Why run out of money?

[Joeri.]

Hiya,

I recently installed Medieval II on my computer, since I really liked Rome Total War (normally I'm not such an RTS fan). But now I'm experiencing some problems:

I started a game with the French with both difficulty settings on Medium, but after a short while I ran out of money. I couldn't build ****, or my fund-meter was red again :hmmm:
So I started a new game with the settings changed to Easy, because I wanted to be able to make big armies and have developed cities (as in Rome TW, where money never seemed to be an issue). But even now I'm starting to run out of funds.. I don't have alot of Castles (which make, ofcourse, less money) so I don't think that could be the problem (castle/city ratio is about 2:3).

I'm not an experienced RTS player, so maybe I'm totally missing out on something ..if you have a suggestion, just shoot!

greets
Joeri
Netherlands

[Soulghast]

For start, try to conquer as many rebel settlements as you can, with the troops you already have. Your first move in your cities should be to connect them with roads. That way, they will generate income. Build ports in your coastal settlements.

Then start building farms and trade buildings. Acquire trade rights with other factions. Build merchants and send them to look for valuable resources( e.g Ivory in Africa). You should Only build new troops when it is necessary. Build up first, then look to your military.

Do not wage war to other factions, unless you have a big army and decent economy.

That should be enough. If you have any questions, just ask.

BTW, welcome to TWC and have a good time here!

[legionari]

Or simply use the add money cheat push ~ then type add_money 4000

[Soulghast]

Or simply use the add money cheat push ~ then type add_money 4000

Yes, if he likes cheating. Personally I don't like to do this as it ruins the game,and there will be no interest if you do this. I like to feel like I am running a kingdom with all the difficulties this has to offer.

If you cheat a lot, you'll find yourself bored of the game very soon, I assure you that.

[Joeri.]

Thanks for your answers!

No, I don't think I'm going to cheat, since it makes the non-fighting part of the game less interesting.
I started a new game (with the Germans) and did, coincidently, exactly the things RTR fan told me to; take rebel cities, connect them with roads, have some allies and trade with them. I also changed some castles to cities, since I also took some rebel-castles. It seems you can't go around building new stuff in your cities, as in RTW ..you really have to think before you act.

[Joeri.]

It really seems to help!
I have a income of around +6000 florins each turn. I don't know if this is much, but it'll do for me

Thanks again!

[Soulghast]

I'm always glad to help. I am also glad you got money rolling in. 6000 florins a turn is a superb income.

[Hex Khan]

in my last campaign i did with france you have a very bright future with them from about 1200 onwardish i was making anything between 80-40'000 a turn its always slow to start off with but sooner or later everything will pick up just soar.

[Silent Assassin]

The problem with the income, more in Vanilla game if you have multiples wars on multiples fronts you will lose money has you will need to build armys but also when at war you lose all you trade rights with the ones at war with.

Be sure to not get excommunated, if you are then be sure that you get reconciled before the Pope calls in a crusade against you. All the catholic factions that you have trade rights with or alliances will all fall by joining the crusade

[Nydirannon]

In the first turns of the game, i try to avoid war.

In the first cities, build roads, farms then markets before building military improvements.. If you are along the coast, builds ports.
Try not to recruit too many soldiers in the beginning.

Building merchants also help.

Of course expand regularly. Focus on the rebel settlements and the missions. You get either money or military units as rewards.

Conclusiion: focus on the economy first.

[Joeri.]

Well, I didn't choose the best of countries to play with I guess.
My Imperial army got attacked by all my allies, on different fronts, till I didn't have any money left. So it's probably better to choose Spain or England, since they don't have many neighbours.
The pope wasn't too happy about me either, since I attacked Poland while he asked me not to (they broke our alliance by attacking one of my ports). So I lost all my "pope-favour-crosses" in the menu screen.

There's one thing I wanted to know; how do I join a crusade? Just build an army and send it to the particular city?

And just one more thing; why do my princesses keep dissapearing after one or two turns?

[Silent Assassin]

There's one thing I wanted to know; how do I join a crusade? Just build an army and send it to the particular city?

And just one more thing; why do my princesses keep dissapearing after one or two turns?

A: you need a general with some units in your army then right click on your general and look at the down left corner fo the screen you should have an ICON that will say join the crusade. A tip don`t join it right away you have 10 turns to do so. Advance towards the city that the crusade is call on and jion only at the last turn if you join to quickly you will loose army units by DERSERTION

A:You were probably offered at the end of your turn if you wanted a husband for one of your daughters

[Joeri.]

Ohhh alright, I usually click "yes" without reading when I'm asked if I want to arrange a marriage.
I'm gonna start over with England or Spain for a long campaign and see what it leads to.

[AdmiringtheEnemyeh?]

Forget the merchants, their pointless. They cost 550 coin and generate like 9 flourins per turn with most resorces. Unless you are going to make aquisitions i dont see a point. Why does everyone think merchants are so good?

[odrid]

because they are

usually, my merchants get like 20 to 40 florins per turn;
my best merchant ever got over 130 florins per turn (in egypt) - but that was a one time only; i never had another merchant to produce that much

plus you can kill the other merchants

[valero]

Why does everyone think merchants are so good?

Because they are.
Ofcourse depending where and how you use em.

[Wrath]

These are very good money making tips. Do farms actully make money? I thought they were just used for population growth?

[Lopus]

Wrath, some mods add in money-making for farms, it's a simple matter of checking the EDB.

As far as merchants go, train them well and you've got money-making machines. So far I've 3 merchants in Byzantium each raking in about 180 florins a turn, with a 4th near Venice. The trick is to have trade relationships with the "host" country.

[Gattamelata]

Farms increase city income in the vanilla game. Be careful, though - building the level 3 and 4 farms, especially in cities far from your capital, can create a situation where the cities grow beyond your abilities to maintain order, necessitating either massive garrisons or periodic genocide.

Here's a method I've adopted to end my financial problems: I maintain a ratio of 3 cities for every one fortress. This means that I convert many fortresses that I capture into cities. You don't need half of your settlements to be fortresses; even if you were using all of that military production capacity, you wouldn't be able to pay the support on the armies you raised.

Furthermore, in the late game cities can produce viable armies all on their own: try an army with a general, a basilisk, 9 musketeers/arquebusiers (whichever your civ allows you to build), and 9 hand gunners. It runs counter to the combined arms strategies that you know from the early and middle periods, but the panic effects of firearms can keep the arquebusiers safe, and the hand gunners have enough melee punch and survivability to wade in and keep dedicated or fast troops from doing too much damage to the arquebusiers.

If you're still having problems, then try to get Merchant's Guilds in all of your cities. In my late-game HRE campaign I have individual cities that generate 7000+ florins per turn.

[Shazbot]

How large are your armies at the point where you run out of money? Unit upkeep costs over 20000 florins for me by mid/late game.