Me, Floris

Dear Diary,

Bread and games. That's what the Romans gave their people, and is exactly what I give my nobles. I had to interrupt the war with the Khergit to bring some financial order to my treasury, but in the end I winded up giving a few weeks of nonstop partying for my nobles. They loved me for it. Then, on 10 November, I interrupted the feasting for the games: I had declared war on the Khergit, and needed my nobles to follow me into battle. I gathered a small army myself, including 75 of my best sharpshooters, and lead the way over the mountains, directly to a big price: Ichamur. Sanjar khan had to know that I was back, and what better to get his attention than to conquer one of his two remaining cities?

The earth thundered while we crossed the mountains. 2025 men were walking and riding along me: an army I had never seen before in Calradia. The organisation was very strict, and every night I walked to all the nobles to get them in line again. Also we moved pretty slow. But luckily the Khergit were my neighbours, so we didn't have to go very far. On the 11th We arrived before the gates of Ichamur, and laid siege immediately. Quickly we builded ladders, and four hours later my army stormed the well-defended city. Although the Khergit defended fierce, they were no match for such a large and organised army. I lost no-one, and my allies 39 men, while the enemy had 211 casualties. Since I didn't want to consolidate yet, but wanted to blitzkrieg on, I left lord Crahask, who was wounded, with his army in Ichamur and continued my march.


Together with some brave allies I stormed the palace in Ichamur and claimed it mine.

I marched towards Tulga, the Khergit capital, but when I was barely under way, I heard a cry from lord Crashak: some Khergit nobles were laying siege to my freshly conquered Ichamur. So I turned around, and scared them away. They ran quicker than I could persue them, with an enormous army to keep in line, so I let most of them go. Only Kramuk noyan rode in the direction of Tulga, so I persued him, and since he still loved Sanjar khan, I engaged him in battle. Needles to say I won easily, but since we were friends who had found each other on the opposite side of the battlefield, I let him go after I captured him.

When I looked away from my departing friend, I noticed an enormous dust cloud coming from Tulga, riding in the direction of Ichamur. The Khergit had gathered their main army, and were on their way to free their city. It had been quite a shock for them: no-one before me had managed to conquer anything within their sacred mountains. Of course I couldn't let them take it back, so I intercepted them and engaged in the largest battle since I arrived in Calradia. I brought in 1526 men (too bad there were some slow lords who didn't make it in time), while the enemy had 1349. I had less men cavalry than I wanted, but still there were enough riders to follow me to the flanks of the enemy. We charged, and defeated many of the Khergit. But we weren't there yet. So we rode again, and again: I lead in total 9 waves of attacks. Unfortunately I fell myself by the hand of an enemy sharpshooter. When I finally woke up, I heard from my close men that after my fall the army rode another 9 times against each other before the Khergit main army finally was defeated. The losses had been heavy. On our side 386 men had been wounded and 529 had been killed, and 3 had run away, while on the Khergit side 182 had been wounded and 1105 had been killed, and 62 had run away. But the victory not only destroyed their army: I also managed to capture Brula noyan, Druli noyan and Sanjar khan himself. All three became my prisoners.


More than half of the men who entered the largest battle of Calradia died that day, but in the end the entire Khergit main army was wiped away, while Holland had still enough men to conquer the khanate.

The attack had destroyed the Khergit's defence. Two lords' armies had escaped the slaughter, and were heading towards Ichamur, so I went back. Not only to destroy them, but also to sell my prisoners and to heal myself and my companions. Before we reached the city, we caught up with Urumuda noyan, whom we defeated with our army. Too bad I wasn't able to participate in the attack myself, but my men did well anyway. They even captured Urumuda and his friend Tansugai, who I added to my collection of captured Khergit nobles. Some lords decided it was better to wander off, but most of them stuck with me. We spend the night in Ichamur and marched again with the first light to Tulga.

Most of the Khergit lords who had escaped that huge battle the day before, had fled to Tulga. I had cornered them, and started with my men immediately the siege. The ladders were prepared after four hours, and soon my men swarmed the place. The fight wasn't difficult, since those Khergit nobles hadn't had time to find themselves a new army yet. Once the walls were breached and my men ran through the streets, I searched every corner for those defending lords. Unfortunately they all had escaped. That didn't matter, because I still had conquered their two cities and had their khan in custody.


The city of Tulga didn't pose much of a hindrance, although all the enemy nobles did escape.

