Economy and Province Building first before anything else - Tips Please!

**sonataode** · January 17, 2015, 08:45 PM

First of all I'm not good with financials, any tips for that will be appreciated.
And I apologize for my english if they're not grammatically correct.

I've been researching about Economy stuff and stumbled upon an information about Province Balance ( to which Province should Industry and Income, commerce and trade, culture focus into). I know now that balancing my provinces would be a great asset in building my empire, but before that before going to war, one should know that you have to gain money and stable income for army or my empire will crumble.

My questions are:
- Should I wait my provinces to be fully developed before recruiting the army? (even until building them to tier II ) or build first then recruit army then build, I think that my treasury will not gain any further if I do that, because of upkeep that strains your profit even if you build buildings. What you do think?

- Is it ok to save money even if leading to ending many turns?

- For instance, playing as rome, you gain the whole of Italia with contested province of magna graecia where Province Balance will be, not useless, but rather inappropriate. Should I focus on Settlement balance(my own term) first?

- ^ In relation to this, keeping Province Balance as an Idea but for Individual settlements, If I try building the same set of buildings, for example a settlement with buildings that produces food or income should be joined with buildings - the same features, will that be ok?

I'm just bothered about my economy and I want to know about it so that I can play without any worries of wrong doings about it. I play VH/N.

Thanks in Advance. and thank you DEI for this mod, before I don't even care about my economy because of how rich my empire was even if recruiting so many army, but know I want to know everything about my Economy for greater experience.

**luck_ponte** · January 17, 2015, 10:15 PM

Well, I haven't played a lot in 1.0, but from my previous experience and from the little I've played thus far there are a couple of tips I could share. First, head over the guide section of the forum, there are TONS of material you can reference, just be patient to read them all. Also, bear in mind I don't go for VH/N (I prefer N/N myself), so much of what I'll talk is rather based on third-person experiences that I happened to hear. Now, to the actual business. Regarding your first question, on VH, specially depending on what faction you chose, the enemy won't let you sit back and develop nicely. You will most likely have a war (or many, in fact) in your hands in a few turns. At that point, you will have two options: turtle up or take the offensive. The turtling is the cheapest, because due to the garrison/siege mechanics of DEI a small force can hold a city from a much larger invading force. As such, you won't have to worry much about upkeep because you are keeping a minimum force while you gather up money to counter attack or reinvest. However, if you are stronger than an enemy or even a potential enemy, an offensive might be an interesting option. For instance, as Rome I usually attack the Veneti, a tribe I have initially bad relations with, really early on. I do this because in the early stages of the game they are pretty weak, but can grow into a menace should I let them be. As such, I launch a preventive attack, so they won't declare war on me while I'm busy somewhere else and I'm able to secure my northern border, as there are no nearby hostile factions in that area, giving me the freedom to operate elsewhere with my military without the fear of a two front war (which will really drain you up) or to develop my infrastructure while I turtle back another front. So, you will have to juggle between your province structure and your military, because the enemy won't let you stand idle for 10+ turns to warm up before they attack. As such, focus initially on staying alive no matter the cost and then, slowly but surely, build your economy up. It is fine to have a rough start with only a couple hundreds of gold coming every turn. As to your second question, it is ok to burn away turns if you sense you have no advantage in doing anything else. Sure, it is boring to hit the button over and over, but it's better than losing the army you relied on or leaving a key settlement open for the taking. Also, having a war chest, if possible is a good option, so if the delay don't make you miss an important strategic advantage, that is totally acceptable. To your third question, if you plan to take over a contested province in the near future, it is ok to invest in province balance ahead of time, even if it is odd at the moment (see it as an investment for the future). If, on the other hand, you don't plan to move there so soon, my tip is don't bother with that province, focus on whatever other provinces you have or plan to complete or on your army. If you start to make your half province the more lucrative possible by itself, when you later conquer tha rest you will find that the sum of the parts won't be balanced, and as such, you will have to rebuild the province (costing you money and time). I don't think I got your fourth question, but from what I understood, you are trying to say that it is better to specialize provinces other than balance them. And the answer is yes. It is better to have one province for money, other for war and other for food than three "jack-of-all-trades" provinces. Specialization allows you to make the best out of the province, because you have a limited number of slots in each province. As such, define what province you want for what (eg.: provinces with copper/iron and 3 to 4 settlements are excellent for recruiting, small/medium provinces are good for food, provinces with many ports are good for commerce, etc.) and stick with it. Also, a few random economy tips to make your life easier overall: Trade is key in this mod. Because of the reduced settlement revenue, you will only start to make money with taxes after some very serious investment in infrastructure. As such, trading is almost a must. If you have a port city, build a navy of one ship and send it into a diplomatic mission across the world to gather trade partners. Also, your trade income depend on what resources you have available. Some resources are low value (grain, fish, olive oil, etc), others are medium (leather, marble, iron, copper, etc) and others will be the serious money makers (salt, glass, silk, dye, etc). Learn what resources are more valuable and if you have the chance to take one of them, do it. also, with more resources, trade agreements will be easier to get. Also, if you are new to the mod (you seem to be, anyway) don't be frustrated at your first playthroughs, DEI does make the game harder, keep your cool or lower the diff somewhere more to your taste. Hope it helps. Also, sorry for the long post, but it was a lot to cover.

