Addition to much-debated 'Cash Trick'

[Kahn]

Once your empire grows a bit, I've found that it helps to use that "trick" or "cheat" (lets not get into semantics) where you put a tower over a resource and shove a ton of merchants into it. This protects all your merchants from acquisitions, letting them all rake in the cash-money-monies.

If your empire stretches out in an oblong sort of shape, as they tend to do, perform the aforementioned 'trick' on the end of your empire opposite from your war front. Then move your capital city over to the other side where you are waging war. This lets you receive the "best units" right on your war front, as well as makes the resource further from your capital, which is how its value is calculated.

If you've found this tip useful, please send 50 dollars to:

Kyle 'Pimp-Face Deluxe' Hixson
1707 Magnolia
Chico, Ca 95926

[Saibot]

If you've found this tip useful, please send 50 dollars to:

Kyle 'Pimp-Face Deluxe' Hixson
1707 Magnolia
Chico, Ca 95926

I hope this is supposed to be a joke?

[Kahn]

Of course it's a joke.

...unless you're actually considering the matter. At which point I would argue that I am dead serious and greatly appreciate your contribution.

[FUNnBEER]

I hope this is supposed to be a joke?

The only joke here is your face. I would in fact pay Kahn his $50 but regretably I left it on your mother's night stand Saibot when I left this morning. It was only $20 for the crazy night full of cuffs, whips and hair pulling, (the video can be viewed at www.saibotsmomsfreakysexromp.com. The remainder was because she cooked me breakfast, some killer pancakes.

P.S. If you checked to see if the link works, you are retarded.

[Captain Spanky]

Saibot: I'm pretty sure its meant as a joke. I just really, really hope that isnt his actual address... :S

[Drag529]

lol this made my day....also thanks for this tip

[Panzerbear]

Once your empire grows a bit, I've found that it helps to use that "trick" or "cheat" (lets not get into semantics) where you put a tower over a resource and shove a ton of merchants into it. This protects all your merchants from acquisitions, letting them all rake in the cash-money-monies.

I didnt have a chance to try out this trick, but can somebody tell me if it is true?

so, what you saying, for example, is when I see a gold pile,

1) I can place a fortress right over it with my general

and

2) send all my merchs to the fortress and they will all automatically accumulate money?

I guess it would theoretically make sense, I am just wondering if anyone tried it yet.

[NobleNick]

I didnt have a chance to try out this trick, but can somebody tell me if it is true?...

Yes, it is true, and is the subject of heated debate in another thread (about whether it is a legitimate strategy or an exploit).

I have not done this (yet); but my understanding is that your general first must build a fort over the resource. Once the fort is built, you can move a merchant over the resource; and the merchant can trade with impunity, since no other faction's merchant can enter the fort. Next (and this is where many folks start getting heartburn) you can move even more merchants into the fort; and each and every one of them will get profit off of the resource as if each merchant was the only merchant there.

The other part of what the OP is saying is that the value of the resource is driven by how far the resource is from your capital; so you can increase that value by moving the capital as far away from the resource as possible. However, this is not exactly true; and in addition, even if if were true, there are problems with the strategy:

1.) The resource value is determined by the distance from the capital to the CLOSEST instance of the resource type. So if you are trading textiles from Italy, but there is a textile resource next to your capital in Paris, it is the smaller distance which modifies the value.

2.) Moving your capital away from the center of your territory induces costs due to corruption in government and extra garrisons needed to deal with increased unrest. Not a good trade in my book.

I hope this helps.

[Kahn]

1.) The resource value is determined by the distance from the capital to the CLOSEST instance of the resource type. So if you are trading textiles from Italy, but there is a textile resource next to your capital in Paris, it is the smaller distance which modifies the value.

Yes, this is why you have to choose a specific resource that isn't found near your capital. The point is to move your capital furthest away from a valuable resource, once your empire has expanded.

