Economy Management?

[nickrica]

So I recently started playing this mod, and fell in love with the map, the factions, and the reskinned units. I am having a lot of trouble enjoying this mod now though, because of the economy scripts/field costs scripts. To be honest, I really hate those features. Is there a way to turn them off? If this is not possible, then how do manage your economy well enough to mantain even a single army?

[G|I|Sandy]

Hi Nickrica. Unfortunately this mod is not as popular as it used to be. It is quite normal to not get any replies for many days here.

As for your question, the only way to get rid of these features would be to edit the campaign_script file, which I strongly advice against unless you know what you are doing. To properly play the game you need to read the Guide for beginners. DLV is not very intuitive at start. It is heavily scripted, so you need to know what to do at the start to tweak it to your liking. Actually, there is only one main switch - Defense Spending. It controls how much you pay every turn for castles and the maximum unit limit. This in turn increases the number of Military points but decreases Government points gained per turn. These two are needed to unlock key buildings in respective building trees. Also keep in mind that DLV is designed to be slow. It takes many turns (30-50) to get your economy going. However, once you have reliable allies and conquer a few cities you will have enough cash to hold at least 1 full stack or even more. I had cities that generate 15000 per turn (once a year, during harvest season).

DLV does not get boring as you play through campaign. At 100+ turns all factions tend to have 5-8 full stacks guarding their borders. This is when the fun begins. You need to manage diplomacy and avoid fighting on many fronts. Essentially you act as a catalyst driving the politics in the world. Once you get in a war with someone, your allies will choose to fight for you or stay neutral. There will be major conflicts all over map. However, first 50 turns it tends to be passive. So be patient. Every campaign turns out to be very unique.

In my last campaign as HRE, I set myself a goal to conquer Papal states. I was still sitting at 15 provinces after 200+ turns, and still could not conquer Rome! I simply had to fight Venice, Milan and Sicily at the same time. At some point France back-stabbed me, even though we had an arranged marriage previously. I was exhausted fighting on 3 fronts. You don't expect this to happen in any other mod.

To be honest, I do not like some of the features of DLV. Like some of the forced features, and its slow pace at start. But this is still the best mod out there for me.

Sandy

[nickrica]

Forgot about posting here, when I went camping. I really do want to get the hang of this mod, I love complicated nuanced medieval politics, but I think that there is an unpredictable side to the economy in DLV. I get that this is somewhat realistic, but I got really frustrated in my Flanders game (where I held 3 cities and 3 castles), at the fact that I had all free upkeep units and no armies, with a focus on financial buildings, yet was still plummeting into extreme debt. I have a manual for DLV, though I did skim through it, lol probably should read it a little more in depth. I understand there are some features in the manual that are changed/removed in BB though, wish there was an updated manual. I think my biggest pet peeve about special scripts is how they're kinda "gimickly implemented" lol. I understand that there is little alternative, but i'm more a fan of things like increased recruitment cost/increased upkeep or changes to the AI for increased difficultly. I probably will keep trying until I get it though, thanks for the help!

EDIT: Is there any way to deal with the end turn crashes? Fighting defensive battles is part of the fun of this game, but I've lost some due to crashes, and having to auto-calculate.

[Kaskad]

nickrica:
I my opinion, you lack in cash because you have too many castles for too few cities. To have my economic system working efficiently, I usually apply the following rule: 1 castle for 3 cities, 2 castles for 6 cities (or 5 at the minimum) and so on... Your castles are currently eating your florins.
According to your present situation, here is what I would do asap:
_ first, try to specialize each of these three castles: one for infantry, one for cavalry, and one for archery + military port. Destroy the buildings related to the other specialization. Try to build your missile units into town also, not castles.
_ secondly, if the previous way does not help to get your economy better, try to sell one of these 3 castles to an ally.


Crashes: I have very few crashes in my campaign(s). Only some random ones on the CM and between two turns. Nothing really annoying though (maybe 1 every 20 turns max.). Not a single during battles.

[nickrica]

Thanks for your response, so if I understand correctly, it costs money per turn just to have buildings in a castle? The thing that was odd, was how i had everyone freely garrisoned with no armies moving around, and was still losing money. i was really just buying financial buildings in my cities too. i like in medieval having the ability to eventually build everything everywhere.

[Kaskad]

What costs the most per turn is ... having castles. General Settlement costs increase a lot when you get one and then even more when you upgrade it.
I suggest you check this exellent guide : http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ted-9-16-09%29
It was made for DLV but still pretty much the same use for BB.

[G|I|Sandy]

nickrica, I believe it costs 1000 or 2000 per turn per castle. Depending on the level of development. Basically, castles never produce any money. They show they produce 0-500 in general, but that's not including the above cost. I have never had more than 1000 in a castle per turn. However, the fixed "maintenance" cost is coded, and is simply deduced at the end turn. Coded scripts are not reflected in the treasury and settlement info panels. There are other coded costs such as your agents (100-200) and armies (500) being in foreign lands. Keep your army in 1 stack, and all other troops garrisoned to have an impaction expansion and development of home territories at the same time. Also besieging any settlement costs 2000 per turn.

Sandy

[nickrica]

Yeah that probably explains it, that's kinda interesting how castles in a way are something you can only afford sparingly and on your border. Guess I'm gonna have to read more of the manual before i start another game, lol. Thanks guys!