Making Money

[Ybbon]

Hello,

I have been playing the mod for a few weeks and it's wonderful. I started out as the Romans and am cruising along sort of OK, conquered all of Northern Italy, Corsica, Sardinia and most of Sicily (one Syracusan city left) and also own Salona (?).

I am making about 30K per turn now and have just started the imperial palace in Tarentum so should hit the Marian reforms in 10 turns I guess. The problem is that a lot of my cities are on normal or even low tax because of the public order level.

I have a feeling I started expanding too quickly (got upset with the Veneti treating my land as a public footpath!) so I am now lagging in getting my cities really churning out the $$$$. I realise that not all cities are equal, some make loads of money and others will struggle, but what is the minimum you would raise your cities to? I'm thinking I should have at least a forum and shipwright (if possible) to maximise income. I always build roads, not necessarily highways but at least paved roads and every city has a market. Every city gets a governor. I know I've made some errors here in not training every governor in the most advanced cities and moving them as required but I want to do the maximum I can to get the most money to support further expansion - not sure what, though my allies the Syracusan are about to be very upset unless they see the light that is Rome and become a protectorate

I also tried a quick Parthian campaign whilst I thought about this - whoops! 6 turns and 6k in debt! I was trying to be nice to my neighbours, for the Parthians, I guess the answer is go expand to get some more places to make money!

I may just restart my Roman campaign and be more orderly - and put forts up to stop those barbarians wandering around like they have some kind of right to roam (ha ha, bad pun, sorry, didn't even realise that until I'd written it).

N.

Stanley86 said:

2) Don't neglect shrines and temples. Focus on temples to Juno and Jupiter as they give the biggest bonus to public order. If mines can be build in of the regions build there a temple to Volcan, as it still provides public order bonus but also gives you extra income from mining.

That reminds me, I seem to recall a guide to Rome (Maximus Smackus? something like that) years ago where there are particular benefits to raising certain temples in certain cities, so a great temple to Jupiter in Syracuse granted some very specific unit benefit that would not occur in any other city (not sure that was an actual one, but there were similar benefits). In RS there are more gods/goddesses, so are there any specific benefits to certain gods in specific towns? I know about the Vulcan one so I have temples to him where I have mines in Croton etc, but any others? If I build a temple to Ceres in a farming city (Mediolanum?) do I get extra benefits over building a temple to say Venus?

I think I will restart, my empire is OK, but not functioning as smooth as it could because I built too many armies to start with at the expense of getting better infrastructure. Of course, I may just consolidate what I have until everything smooths out then go finish what I started with Carthage.

thanks,

N.

[Praetorian_BGX]

You need to find balance between Structures that are making money and the other buildings that makes population happy and satisfied. Money buildings are Ports, Roads, Markets, Mines etc... bigger they are - more money will bring to you. Roads have money and army movement bonus also - so build them to the top level. Bigger the cities are more money will produce, cause its not same if you are taxing city with 1.000 and 30.000 people. Again - balance between population growth and happiness is key in this situation. If you have 30.000 people city with no entertainment or educational buildings - you will face bloody rebellion. I usually boost "money" structures on start, and then few happiness buildings so that i can keep balance and population quiet. Read the building descriptions carefully - watch on numbers % and calculate your expansion. Temples are usually best way to make your people happy, chose them carefully.

[stanley86]

