open the trade map mode (either press T or using the button), then click (or double click I forget) on any province in that zone. If you do so in your home province(s) you'll see what I have shown, if you do it in another zone you get access to the buying options (including the option to overpay - which I'll cover in the next update)Originally Posted by hgilmer
Nice! Thanks. I never knew that. As someone else said, I'm learning a lot from these AARs.
I think the stocks built up before I could work out how to sell more. I'm happy they are stable. I did try (not next post but the one after) to sell them to my domestic market but they are already eating as much fish as they want (picky b*ggers). Every now and then I revisit to see if I can sell a bit more as I agree, they are easy to produce and quite a good source of cash at this stage.
I'm doing a mix. I've built one cereal farm (more risotto - yeah) & a bit later a new fruit farm (grappa) and they are good sources of cash. I have noticed a bit of a slow down since the war started.
Must admit I've been surprised at the total indifference of everyone else to what Russia is up to.
Yes the Chinese losses are a real shock, in about 4-5 months as well, so no idea where that is going to end up.
One reason to do this, was to gain a better insight, I've picked up all sorts of tips from the comments in this thread already that I was struggling with the manual (which is good) to work out
I'll split this year into two parts. Up to about June I struggled with various approaches to stabilise the economy, after that, with minor problems, it seems to have run pretty much on its own (I've played to the end of October 1852). Again, this post will be more 'what I did' than a conventional AAR. If the economy does stay stable for the rest of the year then I'll do relatively short end of year reports unless there is something particularly worth exploring. Hopefully the Italian unification events will start firing around 1858.
Anyway at the start of the year, mostly (coal being the exception) things were not too bad,
And, the population was pretty cheery, this being the result of reforms and meeting their economic needs.
Dies, coal and manufactured goods were my problems. This is partly linked as the coal shortage is closing my factories that make Mfg Goods.
So I shut almost all factories down except the most profitable or the ones that in turn maximise production of manufactured goods.
In turn, I decide to really push my trading activity. If you access the T screen for a non-home province you get a pop up like this:
In this case on the lhs is what is available and on the rhs is what you are trying to buy. Equally you can try to outbid the competition by paying more. Well money as such is not a problem at the moment. I do the same in N Germany too.
and the coal comes piling in
This dropped off a bit in subsequent turns as I suspect other buyers matched my offer but I was pulling in enough to cover my needs.
In the midst of all this, I take the option to do more propaganda work on Tuscany (in the short term I'm hoping this might mean they give me a commercial agreement) & in Rome
Even so, when I check, it now appears I can build a coal mine in Tuscany
So once that is in place, I can probably stop paying over the odds for coal on the market.
And by early summer, in the main the economy is looking pretty good
Anyway, I have fantasies of grabbing land from the Ottomans, so decide to build my very first military unit. Marines seem to be a good idea.
Carry on fiddling with the trade screens (in this case more chemicals to open up some more of my factories)
So thats us upto mid-June, and for the most part I have a stable economy that is slowly growing. In the next post, I'll explore how to sell more goods to my own population and the economic and social benefits of this.
Need I mention, go vote in the ACAs, its a good way to reward all the writaars who fill up AArland with all sorts of goodies
What? Are you sure those are Marines? They certainly strike me more as gondoliers from Venice - which you don't even own...
I can just about envision them going into battle, punting their gondolas, singing O sole mio...
Right, since you so annoyingly rekindled my interest in the game and I have a few hours to spare, I'm off to redo the tutorials.
Hollow Little Reign - A brief Crusader Kings tale about family ties in Byzantium.
One thing I noticed... and I'm not sure it will help you or not because it doesn't seem like you might get this chance.
I'm playing Prussia. Russia just had a few revolts and the rebels took over a few provinces on my border. I was able to just waltz right in and take those provinces with no casus-belli or war or anything. I had moused over the rebels and it said "At war with your nation". So, I figured, if you're at war with me, then I can just take your land. And I did. I have added 2 regions so far and possibly a 3rd next turn. Not very developed, but ehhh, it's land.
Sorry. I know this is sort of off topic and probably is mentioned on the regular boards, but I figured some of you might be able to make use of it.
