Whats the best way to make money?

I am pretty familiar with TW games and how the Economy works but I am pretty much struggling with Russia. I am building merchant houses and doing all the usual research in my University but I do not have a great economy. In fact the only time I get above 3,000 is when I get attacked by all and sundry which I presume reflects the economy going onto a war footing.

I am poised to take Istanbul and am chipping away at Prussia and I have one trade fleet in the Black Sea earning me some cash but everyone seems to be against me and my own Imperial Economy is pretty weak, despite having a large Empire.

My question is am I doing anything wrong? Are there any actions that I can do to maximise my revenues apart from the usual ones that we are now familiar with in ETW?

I do not Loot cities but occupy them. I am hoping that by occupying Istanbul I will gain huge revenues (not from looting but from ordinary taxation) from ownership of a capital city. I am also hoping to take Berlin soon and gain the same benefits there but should I be doing anything else?

trade ships on trade nodes

Check your appointed governors they have useful traits. Also i don't know if that feature exist in N:tw but maybe you'll need to move your capital so that other regions are not too far away, to improve management.

Currently in my French GC i'm netting over 70k a turn from Trade alone... Get those Trade nodes asap!!!

Appointed governors? I was not aware that there were governors in NTW? Am I missing out on something here? Or do you mean that I should look at the Policticians in my Government? I am aware of this last feature and I have to say that the Russians are pretty average on the old political stakes.

Wow! 70k from Trade alone. Thats fairly impressive. My major problem is that I am poorly served by Ports in which I can build ships and of course I am also handicapped by the lack of money to invest as well. But it does seem to be like ETW and that its a Trade node thing. Suspected as much, but just wondered if I was missing a trick. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Cardinal Roland

Appointed governors? I was not aware that there were governors in NTW? Am I missing out on something here? Or do you mean that I should look at the Policticians in my Government? I am aware of this last feature and I have to say that the Russians are pretty average on the old political stakes.

He meant ministers, you got the head minister and minister of treasury, justice, war and navy.

Originally Posted by eleftherios

Check your appointed governors they have useful traits. Also i don't know if that feature exist in N:tw but maybe you'll need to move your capital so that other regions are not too far away, to improve management.

Appointed govenors? Capital switching?


On topic: The best way to make loads of money:
Conquest. Oooops. It seems it's tad hard to hold Paris? LOOT

Then kindly gift looted Paris (along with some money or tech) to one of your protectorates or allies. Then, the French will take it back. 10 turns later, after rebuilding is done, repeat.

I Looted Paris 4 times, Vienna 2 times, Spain Capital 2 times, London 2 times as Prussia for countless money.

It's not like you can hold it after conquest, since even without taxes and all your army in an important nation's capital you get a -5 or so from resistance.

gah!..double post

Originally Posted by alhoon

Appointed govenors? Capital switching?


On topic: The best way to make loads of money:
Conquest. Oooops. It seems it's tad hard to hold Paris? LOOT

Then kindly gift looted Paris (along with some money or tech) to one of your protectorates or allies. Then, the French will take it back. 10 turns later, after rebuilding is done, repeat.

I Looted Paris 4 times, Vienna 2 times, Spain Capital 2 times, London 2 times as Prussia for countless money.

It's not like you can hold it after conquest, since even without taxes and all your army in an important nation's capital you get a -5 or so from resistance.

IMHO this seems like a lame exploit. The unrest penalty and town watch cost is meant to balance an easy cash grab. What leader in their right mind would accept responsibility for a region that's certain to rebel if they have no reasonable chance of holding it? I was hoping they had closed this loophole, especially now that you can actually loot.

Abandoning it (and paying the town watch for a few turns) achieves your cash goal without the exploit and leaves a nice rebel army for your enemy to deal with in the process. It's somewhat questionable why these armies aren't friendly to the original owner, but that's another topic.

