I am playing a game as tiny, unpopulated Canada, starting in 1840 in VIP Revolutions. It's been a disappointing game. I expected no Canadian events and got none in 30 years of playing, but what really got to me was how easy it was to become a great power once some kind souls on the forums explained how to make a capitalist POP.
Starting in 1840, I taxed my people heavily, built up a surplus, and then promoted some farmers to clerks and again to capitalists - one POP in each of my two states. They proceeded to build level 1 and 2 railroads throughout the country, and then to build about six or seven factories even though I had no craftsmen at all. Once the factories were finished I converted pops like mad, giving me a much larger export income, a more educated population that allowed me to race ahead in techs compared to my more backwards neighbors (like the USA, which remained several tech levels behind me
) and ensuring a liberal government for the rest of the game. They were free trade, which meant that I could afford to import inputs for my factories and sell the finished goods for a profit, and the taxes I earned from my docile POPs made up for not being able to apply high tariff walls. I earned enough to introduce several social reforms in the 1850s, but immigration remained nonexistent.
By trading techs with the USA and Great Britain, I managed to build good relations with them (being guaranteed by the USA repeatedly) and earn thousands of pounds at a time. The only frustration I had was not being able to convert to a democracy - I tried everything I could think of to encourage a dictatorship, placing reactionary or anarcho-liberal parties in power, revoking voting rights, banning parties, you name it - I didn't even manage to spark a revolt, so eventually I realized I couldn't rely on immigration to fill my empty RGOs and factories. Instead I used some of my wealth and technology and bought Taiwan from China in 1860, literally doubling my population in one act. This influx of Chinese farmers bumped me up to the 10th most powerful country in the world...despite my single division of troops, only owning two states, and the fact that Canada remained a satellite of Great Britain! At that point I realized I was sure to enter the ranks of the Great Powers within the next decade or two of the game. That would be great if it had been a challenging game, but it hadn't been.
I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of my capitalists for all this. My income as an agrarian society in 1840 was small but positive, but there was no way I could have afforded to build railroads across my few provinces, let alone build a dozen factories and upgrade most of my population to craftsmen and clerks, without having the capitalists do it for me (and without buying nonexistent machine tools off the world market!).
Looking around the world, I also saw the effect of capitalists elsewhere: the USA was covered with railroads by 1840, most of Europe by 1850, and factories abounded.
Is there any way to tone down the effects of capitalists in the game? Perhaps halve their income globally? It's just too easy to become a manufacturing nightmare in the game.
Starting in 1840, I taxed my people heavily, built up a surplus, and then promoted some farmers to clerks and again to capitalists - one POP in each of my two states. They proceeded to build level 1 and 2 railroads throughout the country, and then to build about six or seven factories even though I had no craftsmen at all. Once the factories were finished I converted pops like mad, giving me a much larger export income, a more educated population that allowed me to race ahead in techs compared to my more backwards neighbors (like the USA, which remained several tech levels behind me
) and ensuring a liberal government for the rest of the game. They were free trade, which meant that I could afford to import inputs for my factories and sell the finished goods for a profit, and the taxes I earned from my docile POPs made up for not being able to apply high tariff walls. I earned enough to introduce several social reforms in the 1850s, but immigration remained nonexistent.By trading techs with the USA and Great Britain, I managed to build good relations with them (being guaranteed by the USA repeatedly) and earn thousands of pounds at a time. The only frustration I had was not being able to convert to a democracy - I tried everything I could think of to encourage a dictatorship, placing reactionary or anarcho-liberal parties in power, revoking voting rights, banning parties, you name it - I didn't even manage to spark a revolt, so eventually I realized I couldn't rely on immigration to fill my empty RGOs and factories. Instead I used some of my wealth and technology and bought Taiwan from China in 1860, literally doubling my population in one act. This influx of Chinese farmers bumped me up to the 10th most powerful country in the world...despite my single division of troops, only owning two states, and the fact that Canada remained a satellite of Great Britain! At that point I realized I was sure to enter the ranks of the Great Powers within the next decade or two of the game. That would be great if it had been a challenging game, but it hadn't been.
I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of my capitalists for all this. My income as an agrarian society in 1840 was small but positive, but there was no way I could have afforded to build railroads across my few provinces, let alone build a dozen factories and upgrade most of my population to craftsmen and clerks, without having the capitalists do it for me (and without buying nonexistent machine tools off the world market!).
Looking around the world, I also saw the effect of capitalists elsewhere: the USA was covered with railroads by 1840, most of Europe by 1850, and factories abounded.
Is there any way to tone down the effects of capitalists in the game? Perhaps halve their income globally? It's just too easy to become a manufacturing nightmare in the game.