After I conquered this city, I ordered all my nearby men to stay in there, while I rode back to Khudan to drop off my captured nobles and refresh some of my fallen men. When I returned, I helped out my men defending Ichamur against Imirzan noyan, who I captured and dragged along to Khudan. Now I'm back in my most recent conquest. After just less than a week the Khergit have no cities, no army and no leader. It's time to finish them off.



*****
Gameplay notes
I tried the main battle first with a battle size of 1000, but unfortunately the game crashed. Then I tried it at 300, but now the game crashed just after the battle, just before I could save. So in the end I decided to use the official game maximum of 150. This resulted in me fighting many different battles, which I unfortunately didn't survive. During the ninth fight a loose arrow hit me in the head and I fell down. Another 9 battles were necessary to ensure victory: if I had survived, I think I could have done it in less. Too bad.
Here is a picture of Floris' current stats:


As you can see, the Khergit lost their cities. They only have six castles left.

Enewald: I agree .

Alexspeed: Oops... but it's too fun of a mistake to correct it now, haha.
The Khergit indeed can't oppose much anymore, so there's nothing stopping me from thundering over them. I will finish them off, because else someone else (like the Nords) would take their last places, and I can't have that.

Dear Diary,

War brings out the strangeness in a human being. The battle cry that haunts my camps now, and which is spinning out of control, is entirely my fault. I'm not sure anymore what my intentions were when I cried it in that village, only that it was catchy. It all started ten days ago, just after I had conquered the two remaining Khergit cities. They had still six castles left, so it was time to finish the job, starting with the one closest to me at that time: Distar castle. I had just conquered Tulga, and from there the castle was just a few hours marching away. Me and my army arrived at night, and quickly prepared the ladders. There weren't that many defenders, but the ones there were defended the place very fierce. Stupidly enough I had forgotten to bring my crossbow, and my horse wasn't able to climb the ladders. So I walked with my lance and sword towards the battle. Once again the Khergit displayed their fine sense of defending a place by running down the ladders and meet us in the open field, where my archers had the advantage. We drove them back, and defeated them all. The castle was mine.

I should have noticed something was wrong, but I was too much in a party mood to bother. Right after this conquest, I took my entire army and marched on to the former deep Khergit lands, to Tulbuk castle. I wanted to act quick and swift, like I had done with the cities, so I didn't take any time to station any defenders in the freshly conquered castle. It wouldn't be necessary, I thought. The only free Khergit nobles with a small force were busy plundering my villages, so I had nothing to fear from them. But when we arrived at Tulbuk castle, I discovered that ladders wouldn't be enough: I would have to build a siege tower, which would take me 48 hours. I ordered all the lords accompanying me that they would have to remain following me, and started to build it. Unfortunately this was the exact moment that Ymira decided to leave me. Not again! I tried to talk her out of it, but my words didn't help: she left, even before her training was finished. Maybe our paths would cross once again, but for now she just wanted to disappear into the trading cirquit. Even during the fight for Tulbuk castle, her leaving haunted my thoughts. Even after we captured the castle, I kept thinking about her. What had I done wrong? Or wasn't it my fault? She didn't fit into the group, that I had seen. But she always agreed with my actions, even though she didn't like the way general affairs went. I hope to find her again one day, to complete her training.


Ymira decided to leave my company.

With Ymira leaving the group, the morale of my men dropped very low. Some men even deserted to search her out, in the hope she would favour them in her new endeavours. So I stationed my siege army in Tulbuk castle, ordered my nobles to go Ichamur and rode myself as fast as I could back to Khudan, to pick up more food and give my men some time to relax. The campaign was going on for just a week, but already I had made great progress. In the palace of Khudan, I met lord Rafard, whom I allowed to enter my services. Then I talked to my wife, and gave the city of Tulga to him. After these affairs of the state, I returned to Tulbuk to pick up my army, went to Ichamur to fetch my nobles and rode to the next Khergit outpost: Malayurg castle.

I rode with my men until I arrived at the small village near the castle, Tash Kulun. When I arrived there, I thought about the party. And that no-one had been willing to sell me any pork or chicken. Until that moment Ymira had been talking me out of any rash action, but now that she'd left, I decided to grab what should be mine: I plundered the village while shouting 'For pork and chicken!' Many of my fellow soldiers took over this battle cry, and before I knew it, the only sound echoing between the houses was a cry for pork and chicken. Shocked by this, the Khergit offered me 4700 denars for the captured noyan Brula, which I accepted. Also Marnid was quite shocked by this all. I eased his mind by saying this wouldn't happen again, but the moment I said that I knew I couldn't keep that promise. At the same time some Khergits decided to lay siege to Ichamur, so while I sent my army back to defend that city, I rode like hell to deliver my pork and chicken to my household inventory in Khudan.


