Hey all,
Here's another strategy for HOI1 and TGW -The Boom-Bust Economic Model:
The Boom-Bust economic model is a generally applicable strategy for managing your resources during wartime. Most countries, particularly the minor ones, are critically deficient in one commodity or another. For most countries, it's Rubber but for others, it's actually steel or coal. In peace time, you can always even out the flow using the world market (see page 3 of the status reports) but during war, the 10:1 reduction in market returns often leads to eventual economic doom.
For example, if you're critically short on rubber, your industries will eventually consume all of it. At that point, you'll switch to oil. If you don't have enough oil to keep up, you'll run out of that too. Once you go to coal, you're really in trouble, as the resource conversion rates start to multiply. So, if you can convert 8 coal to 4 Oil, and that 4 Oil to 1 Rubber, you're really trading Coal for Rubber at a 8:1 ratio! Soon enough, you run out of coal, and now all you've got is steel. You could try trading the steel for coal, but with the wartime penalty of 10:1, even a 100:100 trade is making your pay 80:1 steel for rubber!
This is an economic trap that the AI falls for all the time (See my other post "High level strategies for HOI1 and TGW - AI Assistance). I routinely find AI minor countries with 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 and 0 IC because of this. When you find that you've run out of rubber and oil and you still haven't researched better resource conversion rates, don't let yourself fall into the trap!
The key is to lower your IC by engaging in territorial improvements, so that your resource demands will fall to a point that you can actually start *accumulating* resources again. Do this for 3 months to 1 year, and then reverse the cycle by allowing your IC to ramp up to consume the surplus.
This boom-bust cycle is more efficient than trying to muddle through the dry times, as it preserves your starting resource base and industrial efficiency. For example, you find that you have resources for only 70 / 100 IC, then what happens to the missing 30? Nothing, its all lost. So commision a bunch of projects and bring your total IC down to 65.
That way you'll stop frittering away resources on inefficient trading and conversion. Soon enough, you'll have some rubber, oil, and coal to work with, then you can crank it back up to 110 (due to industrial improvements).
Best yet, you'll have the improvements to show for it as well, which came from IC that otherwise would have sat around and done nothing. For example, while you may not have needed those added IC, Coastal / Land Forts, AA guns, or infatructure as say, Brazil, it is certainly better than nothing.
The best part about the boom-bust model is that it can break you from the death spiral caused by inefficent resource conversion. This can make a huge difference for a minor country, and even a major that finds itself in a resource pinch.
- Commander Keen -
Here's another strategy for HOI1 and TGW -The Boom-Bust Economic Model:
The Boom-Bust economic model is a generally applicable strategy for managing your resources during wartime. Most countries, particularly the minor ones, are critically deficient in one commodity or another. For most countries, it's Rubber but for others, it's actually steel or coal. In peace time, you can always even out the flow using the world market (see page 3 of the status reports) but during war, the 10:1 reduction in market returns often leads to eventual economic doom.
For example, if you're critically short on rubber, your industries will eventually consume all of it. At that point, you'll switch to oil. If you don't have enough oil to keep up, you'll run out of that too. Once you go to coal, you're really in trouble, as the resource conversion rates start to multiply. So, if you can convert 8 coal to 4 Oil, and that 4 Oil to 1 Rubber, you're really trading Coal for Rubber at a 8:1 ratio! Soon enough, you run out of coal, and now all you've got is steel. You could try trading the steel for coal, but with the wartime penalty of 10:1, even a 100:100 trade is making your pay 80:1 steel for rubber!
This is an economic trap that the AI falls for all the time (See my other post "High level strategies for HOI1 and TGW - AI Assistance). I routinely find AI minor countries with 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 and 0 IC because of this. When you find that you've run out of rubber and oil and you still haven't researched better resource conversion rates, don't let yourself fall into the trap!
The key is to lower your IC by engaging in territorial improvements, so that your resource demands will fall to a point that you can actually start *accumulating* resources again. Do this for 3 months to 1 year, and then reverse the cycle by allowing your IC to ramp up to consume the surplus.
This boom-bust cycle is more efficient than trying to muddle through the dry times, as it preserves your starting resource base and industrial efficiency. For example, you find that you have resources for only 70 / 100 IC, then what happens to the missing 30? Nothing, its all lost. So commision a bunch of projects and bring your total IC down to 65.
That way you'll stop frittering away resources on inefficient trading and conversion. Soon enough, you'll have some rubber, oil, and coal to work with, then you can crank it back up to 110 (due to industrial improvements).
Best yet, you'll have the improvements to show for it as well, which came from IC that otherwise would have sat around and done nothing. For example, while you may not have needed those added IC, Coastal / Land Forts, AA guns, or infatructure as say, Brazil, it is certainly better than nothing.
The best part about the boom-bust model is that it can break you from the death spiral caused by inefficent resource conversion. This can make a huge difference for a minor country, and even a major that finds itself in a resource pinch.
- Commander Keen -