Turkish economy?

**Saumarez** · January 06, 2008, 12:31 AM

I have just started a new campaign as the Turks. Previously I have almost exclusively played Western Catholic factions, so it was time for a change.
The roster seems good, and I am fast becoming a huge fan of mounted archers (previously I have almost always trusted in heavy infantry backed by archers).
But!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I seem totally unable to build a viable economy. At turn 70 I barely keep afloat. I have converted castles to cities, garrisons consisting of two spear militia and two peasant archers in each. To guard against invaders and such, my faction leader sits in the capitol with 6 turkomans. No navy, topped out on merchants and trying to build farms, ports markets etc.
By this point, playing say France, I would be swiming in money. Here i have about 2500 florins, managing to start building a structure maybe every other turn.

Any tips?

**delra** · January 06, 2008, 12:36 AM

Don't automanage taxes, lower them in every city which can't have a port yet. Conquer Levant, conquer Byzantium, conquer Balkans. Get trade rights with your neighbours. Press "~" and type "add_money 1000000000000000". Just from the top of my head.

**Sonny WiFiHr** · January 06, 2008, 12:44 AM

Send merchants to Timbuktu or Baltics.Build ship before.Go to war and loot (standard tactic when you are low on money) than ofer peace for money (actualy this is historicaly

).Call Jihad and turn before you conquer target put all your armies on Jihad (cheat) for exp and money.

Start new campaign with our tips and you will have corrupted family members before turn no 30.

**Saumarez** · January 06, 2008, 12:46 AM

That was fast:-)
The good old add_monay trick is out of the question. I managed to stop that during Medieval 1, and I dont dare tempt myself:-)
I cant really conquer anything, since I have absolutely no army, I have taken Adana, Edessa and Trebizond before I ran out of money
All cities are on normal taxes. Should I go for low?
And I have trade agreements with all other factions. My diplomat just finished his Grand Tour

**Sonny WiFiHr** · January 06, 2008, 12:49 AM

Sell city for money and conquer it back

**Saumarez** · January 06, 2008, 12:52 AM

Originally Posted by Sonny WiFiHr

Sell city for money and conquer it back

Ok. Will try to sell Baku to Kiev, put my taxes on low and disband all peasant archers. Then the only troops I pay for will be in the capital and Mosul, all other castles being converted. Will report back

**Sonny WiFiHr** · January 06, 2008, 01:00 AM

Then offer peace for money same turn. Coastal cities are much richer than inland cities , take eye on that.Any city with port should be on very high taxes if possible.

**delra** · January 06, 2008, 01:02 AM

Go on Jihad.

**Saumarez** · January 06, 2008, 01:19 AM

No go on the Baku deal- Nobody wants it it seems. Not that I blame them. It is the backside of hell anyways.
Currently I am paying about 9000 florins in army upkeep. I have two spear milita an each city, and they are all marked as free upkeep. Other than than I have 6 horsearchers, and about 5 turkish archers spread around. Seems it does not add up. Do I pay upkeep for family members? They breed like rats. Currently I have 27 generals, and 12 settlements. I am considering an all general Jihad. Sort of a family affair:-)

**delra** · January 06, 2008, 01:38 AM

Yes, you pay for family members. You also pay for agents like priests or spies.

**Saumarez** · January 06, 2008, 01:45 AM

Originally Posted by delra

Yes, you pay for family members. You also pay for agents like priests or spies.

Ok. Then it makes sense. Any idea how much? I feel that someone is going to go piratehunting soon

**burningsoul** · January 06, 2008, 01:57 AM

move a general out of a city, double click on him, and there is a blue helmet. click it. this will show you how many does he cost

btw: the turkish economy is really weak. They should be made more richer, maybe a few gold mines would do it?:hmmm:
btw2: in the early stage, make armies of spear militia, and with this conquer the sorounding cities (sinop, trebizond, baghdad, antioch - these cities are rich, and gets your economy rolling)

**Saumarez** · January 06, 2008, 02:16 AM

hank you for all the advice. I killed off a couple of the oldest generals, some spies and some Imams. At the moment I have a surplus of about 5000 florins a turn. Not brilliant by any means, but on the right track at least.
As I said, I usually play western catholic, and here I never seem to get enough generals. I usually have to adopt just to get a couple of battle-generals, and governors for the most important cities. So this baby-boom seemed like a real boon to me. But there you have it, every day there is something to learn

**Pyrebound** · January 06, 2008, 05:07 AM

You should get a small bit of the holy land if you already havent. Antioch is easy to capture before others and is quite good cash machine. Only downside is that catholics have it as crusade target so pray that pope has nothing against you

**Sarpedon** · January 06, 2008, 09:56 AM

Save what's already been said (as I have had to overcome this with the turks plenty of times) I have always found it necessary, like cleaning out the gutters, to go through all armies and cities and disband every so often. All the horsemen in the game and especially middle eastern mercenaries have a pretty high upkeep and I often forget them and they bleed a lot of money in army wages.
Disband non-militia units and replace with free upkeep ones in cities that don't absolutly need them. Try to keep to only one front for war so that you don't have multiple stacks of big horse archer armies running around all over. Minimize horse archers to the ones that are going to be doing combat work almost every turn.
All other points made here are good too.