I was forced to retain them and worst,recruit more regular fusiliers to supplement them--crippling my economy. Is there a better way of coastal defence until my navy is ready?

  20. #20

    Default Re: Economic Strategies for NTW

    Greetings!
    Quote Originally Posted by darthfanta View Post
    Is there a better way of coastal defence until my navy is ready?
    There is. Its called peace.
    The recruitment of Militia is illegal.
    Militia-recruiters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the applicable laws.

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