Edit: Never mind this. It looks like Russia just gets to take it back whenever they can just push me out.
Last edited by hgilmer; 19-07-2012 at 05:26.
Excellent update! That investment in Tuscany looks to be a very valuable step in balancing your production chains and economy generally. Should Tuscany eventually decide to join Sardegna-Piemonte in total... all the better. Speaking of which, how much progress have you made in swaying the loyalty of Tuscany toward your cause?
As for those hats... I'd like to see the man who could face such a hat in battle and not break in panic.More seriously, I'm sure they'll be quite useful in your colonial endeavors in concert with naval support.
Paradoxoholic
Nationality: Yankee
Ideology: Revolutionary Syndicalism
Issues: Socialism/Full Citizenship
Cash Reserves: $0
Revoltrisk: 6.64%
Militancy: 3 (+0.04)
Consciousness: 6 (+0.13)
well gondolers are sort of marines aren't they? Or is it the other way around? And I guess its a sign from on high that I need Venice now I have a properly dressed workforce?What? Are you sure those are Marines? They certainly strike me more as gondoliers from Venice - which you don't even own...
I can just about envision them going into battle, punting their gondolas, singing O sole mio...
Right, since you so annoyingly rekindled my interest in the game and I have a few hours to spare, I'm off to redo the tutorials.
That might have been handy if the Ottomans ended up a major revolt ... pity
Tuscany has responded well to my efforts with the unification cards. My mine is pretty safe and hopefully will be incorporated by the end of the 1850s in any case (this was why in the end I decided against building in France).Excellent update! That investment in Tuscany looks to be a very valuable step in balancing your production chains and economy generally. Should Tuscany eventually decide to join Sardegna-Piemonte in total... all the better. Speaking of which, how much progress have you made in swaying the loyalty of Tuscany toward your cause?
As for those hats... I'd like to see the man who could face such a hat in battle and not break in panic.
I do envisage some low grade colonial wars and they seemed both better dressed and more use than the specialist colonial units
This report covers the second half of 1852. In truth not too much happened. By a process of luck and some adjusting as I went along I've mostly stabilised the economy. The final shift to what I have been doing so far is to start selling more goods to my domestic market (good for population contentment and taxes etc).
Industrial News
The first table shows the values of key goods at the start of each month (ie every other turn). I've picked this as it is a clearer indication of flows than looking at the potential changes each turn.
This shows the position in terms of Secondary goods, the only real problem is chemicals, to a lesser extend tinned food and after a while I stopped paying extra for coal:
And I decide to exploit my agricultural resources some more. When up and running this should be a stable earner as it only needs capital and fruit sells pretty well.
A bit later, I build my last available small merchant ships. These end up being sent to improve my trade with N America. There are chemicals available there which remain my only real industrial choke point.
I also decide by December, to build my very own chemical plant (it was a choice between this and extending the railway to La Spezia).
Cheering up the Population
Now I can run my stocks down (or stop them building up) by either selling on the market or to my populace. As you can see
I can sell them more coffee (I'm buying a lot from South America) as this is part of the 'common food group' (PoN brings together goods into broad categories so you can keep your populace happy with various combinations).
Which I do
Overall I'm doing well with domestic sales for both happiness and taxation as this report shows.
By late September, in fact the population in Alessandria are very happy (must be the nice new train I bought them)
By the end of November, Cavour has turned up.
So I celebrate by passing the decree to improve the Education System
The rest of the world
The Danes do something rather hard to understand
And I find a new decision, that I can improve my road network. This only proves to be of use in Sardinia but ...
I do some low grade colonial efforts around Tripoli and in Ethiopia,
In bigger international news, the Russians reach the Mediterranean and, then, strangely settle for a small corner of Bessarabia.
Though they don't seem completely happy with things
By the end of the year, France, The Pope and the Tuscans all seriously like me
The latter two are related to my playing of the unification cards so I guess its more a comment by the population than by the rulers?
Now that is me up to date so I need to play some more (ie stop playing Warlock). I shouldn't of course need to remind you to vote in the ACAs but I will.
My guess is now the economy seems relatively stable, it will be relatively uneventful till the late 1850s, so I may compress years into single posts.
