How in the world do you control inflation BESIDES getting governors. I've played Spain, and won, so I've obviously experienced the massive amounts of inflation from the gold. But how do you control it, I know there's a way.
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have 33% or less from gold as net income.
the investment sliders, never live it or forget it on "cash"
the investment sliders, never live it or forget it on "cash"
Especially as Spain, with all of the gold they collect... historically, the gold trade from the New World crippled Spain's economy... the glut of gold caused extremely high inflation... so if you are experiencing it in the game, then Paradox must be doing something right When I play as Spain I never try to get short term cash (or war taxes for that matter)
When I play as Spain I never try to get short term cash (or war taxes for that matter)
The only way is to keep the treasury slider all the way to the left and live on the yearly census taxes, and for any inflation you might incur because of wars you can either wait to get governors, or hope a random event that lowers inflation will happen.
Keep your treasury sliders all the way left, get more non-gold provinces, improve your non-gold provinces (less percentage gold makes your total income, less inflation you will get) and invest heavily on infrastructure slider.
let the slider slightly right,not compleatly left, and slide it back left when your inflation reaches 4%. A random event will usually lower the inflation every 15 years.
Mad Dictator said:
This is a very bad strategy as you will waste your gold when you mint it. You might be able to mint like that for a long while, but your gold will simply be eaten by monthly expenses. It is better to wait until you have a decent amount of monthly income and then fully mint for 4 years to build manufactories, then the inflation will be worth it.
If you slide the slider all the way right it's 1% a year, so that would be 4%. I think Ar7's point was that taking say .10%/year over 40 years or .20% over 20 years (either of which would be equivalent inflationwise) results in a trickle of cash you will use for other things, instead of a glut you can use for a big project.
Don't forget to put your stabily slider back to the left after you hit +3. Otherwise, that money automatically goes towards minting.
Inflation
On my current GC as (Castille) Spain, I hit 39% inflation at one point, but promoting governors all over the place and pulling the slider left has worked it down to about 34%. Hasn't been a problem yet, as of 1620, and prices don't seem to be getting out of hand.
Infantry is still cheap. Not dirt-cheap, but 10 ducats isn't outrageous. If I had to build and maintain truly staggering armies, the recruiting cost would be the least of my worries, as the economic drain of troop support is much greater.
Cavalry is expensive, but largely because of the Plutocratic, relatively enlightened, relaxed & groovy as Eddie Izzard would describe it, kingdom I've established over the years. On the bright side, it has made warships cheap.
Cannon aren't terribly expensive, and anyway, the natives whose lands we've been confiscating haven't started using rolled-homogenous reinforced mud in their clay huts yet.
So it seems to me the real problem is when inflation isn't offset and surpassed by economic growth. But I do have a couple dumb questions...
Is inflation affecting my economy in unseen ways? Am I getting less return on my money in tech investment? Is troop supply and general empire maintenance costing more?
On my current GC as (Castille) Spain, I hit 39% inflation at one point, but promoting governors all over the place and pulling the slider left has worked it down to about 34%. Hasn't been a problem yet, as of 1620, and prices don't seem to be getting out of hand.
Infantry is still cheap. Not dirt-cheap, but 10 ducats isn't outrageous. If I had to build and maintain truly staggering armies, the recruiting cost would be the least of my worries, as the economic drain of troop support is much greater.
Cavalry is expensive, but largely because of the Plutocratic, relatively enlightened, relaxed & groovy as Eddie Izzard would describe it, kingdom I've established over the years. On the bright side, it has made warships cheap.
Cannon aren't terribly expensive, and anyway, the natives whose lands we've been confiscating haven't started using rolled-homogenous reinforced mud in their clay huts yet.
So it seems to me the real problem is when inflation isn't offset and surpassed by economic growth. But I do have a couple dumb questions...
Is inflation affecting my economy in unseen ways? Am I getting less return on my money in tech investment? Is troop supply and general empire maintenance costing more?
Inflation increases all prices, including tech. And IMO you're right if you say that inflation isn't that bad IF your economy grows with it. A percents inflation to get a refinery is a fine investment. But getting inflation and throwing the money away in some war isn't.
