Harsh debt problems...

[Da Skinna]

Okay, just started a campaign as Russians with this mod I've just installed, now I've got like all the usual suspect places on the steppes being mine, except Lithuania and Kiev and the Crimea which belong to the Polish right now.

I have outstanding-ish relations with everyone, but I'm like 3000 in debt, have only one merchant in Sweden and I'm losing a grand each turn. WTF, eh!

I have only three castles, actually, with this mod, a lot of the building has been very very curbed with the increased prices which I'm guessing is part of the mod, but I don't know what to do here, it's ridiculous.

Help me pweese.

[Lusted]

Rise taxes, cut your armies to minimum, and then focus on buildings such as roads, farms, markets, ports to increase your income. And also recruit as many merchants as possibly.

[Da Skinna]

I've noticed this mod really gives you a lot of leisure time, something I've forgotten always trying to rush to win... kudos, I guess.

[Ebusitanus]

Its definetly harder to make a living in this Mod as you have to carefully monitor your expenses and save from turn to turn to build the more expensive upgrades.

[Striela]

Personally I really enjoy the way you experience "times of progress" and "times of war". After going through a *long* period of war with several regions lost and retaken and putting all my cash into troops, I'm now at peace at 3 of my 4 borders and am really building up my settlements, slowly catching up to the other factions in terms of technology.

Playing on VH/VH, I think the first 50 turns can be really tough, it's almost impossible to gain the cash to invest, while the AI can field massive armies. Risks need to be taken... (quite realistic, I find)

Hint: disband troops you don't absolutely need for the next few turns (except highly experienced ones), mostly after 3 turns you've saved more money than it'll cost you to train the troops again!

Oh, and be opportunistic: invest where you get the most profits, and don't forget that you can gain a *lot* from taking enemy cities and looting them, even if you can't hold them.

[Da Skinna]

Yeah, just started over as the Turks, that was just too rough to try.

Damn merchants keep seizing my own... Egypt has got two full stat merchants who just can't seem to stop seizing my assets and killing off my merchants...

But yeah, as for opportunistic I got a mission to take out a Polish heir who took Jerusalem, two foiled assassination attempts I'm at war with not just Poland but England, France, Venice and a foiled attempt on that Egyptian merchant my alliance with them is in ruins.

I really like this mod though, it really forces you to slow down and act the auditor. Now I just have those Mongols on the horizon, but I'm getting back my riches from building armies to put down rebellion in Mosul and take Edessa and Aleppo.

That Polish faction heir, I absolutely slaughtered with a bunch of horse archers, killing almost a thousand of theirs while losing like 50 of my own in only two skirmishes.

EDIT: I don't ransom, I just hack away.