Need campaign economy advice

[Greasy Dave]

I got some excellent advice regards problems I was having in my battles, so i thought I'd throw this question out to the community. There's much less money available in DeI than in other mods I've played and in vanilla. And costs are higher. I've started a couple of games as Rome, and while getting my economy started was harder than other mods -it wasn't impossible (hard campaign).

But I've played Rome alot with other mods and I'm interested in trying out other factions, so I attempted a couple of starts as single city starting factions (Athens, Thrace) at hard difficulty. It was really difficult. I just couldn't find the right balance between upgrading my buildings to increase my income and building enough units to go out and grab more towns and thus more wealth - and also hold off the 20 stack armies that the AI spams out. My trade deals were only playing 60 gpt, which aint much.

So what are the tips for playing a single city start faction? Looting and sacking neighbours to build up your wealth before going and conquering them? Concentrate on upgrading buildings? OR build up a 20 stack of lower tier units?

[icerunner5326]

Ideally I would suggest trying to get the most out of your economy before building too many units - upkeep is a pure expense and prevents you from upgrading further, while upgrading your buildings will allow you to field more units once they're done. Your per-turn income serves as a cap on both the size of your military and your economic growth.

Once you've maximized your income within your current land, you can then recruit the units up to the point that the upkeep eats up your income - grab some new territory and repeat.

However, this isn't always possible: if you are surrounded by enemies, you might be forced to raise armies sooner, which will stunt your economic growth. I guess that's where sacking and looting might help in a pinch.

Trade agreements can help a lot. This too is dependent on diplomacy. Diplomacy can be easier when you have money - another reason not to pay for more troops than you really need.

All in all I'd say diplomacy should be your top priority when you're tiny. If you must attack early, choose your target wisely: hopefully your war can earn you an ally or at least trade partner among your target's enemies.

[rjacko10]

I would be interested to hear some people's responses to this question. I'm not one to sit around with a calculator working out what are the best options and what are the best modifier bonuses.

However I do realise you can use a bit of intelligence without the sums. You've probably noticed you get wealth from different places (agriculture, commerce, industry). Try to specialise in one of these per province and pick the matching bonuses where available.

For units efficiency is key. Try to always have just the right amount in the right place. Obviously this is easier said than done.
- In times of war send your expensive armies into territory to raid them for cash back.
- In times of peace you should think about disbanding parts of your armies. If that loyal ally of yours attacks you in the back, well that's when mercenaries come in. This is where generals with mercenary bonuses come in handy. Recruit for one turn then disband.

Also using the civil tech tree will help.

Also I think raiding enemy sea trade routes is supposed to be profitable, although I haven't done this myself.

[TheOrangeProject]

Dignitaries!

Reduce upkeep of your armies. Try to get one early, it will lower the cost between 200 und 400 early. Which is really great. They can also increase tax rate of a province.

Depending on what faction you play they are easy or hard to get. Greeks get them early, barbs have to research 4 techs :/

[rjacko10]

Dignitaries!

Reduce upkeep of your armies. Try to get one early, it will lower the cost between 200 und 400 early. Which is really great. They can also increase tax rate of a province.

Depending on what faction you play they are easy or hard to get. Greeks get them early, barbs have to research 4 techs :/

Nice one

[Butan]

Rjacko gave one big tip : its always better to build then recruit, than recruiting then building= upkeep has been avoided in the first half, in the first case. If you're really in a tough spot, do recruit, but really low upkeep units.
I dont think sack/loot is a good way to "start", oftentime you have that opportunity only if you're stronger (the only case where its good is if the AI you're targeting as too much fiefs to handle, but then that means hes an empire yo dont want to with).


THE number 1 priority (for me), is to capture ONE walled settlement and level it up to lvl 2 (sometimes require a tech), which gives 500 subsistence on average: this alone + the other "hard cash" buildings available to build in those fiefs, are enough to allow you a strong military presence (at least defensive).

[Barune]

The first thing i do is to look at the diplomacy screen and see who I'm at war with, if anyone. Also i look to see which factions dislike each other and will possibly enter a war with each other soon. Also if i start with ships and i'm not at war with any naval faction i disband them, they eat up A LOT of upkeep in DeI. From there i take two different paths.


If I'm at war with no one i will build up my economy first with buildings, ignoring my forces or even disbanding a few units for more income per year, i hardly ever adjust the tax sliders. after i am able to get a good 2 - 3k per turn I'll start to build up a single strong army with a few units left over in a secondary force to defend the homeland with the garrison. At this point i will again look at the diplomacy screen and see who's at war with who, then try to side with the Bigger force and declare war on the smaller force, playing the odds. Try to only fight one war at a time in the early stages.



If I'm at war with someone, i will send my starting army, possibly bolstered by one turn of recruitment and hit them within the first 3 three turns. Basically trying to blitzkrieg them before they can build full 20 stack armies, once they are eliminated i then precede as in the first scenario, until someone inevitably declares war on me.

[meerkatology]

in the beginning:

army composition wise - basically you aim to have a cheap battle line and then abuse cavalry charges to the rear to win against stronger armies. hoplite units are great for this. army quantity is > army quality at the start, for instance with parthia, you want to make alot of your cheap spear infantry to make up your battle line and abuse cavalry charges to the back. you tend to get hit at many different places at once, and under the stupid rome II system, you don't even have a chance to defend your settlements due to 0 turn siege, so you will bascially be taking settlements back and forth, so its important to have multiple army stacks.



don't focus too much on upgrading your city right away, esp if you are at war with nearby factions. i would build up a couple stacks of units ASAP and conquer/hold new areas from your enemies so that you weaken your enemies and gain income from new territories.

conquering new territories gives you much more income than developing your initial city.


but if you are a faction like rome with a few starting cities and not at war with people right way, then like the above post you should disband some units and build up your cities