Finally I've got pork and chicken!

When I arrived in Khudan, I received news that Khergit forces had also started to besiege Distar castle, where I hadn't had any men stationed. So I gathered much mamlukes and some of my Khergit tribesmen: the mamlukes to slay the Khergit, and the tribesmen to station in the castle once I got there. I rode as fast as I could, coming through Ichamur. There the Khergit offered me 1700 denars for Tansugai noyan, which I accepted. Unfortunately I arrived too late: the castle, without any defenders, had fallen to the Khergit again.

Without much help, I started to build ladders. But before I was finished, I heard someone shout the nobles were coming: looking up I saw that my lords had broken the siege of Ichamur, and came to my help. When they arrived, I attacked. Once again the Khergit used their famous 'run down the walls'-tactic, which was absolutely ineffective against my archers and mamlukes. Once the Khergit are gone, hopefully this strange tactic will disappear from Calradia, although it makes it easier for me to defeat hostiles.


During the second siege of Distar castle, the defenders ran down the ladders once again.

After I recaptured the castle, the Khergit offered me 3100 denars for Urumuda noyan, which I accepted. Then I gathered my army to march to the place I am now, at Malayurg castle. But before I got there, I convinced Mirchaud noyan to join my ranks: I will appoint the next castle to him. I asked him to march along with me, but when we got to this castle, his former associates ambushed him. 338 Khergit me and nobles attacked him in the back, thinking they could quickly wipe out his 60 men. They were wrong. What they had overlooked was the main Hollandic army marching behind, which joined the fight. Once they were all there, I led 1307 men them in four waves, and defeated that last bit of resistance. I even took Akadan and Dundush noyan prisoner, and let the nice Vlan noyan go. A few nobles escaped, but I'll catch up later with them. Now I'm before the gates of Malayurg castle, making camp for the siege. The men are ready and eager, and everywhere I hear them whispering: 'For pork and chicken!'



*****
Gameplay notes
Since Floris' stats haven't changed, I show you some reports. As you can see, I've got a lot of friends and my party size limit has raised with my greater renown.


Even though the Rhodoks had declared war on the Sarranids, their territories haven't changed yet. So the only change can be found in the former Khergit territories.

Enewald: Well, I'm hoping the Nords are too scared of me to attack (I killed two factions already, and almost destroyed a third) and the Sarranids too fond, and I hope the Rhodoks don't care. If so, I can quietly build up my defences before the AI has to do it .

bubell: Actually I've got a splendid outfit for her, but she hasn't got enough strenght to wear it. Just two more levels up and she would have been wearing something much better. Aw well, I'll save it for her return.

bubell: I'm glad I don't have Matheld in my company anymore, for a long time already. But I do have Lezalit, so I guess he's the bug in the system that scared her away.

montfort94: Mee too .

Dear Diary,

Last time I wrote in here, I was standing before the gates of Malayurg castle, ready to start a siege. And that's exactly what I did. While the army joined my side, I ordered my men to build a siege tower, which of course took two days to complete. During this time, the Khergits slipped past and started their own siege on Ichamur. I had to hurry. Quickly we continued to build on the tower. Eventually we finished it before the Khergits managed to storm their former city, and I lead my men forward to take the castle.

For the first time in this entire war the Khergits didn't jump down their walls. Had they learned from their previous mistakes? We started our attack run from a great distance, from which our crossbows were more effective than their their bows, despite them having cover from the walls. All the men of me and my vassals stormed the place, and we quickly took it. During the siege I even managed to capture Brula noyan. I gave the fief to lord Mirchaud, as I had promised. While I conducted these small affairs, a Khergit delegation arrived: they offered 2000 denars Dundush noyan, which I accepted. Taking Khergit lords prisoner is a lucrative business, although it still surprised me they hadn't tried to buy their leader, Sanjar khan, free.


A panoramic view of the attack on Malayurg castle.