**rockman4417** · January 18, 2015, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by luck_ponte

Well, I haven't played a lot in 1.0, but from my previous experience and from the little I've played thus far there are a couple of tips I could share. First, head over the guide section of the forum, there are TONS of material you can reference, just be patient to read them all. Also, bear in mind I don't go for VH/N (I prefer N/N myself), so much of what I'll talk is rather based on third-person experiences that I happened to hear. Now, to the actual business. Regarding your first question, on VH, specially depending on what faction you chose, the enemy won't let you sit back and develop nicely. You will most likely have a war (or many, in fact) in your hands in a few turns. At that point, you will have two options: turtle up or take the offensive. The turtling is the cheapest, because due to the garrison/siege mechanics of DEI a small force can hold a city from a much larger invading force. As such, you won't have to worry much about upkeep because you are keeping a minimum force while you gather up money to counter attack or reinvest. However, if you are stronger than an enemy or even a potential enemy, an offensive might be an interesting option. For instance, as Rome I usually attack the Veneti, a tribe I have initially bad relations with, really early on. I do this because in the early stages of the game they are pretty weak, but can grow into a menace should I let them be. As such, I launch a preventive attack, so they won't declare war on me while I'm busy somewhere else and I'm able to secure my northern border, as there are no nearby hostile factions in that area, giving me the freedom to operate elsewhere with my military without the fear of a two front war (which will really drain you up) or to develop my infrastructure while I turtle back another front. So, you will have to juggle between your province structure and your military, because the enemy won't let you stand idle for 10+ turns to warm up before they attack. As such, focus initially on staying alive no matter the cost and then, slowly but surely, build your economy up. It is fine to have a rough start with only a couple hundreds of gold coming every turn. As to your second question, it is ok to burn away turns if you sense you have no advantage in doing anything else. Sure, it is boring to hit the button over and over, but it's better than losing the army you relied on or leaving a key settlement open for the taking. Also, having a war chest, if possible is a good option, so if the delay don't make you miss an important strategic advantage, that is totally acceptable. To your third question, if you plan to take over a contested province in the near future, it is ok to invest in province balance ahead of time, even if it is odd at the moment (see it as an investment for the future). If, on the other hand, you don't plan to move there so soon, my tip is don't bother with that province, focus on whatever other provinces you have or plan to complete or on your army. If you start to make your half province the more lucrative possible by itself, when you later conquer tha rest you will find that the sum of the parts won't be balanced, and as such, you will have to rebuild the province (costing you money and time). I don't think I got your fourth question, but from what I understood, you are trying to say that it is better to specialize provinces other than balance them. And the answer is yes. It is better to have one province for money, other for war and other for food than three "jack-of-all-trades" provinces. Specialization allows you to make the best out of the province, because you have a limited number of slots in each province. As such, define what province you want for what (eg.: provinces with copper/iron and 3 to 4 settlements are excellent for recruiting, small/medium provinces are good for food, provinces with many ports are good for commerce, etc.) and stick with it. Also, a few random economy tips to make your life easier overall: Trade is key in this mod. Because of the reduced settlement revenue, you will only start to make money with taxes after some very serious investment in infrastructure. As such, trading is almost a must. If you have a port city, build a navy of one ship and send it into a diplomatic mission across the world to gather trade partners. Also, your trade income depend on what resources you have available. Some resources are low value (grain, fish, olive oil, etc), others are medium (leather, marble, iron, copper, etc) and others will be the serious money makers (salt, glass, silk, dye, etc). Learn what resources are more valuable and if you have the chance to take one of them, do it. also, with more resources, trade agreements will be easier to get. Also, if you are new to the mod (you seem to be, anyway) don't be frustrated at your first playthroughs, DEI does make the game harder, keep your cool or lower the diff somewhere more to your taste. Hope it helps. Also, sorry for the long post, but it was a lot to cover.

