Need Economic Help

[LordLurch]

Loving this game overall, but having some trouble managing my economy. I've attempted two seperate campaigns as Cao Cao, and in each one I'm struggling to fund one full army and a resonably small court despite owning multiple provinces with upgrades. It's gotten to the point where I actually received a bankruptcy warning, and the only way I can get money for units and buildings is through sacking settlements. Am I not understanding something properly, or is the game just designed in a way that you won't be able to afford large armies until the late game?

[Kine]

You gotta specialize and stack the +% on income

Commanderies with food production go green and yellow building line for peasantry income. Then go diplomacy and sell excess food to factions with 'very poor' food status. Request 10 turn payments in exchange for the export.
When a commandery is selected, bottom left corner will have a group of icons you can mouse over. If it says high fertility you may want to bias more towards food over peasant income.
Tax line gives more income early but has lower cap and higher public order malus. Administration line has higher cap with lower public order malus but takes longer to get. Late game you will want both.

Commanderies with industry output go blue first then purple building line. Stacking up commercial % gets more money faster than industry %

Assignments: The game is color coded. Green (champion) and Yellow (commander) court nobles typically have access to peasantry income assignments (early). Same with Sentinel and Strategist for commerce and industry income %.
Always have income assignments on your cash cows deployed at all times.

Faction Leader and / or Heir have +income % bonus ancillaries and skills you should look out for.

Trade: It can be huge. At turn 45'ish my biggest trade partner earns me 1,200 per turn. And I have 6 of those trade slots.

Once you have all those set up, then it's time to start planning for public order, population increase and taxation slider via Faction Finance menu.

Diplomacy: This can be a source of income.

Factions who are Rich in Income but Poor in Food will pay alot for 10 turns.
But that's just one of many ways you can earn money thru foreign policy. Human trafficking is possible. Hire nobles into court then sell them off as husbands or wives. Hire nobles who have rare items, sell those items off then dismiss from service or send them to suicide missions hoping they get killed. If some one attacks you, retaliate by taking all his food production and mines leaving him with only cities. Sue for peace and export. Give him favorable deals in the beginning to amend relations then fleece him later on. etc etc.

Vassals are also a big income source. It may be worth the investment to vassalize whoever is willing at a steep upfront cost for long term gain. And if you do go for it, help them get fat. I even go as far as pausing my own expansion to help them with theirs if it made strategic sense.

Lastly - I recommend the following mods:
Radius Total War Mod
Better Diplomacy

Radius; among other things, mods army upkeep values so you can afford more stacks
Better Diplomacy gives you... better diplomacy. I cannot recommend this enough.

[LordLurch]

You gotta specialize and stack the +% on income

Commanderies with food production go green and yellow building line for peasantry income. Then go diplomacy and sell excess food to factions with 'very poor' food status. Request 10 turn payments in exchange for the export.
When a commandery is selected, bottom left corner will have a group of icons you can mouse over. If it says high fertility you may want to bias more towards food over peasant income.
Tax line gives more income early but has lower cap and higher public order malus. Administration line has higher cap with lower public order malus but takes longer to get. Late game you will want both.

Commanderies with industry output go blue first then purple building line. Stacking up commercial % gets more money faster than industry %

Assignments: The game is color coded. Green (champion) and Yellow (commander) court nobles typically have access to peasantry income assignments (early). Same with Sentinel and Strategist for commerce and industry income %.
Always have income assignments on your cash cows deployed at all times.

Faction Leader and / or Heir have +income % bonus ancillaries and skills you should look out for.

Trade: It can be huge. At turn 45'ish my biggest trade partner earns me 1,200 per turn. And I have 6 of those trade slots.

Once you have all those set up, then it's time to start planning for public order, population increase and taxation slider via Faction Finance menu.

Diplomacy: This can be a source of income.

Factions who are Rich in Income but Poor in Food will pay alot for 10 turns.
But that's just one of many ways you can earn money thru foreign policy. Human trafficking is possible. Hire nobles into court then sell them off as husbands or wives. Hire nobles who have rare items, sell those items off then dismiss from service or send them to suicide missions hoping they get killed. If some one attacks you, retaliate by taking all his food production and mines leaving him with only cities. Sue for peace and export. Give him favorable deals in the beginning to amend relations then fleece him later on. etc etc.

