Missing Interest on Loans

[unmerged(2404)]

After reading about the banker strategy in a well-researched thread(http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=10254&highlight=gold+mine), I decided to give it a try. I'm playing Portugal in the GC, and successfully made many 10D at 10% interest loans to Spain, England, Austria, the Hanseatic League, Persia, etc. I set my "To Treasury" slider to 0, to avoid inflation, and waited to collect my riches.

After 20 or so years of lending, I wasn't seeing a dramatic increase in wealth, so I checked my archive to determine precisely how much money I was earning from the interest on these loans. To my surprise, it was a significant sum. In one year, I had earned something like 400D from interest payments. However, since this money is not going into my treasury, I have no idea where it is, or how the program is using it. My research certainly hasn't felt the effects of a huge influx of money. Does anyone have any idea where the money is going?

Thanks in advance for any assistance in resolving this issue.

 

[AmbientOyster]

The intrest money is added to your treasury every month. It isn't handled as other income though and doesn't go into the budget. Because of this it cannot be used for reasearch and it doesn't show up in the "balance sheet" with your other income.

 

[unmerged(2970)]

Yes, the interest goes to treasury on a monthly basis. You probably was not able to see any substantial additions as army maintenance is deducted from treasury and when it is empty from monthly income, reducing country's spending on research.

Btw, the subject you raised you should better address in General Discussions Forum for EU1, you will get more assistance there.

 

[unmerged(2404)]

Woops

I didn't realize that I had posted it in the EUII forum. I'm sorry. Is anyone able to remove it, or should I repost it?

 

[unmerged(1095)]

I will move it - thank you for your concern

 

[unmerged(3408)]

Thanks Uglyduck.

You will see the direct impact of your interest payments (received) in the upper-right hand corner of the game screen. Your treasury should be bursting. (Btw, the almanac listing for interest income is misleading. It really includes interest + all repaid loans for the year.)

All of the money for research will then come out of your regular income. It is important to make sure that you develop your economy by promoting officials and building factories to keep money filtering into research.

 

[unmerged(2404)]

Treasury

Petrus: Thank you for the post, and for exploring this great idea in the first place. I'm not sure we're on the same page, and I suspect it's because my post wasn't clear enough. Let me try again. Although it seems that I'm earning lots of money from interest payments, this money isn't translating to direct cash in my treasury -I can't use the money to purchase anything, including: troops, more ships, or city improvements. In fact, in the upper right hand corner, the spot denoting my available resources, I'm looking at 10D right now.

Although I know, from looking at the Archive, that a steady stream of money is pouring in on a monthly basis from earned interest, I have no clue where that money is going as my available cash reserves consistently dwindle down to 0 by October or November of each year. The only exception is when one of my debtors pays off the loan - then, that amount appears in my available resources column. (So far, I've been taking the repaid loan and quickly reinvesting it in more loans.)

I appreciate your help in clearing this up. Thanks again.

 

[unmerged(2404)]

one more thing

Playing as Portugal circa 1502, I haven't yet invested a single Denari in additional troops or ships. Can it be that my maintenance costs are eating away all my interest profits? It wouldn't seem possible.

The only unusual thing in this game vs. the others I've played as Portugal, is that my army was automatically revamped with an investment of 250D. I was under the impression that this was a random event, but maybe it will help explain where the interest money is going.

 

[unmerged(3627)]

It might be the army maintenance that is chewing them up:

If you set your treasury slider to zero and everything goes to research, and you have nothing in your treasury, then the army maintenance cost is deducted from the amount going into research. BUT, because you have loan interest coming in which goes straight into the treasury, the army maintenance is coming out of there and you're not noticing any actual money.

Or it could be a foul-up. I wouldn't know; I always find a major loan strategy just way too boring.

 

[unmerged(3408)]

Hmmm, a mystery

I suspect Heyesey might be on the right track. (Even if he can't appreciate the sublime glory of being a banker )

Hold your cursor over the treasury slider. If it is all the way to the left, how much of a monthly deficit are you running?

It is possible that this deficit is eating up the extra income you earn from interest. If this is the case, nudge the slider over to the right a bit. More loans (more interest) should gradually decrease this problem.

 

[unmerged(2404)]

I'm running a -5D/month deficit (where the heck is all this money going?). If I move the slider over to the left until my deficit is 0, then I will end up with a burst of inflation. Of course, I'm at 0 inflation, so it's something I can afford.

 

[BiB]

See the monthly income breakdown.

 

[unmerged(3627)]

Re: Hmmm, a mystery

Originally posted by Petrus
I suspect Heyesey might be on the right track. (Even if he can't appreciate the sublime glory of being a banker )

If the loan sliders stayed where I'd left them, I might even take it up. But constantly moving it all the way back up to 300 months just sends me to sleep... by the time I've sent out enough loans to get things moving, I'll have to stop playing anyway

 

[unmerged(2404)]

I leave the duration sliders at 36 months, and the interst sliders at 10%. That way you're only messing with the amount slider. The 36 month duration keeps the assets relatively liquid - in case a sudden war breaks out, or if you're racing to develop one of your colonies.

I think the loan option keeps things interesting when playing as the small countries.