How to make money?

[shower_room1944]

Last time I made stone knives until I could plant flax then I made a bunch of clothing to sell. This took a long time and was difficult, so what are you guys doing? Is there some meta? I haven't played for well over a year, and even when I was playing I barely knew what I was doing. I thought I would go into another game with an actual plan.

[Maehlice]

I think Stone Knives are overrated: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1129580/discussions/0/4027969202132381676/

Then again, I also think coin is overrated, so there's that.

I'm a thief, so there's about a thousand in wine, gifts, and tools pilfered from all over.

I'm a traveler, so there's another thousand or so from bandits and abandoned camps.

I sell almost every quest reward -- especially food.

And then there's Herbalism. There are five potions that sell for considerably more than their materials cost to purchase from vendors: Instant Healing I, Instant Cure, Saturation, Strength, & Poison. They perfectly use the available mats with no overlap and net about 1500 coin profit every season at Barter Skill Level 0.

EDIT: Oh yeah. Same thing with Shovels at the Lumberjack vendors. Buy all of their logs, turn them into Wooden Shovels, then sell them right back for an easy few hundred every season (since you're already there running errands anyway).

I hunt & trap for our food and have Hunter's Lodges pumping out 100% Leather. As soon as the Sewing Hut unlocks: Shoes for days.

Eventually, food also gets added to the mix, but because the entry price of farming is rather high (due to Fertiliser and seeds), I let my farms expand organically from a few seeds and hand-made Fertiliser from Rot. By the time there are too many farms to support with rot-made fertiliser, Hogs have long since become affordable.

Basically, everything is profitable to some degree in this game. It's extremely hard to bankrupt yourself unless you're just buying everything from vendors. If you and your villagers are making it, you can sell it and do just fine.

[Lucius Corvus]

Make a Hog farm get rich fast i have 4 hog barns making 7,000 manure day fast cash

[Gab]

Originally posted by india_boy3456788765:

Last time I made stone knives until I could plant flax then I made a bunch of clothing to sell. This took a long time and was difficult, so what are you guys doing? Is there some meta? I haven't played for well over a year, and even when I was playing I barely knew what I was doing. I thought I would go into another game with an actual plan.

I always start with 2-3 logs camp ( lvl 1) and put people there, max it and make build crafting table as soon as you can then craft wooden vial using those logs, it gives a lot of money. + your hunter also can give you those skins stuff from animals you can make farming bag to sell from that also.

[brown29knight]

Early game I explore and clear bandits. Nothing like finding a cart with 3 full wine bottles and a perfume. That's a thousand coin right there. (and there is about 4 places on the current map that cart can spawn) Or killing 2 bandits and finding 3 dried figs in a barrel, and a coverlet on the ground.

I'll make 2-3k coin, plus food for me, each season doing this, while I go from town to town flirting with all the women to level my diplomacy skill and look for a good wife.

I continue to do that while it is just me and my chosen wife, while I do all the story quests. (I wait until I have 3 levels of diplomacy to do the story quests, because they can give hundreds or thousands of dynasty points, and 60% more of that is pretty huge)

That usually takes me around 2 years, and I'll have about 20k coin when I'm ready to start building up my city. During this time I'll plant an orchard, and after 2 years to grow, it will provide steady cash each summer for no work other than picking the fruit.

I'll use that money to get a self-sufficient homestead going, with hunters bringing in meat, a well for water, and woodcutters getting logs.

I'll make/buy wooden bowls, and buy cabbage, and make potage with the meat+cabbage. This both feeds my people, and sells very well for the time it takes to make. (Note, I make the potage, not villagers)

From there, My village will vary depending on my goals for it. My latest city has no farm at all, but 60 Apiaries. (and needs more now that the children are growing up) We got rid of the well, and provide all food and drink via honeycomb. We also sell honeycomb at food stalls. We produce about 20k honeycomb per year beyond what we eat and sell, and we make about 80k coin per year at the food stalls.

Before that, I had a meadery, making and selling mead.

Before that, a sprawling orchard town, with a couple thousand trees.

Before that, a mixed-farm, growing every possible crop,

Before that, a mining town with all the mines being worked, and 6 smithies going full time making iron tools.