After I took the castle, I hurried back to Ichamur, after leaving Rafarch with his army in Malayurg castle: I needed to break that siege. I rode as fast as I could, leaving my main army far behind me, but I was too late: the Khergits had taken the place. On my way towards the city, I met Hugu noyan with his army: I defeated him, but he escaped. After the fight the Khergits offered me 1100 denars for Druli noyan, which I of course accepted.

Then I arrived at Ichamur, where I immediately started the siege by building ladders. They were finished pretty soon, so after my lords arrived, I immediately stormed the place. All the remaining noyans had packed together there, so there was quite some defending army. but it wasn't enough to stop me form taking the place. I even captured Rochabarth noyan. After I sold my prisoners to sinister looking people in the tavern, and sold all the gear I captured from them, I was ready to ride out again, to the next castle: Rindyar castle. While I rode towards there, some Khergits decided that they wanted to retake Malayurg castle. But that was on my route, so I was in time to remind them of their error. I drove them away, but before they left, they paid me 4300 denars for Brula noyan. Those are ransoms I like them to pay.

At the castle I immediately prepared ladders in four hours, which was enough for my army to catch up. They had quite a lot of defenders, along with a few nobles that had escaped my grasp before, so there were over 200 defenders. Still that was a lot less than the army I had brought with me: they weren't able to withstand waves and waves of countless soldiers climbing up the ladders and fighting their way to the heart of the castle. It was a bloody fight, and despite our greater numbers, our losses were very heavy. While 246 defenders died and 13 got wounded, 119 attackers died and 200 got wounded. Could any siege go any worse? Soon I learned the answer to that question. It was a sad day, which the capture of Ulusamai noyan couldn't light up.


The battle of Rindyar Castle.

After this bloody victory, I still marched on to Dramug castle. Some of my lords rode away to attend to their wounded men, but most rode along with me. That was a good thing, since the Khergit had even more defenders over there than at Rindyar castle. Quickly I prepared the ladders, and together we stormed the place. It was huge, and we had to run a long way before we were able to find our enemies. And when we did, we had to fight them in small and enclosed spaces. It was a nightmare. Not only got 217 of our men killed, also 367 got wounded. The enemy lost 299 men and had 29 wounded. These two sieges had severely weakened the Hollandic army. But we were almost finished: the Khergit had only one place left.

For the final siege I had to replenish my men, so after a short visit to the nearby city of Reyvadin, where I unfortunately got robbed, I returned to Khudan. All my nobles had scattered across the landscape, to do the same thing I had done: get more men. In my capital I took quite a lot of sharpshooters and sergeants, and marched to the last Khergit holdout. During the ride quite some lords met me, and joined the campaign. This was going to be the last major battle of all, and we marched towards it. This was the last march.

At Reindi castle all the remaining Khergit noyans had gathered, making a last stand. 17 of them were defending along with the garrison of the city. But those nobles had been beaten before, and hadn't had any time to rebuild their armies. Despite that they had the advantage of both the walls and their numbers: I arrived with only 6 lords.


The last march ended at Reindi castle.

The battle took long to finish. I ordered all my infantry and cavalry to climb the ladders, while all my archers were standing back and shot the defenders from their walls. But the fighting was hard, and many fell. It was a blessing that this was their last castle, since my entire proud army had been destroyed or been wounded. The capture of Reindi castle was really the last battle of this campaign. After I had finally shot down the last of the defenders, I managed to capture quite a few lords. I kept Brula, Druli, Dundush, Gastya, Hugu, Khavel and Nasugei as prisoners, while setting Tulug, Urumuda and Vlan free. Some other noyans escaped, but where could they go? There was no place to hide. The Khergits had been the third faction I wiped out from the face of Calradia. Satisfied I returned to Khudan, where it would be time to appoint some fiefs.