2.) Moving your capital away from the center of your territory induces costs due to corruption in government and extra garrisons needed to deal with increased unrest. Not a good trade in my book.

Yes, there are drawbacks. This was a purely academic thread as I'm sure it is quite rare for this scenario to become feasible. However, in theory, if you've just expanded your empire to touch the first of a distant resource, and no longer wish to expand in that direction, you could pull this off.

An example might be if a player is playing Spain, takes over the Spanish Peninsula and dips down into Moorish territory, then decides to stop their advancement on the Moorish front and move into French/English/Milanese territory. The player then changes his capital to some recently captured French city and puts a watchtower on some ivory in Africa. The ivory skyrockets in value, is all I'm saying, and now you've got 10 merchants reaping the benefits.

I think it's time to give this taboo 'Cash Trick' a name. I propose we call it a "Cash Tower". Who's with me?

[Samir]

I think the first post of this board was about this exploit/trick already...

.Czar
how were you able to post over 900 replies and miss that one?! people spam this everywere, from the Action Reports to the mod discussions, to the political mudpit to EVERYWERE!!!

[Metellus]

1.) The resource value is determined by the distance from the capital to the CLOSEST instance of the resource type. So if you are trading textiles from Italy, but there is a textile resource next to your capital in Paris, it is the smaller distance which modifies the value.

Yeah I also don't get this "farther the reasource is from your capital, the more money it is" deal. If I mouse over the same resource types in different parts of my empire (once I have selected a merchant), the value of trade for the resource indicated is the same as the value of any other resource of that type anywhere else.

Do I still get 50 bucks?

I like his sense of humour

[Kalos]

Deleted the spam; stay on topic guys.

[Samir]

Cash Fort if anything, the watchtower would block the resource forever

[Selifator]

Personally, I won't use this.
1: I'm not going to waste time looking for a suitable resource if I can spend that time waging war.
2: Merchants are expensive. And my money is better spent at soldiers.
3: I believe this to be an exploit. You deliberately eliminate the option for other merchants to get on a resource.
If you wanted you could block all resources and so make all other merchants redundant.

[Kahn]

Personally, I won't use this.
1: I'm not going to waste time looking for a suitable resource if I can spend that time waging war.
2: Merchants are expensive. And my money is better spent at soldiers.
3: I believe this to be an exploit. You deliberately eliminate the option for other merchants to get on a resource.
If you wanted you could block all resources and so make all other merchants redundant.

Yes, we all know the arguments against it. This is why I put the "much debated" portion of the title there. You can find the thread to fight about the ethics behind this "trick" elsewhere.

But since you brought it up, your "War is more important than Economics" arguments have already been expressed so much across these forums by so many other blood-lusting gamers that it's almost an ignorant cliche. Wars cost money. If you spend the cash on a bunch of merchants up front, you can then buy even MORE armies down the road.

Guess that might be a little too forward thinking for a war-monger, though, eh?

[Robot Porter]

Doesn't seem like an exploit, seems like a legitimate metaphor for how empires really worked.

But anyway ...

Would this work? You turtle in England and either call or wait till a crusade is called in Jerusalem. You take merchants with you on the crusade, and when the crusade is over, you use this strategy to hold resources in Africa, pumping out merchants and defending these forts.

You continue turtling in England using the income to build stack after stack, when the land is littered with stacks, you just roll through Europe.

This is somewhat similar to a priest/turtle strat I wanted to try. Or assassin spam that others have used.

Regardless of whether these strategies are easy, they just demonstrate the depth of this game. Without even dipping into modding, the amount of replay value in this game is immense. So many factions, so many ways to win.

I guess other strategy games and city building games have a lot of replay value. But the addition of the battle mode seems to layer any macro strategy with endless micro strategies, making victory conditions virtually infinite.

[kaleus Khron]

Kyle 'Pimp-Face Deluxe' Hixson
1707 Magnolia
Chico, Ca 95926

You live in Chico for real?

[Kahn]

Quite possibly. Why do you ask?