Before that, a dairy farm with lots of cattle, growing the grains needed for animal feed, while making cheese for the whole valley.

(everything before that was me learning the game)

[The REAL chris]

First thing I did, and will be the first thing on the new map is to print a copy. Then I'll go exploring noting down the bandit camps manned and abandoned. the carts (and contents). and the mine locations. I also look for 2 places (a: a nice area for a main village) and (b: a scenic spot for my pure dynasty) Oh yeah.... I tweak the settings to suit me.

By the time I've done that, I will have decent weapons and clothes (gathered, looted or stolen) stacks of cash from selling EVERYTHING I find. And yes I chat up every woman I come into contact with. Next I build 2/3 houses, a hunter and logger. Then I go mining. Gathering stones and copper. Stones for building, copper for knives etc.

Next (for the new map) I'll post my map with everything marked to the forum and e-mail Morri with one... OK not that last bit.... I don't want to spoil everyone's surprises.

[Morri]

Originally posted by The REAL chris:

Next (for the new map) I'll post my map with everything marked to the forum and e-mail Morri with one... OK not that last bit.... I don't want to spoil everyone's surprises.

xD

[Foxglovez]

Make one house for me somewhere nice. Up to then I wander aimlessly along all the rivers and roads hoping to find abandoned camps and loot as live bandits are mean to a noobie. My first employee is like many, logger, hunter for feathers n hides. Then I hire excavator for limestone production and rocks as I like stone houses. Everyone gets a separate house. No shacking up early on. Always have a spare house if one runs into fab stat young villager but the fewer the better, preferably 3 girls, at least one as potential bride. Meanwhile I sell what I can make from whatever I have too much of. Being a hoarder is good early game. Selling different things makes it less tedious, but I have tended to make my farms too big so compelled to spend most my days selling as one hates to see foods go to waste. I like the farming and setting up village through early days the most fun part of the game so far.
Looking forward to the new valley and a really fresh start.
Don't forget to do the questlines if that is your bag. Frankly the main reward from the main 2ndary quest comes way too late to be useful. Does make one get out and about which I am sure is what it's all about.
Maybe consider your first save as your learning save and know that you can make others when you get your sea lets back. I personally think it stays fun if you play to your strengths at first and not follow some UTuber, though getting ideas is never a bad thing unless you are a purist. There are tons of ways to play this game, none of them are the "right" way though we all certainly have our opinions. Have fun.

[BigTurnip]

If your running fast crafting then wood sheds make lots and lots of money,
far more than flax which needs lots of pops to do the farming.

1 log -> 2 planks -> 20 vials -> 40 silver

If you fast craft then making the planks and vials is easy

[Mag ⚜]

Reach all your skills, set market stalls, mine by yourself, make cooper, bronze, and iron tools and sell them from town to town. At least this is the way that I have gotten a lot of money, steadily.
Have fun!

[subwaybananas]

The stone knife is still the best way to boost your first few days, to kick start your economy. All the answers here are after the first hour. The stone knife version isn´t for the first year, its for the first days. Its kickstart you for the flax farming in the very first spring, or if you get it a little bit relaxed, the kickstart for the very first summer cabbage farm.
Its possible with the default settings to start easy with a 40-80 flax field, a cabbage for rot farm and have already a few thousands coins in the first summer to start your village.
Of course, if you have already build a little village, with a few labors and different workplaces there are many valid ways to get pleanty of coins. Or if you change a few settings everything gets extrem easy (like fast crafting)
But to be honest, this is a rush way and you get faster bored. I like the way to build your settlement in a selfsufficent way and you only make the buildings and the first few tools to start. Everything I sell is made from my villager.

[KnIf0r^TITAN]

Personally i started out farming wheat, made 3 7x7 feilds and made about 9k a year, then added a pig farm to eliminate the overheads and never worried about money again.... after that you just start adding things to your village and you will just naturally make money, my village is so big at this point i pay 7k in tax like it's nothing.

At the extreme start if you run around the roads every season change (especially around the main river) you will find abandoned camps, overturned carts etc with stuff you can keep (keep the trees for free orchards later) or sell (like the booze) and make money that way.

[Restaldt]

I turn every animal in a 3km radius from my house into simple bags

My peasants are making shoes from what the hunters bring in

Feathers are light and sell well