Help with the economy

[Philos Sophos]

Hey guys,I need your help a little.

I got a crusade in my campaign as England and joined it,went to Jerusalem and captured it before the HRE and then I got a shock.My economy is in negative budget.Should I abandon Jerusalem and disband the army there or what should I do.The problems with the economy came after the crusade...help me guys!

[Lord Raneus]

The problem is that Crusading units have very low upkeep, but they revert back to normal once the Crusades' over. I'd advise disbanding the more expensive ones (Crusading mercenaries especially), making the most of free-upkeep units, and trying to upgrade your economy back in England to take the added burden of all these full-upkeep units once more.

[Mythre]

I have had the same problem. Usually the solution for me is to expand very rapidly in the Holy lands to get some trade going. Generally, the Egyptians are pretty weak in the early period especially to the English. If the Crusade is to Jerusalem i usually try for Acre Gaza and sometimes Antioch within a few turns of the Crusade ending. Also i stop most building in Europe until i get the Holy land front secured.
I use the original army from the Crusade to do that. You might be in the negative for a couple turns, but once it stabilizes, you got a nice base to expand from in the middle east.

One last thought. Merchants are really nice in the Middle East. I was once able to pay for nearly ALL my military upkeep with merchants.

[MrVamp117]

The Crusader Knights have a huge upkeep cost, I think they're something like 600+ a piece. Disband them and ,like previously said, as many other crusader units you can, and conquer some other cities.

[Engrish]

I know advice from people who are new to a forum is generally not acknowledged, and if that, not listened to, but I'll suggest something anyway. Make a b-line to Antioch if at all possible and set up a few forts on the trade resources, then pack them full of merchants. Money problem solved and you should be free to build up an adequate garrison to fend off any future nomadic incursions.

And awesome site you guys have here.

[Sokar Rostau]

Units in crusading armies don't have low upkeep they have NO upkeep.

All units in crusading armies get an experience bonus once the target city is captured, regardless of where they are on the map.

With these two things in mind you should lay siege on your target city and make sure as many units as possible, in your entire empire, are in crusading armies before you end the turn. You will then pay NO UPKEEP for the bulk of your army for a turn. Depending on the size of your army you can make tens of thousands of Florins. Capture your target city and all your units get their experience bonus as well. An added bonus is that the Pope doesn't like it when crusading armies are attacked so if any Catholic Faction dares attack you while all your units are all on Crusade they will get spanked.

You can extend this for a turn or two but you'll almost certainly suffer desertions.

Voila! Post Crusade financial problems solved.

[SaintOfTheSword]

My solution is not to go on Crusade, unless I'm done with my current plans wherever I am. But if you did it, now just use that army. Take everythign around you and loot it, this way they'll make their money.

[Empress Meg]

It would be a wise idea to create a garrison army of cheaper units while your post-Crusade army runs about looting. You'll need a garrison of troops to maintain control of the Holy land if you want to keep what you took and if you send all your pricy units on a big looting spree you won't keep the hard-won lands for long.

Devoirs The Empress

[Larsen]

Convert some castles to cities if you have too many. Only put castles in strategic points you need to hold your empire together. Cities generate sooo much more income from trade.

[MonkeyD]

Just wanted to say thanks for the tips, I had no idea how much those crusader units were sucking up my dough!

Anyway, great site.

[gary0044187]

do forts and watchtowers cost any upkeep?

[Sher Khan]

Welcome to you MonkeyD!

And this is now Battle Planning territory!

do forts and watchtowers cost any upkeep?

No they do not. Go crazy with them!

[gary0044187]

sweet! I noticed that some of my army units get free upkeep in the forts so I was thinking that since I already have a few I might as well keep them.

[xxxMoRaVexxx]

I didn't know forts give free upkeep.. anyway just make more cities and less castles, you should only put castles in areas where they are needed(strategically), I done this in my Spanish campaign turning every settlements in the Iberia into cities except Toledo and I began bleeding money that way I can always maintain my crusader armies maintained in the holy land conquering the divided Egyptian Armies around Jerusalem(where the crusade began).