If you think about restarting your Roman campaign then do it. Now some advice:
1) Set up the taxes as high as possible in all of your cities. Just remember to stay above 100% public order level. By doing this from the very start of your campaign you will keep tight the population. They won't have time to "learn" what freedom and low taxes are, so they will be less likely to rebe. As your empire grows up you may want to lower your taxes (like from very high to high etc) but only if public order drops below 100%
2) Don't neglect shrines and temples. Focus on temples to Juno and Jupiter as they give the biggest bonus to public order. If mines can be build in of the regions build there a temple to Volcan, as it still provides public order bonus but also gives you extra income from mining.
3) The absolute minimum is to build Forum and Shipwright in every city. Build roads to the highest possible level.
4) Build farms (at least level 3) as they provide food to the city, especially huge cities need something to eat.
6) Develop walls and build suburbs/cities etc. as the city grows up.
7) Don't build any Settlement Growth Plan (or how are they called). You don't want your city population to grow up too fast as it would raise the poverty level.
8) Don't forget to build public baths/aqueducts etc. It will keep the citizens happy and protect them from being eaten by The Big Scary Plague
9) Build "extra" buildings like Grain Import Facilities, they increase trading income.
10) Don't expand too fast. Don't raise too many armies in shor time. You may have, let's say, 300 000 dennari, but war can put you in real financial troubles if you don't have a developed infrastructure providing you with constant stream of money.
11) Don't hesitate to (of course accidentally ) "Relocate population", it will raise public order and give you quite large amount of cash. When you conquer a city, and the window pops up asking you to decide what the city's fate will be, scroll the screen and look what the public order is. If you see "red face" then "relocate". If the face is blue or yellow, enslave. And remember to set taxes as high as possible.
12) As stated above by my predecesor, you have to find ballance between buildings making money and providing happiness.
13) Keep small garrisons.

As for the Parthians, grab all your horse archers that you've got from the beginning, disband the infantry (just keep small garrisons), and go for the Seleucids. You have to capture more cities to develop the economy, build "Silk roads" etc. It just needs some practice.

I hope it will help you or anyone else having simillar problems

[Brusilov]

When starting a campaign don't forget to send diplomats out to get as many trade agreements as possible.

Consider also requesting alliances with factions that are 'natural enemies' to your biggest treat. For instance as Partha try and get alliances with Armenia and the Ptolemaics and maybe Pergamum. I don't think alliances will cause better trade terms at all it's possible that your allies will take the fight to your biggest threat.

As stanley86 has posted - ensure you build up the sewer system as this will reduce the chance of plague but also if it does break out will mean it runs out sooner rather than later.

Don't forget academies etc these will allow you to train up decent governors that will be a boost to your empire. If you recruit them and then leave them in a settlement with an academy thier retinues/traits should improve.

[chaney]

Try and keep all cities tax levels on HIGH only as a very high tax rate causes corruption
Also do what Brusilov has posted
It also sounds like you blitzed and this is why most of your cites arent maximising profits, Its recomended to wait for 25 30 years befor you start to expand

[Ybbon]

I always create academies as soon as I can, have trade agreement with everyone to start with - well Carthage not that amenable right now - something to do with me taking Sicily from them I imagine but other than that, got trade agreements with everyone and I will always try to get money for an agreement. I build sewers and baths and also temples to keep the population happy.

I think I have 2 problems, first, I got impatient so did Blitz a little early - mind you, the Macedonians have some pretty big armies as did the Veneti before I beat them so not sure I was too soon, but haven't gone as high on the trade as I ought to have - my aim is always to have my core cities making money, right now I haven't gone much beyond Italy anyway so it's not like I've gone too far. Second, I had too many armies (ie full stacks) too soon - not at my pc now, but I think I must have 15 or so - well I invaded Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia all at once with 8 stacks at least and probably have a minimum of 5 more - that probably is a big factor.

I think I'll start again tonight.

[Aristedes]

What I do is:
1) build academy in Capital: send out gouvernors who are educated there
2) Build roads/farms
3) build shipwrights/ Markets
4) shrines
5) Sewers
6) Mines (if possible)

This mainly works as it all just seems to fit together. Although you might get a little bet less money then you expected in the beginning, you're economy will kick off, but I mean, really KICK OFF when you have a couple of cities build like that. Oh and, whatever campaign you're playing, try to get Rhodes. I mostly sent an invasion force to it ASAP because it boosts navel trade/income by 40% because of the Colossus.