Establishing a good and stable economy in FotS

[kostas84]

Is it just me or is building a good and stable economy in FotS a lot harder?

Even with a lot of Economical buildings my income was still under 1500 per turn and the units and buildings cost a whole lot more than the original Shogun 2.

And because the AI gets big economical and building bonuses to compensate for their retardedness they are a lot more effective in harder difficulties.

[Hartassen]

Yeah, a working economy is hard to create in FOTS. Going for any military techline early is out of the question. In my experience you need to beeline the economy tech to be able to field any kind of army whatsoever.

[IGdood]

Research stuff that reduces administrative cost, build farms in provinces with "meagre and above", capture islands, build factories everywhere.

Establish trade, build trade ports...

[kostas84]

Research stuff that reduces administrative cost, build farms in provinces with "meagre and above", capture islands, build factories everywhere.

Establish trade, build trade ports...

Sums up my last save, with a decent standing army i have 1263 income per turn

[IGdood]

I played it smart and I got 8000/turn by about 20 turns in.

[Kava]

I played it smart and I got 8000/turn by about 20 turns in.

How the hell do you do that in 20 turns??? How many provinces do you have in order to get that?

Playing on Very Hard, I can probably get 5 or 6 by then, but my income is going to be under 2k per turn.

Can you post a rough description or maybe a saved game at 20 turns so I can see what you have?

[Alkaline Earth]

How the hell do you do that in 20 turns??? How many provinces do you have in order to get that?

Playing on Very Hard, I can probably get 5 or 6 by then, but my income is going to be under 2k per turn.

Can you post a rough description or maybe a saved game at 20 turns so I can see what you have?

He probably uses mods, like unit upkeep, cheaper buildings, administration costs, higher taxes, ect.

[Rond]

He probably uses mods, like unit upkeep, cheaper buildings, administration costs, higher taxes, ect.

It is possible, I do it almost in every game, but only because I've done it plenty of times. There's a luck factor too, hope you don't get backstabbed, starting position, etc. Not sure if I could do it on Legendary. I don't like legendary anyways, its like making a test more difficult by simply asking you random, obscure details from a textbook rather than substantial questions.

[Ferdiad]

Depends on the faction and how much you expand as well.

[Rond]

Of all Total Wars, this might be the easiest out of the box to get a good economy. You usually want to do whatever it takes to blitzkrieg 10+ provinces. And from then on just sign trade treaties and sign peace. After a couple turns have gone by peacefully. Disbant almost everything but your generals, and pump everything into economy. Prioritize province specific economic buildings, then farms with fertile soil, after, get a police station and an inn in every province. Won't be long before you roll on 10k a turn.

[SDM]

I like playing with low taxes in fots. Its lets you develop longer without investing in police stations and, given how much growth you can stack, it really helps your income late game.

[Aeneas2020]

i've got more money than i can spend right now...i really didn't focus on the military buildings all that much and just went straight for economics (line inf all the way!)... i'm well over 1,000,000 in the bank and growing every turn. I think my main thing was getting trade alliances with as many people as poss before the divide and really working on economic tech and buildings.

[IGdood]

Yeah you only really need to develop military until you get to line infantry, especially when you're Imperial. Shogunate clans tend to build lots of traditional units, and line infantry can hold their own fighting siege defense battles since the AI never bothers to starve you out.

[fws2468]

There are several techs that significantly reduce your administrative costs or increase your trade income. These should be prioritised once you've researched the basic military techs for a modern army including arms deals and imported guns. Some important economy techs include administrative training, merchant houses, central reforms and revised land tax. These techs cannot be ignored because economy buildings alone would not be enough to get up enough money in the long term if you're going to field four or five armies and two or three navies at the same time.

[Aeneas2020]

There are several techs that significantly reduce your administrative costs or increase your trade income.

This....

[Jungle Rhino]

A strong navy is crucial because it costs so goddam much to repair all the damage the roaming enemy ships will do if you don't sufficient naval detterent.

[Ferdiad]

The cost of the navy is usually higher than the money you lose to trade.

[Hartassen]

I've always rushed for the economy techs. Only getting kneel fire + the first development level out of military. I always build inns and craftsman workshops in my cities that aren't devoted to military tech. Granted, I never get trade ports I still upgrade all mines and otherwise income related special buildings in provinces. In my recent win as chosho on legendary I could field 4 doomstacks, 2 sabre cavalries, 13 kaiheti and 4 parrot guns and about 6 kaiyo maru frigates made of copper. But that was it. And that's only with 3 out of 12 provinces devoted to military construction.

I mean jeez. I even looted like 3 places for anything between 24-40k and used the very high-normal-very-high tax trick too. Economy is just stupid in this game, maybe trade ports are the ultimate winning ingredient that I'm skipping but it's safe to say I ALWAYS get trade agreements asap. It's not that I don't get a lot of money. It's just those military stacks cost a load. Even with the -10% cost to upkeep tech.

[DeliCiousTZM]

FOTS makes it easier to gather wealth with two economy structure Inn/cottage industry you can raise your income by quite a bit. However it lacks in Metsuke tax bonuses but makes it up in tax increase research, and that is not taking in specialities that are abundunt such as Silk/tea/railroad/silver/gold/hideout. Also Farms give alot more when upgraded then they did in Shogun 2.

FOTS is easier then Shogun 2 in gathering Kokus

Qouting Rond "Of all Total Wars, this might be the easiest out of the box to get a good economy." -Correct

[Kazang]

Try to avoid making key economic centres within range of naval bombardment. Ignore the coast and sea unless you intend to dominate it.

In Vanilla food surplus and thus growth was everything, this remains the case on FotS, growth is everything. This means Inns and geisha, lots of them. Also setting the taxes higher vastly decreases your income in the long term due to the lack of growth and even temporary populace unhappiness will cripple town growth.