You didn't really write that 'The Pope must be grateful for all those missionary positions I'm creating in NE Africa', right? I just misread it, innit?
So, economy stabilized, populace happy, neighbors friendly, Russia didn't even eviscerate the Ottomans... Things are looking pretty sweet right now.
Hollow Little Reign - A brief Crusader Kings tale about family ties in Byzantium.
The Russians settling for a tiny bit of Bessarabia must seem very strange to anybody used to the EU or the HoI series, but it's typical for PoN. Even aquiring a single province in a peace-deal usually requires a very high warscore. Moreover, you can only get provinces for which you have claims (there is an option that allows you to claim any province bordering on your territory, though).
AARs:
Death will stand grieving in that field of war - A Red Drang Campaign PBEM , WritAAR of the Week 9 April 2012
Once Upon a Time ... the Revolution - A Red Grand Campaign PBEM, Weekly AAR Showcase 22 May 2012, AArtist of the Month July 2012
The swans head north - A Southern White Short Campaign PBEM, Weekly AAR Showcase 22 January 2012
Who put the stranded admiral in charge? - A Siberian White Short Campaign PBEM
I believe this is there so we understand the Dano-Prussian war, and that it does not come out of the blue. Ahah. FailThe Danes do something rather hard to understand
Actually, the Schleswig-Holstein Question will be familiar to anyryone who play BOTH Victoria II AND Crusader Kings II.The British statesman Lord Palmerston is reported to have said: “Only three people...have ever really understood the Schleswig-Holstein business—the Prince Consort, who is dead—a German professor, who has gone mad—and I, who have forgotten all about it.
Crusader King II part :
Combine with Victoria II :Even though Schleswig, Holstein, and Denmark had all had the same hereditary ruler for some centuries, the inheritance rules in the three territories were not quite the same. The Dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein were inherited under the Salic law which ignored females: the Kingdom of Denmark had a slightly different inheritance law which included male heirs inheriting through the female line. In the 19th century this slight difference in inheritance law meant that when the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark died the Kingdom of Denmark would be separated from the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein because two different people would inherit the Kingship and Dukedoms. This finally happened on the death of Frederick in 1863.
IN short, the Danes passed a liberal constitution to get around a heritance law that would have separated S-H from the rest of Denmark...On March 27, 1848 Frederick VII of Denmark announced to the people of Schleswig the promulgation of a liberal constitution under which the duchy, while preserving its local autonomy, would become an integral part of Denmark. This led to an open uprising by Schleswig-Holstein's large German majority in support of independence from Denmark and of close association with the German Confederation. The military intervention of the Kingdom of Prussia supported the uprising: the Prussian army drove Denmark's troops from Schleswig and Holstein in the First Schleswig War of 1848–1851. The second attempt to reintegrate the Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish kingdom, initiated by the signing by King Christian IX of Denmark of the November Constitution in 1863, was seen as a violation of the London Protocol and led to the Second Schleswig War of 1864.
Learning from Prussia - a Rise of Prussia AAR for beginners - or how a forced march in winter saved Prussia from anniliation.
A Tale of French and War Crimes : A double Multiplayer AAR of Wars in America with Loki100. Includes violence against English and Indians - not suited for children.
The War of 1812 - or how I burned down Washington
well I am sending out missionaries to all sorts of positions ... so I presume the Pope is very chuffed at my variability in matters of such importance.You didn't really write that 'The Pope must be grateful for all those missionary positions I'm creating in NE Africa', right? I just misread it, innit?
So, economy stabilized, populace happy, neighbors friendly, Russia didn't even eviscerate the Ottomans... Things are looking pretty sweet right now.
About the economy I hope so. The first half of 1853 (next post) was a bit up and down, the second half has been very calm. So I'm trying to add to my economy but not in a way that destabilises the whole thing again.
I think the Russians got what they wanted as that was the original CB. Its good to see that PoN forces powers to restricted limited war gains, equally it would be good if late game this restriction relaxed to allow the more destructive mindset that led to WW1.
well done you. So that is why Bismarck referred to only 3 people understanding the S-H question and one being mad, one dead, and he was the thirdI believe this is there so we understand the Dano-Prussian war, and that it does not come out of the blue. Ahah. Fail
Actually, the Schleswig-Holstein Question will be familiar to anyryone who play BOTH Victoria II AND Crusader Kings II.
