In EU3 manufactories were expensive investments, but ones that had significant payoffs. There isn't much information online about their impact in EU4 - I was wondering if people had experimented in-game and had information quantifying what the yield was from adopting them. I implemented a couple in a colonial Portugal game and they didn't seem to do much; granted, if you're raiding the natives across the world for thousands of ducats they don't hurt either! Does it matter if they're in a colony? What is the time for these to pay off, and are there any other events (other than more income) tied to having one?
Manufactories in EU4
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Well, the Manufactory doubles production in the province it's built, which in most cases is a straight +100% production value bonus (the only thing it wouldn't stack with is the other Production buildings that give +10% or +20% Goods Produced). Given that you do have Workshops available as a second tier building that give +20% Goods for 75 gold, having +100% Goods for 500 gold isn't quite as good a deal. But it is still profit at the end of the day.
Increasing the production of goods doesn't just improve your income via Production, but it also improves the Trade Value that your province contributes to its node. Thus, if you're dominating trade, you can directly add ducats to your income from trade as well as production with a Manufactory (or Workshop). That income is then boosted by your Trade Efficiency, just as your Production Efficiency affects your province's production.
If you're doing a colonial game, you have two options for the Manufactories. Building them in your home/European provinces will give you a much stronger Production boost, as the Manufactory's production won't be weakened and converted into Tariffs. But there's still an advantage to overseas Manufactories if you're dominating trade. With the +20% boost from merchants stationed at trade nodes between your colonies and your home where you collect, you can generate even more ducats out of the Manufactories as they travel overseas from your colonies back to your home. You'd have to do the math carefully to figure out whether that will outpace your Production boost at home, and it would be dependant on you maintaining control of the trade, but it's certainly an option for amassing ducats. Particularly in the case of a Portugal, who simply doesn't have many European provinces to put Manufactories in.
Increasing the production of goods doesn't just improve your income via Production, but it also improves the Trade Value that your province contributes to its node. Thus, if you're dominating trade, you can directly add ducats to your income from trade as well as production with a Manufactory (or Workshop). That income is then boosted by your Trade Efficiency, just as your Production Efficiency affects your province's production.
If you're doing a colonial game, you have two options for the Manufactories. Building them in your home/European provinces will give you a much stronger Production boost, as the Manufactory's production won't be weakened and converted into Tariffs. But there's still an advantage to overseas Manufactories if you're dominating trade. With the +20% boost from merchants stationed at trade nodes between your colonies and your home where you collect, you can generate even more ducats out of the Manufactories as they travel overseas from your colonies back to your home. You'd have to do the math carefully to figure out whether that will outpace your Production boost at home, and it would be dependant on you maintaining control of the trade, but it's certainly an option for amassing ducats. Particularly in the case of a Portugal, who simply doesn't have many European provinces to put Manufactories in.
If you go to the build menu - hotkey "b" and select a manufactory, you will have all the provinces where you can build it turn green. Moreover, there will be a number next to each province.
This number is how much yearly income is improved if you build the manufactory there. My rule of thumb is that an economic building must provide at least +1 ducat per year per 50 ducats of cost (a 2% ROI in other words), as a humble temple provides that kind of income.
Also, manufactories work nicely in combination with other buildings. For example a canal increases trade value by 25%, so it will make the output of a manufactory 25% more valuable.
AFAIK, they work as well in colonies as normal provinces, provided your tariff efficiency is good. No personal experience, though.
This works quite the same with other buildings, but the number will sometimes indicate other benefits - manpower increase for military buildings, for example. Hoover your mouse over the number to learn more.
This number is how much yearly income is improved if you build the manufactory there. My rule of thumb is that an economic building must provide at least +1 ducat per year per 50 ducats of cost (a 2% ROI in other words), as a humble temple provides that kind of income.
Also, manufactories work nicely in combination with other buildings. For example a canal increases trade value by 25%, so it will make the output of a manufactory 25% more valuable.
AFAIK, they work as well in colonies as normal provinces, provided your tariff efficiency is good. No personal experience, though.
This works quite the same with other buildings, but the number will sometimes indicate other benefits - manpower increase for military buildings, for example. Hoover your mouse over the number to learn more.
Someone get Peter Ebbesen to post here. 
Ah what to hell I'll save him some trouble:
Ah what to hell I'll save him some trouble:
You are missing an understanding of local goods production in EU4.
Manufactories increases local goods production by +100%.
Local goods production is instrumental not only to your production income, but also to the trade value generated by the province. Furthermore, it is instrumental to getting the most manpower out of a province, as the base manpower part of your provincial manpower (i.e. the part that is not affected by constants like the +25 and +50 from army buildings) is linearly dependent on your base manpower factor, which itself is determined by the goods production.
The result is that manufactories are the most monarch-point efficient ways of boosting your direct income, trade, and manpower by buildings in most cases, and it does all three of them at once for a mere 10 monarch points. It is not always the most ducat efficient way, so the question you have to ask yourself is what is important to your country in the situation you are in. Money or monarch points? And how much do you feel you need all the benefits the manufactory brings in compared to a more specialized approach?
For countries with a hefty income spamming manufactories is the order of the day, as they typically have much better access to money than monarch points and have so many things to spend monarch points on.
Another nice benefit of manufactories is that it helps a lot in becoming the production leader in a specific good, which confers an additional 10% bonus to goods produced. If you have good control of the trade side of it you will also have an easier time getting the trade bonus-especially when the goods are rare or produced mostly by low-tech civs.
Don't forget that manufactories give a HUGE boost to manpower. That's also a very good reason to build the if you're rich but small.
Go to PE's manpower FAQ in FAQ subforum. It explains the mechanics, including the "base factor". Base factor is directly affected by production value, which in turn manufactory usually doubles or almost-doubles.
So you get income from production, you get more trade-node value (and IIRC trade-node power too), so possibly more trade value, and you get increase in manpower. What's there not to like?
Thanks, I've read it. So putting a manufactury in a place with a high base manpower is a very smart move.
Also explains why my manpower suddenly jumped up after building 3 fisheries with Portugal...
Also explains why my manpower suddenly jumped up after building 3 fisheries with Portugal...
This has been hugely helpful, thanks. It sounds like a game that a rich trading nation (or one that loots the natives!) can play well.
A manufactory also sounds as if it would have nice synergy with March.
A manufactory also sounds as if it would have nice synergy with March.
Lombardie+march+full army building line+cloth manufactury, that's the way I like it.
In my current England Game I am putting Manufactories in every province Of England (and Wales because they're not Welsh anymore). London currently has the highest Local Income in the world.
I don't bother with them. Not that they aren't worth it, but by the time you get around to building them you are swimming with cash & I can't be bothered whether I make a profit on them in the future.
Can I delete this. I was viewing an old post & replied in error.
Can I delete this. I was viewing an old post & replied in error.