[clandestino]

With these two things in mind you should lay siege on your target city and make sure as many units as possible, in your entire empire, are in crusading armies before you end the turn. You will then pay NO UPKEEP for the bulk of your army for a turn. Depending on the size of your army you can make tens of thousands of Florins.

But you should do that only like for 2 turns before you capture target city or else units all across your kingdom will start to desert.

[Sokar Rostau]

I have had units, including half an army with 7-8 chevrons, desert on the second turn so it's safer to only do it for one turn unless you're desperate for cash or all your armies suck. I did this 5-6 times in my last English GC and I got over 60k the last two times. It helps to have the College of Cardinals and the Pope in your pocket so that you can call a Crusade on a city you already have under siege in case of financial emergency.

[clandestino]

I have had units, including half an army with 7-8 chevrons, desert on the second turn

Oh thats rough, I thought they don't start to desert so quickly.

[Arcani 4 Ever]

Well.....a good i dea to at least keep the upkeep of armies is rading the settlements after captured.....also stablish trade routes with Italian nations (the best economy in the game) and try to accomplish the easy mission that the Council sends to you....also a good thing might be the use of merchants to take over highly valuable resources and "kill" other merchants..*i know by experience if you "take the money from a 10 coins merchant* it will give you from 10k florins maximum. another good tactic in economy is trying to maintain your cities with the numbers fro free upkeep, i usually use this to put my best soldiers in the free upkeep and the rest for militia *militia is nearly free if they protect the city where they were trained* also i recomend try using generals with high chivalry as Governors *that way you can increase taxes with not many consequences* use the high Dread ones for castles...
also you might try avoid building a huge fleet.Fleets are money killers also since you cant enjoy a naval fights in this game i barely use them just to protect your dock and transport tropps to conquer islands....

and my last tip i think is the one that will help most....mercenaries need double upkeep *at least the normal ones* and that sucks....the only mercenaries with low upkeep are *Crusade and jihad mercenaries* and they surely are great soldiers....

[Pink4Life]

This isn't really help (so why do i post?)

I've never had problems with economy because I go with the whole, Cities > Castles theory. So far its been awsome. Almost every city rakes in 3k a tick or more. ( Playing Milan ) Only problem is lack of Cavlry, but thank god for Knights of Hospitallier( spelling error:O!? ).

Another good idea ( you dont have to go all city for it ) is abusing your merchants. They rock. I net over 3k from the silk in Constantinople, and over 1.5k from the slaves that are nearby in a village i forget the name of. Abuse the awsome monkey-making power of merchants!

Otherwise for your immediate ( or have you already fixed it ) Problem. Screw Jerusalem, it can burn to the rebels. I usually just Crusade, then leave. I just want the Traits, recapturing Jerusalem is something i focus on in the last 10-20 turns.

[RollingWave]

in the English's case , your probably

a. crusade army had too many elite units in it, now cost a ton.

and /or

b. you have too many castles

for the Brits, once you take out the Scotts the isles should have exactly NO castle unless you got knocked out of Caen. before converting to cities demolish all the barracks / archery range / stables. normally, have 1 castle at every front you have. unless that front is excessively long. in the case of the Brits once you finish the scotts you should have all cities on the isles. and only Caen as your castle until you take Angers. then convert Caen to city too. unless your getting very far away from you neariest castle you should just keep them all towns. the money difference is huge.

if your crusading army have huge upkeep either disband or attack! I'd usually think it should be more of the later. as if you disband your army with nothing but Jerusalam your just asking to get destroyed there. you need at least 2 and preferabbly 3 settlements or more in the holyland to be sustainable in the longer run, even if you have 2-3 settlements and hold back Egypt and Turks, once the Mongols arrive they'll just wipe you off the map with ease. you'd probably want to have taken out Egypt proper (or at least getting there) by the time the Mongol daddies show up.