Inflation
Thanks. After I posted that, I did some FAQ reading, and ouch! I'll definitely be keeping tighter controls on inflation next time, like I usually do, tending to run close to 0%. There's just so much to spend money on as Spain, lol.
My empire hasn't gone to war by choice since annexing Granada and, more recently, the Lenape. I'm aware that talking economic strategy with regards to this GC I'm playing is kind of pointless, since I was nearly assured of victory the moment I clicked on Castille's flag. But this is all very, very handy information for more difficult GC attempts. And maybe even MP if it's still going strong by the time I'm in fighting trim for it.
knul said:
Thanks. After I posted that, I did some FAQ reading, and ouch! I'll definitely be keeping tighter controls on inflation next time, like I usually do, tending to run close to 0%. There's just so much to spend money on as Spain, lol.
My empire hasn't gone to war by choice since annexing Granada and, more recently, the Lenape.
I'm aware that talking economic strategy with regards to this GC I'm playing is kind of pointless, since I was nearly assured of victory the moment I clicked on Castille's flag. But this is all very, very handy information for more difficult GC attempts. And maybe even MP if it's still going strong by the time I'm in fighting trim for it.
knul said:
So true, early on I may mint for 4-6 years if it gets me the money to build 3 refineries. Because usually that doubles my trade research, which is a huge advatage even with 6% of inflation. I've found that the first manufactories are the best investment, as they increase you budget 60-100%
Reading this makes me a bit worried... I am now playing Sweden and I am doinf fine (i thought), but my inflation is some 68% now (in 1505).
Does this mean my campaign is lost already? I thought this was "normal", but now I see you are only taking about inflation in terms of a few percents...
I have never experienced actual decreas in inflation either...
I think it increased as my economy was under hard stress when liberating myself from Denmark. I had to pay for a big (but not too big) army, raising war taxes, taking a loan that I couldn't repay for some years etc... I saw no choice in keeping a plus/minus zero result over the years but to have the treasury slider max right...
All this seems strange when reading your much posts here hinting at really low inflation...
Does this mean my campaign is lost already? I thought this was "normal", but now I see you are only taking about inflation in terms of a few percents...
I have never experienced actual decreas in inflation either...
I think it increased as my economy was under hard stress when liberating myself from Denmark. I had to pay for a big (but not too big) army, raising war taxes, taking a loan that I couldn't repay for some years etc... I saw no choice in keeping a plus/minus zero result over the years but to have the treasury slider max right...
All this seems strange when reading your much posts here hinting at really low inflation...
^^ The campaign is not lost, it will just be a lot more harder. The biggest problem will be the pace at which your nation will progress, because your techs will cost around 70% more.
Also, since you spent the extra ducats on troops and recieved no economical profits from then, the simpliest explanation is, that your prices grew 70%, but your income remained the same. So in a way, you are in a more difficult situation financially than you were at the beginning of your campaign.
I suggest you try to develop your trade and use the large income from it to counter the effects of the inflation.
PS. Don't raise war taxes unless in extremely dire situations
Also, since you spent the extra ducats on troops and recieved no economical profits from then, the simpliest explanation is, that your prices grew 70%, but your income remained the same. So in a way, you are in a more difficult situation financially than you were at the beginning of your campaign.
I suggest you try to develop your trade and use the large income from it to counter the effects of the inflation.
PS. Don't raise war taxes unless in extremely dire situations
Ar7:
Thanks.
I can't understand how my economy was so weak. My army wasn't too big (I think) but still costs were too high to do anything but mint coins...
I can't either understand the point of trade (so far) It costs lots and lots of money to out merchants at TCs but the gain is only a few gold per year...
Thanks.
I can't understand how my economy was so weak. My army wasn't too big (I think) but still costs were too high to do anything but mint coins...
I can't either understand the point of trade (so far) It costs lots and lots of money to out merchants at TCs but the gain is only a few gold per year...
Trading is an investment. I definitely don't suggest trading in low-value CoTs. However a nice 500-er, possibly even close, or a good Indian/Indonesian CoT, can bring in good profit.
IIRC it is also not worth bothering with trade while you have a low trade level either, as your trade efficiency is low.Battle bunny said: