1648 mod: economy and supply

[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]

Here is an overview of the economy and supply of the mod. You can post your own observations and any questions or feedback.

Economy

To avoid the economy spinning out of control because of the many economy buildings, resources and large size of the map and to simulate the historical currency devaluation (Kipper und Wipper event) and its effects on the economy during the Thirty Years War, a script causes the benefits of trade to diminish, as your empire expands.

The four charts below show an overview of how the Electorate of Mainz economy fared in a campaign on vh/vh. The trade, merchat trade and tax plots refer to those values found in the financial overniew scroll in the bottom right hand corner each game turn, see image below:

Because the values measured varied so much (from a few florins to tens of thousands of florins) I had to make 4 different charts.

Chart 1

In Chart 1, the orange line shows the total income at the start of the turn, before any deductions due to spending. The other lines are shown more clearly in the following charts, so we will come to those next. The peaks in income are usually due to trade fairs, which take place in April and May. Other events can cause fluctuations in the income. The Reforms of Gustavus Adolphus and Maurice of Nassau happened in February 1628, where there is a break in the lines but because I moved units out to the smaller towns for free upkeep, there is no major effect on the economy.

Chart 2

Chart 2 shows the Financial Overview parameters that you will find when you click the financial overview at the right bottom hand corner in the stratmap view. They have been plotted over 188 game turns, by which time my faction controlled 22 regions. Mainz city income in blue, the flat line at the bottom, does not change much even though by game turn 188 it had every economy building that could be built. This will be shown in more detail in the next plot. The other three lines above it show trade (blue), merchant trade (brown) and tax income (grey). Whereas tax income increases continuously, mainly as a function of population size, trade and merchant trade growth slows down and in fact trade started to drop off once Mainz controlled 16 settlements. Adding further settlements reduced trade to practically nothing, but did not affect as much merchant trade. My feeling is that what little trade persists beyond 16 settlements is due to trade treaties and is a result of trade with foreign merchants. Destroying trade buildings at this point had no direct effect on income. Except that during trade fairs, trade picks up and we can see those enormous sharp peaks, so trade buildings remain useful in giving the player income during the two months (April-May) when trade fairs are being held.

If the trade buildings are destroyed or not built beyond the bare minimum, then merchant income from resources begins to diminish quite fast and eventually reaches 0. This can happen as early as after controlling around 16 settlements, if there are not many trade buildings. But even with trade buildings, the income merchants provide from resources diminishes as your empire grows and may still reach 0 after the human player controls 30 or more settlements. Moreover as resource value diminishes, the merchants lose skill, which also leads to a reduction of merchant income. In my experience, the effect is near global, i.e. on all resources, but some players have apparently seen resources in foreign lands still providing some income in situations where resources in the human player’s lands provide 0 income.

Chart 3

The third chart shows income from the city of Mainz, which was throughout these 188 turns the faction capital. Income is shown with the tax level always set at “normal” and without a governor in the settlement. The fluctuations are mainly due to events such as trade fairs or rat infestations and the like. There were no incidents of plague in Mainz. Incidentally, you can minimize the chances of plague in your settlements by ensuring you have a positive health balance in your settlements (the red heart symbol in the settlement details scroll).

A tip not specific to our mod for minimizing corruption is that you should build law buildings, appoint governors with law bonus traits and by additionally doing everything you can to start the next game turn with a balance near 0, if possible with building cues stalled. Starting balances of 20,000 florins or more will cause increased corruption in your settlements and may negatively affect your governors’ active-builder traits, favouring extravagance traits that cause a waste in trade income and making new buildings more expensive to build.

Chart 4

Finally, the fourth chart shows the value of the iron resource south of Aschaffenburg, or more exactly the income of a level 2 merchant from that iron resource. The spikes are due to trade fairs in April and May of each year. The value of resources increased until the Electorate of Mainz controlled 6 settlements, stayed stable up to 8 settlements and then began to drop off with every new settlement added to the faction. Once Mainz had expanded to 22 settlements, the level 2 merchant was making only 25 florins per turn from that resource. I am expecting that after my faction has expanded to about 30 or so settlements, the value of all resources will drop to 0, but this varies somewhat from campaign to campaign for reasons not entirely clear, possibly as an effect of global trade which is in turn dependent on trade buildings built by the human player and the skill of merchants, which tends to increase as long as resources provide a good income.

Supply

The supply wagons are another issue that has confused many. The supply wagons have come from a supply script from a mod made for Stainless Steel by Byg. Unfortunately, the specifics of the 1648 mod have made the effects of the wagons sometimes appear confusing. My own observations are as follows: A general accompanied by supply wagons has his movement range increased by 10% and the morale of troops under his command increased by 2. This effect appears as a temporary trait of his, fittingly called “supply wagons”.

He also gets another trait called “Supply: full supply”. Without the wagons, once in foreign territory for 1 game turn, that trait will be replaced with “Supply: supplied” and next game turn by “foraging", next game turn by “desperate for supplies” and finally, 4 game turns later, by “Supply: hunger!”. At that point the general and the army under his command will suffer from a -8 morale modifier and the units will easily break during battle, e.g. if facing numerically superior opponents.

What is confusing about the supply wagons in our mod is that they do not provide their bonus if the general with the wagons ends his movement inside a small settlement, i.e. a medieval fortified town.

They will provide a bonus if you take your general out and leave him outside with the supply wagons over the game turn change. Once a wagon’s supply potential is used up, one chance per commanding general, that supply wagon unit is exhausted and needs to go to a large city to get refilled. It has to stay in the large city over a turn change for the refilling to take place. Generals in ships do not lose supply and do not need supply wagons but may get negative scurvy traits and the like. Generals can get supplied not just by supply wagons but also by going into large cities. The general needs to stay in a large city over a game-turn change. Staying in the large city for 2 game turns without moving at all for a game turn (i.e. staying in place for a total of 2 game turn changes without expending any movement points in between) will cause your general to get the trait “Supply: Abundance!”. This trait will add a turn to the total number of turns your general can remain without supplies before he reaches the “Supply: Hunger!” level.

I must add in retrospect that occasionally, when loading a save, the script may bug out and some generals may get stuck with their last supply-related trait, such as Full supply or Foraging etc, until something happens such as if they go into a settlement, and everything is reset. Supply Wagons may also become affected in this situation and may lose their supply potential. I seem to have seen this now and then, or I could be mistaken because I have lost track of the supply wagons' situation myself - maybe someone else can confirm it?

[Jurand of Cracow]

Thanks, Geoffrey, for drafting it!
JoC

[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]

You are welcome! There is so much in this game, I keep learning all the time myself. One thing that is useful to know with trade buildings is that with every upgrade of the building you get in principle a higher trade income, although this is offset by the growth of the empire that reduces the income from each particular settlement, so sometimes it looks as if the upgrade did nothing. Of course once you have around 16 settlements or more, the upgrades do not have an effect except during the annual trade fair event that boosts income from trade buildings.

[Der Böse Wolf]

Thanks for this Geoffrey!

[Dooz]

This was very helpful, thank you. I'd skimmed it briefly before starting a recent campaign, but once my trade hit next to nothing with merchants making 0 income, I knew where to look for a thorough explanation.

The economy in this mod is pretty interesting, I really like it. Having to manage armies by breaking them up and stationing units in minor cities during peacetime is a great touch, then mustering them back for war making your economy take a huge hit. You really have to plan stuff out, and if things happen out of your control (which of course is always) it can get pretty hairy. Long wars and sieges can get very expensive, and I've been bankrupted on campaign. It's beautifully realistic.

I'm 11 years into a Sweden campaign now, and having conquered all of Denmark and most of Dutch lands, my income with all units garrisoned with free upkeep is around 12k/turn. However, this translates to upkeep for only two full armies with taxes on High across the empire, without going into negative income. And even though all AI factions are listed as being "Bankrupt" in diplomacy screens, I assume they get plenty of free money because even single-region nations consistently grow their numbers and can field several full stacks.

A scripted war has come my way now as of December 1628, where I've been placed into the conflict with Austria and the Catholic League. Luckily, I'd just concluded my war with the Dutch and can take the time and money to focus on these new fronts, finally putting my reformed New Model Armies into the field. I'll have to find a way to eventually maintain a third field army though, I don't know that even Very High taxes will currently allow for it. And playing with greatly increased campaign movement (600=10km/day), enemies can come from anywhere.

Perhaps I'll keep improving some of my homeland trade buildings, I hadn't realized they give economy bumps during certain times of the year. Maybe even accept offers for West India Company guilds, I'd destroyed the ones I had because of the minimal output, and because I wanted Alchemists for unit training, but they never get offered where I want them (and not sure they actually work, don't seem to give the xp bonus as advertised).