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Chronus
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Well, I hate coming to this conclusion but . . . this game is VERY frustrating. I can't make out heads or tails on how the economy works.
I'm going to try one more game using the Fantasia scenario. This way, I can work with one province and see how the economy figures interact with each other.
If there is anyone out there with a merciful heart (and answers) please explain to me the following questions. Yes, I could post them at the official EU site, but I'm hoping to get answers here first before getting clobbered with 20,000 posts.
Okay, then, here are my questions:
(1)
Is there a figure somewhere (anywhere!) that will tell me what my next yearly income will be. From what I can tell, this yearly income is derived from the census tax in ALL of my provinces. Is there a grand total figure somewhere or do I really have to go to each province and add them all up myself?
(2)
What is the meaning of "Manpower" in the province window. Yes, the help box already tells me the concept but I can't see it in action. For example, my one and only province has a "1" for manpower, so I can build 1000 men in one year, per the help box ... right? Wrong ... I can immediately build 18000 men, all within a span of two months(??!) The "Manpower" figure at the top right of the screen has 20 which goes down for every 1000 men I build. It then goes up 1 each month. However, the help box says the figure is a yearly amount . . . why then does it go up 1000 per month? The math doesn't seem right.
(3)
The province window shows two, yearly, economic numbers . . . one number on each side of the resource shield. The one on the left is broken down into more categories: "Province Taxes", "Production Incomes", "Trade Taxes" and "Trade Tariffs". However, on January 1st of each year, only the "Province Taxes" seem to be added to the treasury. The other categories appear to be ignored. Are they reflected in the Financial Summary (divied over the 12 month period)? I though perhaps this was so but none of the math adds up (i.e. I tried dividing the different figures by 12 to no avail).
(4)
Speaking of the Financial Summary, just exactly where do those numbers come from? The first 3 lines have an additional column that look like boxes. My first box, taxes, currently says "1 (x 1.25)". What does this mean? The total it gives is "1.9". What??!! This doesn't add up! The other two boxes have percentages in them which, I believe, reflect the current trade and infrastructure levels/promotions. I can understand those boxes but the final results still do not add up. The "Goods Production", for example, has "0 (x 19%)" equalling .1. Again, this obviously doesn't add up.
(5)
Does the resource screen (Wine, for example) tie in with the Financial Summary or Budgeting screens? According to the help box (when I place it over the "Our Production Income"), the figure I see is the YEARLY income from that resource. The Help box then goes on to say that it is generated monthly and can be distributed in the Budget screen. The problem? You guessed it. The math doesn't add up. Is the figure provided somehow reflected in the Financial screen? Even dividing it by 12 doesn't seem to make a match. Bottom line: I can't find any kind of "link" between the Resource window and the Financial/Budgeting windows even though the Help box suggests some kind of "link" exists.
(6)
When looking at the COTS, I see a figure in paranthesis which tells me the number of ducats I will recieve for that year. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to happen. While playing one of the scenarios, I was clearly supposed to get over 150 ducats for owning monopolies in three COTS. Instead, I received approximately 70 ducats instead.
(7)
Is there a way of knowing how much a manufactory contributes toward your reasearch? I can't help but notice how expensive they are to build (600 - 800 ducats). Yes, they produce a yearly income, but the amount is so small (12 ducats a year) that it takes many years before it pays off. I don't mind this, actually, but the payoff never comes when you are playing a short scenario (3 Blind Mice, The Age of Enlightenment for example) unless you know how it helps your research ... which brings us back to my original question: is there a way of knowing how much a manufactory contributes toward your reasearch?
Well, sorry for the lengthy post. Any answers will be greatly appreciated. Most people appear to enjoy this game and I hope, someday, to be among them. However, this will be hard for me to do until I can see how the economy works and how my actions can affect it.
Thanks, in advance.
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23-07-2001 05:34
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