Vassals are also a big income source. It may be worth the investment to vassalize whoever is willing at a steep upfront cost for long term gain. And if you do go for it, help them get fat. I even go as far as pausing my own expansion to help them with theirs if it made strategic sense.

Lastly - I recommend the following mods:
Radius Total War Mod
Better Diplomacy

Radius; among other things, mods army upkeep values so you can afford more stacks
Better Diplomacy gives you... better diplomacy. I cannot recommend this enough.

Thanks, this is helpful. I'll probably try these, except for the court marriage and ancillary sale thing (that sounds kinda gamey). You mention agriculture and industry; what should I do with temple or port provinces? Also, how do have 6 trade slots plus vassals on turn 45? I've been at it for almost twice that long, and I only have 2 trade slots and I can't vassalize yet.

[Kine]

There are 2 types of port counties. Fishing and Harbor. If the city is the one next to a river or coast then that county is a Harbor. If the extension is by water while the city is inland then that commandery is a Fishing port.
Harbor is commerce income + food production
Fishing port is food + prestige. At max level it gives commerce income.

Ports are flexible and you can build it to your needs.

For Fishing port, I would check land fertility. If it is average I would build it for commercial so that's 2 of 6 slots from your city. The other 4 slots can be whatever (public order / tax or military or learning etc)
If fertility is high then you get food + peasantry bonus. You'll want to build it like an agriculture commandery in that case for the peasant income and food.

Harbor commanderies is the best commercial settlement. It gives you 3 buildings to boost commerce instead of the default 2.

PengCheng is the only temple county I can see in my game. PengCheng is a high fertility farmland commandery with a bonus temple. I'm building mine for peasantry income.

Trade Agreements can be expanded by ranking up and through reforms.
Marquis gives me 3
Reforms another 3
Trade agreement reforms are in the lower branch in the blue cluster. (envoy, embassy, silk road) Silk road reform takes a long time to get but the first two can be taken right at the start of the campaign.

Vassal difficulty depends on your chosen faction I think. Haven't played them all. Some like DongZhou can just practically force people into it lmao. Otherwise you have to do it the hard way. Bully your smaller neighbor taking his lands then offer to give them back if they submit to become your vassal. Your Army size matters. If they aren't threatened by your military potential it can be very expensive to vassalize. So it comes back down to economy. More money, more armies, easier time to vassalize.

[LordLurch]

There are 2 types of port counties. Fishing and Harbor. If the city is the one next to a river or coast then that county is a Harbor. If the extension is by water while the city is inland then that commandery is a Fishing port.
Harbor is commerce income + food production
Fishing port is food + prestige. At max level it gives commerce income.

Ports are flexible and you can build it to your needs.

For Fishing port, I would check land fertility. If it is average I would build it for commercial so that's 2 of 6 slots from your city. The other 4 slots can be whatever (public order / tax or military or learning etc)
If fertility is high then you get food + peasantry bonus. You'll want to build it like an agriculture commandery in that case for the peasant income and food.

Harbor commanderies is the best commercial settlement. It gives you 3 buildings to boost commerce instead of the default 2.

PengCheng is the only temple county I can see in my game. PengCheng is a high fertility farmland commandery with a bonus temple. I'm building mine for peasantry income.

Trade Agreements can be expanded by ranking up and through reforms.
Marquis gives me 3
Reforms another 3
Trade agreement reforms are in the lower branch in the blue cluster. (envoy, embassy, silk road) Silk road reform takes a long time to get but the first two can be taken right at the start of the campaign.

Vassal difficulty depends on your chosen faction I think. Haven't played them all. Some like DongZhou can just practically force people into it lmao. Otherwise you have to do it the hard way. Bully your smaller neighbor taking his lands then offer to give them back if they submit to become your vassal. Your Army size matters. If they aren't threatened by your military potential it can be very expensive to vassalize. So it comes back down to economy. More money, more armies, easier time to vassalize.

The more I talk to you, the more I get the impression that I don't understand this game at all. In the game in question, I'm approaching turn 80-something and still on Second Marquis.