*****
Gameplay notes
I've updated my game from 1.113 to 1.125. Well, actually I reinstalled it. There were some mods that changed things outside the module directory, and I was too lazy to find out which mod had changed what. Also I updated all the mods to their latest versions, while I was at it. An overview:
1. Mount & Blade: Warband v1.125 (was 1.113)
2. Diplomacy v2.2.5 (was 1.10b)
3. Better Banners Mod v2.0 (stayed the same), along with my custom banners.
4. More horses v2.5 (no idea what it was)
5. More Warhorses v1.5 (no idea what it was)
6. Arena Overhaul mod v1.0 (stayed the same)
7. Reworked Armors 1.6 (stayed the same) with the hotfix for Warband 1.125.
8. Historic Castles Project - the British Isles v1.1 (was 1.0)
9. More Metal Sound Mod v2.1 (stayed the same)
10. Warband Battle Size Changer v1.5 (stayed the same)
I just couldn't get the Epic Heraldry Mod working, both the old v0.65 and the new v0.72, so for now I'm doing it without it. Unfortunately that means my horses are - once again - screwed up, although it's not as bad as other times: I don't have to buy new ones now, although they do have new colours.
Another thing I noticed, was that 1.125 seems to handle large battles a lot better than 1.113. In the old version I really shouldn't attempt to start a siege with a battle size of ridiculous high: crash guaranteed. But in the current version there didn't seem to be any problem. Well, my computer didn't let everything go as fluently as could be, but at least it didn't crash. That's a relief.

Since Floris' stats haven't changed, I thought I'd made a heraldic weapon for him, with his motto: Pro Suillae et Gallo. For Pork and Chicken!


The major change is the extermination of the Khergits. Holland has usurped all their lands. Also the Sarranids have conquered Jamiche castle upon the Rhodoks.

Enewald: Yes, and I still need to connect my lands. but first I'll need some quiet time off to rebuild my army. Those last three sieges really hurt, even though I'd won.

quantum: I'll not it down as my next target once the war starts .

Dear Diary,

I had conquered the Khergits, exterminating their independent faction and keeping not only quite a few lords in my prison, but also their khan. It's beyond me why they never tried to free him or buy him out: that might have hastened their downfall. Anyway, the war was over, and now I had to rebuild my country and consolidate the conquered area's. All the fighting had depleted not only all the resources, but also exhausted the army. There was a lot of work to be done.

My first action was to appoint fiefs. All my lords had at least one, so no-one would feel left-out. But still I had many unassigned castles and villages, and even a city. I asked chancellor Herfast what my lords thoughts were: that made me give Distar castle to lord Naldera. For the rest he couldn't tell who supported whom for which fief, so I decided to assign some to myself. I expanded my personal space to the south with the villages of Ada Kulun, Bulugur, Dashbiga, Dirigh Aban, Rduna, Tebandra and Tulbuk. The taxes would finally beat the inefficiency. The other fiefs I gave to devoted lords with only a small village yet. The city of Ichamur was reserved for the famous Tredian, while Marmun, Urubay, Alagur and Taisa each received a castle. Vuldrat and Beranz were given another village.


I asked my chancellor Herfast what his intel said about everyone's feelings of Distar castle.

After I had discussed the matter of fiefs in the great hall of my castle, I decided to take a stroll through the city of Khudan. What had the war done to the place? How did the common people survive all that fighting? As I walked the streets, I noticed not only some empty houses, but also land for sale. When I asked the local guild master about it, he replied that the war had scared away quite a few people. Now there was land that was claimed by no-one, and was thus wasted. So I decided to buy the land myself. But what should I do with it? While thinking about this, I walked down the market to see what would be profitable. There I noticed that tools would sell for a pretty high price on the Khudan market. I would have to bring in some iron on regular basis, but that shouldn't be a too great a problem. I returned to the guild master, bought the land for 3500 denars and ordered some workmen to set up an ironworks. The master smith told me that production would begin in about a week. More than enough time to ride through the lands and buy some iron for a decent price.


I set up an ironworks in Khudan, to produce tools. This enterprice starts its production on 9 December. The PPP made a picture of the master smith, while the whole operation was followed by viewers of DPC.

For some decent iron prices I needed to go to the Sarranid lands, and both Curaw and Dhirim. I decided I should go first to the closest two cities, then visit Tulga in order to buy some spice, and then buy more iron in those desert cities. For a week I rode hence and forth, and bought as much iron as I could, while trading spice to create more profit. During my trip I heard that the Nords declared war on the Rhodoks. The Rhodoks already were in conflict with the Sarranids, so I guess their expansion is brought to a stop. Also while riding through the former Khergit lands, I noticed that the amount of fiefs finally started to pay off: I made a profit from my fiefs, even with the costs of my army.


For the first time since long I made a profit with my fiefs.

It was a long ride from the Sarranid desert to my home in Khudan, so I arrived in the morning of 10 December. Immediately I walked to my smith, and filled his inventory with as much iron as possible. He even hadn't had enough storage room for all the iron I had brought with me. But the resources I had brought him were at least a lot cheaper than he could have gotten there in Khudan, even with his good connections. Now he'll start producing tools, and sell them for decent prices in this city, making really a lot of profit for me. I'll need to expand this business to other cities too.



