More Beginner Questions

[unmerged(11299)]

I know I'm way behind the curve in only learning this game now but maybe I can generate some activity in these forums.
Anyway, more noob questions.
I'm currently doing the tutorial and reading the manual at the same time, albeit slowly. I'm finding that I can hardly generate enough money to carry out the actions in the tutorial at the speed they are being given to me. I've got all the provinces in my homeland, Ireland, turned into cities. I've occupied the west coast of northern England (4 provinces with cities or colonies). I've got my finances set so that my monthly income is in the green..just barely (anywhere from .3 to 1.5 per month). I'm being told to discover Catalonia which seemingly is way out of my range due to the fact that I keep losing my fleets to attrition and my armies are being whittled down by local natives. I have merhcants in my CoT at Eire and now Catalonia does too. I'm maintaining my trading superiority there but am constantly competing for that. I find I have no money to do anything I want to do (just like my real life). I'm getting about 130 or so ducats per year and a single colonist or decent fleet or army eats up most of that so I have little left over for anything else till the next year. What am I doing wrong, or is this normal? Thanks for helping a noob out. Mister can you spare a dime?

 

[unmerged(5184)]

First, I'd suggest not to spend too much time on the tutorial. Starting a game on Easy level as France or Angleterre would be much more helpful to you. There are some options that aren't present in the tutorial and (I don't know if it has been corrected) the Mamelukes, the ultimate goal of your game, are impossible to conquer.

When I played the tutorial, I managed to reach southern France and Eastern Germany in about a century. So, it's possible to get to Catalunya, and eventually to the Mamelukes, but IMO, it isn't worth it.

 

[unmerged(11299)]

Thanks Patriote, I'll take your suggestion. What do you think about the economic situation that I just described? Is that about normal, or am I missing something that will generate more income?

 

[unmerged(5184)]

With Ireland and northern England, you have nine provinces, each with a population of around 700 or 800. In that situation, it's hard to receive any income, although 130 ducats is far from bad. In my current game with Hessen, I have five provinces in Western Germany, and I still consider myself lucky if I get 60 or 70 ducats by year.

To improve your funds, I guess you'll have to conquer more provinces. Don't put cities in each province, because you won't be able to finish the scenario. Put a lot of trading posts, and cities in important places (harbors and places where you want to raise armies). That should do it.

 

[unmerged(11299)]

Thanks again Patriote. Man...60 or 70 ducats per year?? How do you do anything with that? What kind of things are you doing during the course of a year? I mean, what can you do?

 

[unmerged(7347)]

If you playing a minor and wanna save some cash, you can lower your armies and navies maintenance to only 50%. This way you can use the funds to something more useful, then paying those lazy guys, like investing in research/development.

Just remember to raise it to 100% before you go to war...

 

[unmerged(5184)]

Originally posted by Yoghurt
If you playing a minor and wanna save some cash, you can lower your armies and navies maintenance to only 50%. This way you can use the funds to something more useful, then paying those lazy guys, like investing in research/development.

Just remember to raise it to 100% before you go to war...

Not much helpful when you're fighting all the time (tutorial)

Originally posted by Osprey
Thanks again Patriote. Man...60 or 70 ducats per year?? How do you do anything with that? What kind of things are you doing during the course of a year? I mean, what can you do?

Make economies, mostly. It takes me something like 6 or 7 years to build a decent army, as my inflation is close to 60%. It's long, but it's also much more realistic... Is it a good thing?

 

[unmerged(11299)]

What would you recommend as a good scenario to begin with?

 

[unmerged(5184)]

If you search a few minutes on these boards, you'll be able to find a link to the IGC; it gives you the possibility to play with every nation, and it is better overall.

Spain would be a great country to start with; with Colombus and Cortez available in the first 30 years, there is plenty to do. Colonization, warfare against the natives, diplomacy with European nations, commerce... After around 100 years of play with the Spanish, you'll be able to play as a smaller country (Sweden and Denmark are great).

- 76 -

 

[unmerged(11105)]

Originally posted by Osprey
What would you recommend as a good scenario to begin with?

Don't bother spending more than a couple of hours on the tutorial, when you can move troops and navigate the gui you are on your way...

I suggest starting with Turkey GC. You don't need to worry about navy and colonists for a long time. You can learn how to use military force offensively to crush Marmelukes and Persia, defensively against Aust/Hung/Pol-Lith, and diplomatic skills to vassalise and diplo annex minor Sunni states.

By mid game you can try some colonisation on E African coast or W Indian coast.

Don't bother finishing all the way to 1792, try a naval/colonising state instead (I used Eng), then download IGC and play a minor power.

 

[unmerged(11299)]

Great info gents, thanks again. Just one thing......what is IGC?

Follow up-----Ok, I found the Improved Grand Campaign file, v2.3.
It says it drastically alters the game files to the point where it would require an uninstall of the game to revert back to original. Does it affect all of the scenarios included in the game also?

 

[Carolus Rex]

Improved Grand Campaign.

It's a fan mod that corrects a lot of bugs and stuff that aren't historically correct, adds nations and stuff like that.

Get patch 1.10 and IGC v2.3(u can find it in the scenario depot IIRC).

 

[Lord E]

You should really get the IGC, it makes the game so much better

 

[unmerged(5184)]

There are some interesting mods, too, that simulate for example the Roman empire... Never tried, though.

 

[Carolus Rex]

Originally posted by Patriote
There are some interesting mods, too, that simulate for example the Roman empire... Never tried, though.

It's in the IGC 2,3 as a fantasy option.