back from the dead....
My computer died on me, and so, my Lorraine game died with it, but I've got EU reloaded on my 'puter, and have begun that particular crusade anew (this time, with the goal of never taking ANY bank loans!)
As to the economy and sliders....I *constantly* fiddle with the sliders to reach specific in-game goals:
As has been mentioned...ANY time stability takes a hit, that becomes the overriding priority. Instability makes *everything* worse, and if it's not +3, then your money is being wasted trying to funnel it to other areas.
With regards to the techs, I focus on one area at a time (setting everything else to zero), till I reach a specific goal, and in general, my first goal is Trade 4 (allows embargos, and gives my merchants staying power early....this allows me to do a "december-rush" blitzing six merchants into a different CoT each year, which invariably nets me 2-3 that "stick," and, because I have a higher than normal trade level, they have longevity, too. Hitting a different CoT in this manner to get a presence in the market gives me a HUGE economic boost (especially important cos I love playing the minors, and often trade is 6-8x (or more!) larger than any other segment of my economy)
With a secure trade position in hand, I start working on Infrastructure techs to get to Infrastructure five. Military and Land get nada, but then, they're cheaper to research, so I don't fall TOO far behind, cos as those techs proliferate, I get a bigger "neighbor" bonus to research (and, I make sure to secure strong allies to do most of my heavy fighting for me, early on).
Once Infrastructure five is in hand, I'll generally run a period of rampant land tech spending....again, it's cheap, I'm behind, so I get good neighbor bonuses, and that, combined with my strong economy sees me shoot up to parity in terms of the military very quickly (target - level 11 for exploration with all armies...again, I like playing the minors, so we don't get many explorers).
In times of war, economic expansion (building manufactories), or rapid colonization, I'll max out cash, and not research anything (sometimes running 3-5 years at a stretch in this "mode"--longer if I'm saving for a honkin' bunch of manufactories This, of course, gives me inflation, but since I make Inf. 5 a high priority, I've already got tools to deal with it, and WHEN I build manufactories, I build them everywhere at once. I generally decide on which provinces I control get what manufactories, figure up how much gold I need to make that happen--manufactories in all provinces I control--and tackle them one at a time--ie, build the fine arts academy first, then all my refineries, then naval thingys, then weapon smithys)....this has the benefit of: a) getting all of "that round" of manufactories on the cheap, b) adding to my research pool for a specific tech area, and c) growing my economy more
Each year, as my inflation rate increases to 1%, I appoint a new mayor, which further increases my economy size, and keeps inflation nailed down.
Inflation kills, btw, because it affects tech and manufactory costs, and so even a 1% inflation rate can really make stuff expensive for you (especially as you start plowing money into higher level infrastructure and trade techs....a 1% increase in their cost can mean several hundred additional ducats), so I keep a chokehold on inflation at all times....hammering it to zero.
The economy hums like a dream....
-=Vel=-