*****
Gameplay notes
Kellick had discovered that when you enable the cheat menu, you can buy land for a profitable venture. This allowed me to buy the different goods producing ventures. It is only available when you have the cheat menu enabled, but it can be fixed easily (how is displayed in the topic), so I was able to use this without the cheat menu on. Hurray for that!

Here is a picture of Floris' current stats:


Since the map hasn't changed, I decided to show you how my companions look like. A few still need some fancy armor, and a few also need to improve their riding skill so I can give them decent horses, but overall the Winged Warriors look pretty neat.

Tax inefficiency is a gae mechanic that tries to force you to have not that many fiefs. It stands for the loss of money due to corruption, robbed tax collectors, unwilling people who don't pay taxes etc. The more fiefs you have, the higher the percentage of your income that's lost due to the inefficiency. Luckily there is a maximum. Once you hit that maximum, adding fiefs will be profitable again, which is exactly what happened here. But it's not much yet, that's why I didn't keep any castles: I'd have to garisson them, and as you can see that's very expensive.

I'm sorry there's not enough bloodshep in the last chapter, but well, there's peace now. It dan't be war in every chapter: sometimes I have to prepare for one .
Hey, you're back now, so it's ok .

Dear Diary,

The last four months I've been very busy with my newly founded Floris Industries. Last year, at the beginning of December, the war with the Khergit ended in a complete conquest of their territories and extermination of their faction. Pretty soon I though of starting my own businesses. I had traded before, but now I would also produce. I had started by building an ironworks in Khudan, which worked like a charm. Now I needed to expand further. First I would take over ventures in Hollandic cities, and then in the other factions of Calradia. I wouldn't only rule the lands, but also the industry. Only one question remained: what was a good industry to dominate the landscape with? I knew that whatever industry I'd start, I could build only one per city, and story 42 units of the raw materials in the inventory. Was the ironworks I had build in Khudan really a good choice? I looked at all of my options:

Bread: For 1500 denars I could buy a mill and bakery, to make bread from grain. Even though it's the cheapest initial investment, it's not really worth the trouble. 6 units of grain will be converted into 6 units of bread, so a full warehouse will last only 7 weeks. After that time the baker will search the local market for grain. Cheap grain can be bought for 20 denars per unit, but bread is mostly sold for 50 denars. Also the working crew costs 30 denars per week, giving a profit of 150 denars per week. Not only will the initial costs be earned in 10 weeks, the profit is so low that it's actually not worth the trouble.
Ale: A brewery seems to be a better investment than a bakery. Only 1 unit of grain is needed to produce 2 units of ale, which sell for 120 each. The workforce costs 50 denars per week. That means the profit is 170 per week, and the stock can hold out for 42 weeks. This seems a lot better than producing bread. The only downside is the initial building costs: 2500 denars, which will take 15 weeks to earn back.
Leather: A tannery has one of the highest build costs: 8000 denars. The workers cost 50 denars per week, and they convert 3 units of hides, which you can get for 90 each, into 3 units of leather, which sell for 220 denars. That's a profit of 340 per week. A lot better than the previous two, although the stock only lasts for 14 weeks. The big downside are the buildcosts, which take 24 weeks to pay back for.
Wine: wine presses cost 5000 denars to build, and the men stamping those grapes cost 60 denars per week. Grapes can be bought for as low as 90 denars each, while wine mostly sells for 220 each. Of course this can be raised in certain cities to be over 300 denars, but for my analysis I'm using the averages. The workers use 4 units of grapes to produce 2 units of wine. That's a profit of 20 per week. If build in a profitable city it can be raised to 180 per week. The inventory will be out of stock in 10 weeks, while earning the initial investment costs 28 weeks in a profitable city and 250 weeks in an average one.
Oil: An olive press is cheaper than a wine press, costing only 4500 denars. The workforce is more expensive: 80 denars per week. And even though oil sells for a nice 450 denars per unit, there is a large catch: you need 6 units of olives, which you can buy for 120 denars each, to produce 2 units of oil. In 7 weeks you'll be out of stock, and the profit is only 100 per week. It would take 45 weeks to make earn your investment back.
Tool: Tools seem to be very profitable. Not only has an ironworks a very low buildcost of 3500 denars, they also use 2 units of iron, which you can buy for around 100 denars each, to produce 2 units of tools, which sell for 410 each. The workers are cheap too: only 60 denars per week. That means a profit of 560 per week, allowing you to earn your investment back in only 7 weeks. And another bright side: the stock will run out in only 21 weeks.
Velvet: The trade good that is most expensive to buy, selling for 1025 each. Is it worth the trouble? You'd need 2 units of raw silk, costing 600 denars each, and one unit of dyes, which can be obtained for as low as 150 denars, to produce 2 units of velvet. This means the supply lasts for 14 weeks. The workforce is expensive, costing 160 denars per week. A profit of 540 per week can be obtained, which sounds pretty nice. But the initial buildcosts of the weavery and dyeworks are 10,000 denars: it would take 19 weeks before you'd earned that back.
Wool Cloth & Line: Both the production of Wool Cloth and Line is very similar. Both use a weavery, which has a buildcost of 6000 denars; both use a similar workforce costing 120 denars per week; both use 2 units of raw materials to produce 2 units of the end product, meaning the supply can last for 21 weeks; both sell on the market for 250 denars each. The only difference is in the raw materials: obtained at the right place, you can get flax for 40 denars each, and wool for 50. Wool cloth thus gives a profit of 280 denars per week, meaning the investment will be earned back in 22 weeks, while Linen gives a profit of 300 denars per week, earning back the buildcosts in 20 weeks.

