Jan-June 1853, coal and missionaries (not related)
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