Crusader King II part :
Combine with Victoria II :
IN short, the Danes passed a liberal constitution to get around a heritance law that would have separated S-H from the rest of Denmark...
This update covers the first half of 1853. The main event was a return of the coal crisis (linked I think to my decision to stop paying extra). After a bit of scrabbling around, I reverted to paying extra and the supplies continued to arrive. Other than that, I carried on smooching with France, cuddling up to Tuscany and pleasing the Pope by creating even more missionary positions all around the bits of Africa I'm interested in.
The first two screenshots show the position of the F4 (industry and commerce) screen at each month start. I find this shows actual flows far more clearly than the estimated positions.
This is for non-manufactured goods:
(main issue is the stablilising of stockpiles in late March, discussed below; and the emerging textile manufacturing problem).
And for manufactured goods:
The great coal crisis starts to bite in early February, so my first move was to return to paying more than I needed
Equally I had a brief steel shortage that I solved by the 'import subsidy' option.
The two were related as the lack of coal had shut all my steel production down. Even so, given I am relatively cash rich, this was a neat way to boost my steel stocks.
With all that solved, by the end of March, I decide to extend my rail net to La Spezia
And again, typical of the minor tweaking needed, I opt to pay more to secured preserved food. Its cheap to buy and I make a lot more from the factories that rely on it.
In turn, with supply improved, I start to sell more of my own goods on the open market (especially those for which there is no scope to increase domestic demand). In the main I review the F4 screen for goods were the stockpile is steadily building and then try to find a level of sales that will stablilise things (some I then adjust marginally over the next few turns).
This will feed back into more money to spend. As a measure of how things have changed, I'm now looking to sell excess wood rather than scrabbling around for minimal supplies.
By the start of June, this is all looking rather healthy. My trade is yielding a cash surplus and my domestic sales generate both taxes and happy people.
Diplomacy at the start sees me making use of the 'promise local support' option. This is good as it increases relations and cannot be refused by the recipient. I guess its the equivalent of sending a letter to the Times announcing your intentions – essentially meaningless but generates good will. I'm trying to lock Tuscany in even closer if I can.
With this followed by more pressure around unification (I keep on playing these options every time they are available), with the effort concentrated for now on Tuscany and the Papal States.
Happiness, improves steadily by about .25-.3 a turn due to domestic sales.
Note that the actual happiness level in differing provinces varies even if on average it is increasing.
Equally we make the Pope more than happy. Missionaries are cheap to send (no Mfg Goods) and good to build up low levels of influence
But as I am now relatively rich, I do send more merchants too
So there we are. Mid-1853, the economy now looks stable with just some minor tweaks. The population is happy, missionaries are filling a variety of positions across my colonial interests. It seems as if the need now is to keep things calm, some judicious expansion of the army, slowly deveop my manufacturing base and wait for the Italian unification events to fire?
As is stated elsewhere, How Hard Could it Be?
Oh and of course, almost your last chance to vote in the ACAs ... I know you all intend to ...
Last point. I've played to the end of 1853 (I find I can do these turns when cooking – just don't almost spill rhubarb jam on your laptop if you try this at home .... especially not the laptop that contains all your business and financial records as well). Once the new patch is out I'll see if it is save compatible. It seems to solve a number of issues and is promised to be a little quicker on turn processing. If not I'll carry on with this as it is
Good to see production finally stabilizing, for the most part. A few questions from a PoN noob:
Why is it that you are allowed to build a rail in La Spezia but not Nice or Chambery? The Alps?
What's your colonial penetration like in Somalia and Ethiopia? Are you anywhere near taking control?
Paradoxoholic
Nationality: Yankee
Ideology: Revolutionary Syndicalism
Issues: Socialism/Full Citizenship
Cash Reserves: $0
Revoltrisk: 6.64%
Militancy: 3 (+0.04)
Consciousness: 6 (+0.13)
aye in my slightly chaotic manner I seem to have produced a stable growing economy. I'm sure someone with a better grasp of the game could have set it up quicker but it seemed to work out well by trial and error.
I could have built in Nice or Chamberry (& by early 1854 I do extend it to Nice). Its a bit like in V2, rails give you a bonus for movement and in terms of production, so best built in a productive province. In this case I expect at some time to own Tuscany, so that is a first step to a rail that runs down Italy. I'm also assuming that at some stage I'll need to give Nice & Savoy to France, if so its a waste to develop the infrastructure for them.
I'll do a colonial round up in the next post, but I think pre-unification I'm just tinkering around. I don't have access to the options that really push up your control, so its a case of building up the premise that I have a longer term claim in those regions (& doing bad puns about missionaries) to be honest
I think my game is approaching mid 1852 playing as SP. As you are smooching with the French anyway it is definitely worth building a couple of coal mines in France. Each one for me is producing 8 units of coal each. Obviously it is a a little risky but if you keep your relationship above 25 it should be ok. Definitely build them before you patch to 1.03 as the cost of building abroad has been doubled (although you now can build railways in foreign provinces to)
Not sure if the patch did this but my intrinsic production seemed to increase after the patch ie my craftsmen were producing 1 coal but after patching they were producing 3 coal.
Anyway good look. As always a fascinating read
A healthy, well-run Italy! What is the world coming to?! Oh wait, it's not Italy yet, that might explain it.
Lots of economic tinkering, of which I don't know the least, so this comment is rather light on substance. I'll try harder the next time.
Hollow Little Reign - A brief Crusader Kings tale about family ties in Byzantium.
That was good advice but I patched before I had the chance - & it is good I can now build rails elsewhere in Italy. I've noticed a few post-patch differences such as random purchases of luxury goods (will discuss this in the post after this one).
Now .. no need to feed into the Legia Norda's fantasiesA healthy, well-run Italy! What is the world coming to?! Oh wait, it's not Italy yet, that might explain it.
Lots of economic tinkering, of which I don't know the least, so this comment is rather light on substance. I'll try harder the next time.
There isn't much to say at this stage. I think unless you take Britain, France or Russia you just need to accept that PoN has periods when you do little. Since the 19th C was (up to the last decades in any case) mostly a period of relative stasis (in Europe) punctuated by short wars, that is good simulation (I still find it too easy to warmonger even with the AHD restrictions) but not necessarily the most fascinating of game play. All I'm really doing now is slowly adding to my economy and doing small scale tweaks to purchases and sales.
So by the end of June, the economy was stable, and I decided to slowly start adding to the industrial base of Piedmont.
In general the international and domestic trading was pretty much in my favour
The usual 6 month trading files
raw materials
manufactures
Decide there is no harm in improving domestic production of nitrates:
What I'm trying to do is to slowly expand my economic base, hopefully not to upset the balance I've been gradually creating over the last 2 years.
Anyway, heres a quick look at the outside world
(second column shows my CP value for the region)
And Tuscany wants me to come to visit ... I'm on my way
And that inspires me to try to set up a new round of diplomacy
and now the Pope is coming to see me ..
better order up some posh robes and stuff
Ok it'll be ready a year late but ...
Anyway my prestige is slowly improving
Note that in theory you win via Prestige and that different countries have different targets. Till I make progress with unification I am going to drop further behind. One important part to this is I can now keep my shipyards open and that generates some prestige every turn.
And the locals are mostly happy with life
And I do have some friends on the international cocktail circuit
At this stage I start to worry a bit about the army and decide that my forces need some replacements (a lot more on this in the next update)
I'll start to discuss this more in the next update but its worth bearing in mind that replacement chits in PoN are a bit different than in some other AGEOD games. In effect one chit can generate a variable number of reinforcements until it disappears (time or die-roll, I think I need to check the manual). So a single chit can cover multiple gaps. Its not that I really want to build up the army (& actually think that small and high quality is the way to go) but I don't want to find I can go to war with Austria and not have any army left.
As a note I updated to the new patch early in 1854 and its gone fine (I'll note this in the next update). It does seem to have led to some small but welcome gains in turn processing speed as well.
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