Taxation vs Garrison vs Profit

[CynicalMagician]

Previously I've been under the impression that always running very high tax is the way to go, because it earns you the most money. While this is true, it doesn't factor in the additional cost of garrisons. When running very high tax you almost always need a larger garrison than is supported for free with militia buildings, so in order for vh tax to be worth while the additional tax income has to outweigh the upkeep cost of the garrison.

While you're looking at the tax screen of a city, adjust the tax level and look at how much more or less money you're getting out of a settlement at vh tax vs normal tax. For an average settlement that makes 2-3000 florins per turn, the difference between vh and normal is probably about 300-400 dollars. Because taxation and public order are directly linked, when you raise taxes you're selling excess public order for cash. Lowering taxes is the reverse - you're buying extra public order by lowering tax.

While a settlement is small (under 6000 population or so), at normal tax you've probably got 150%+ public order, no matter how large the garrison is. In a situation like this you've got public order coming out the wazoo so obviously you should crank up the taxes to get the extra couple hundred florins a turn. With small settlements that you've religiously converted you should be able to maintain this with only 1 or 2 free garrison. Also, the low level public order buildings (churches, town halls, brothels, etc) are really cheap for what they provide. The first two levels of PO buildings are always worth the money they provide via the allowance of higher tax.

As a settlement gets larger, the picture becomes more complex. PO buildings get really expensive for what they provide both in terms of cash and time. You don't want to let one of your big cities build a tavern for 3 turns and 3200 florins or a mayor's house for 4800 and 5 turns when they could be building the next level of militia building or spending that cash on troops. Also, as settlements get larger garrison becomes less effective on a per unit scale.

When a city is 10-15k in population or larger, running very high or even high tax can need 8-10 units of garrison, if not more. Even if half the garrison is free upkeep, the other 4 or 5 units are costing at least 100 florins a turn. Since the difference in income between normal and very high tax is about 400-500 florins and your non-free garrison costs 100-150 florins per turn in upkeep, you're actually losing money at very high tax vs normal tax.

Thus as a general rule, the most profitable state of a city after the inclusion of garrison is very high tax when the settlement is small, and normal or low tax when the settlement is large. The way to tell is to look at the cost of the garrison necessary to maintain order at high tax against the extra tax you get. If you're spending more on garrison than you're getting on tax, knock down the tax and disband some units.

This tidy rule has some exceptions. It's tacitly assumed in the above that you aren't worried about your settlements being attacked. If you are, you'll want a much larger garrison. In that situation, bump up the taxes while the army is in town and the town will help pay for them while they benefit from higher public order. Front line cities can almost always support higher tax than core cities because relief armies are typically nearby or in the city itself.

Another exception relates to family members. Running a city on normal or low tax with a family member is begging for the 'bad taxman' trait. So don't. The payoff of extra income from having a family member in the city is nothing (50 florins per turn, big deal) compared to the usefulness of a general at the front lines. I never keep family members in cities. If you want them to make you money, send them out with armies to sack cities. You'll get way more bang for your buck that way than if you hope for management traits. The only time a family member should be used in a city is when you have high dread/chivalry generals like crusaders. Their presence in a city can sometimes add 60 or 80% public order, allowing higher tax, and thus more cash.

[Tiwaz]

Actually... I disagree with some parts.

First, you are saying you would prefer to build militia building over some other order building. Why?

Your comment regarding front line cities and having city pay upkeep of some units while army is in town hints that you use MILITIA units as a usual part of your army. I would advice against this.

While early on it can be useful to include militias in actual armies it is also period when you do not need large garrisons to keep order. Later on militia falls woefully behind REAL military units (as in gained from castles) in performance (with exception of England and Levy spearmen vs Militia Spearmen IIRC but generally).

In my games garrisons are in cities to help with order and, hopefully, force enemy to spend some time preparing to assault the city. Which time I try to use to bring actual army into situation.

So it is less important for me to build much militia buildings then it is to build buildings which will bring in florins (be it through taxes or something else) to pay for my standing armies. Ergo, building taverns etc and setting taxes as high as people tolerate.

[the_mango55]

Depends on the faction.

Italian militia units, especially the Genoese, are nearly as good as their castle units.

[CynicalMagician]

With all 3 of the italian factions, the spanish and the portuguese militia units are very viable on the battlefield. By the time you reach gunpowder, virtually all factions have very good high level militia. Naturally you won't conquer the world using town militia, but you definitely can conquer the world using portuguese sword militia, italian spear militia, or italian crossbow militia.

Also, I've found that militia units are easier to mass produce and pay for in large quantities than castle units. The first couple tiers of militia are always useless, which makes castles very important at the start of the game, but by 15-20 turns in you can have tier 4 militia which gets respectable for any nation. The only thing towns lack is cavalry, but that can be remedied by getting a knights guild, or saving one castle for purely cavalry builds.

In my experience against the AI, quantity is more important than quality, and as long as you aren't mass producing the worst militia, you can do fine against the armies the AI fields.

I'm not advocating that you never ever use castle units, but in my experience it isn't worth the money to build up armies entirely of castle units. 2-3 heavy castle infantry plus a 16 militia, a general and a unit or two of horse makes a formidable force no matter who you're facing.

[Tiwaz]

Actually quality is quantity. If used in quantity it's huge quantity. Of course there are personal preferences.

I prefer to combat with few, immensly strong (castle) armies led by great generals. They tend to rip holes into multiple militia based armies rather easily during your attack. Small advantages in regular units can make them last longer in battle, thus gaining experience and adding to their advantage over militias.

But ultimately personal preference.

[eventhorizen]

Iv found that 6 militia units and some cunning production of the right law giving buildings, plus a priest is enough to keep most large cities at Vh tax rate.

If you need to go above that, throw in a unit of castle produced low upkeep heavy cavalry, or merchant militia cavalry, and thats an ideal garrison for defeating rebel armies, or the occasional rogue enemy.


Where I tend to find problems is when switching a castle/fortress to a city. It almost instantly becomes rife with unrest, and it can be difficult to catch the population growth/happiness spiral unless you load it up with units.

My strategy is to forget farms and farming untill growth becomes stagnant, immediatly produce government buildings, then barracks, then your brothel/church upgrade if you need too, otherwise go for market and shipping.

Having a priest turn heretic for even one turn can destroy a finely balanced city, so make sure that you have cardinals spaced out evenly, or your theologians guild/huge cathedral pope factory making all your priests.


For some towns, yes, it can become a huge problem, but if you recruit good militia for your armies from cities, keep taxes high but not unbearable, and garrison and build well, 9 out of 10 cities should be controllable, right up to VH for most of the game.

Do this, and keep your King governing the city with the most unrest, and he will become a Tyrant in no time, \o/