Dear god, paragraphs man!

**luck_ponte** · January 18, 2015, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by rockman4417

Dear god, paragraphs man!

Paragraphs are for the weak =p when I wrote this little monster it was almost 2 AM my time, I wasn't going to bother with structure, all I wanted was to write it down and get done with it. Will edit later, though

**NYG 5** · January 17, 2015, 10:34 PM

For Rome, your economy expands outwards as your empire does. Commerce buildings in your heartlands, military centers on the outskirts, farms in between.

Obviously, Italia you'll build up first for the edict benefits, and because of its security. Because you have two ports, turn them into trading harbors, turn your temples into shrines/temples of Neptune for the marine commerce benefits. Most importantly at this time, these buildings do not consume food, and multiply your trade since everything will go through Neapolis and Arretrium(?). Build a slave trader ASAP, use the commercial stim/sell slaves as needed to maintain order. Build public forum/Amphitheatre for public order bonus when you expand your cities. Then pretty much go from there. Keep it as a maritime commerce focus because of the trade. Maybe even convert the remaining farms when you no longer need them there.

One you push your borders outwards more, you can start converting your military and farming frontiers to more commercial ones. Ilyria I turn into another maritime commercial center, same with corsica et sardinia. In the interiors, just build based off the resources in the provinces to get the most economic multipliers.

Military centers I try to build totally military buildings with a few temples/happiness buildings, then exempt the region from tax so the food consumption goes down. Rinse, repeat. Contested provinces and those in strategic chokepoints and likely battlegrounds I'll try to turn into military centers. Like, the first one I build is in northern Italy, in the alps, since every pass leads to the same provincial capital there (forget the name), I put auxiliary barracks, workshop, training ground, etc there.

**Richard III** · January 18, 2015, 01:26 AM

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-Strategy-Tips

A phenomenal guide, helped me immensely with all things 1.0

**sonataode** · January 18, 2015, 01:43 AM

Thank you for replying!

@luck_ponte

I'll take your offer to read the references, and yep! I'm new to this mod. The fact that I came from rome II vanilla, I actually never finished any of my campaigns because of how Im able to steam roll the map after a few turns and just got bored afterwards, but now Im seeking knowledge about my economy and other stuff just to understand the challenge.

I see, the balance between staying alive and building my economy afterwards seems slow paced, well that's good, unlike the vanilla. I can plan slowly for my empire to grow.

I'll keep in mind about trade partners

Thanks for your tips and maybe I'll try n/n or h/n for now.

@NYG 5

Thanks for the tips regarding Rome, I find the idea of Balancing trade or income and public order useful while playing another faction as well. I'll take the tip of converting other settlements if indeed they are not needed anymore from food producing to industrial and income vice versa. Of course keeping in mind specialization of provinces.

thanks alot!

**Krixux** · January 18, 2015, 03:10 AM

ok...
(my way might not be the best but it works for me...)
Rome (preferable Julia)
H or VH campaign
available cash 4000 income next turn 900+

turn one: