Inflation/Income problem (EU3)

[Kennel]

Allright hello people, been playing EU3 for around 2 weeks now, great game.
I come from playing EU2 for 5 years, so Im not the worst n00b
Ok my problem is that it is completely impossible to keep my inflation under 0/year (deflation?), my income usually forces me to place it +0.25/year to earn maybe 6 gold a month to keep my trade empire, and during wars I up the slider to maybe 0.4/year!
I have the idea that decreases it by 0.1, but its hardl enough. And then I see nations like Great Britain/Lithuania with 3 stacks of 10k men and 0 inflation, WTH!
I have maybe 9k men total to defend Sweden, and a few colonies in Greenland and Carribean (I mean GB owns like half north america), and that makes me use "minting" for cash

Any suggestions what I should do? Should I keep on like this?
Info. year is 1590, playing as Sweden, im protestant, got like 3 monopolies
and control the scandinavian peninsula

[Ishoss]

You don't need +6 per month, all you need is + per year. Having + per month is a very useless thing.

[Sher Khan]

Monthly income doesn't matter for your situation. Like Ishoss said, focus only on having a positive yearly income. Even if your monthly income is negative, it won't matter if you can manage a positive year in the end (well, it does, but only if you want to make more money).

The best way is to keep your minting level such that your National Bank idea of -0.10 inflation will balance out to a 0.00 change in yearly inflation, then lock the bar (check back from time to time since the bar will tend to move on its own sometimes).

Then, keep no more than half your landforce limit during peace-time and set your land force expenditures to its minimum (unless you're having trouble keeping the rebels down).

If you're a naval power, make sure to get the Press Gangs national idea as it not only makes ship construction much cheaper but, most importantly, also halves the upkeep cost and thus overall naval expenditure.

Try to keep a minimal force of infantry in the early game and focus only on an able cavalry force to sweep the enemy forces quickly, allowing for small infantry armies to siege in peace.

Keep your stability at its highest, it'll add much to your yearly income.

Keep sending merchants to both the nearest and the richest trade centers (but if you're strapped for cash, do so manually and don't let auto-send drain your treasury).

Aim to take enemy territory that shares both your religion and your culture group (if not at least your main culture). These provinces provide the maximum tax and production available, while different cultures and religions add penalties to provincial income. Sometimes it may be better to vassalize a different culture group nation than annex a potentially troublesome province that'll cost military expenditure to pacify all its potential rebellions. (I usually gift these regions to a vassal for free, which makes them more powerful and gain income to my benefit).

Keep your reputation low, as a high reputation adds penalties to compete chance. Also shift your sliders towards maximum centralization (at least in Vanilla EU3) for bonuses to tax income and inflation reduction.


With the above, I usually never need to mint, letting me advance quickly in tech and slowly overtake my neighbors.