Why is Rome tax income extremely low at the beginning?

[Siegfriedfr]

Compared to surrounding cities, Rome proper has a very low income and is heavily in debt, even tho it has as good or better buildings than surrounding cities. I notice as well that it lacks the "treasury" buildings found in other factions.

This is not a "balance" or "Rome is challenging" thread, i just want to understand how a city with very decent buildings has such a bad economical situation compared to surrounding settlements with similar or lower improvements.

[Timefool]

Roman culture buildings offer the tax income bonus. That means all Roman settlements get a tax bonus. This way when the rebellions occur, you won't have a 50/50 chance of either losing all your income or keeping it all.

[Leeham991]

Was like that in real life.

Most of the nation was there to feed and house Roma because the huge population couldn't support itself because it was far too big to do so.

[Siegfriedfr]

Was like that in real life.

Most of the nation was there to feed and house Roma because the huge population couldn't support itself because it was far too big to do so.

That is not the question.

Which building mechanics make it so rome starts at -7000 and other settlements at +3000, with similar improvements.

[Jean=A=Luc]

Which building mechanics make it so rome starts at -7000 and other settlements at +3000, with similar improvements.

It's because most of the units you start with draw their upkeep from Rome. I don't remember the numbers but I'm pretty sure Rome has much bigger tax income than your average settlement. It's just being drained by units/generals.

[Timefool]

That is not the question.

Which building mechanics make it so rome starts at -7000 and other settlements at +3000, with similar improvements.

Check the settlement details to see where your income is coming from and where it is going. Most income comes from tax and most goes to soldiers upkeep.

[Leeham991]

That is not the question.

Which building mechanics make it so rome starts at -7000 and other settlements at +3000, with similar improvements.

I think I answered the question in my first post.

Because it was like that in real life, so RS2 team made it that way in the game.

[dvk901]

Rome starts at war, and they have a rather hefty amount of soldiers in the field holding keep regions. That's why, at the start, they have little income. It is true that Rome's tax bonus for it's 'home' regions is figured differently than other factions...they get a smaller bonus in around nine regions, rather than one bonus in one region (like Rome). This was done because it is feasible for the Romans to lose Rome, and they do lose other key cities to rebellion. So spreading it out helps stave off bankruptcy. It's just something you have to 'play through'....beating Hannibal (or losing), dealing with the rebellions, etc. before you start making any money. Is it hard? Yes. It was intended to be.

[Brusilov]

The icome shown on the campaign map isn't that important. The reason is that in RTW the upkeep of the army is proportionally paid (based on settlement population) by all your settlements. It then makes sense that the most populated settlement (Rome?) will be paying more upkeep than the other settlements). So, you may find that the income for Rome is really good but it loses out on army upkeep.

The good news is that after a fre turns your army upkeep will probably be less as Hannibal has destroyed some of your armies.....

[Leeham991]

Then in a few more turns when you build up a good army it will go back up. On my campaign Roma is at -30,000

[Bosje]

i think i had 40.000 to spend at the start of turn 2, which seemed quite alright actually. and i defeated hannibal with minimal losses during turn 1 so the army was still there

now, in 552 AUC, i still get around 40k per turn, which is almost enough to keep every settlement busy. a few big expensive projects for major places, a few cheap things for the fringes. Rome itself is around -13000, yes, but all the other ones around it are more than making up for it. so all roads lead to and from Rome, it pays all the bills and the rest of the empire slides over the money which Rome needs to do so. makes perfect sense to me