It seemed to me that I had made the right choice. The iron needed to produce the tools could be obtained mainly in Ahmerrad, Dhirim and Curaw in only a week, while it would last for 5 months. I made up my mind: I would slowly build ironworks in all the Hollandic cities. The black smoke from the chimneys would blacken the sky, and the industrial output would be enormous. This will be a revolution. An industrial revolution.


The chimneys from the ironworks of Khudan blacken the sky. This will lure workers from far away, showing them that there's work available in town, while creating a really good profit for my treasury.

I set out to start the revolution in all of my eastern cities. Rivacheg, Curaw, Ichamur and Tulga: I bought land in them all, and ordered some very good smiths to start building foundries over there, while I was out in the field collecting very cheap iron. For that I had to travel mainly between the cities of Curaw, Dhirim and Ahmerrad, although some nearby villages also provided me with good and cheap iron. Each ironworks took a week to complete, but collecting such large amounts of iron took a little more time. It wasn't until 10 January 1260 that I finally finished my rounds and my tool industry in my homeland was finally at full capacity.

After I put the last iron in the warehouse of the ironworks of Tulga, I looked to the west. There were two of my cities too, but they were far away. I would pass a lot of other cities on the way, and if I expanded my ventures to there, others might easily copy it. Hadn't they always copied my style? When I decided to let my men wear the colours of my banner, others followed. And when I stopped doing that, the rest followed too. Who said they wouldn't set up an industry in their cities too? I needed to be the first, to get the best fruits. So I decided to expand my business beyond my territory, to turn my industry into a multinational corporation. The first steps were easy: Narra and Reyvadin were pretty close, along with Dhirim and Halmar: those four were the first foreign cities in which I founded foundries. But unfortunately it took me quite some time to get enough iron to make all those foundries fully operational. It took till today, 12 April 1260, to get the industry at its full capacity. I think I need to look for alternatives for the rest of Calradia, since more ironworks foundries won't get their full operational status with the current production of iron.


Thanks to Floris Industries my weekly budget flourishes like never before.

While I rode from city to city to gather iron for my industry, some interesting developments happened in the international politics. Sultan Hakim of the Sarranid Empire recognised my might, and shocked by my swift conquest of the Khergits, he twice offered me a 30-day nonaggression pact. Both times I accepted, which improved our standing considerably. Also both the Sarranids and the Nords fought fiercely against the Rhodoks, pushing them back little by little. Even though they fought independently, it wouldn't surprise me if they had made an arrangement. Hakim is quite a smart diplomatic ruler. I think I'll start my new branch of industry in his sultanate.



*****
Gameplay notes
I'm pro tools! Not only seem they to be the most profitable business venture, but also I started last month to work at the tool department of the local hardware store, also the uncle of my grandmother founded one of the largest tool rentals of the Netherlands.
Here is a picture of Floris' current stats:


The Rhodoks have been pushed back, losing Praven to the Nords and another castle to the Sarranids.