The AI isn't terribly bright by nature. Let's treat it as gentlemen, shall we

Originally Posted by Kurisu Paifuaa

IMHO this seems like a lame exploit. The unrest penalty and town watch cost is meant to balance an easy cash grab. What leader in their right mind would accept responsibility for a region that's certain to rebel if they have no reasonable chance of holding it? I was hoping they had closed this loophole, especially now that you can actually loot.

Abandoning it (and paying the town watch for a few turns) achieves your cash goal without the exploit and leaves a nice rebel army for your enemy to deal with in the process. It's somewhat questionable why these armies aren't friendly to the original owner, but that's another topic.

The AI isn't terribly bright by nature. Let's treat it as gentlemen, shall we

I'd agree with the above, but looting (and then abandoning the region) can be an enjoyable tactic. I get a sense of satisfaction out of looting capitals of especially annoying nations. Looting (and abandoning) French regions as the British can also really sap the economic strength of the French...although in most cases its simply easier to occupy it.

Trade is for weaklings! Trust your barbarian insticts and leave a scath of devastation behind you!

I like your style Alhoon! I think that I do need to do a bit more looting as there is good money to be gained from this. I might Loot Berlin and then gift it back to Prussia for Peace. Then provoke war and repeat as before. I do need cash as I am aware of the fact that my Provinces are underdeveloped. But I also like the sound of the Trade Nodes but I need warships to protect the merchantmen and my warships are built in the Baltic and the Merchantmen are produced in the Black Sea! Still once I have the Ottomans finished off I can hopefully gain more ports in the Med and that will open up the Trade Nodes.

Nothing wrong with Trade Alhoon - so long as it it at the point of a sword!!

Trade nodes are very effective maybe too effective, anyway if you want a landbased economy upgrade your gold mines, logging camps (for reduced building cost), markets, gouverment buildings and trade ports they can give you a lot of money especially if you get the global effect and of course trade agreements and techs (exchange them the AI is much more willing to do so) never hurt

Lower Taxes all the way so factories, etc can produce more wealth.

Worked for me.

Why are you at war with Prussia?

For the Russians...

1. Develop all your infrastructure and building upgrades to the max.
2. Max out the Black Sea trade points witgh many merchantmen.
3. Conquer the Ottomons
4. IMPT! Raid the French regions that you can reach, and loot their towns. Scorch earth the rest of the region, then retire back to Russia for the winter.

best way to make money?

Sue Creative Assembly.
should work

work


seriously though:

• Trade agreements with every nation you aren't stomping on.
• Get as many merchantmen to sea as possible.
• Loot rich cities when the mood strikes you.
• Manage your ministers. Kick weak men that steal from the treasury. Only you are allowed to do that.
• Build up your industry, striking a balance between happiness / reform.
• Don't neglect your infrastructure, roads means better trade, faster travel.
• Build banks, charge fees and high interest rates. (Greed is good)
• Don't employ dead-beat, drunken soldiers in back-waters, keep the army you need.
• Don't spend your money on beer and fast women...
• That last one is optional.

Trade agreement and trade nodes. Put taxes on low at the high class (no, I'm not joking). This way the wealth of the regions will grow, so you'll get more money from taxes after a while.

I'm at war with Prussia because they keep on declaring war on me! No provocation from me I can assure you. I am trying to get them out of the war so that I can build things up for the massive French Invasion which I presume will happen about 1812.

In my game the Austrians are pretty strong and when I declared war on the Ottomans the Prussians, Austrians and British all declared war on me! Plus being at war with the French and the ottomans! so Trade opportunities are fairly thin on the ground. Bought off the Austrians and am about to wipe out the Ottomans. Have an army about to sort out the Prussians and then I can start to build up mother Russia!

I always thought that you did not get any extra Trade for putting in extra Trade ships on the Trade nodes, but is that not the case? I will build more merchantmen. Think its quite hard as Russia despite its position being far away from France!

Will look to build Banks as well, wonder what their affect will be.