Always in Massive Debt as a Lord: Financial Help

[Frightoon Thunderforge]

Right, so I've been having trouble with a lot of my playthroughs and it usually starts around the same point each playthrough. Usually kills the game for me for a couple months before I get the itch to come back.

I start off as a merc, doing odd jobs for townies and villagers, fighting in wars, tourneys, etc. I build up a decent sized pile of money and train up a strong army and then I sign up to be a lord.

Things are going great until I'm actually given a fief. I don't have trouble hanging on to the fief or with loyalty or anything, they usually just suck all of the cash I have right out of my coin purse! The revenues never exceed the cost.

Right now in my current run, I've been running around for about 1 year in-game with 0 money. Can't recruit new troops, pay to feed them or even pay them, so I usually just roll around with my clan members and use my influence to assemble armies if I have to do any fighting.

Current finances:

Varcheg taxes + 374
Varcheg tariffs + 71
Rodobas + 48
Kargrev + 173
Revyl taxes + 662
Revyl tariffs + 67
Korsyas + 157
Karbur + 162
Main Party wages - 220
Varcheg Garrison wages - 1701
Revyl Garrison wages - 1558
Payment to Mercenaries - 428
Tribute Payments - 706
Recruitment Expense - 27
Debts - 149482

Expected Change: -152408

Am I becoming a lord too quickly? Should I focus on buying up workshops and caravans first? Is there a way to raise tariffs or taxes?

[ChaosDMNS]

I usually just cheat and add some money to cover me for a while. or go do tournaments for a while. that usually help with cash problems.

[Frightoon Thunderforge]

Originally posted by ChaosDMNS:

I usually just cheat and add some money to cover me for a while. or go do tournaments for a while. that usually help with cash problems.

I don't think tourneys are gonna pull me out of this hole lol

Especially when they don't pay out much, I have no money to bet with and wages get taken out every day. So, by the time I travel to the next town with a tourney (assuming my party of 8 doesn't get captured) I'll be back at 0.

I ended up just giving my fiefs away and leaving the kingdom. Fixed the debt problem at least.

[knaveofengland]

rule to thumb ,example what i do when i start a game .

tournaments do all till no more , then i get the heroes best ones , then i do all empire village/town quests, the ones that only give good reps . and kill all bandits use them for quests etc. at same time buy and sell , should buy most from villages .

then i go merc to who ever has lost a few fiefs so more pay must choose the fights you can win . use the high ground even against a larger force can still win.

for troops use spearman/shield wall with archers and looters . wall holds then looster gets then to bunch up and they the cannon fodder . with the archers later on make sure they have 2 load of arrows . much later on i have shield wall archers and cavalry.

as for fiefs towns make sure it has a few villages with food , better for a long time stay with castles . as for troops in them castles . a few examples varyag veteran as it stays as infantry and same for brigand , and cap the amount they can spend in the fiefs.

just have tier 3 troops for first half till you can easy pay for it all .i dont hardly buy anything from towns since over a short time you get from drops and tournaments.

if you still stuck then look on you tube , wish you well

[knaveofengland]

when you first start have a bow and kite looters till you can do what you want keep away from horseman till later .

[Don Cool]

The huge debt deficit should only incur for a short time, the AI makes peace at the most odd of times, even when it´s winning and overwhelming it all of a sudden reaches the peak and is by the AI forced to make peace and pay the losers. Sometimes the other way round.

Your garrison expenses are also fairly high compared to mine, you should match the garrison expenses to be somewhat equal your towns income at the most and rely on a good sizeable force you control to defend those settlements.

Remember that your towns won´t grow either if your garrison is eating all the food.

You should at least have 2 million in the bank when starting out as a real Lord, I usually use 1 million right off the bat to recruit other Lords to my cause, they help a lot and cost no money other than the initial fee.

[ChaosDMNS]

You can do those local tourny fights, not the full one, just local training. they pay a little each fight. and time stands still while your in the city. so just do that a million times until you have enough cash

[Claytonium]

It looks like your garrison wages are too high. It's really easy to overload your fiefs with troops, so fire some of them.

Also, there are a few governor perks that reduce garrison wages. I usually either turn my brother into a governor, or marry a super-wife and make her a governor. You can reroll their perks at an arena for a few thousand dinars to optimize them for a governor role.

Also, find a wanderer that has high trade skills, and preferably high riding, scouting, and strategy levels. Make her or him a caravan leader. Now, caravans have much longer survival rates than in the past. I get anywhere from 100 to 800 dinars a day from caravans.

Finally, it is considered borderline cheating by some, but spend about 1 or 2 in-game years learning how to blacksmith. There are some 2 handed sword orders that pay over 100,000 dinars.

[Ruffio]

Originally posted by Claytonium:

It looks like your garrison wages are too high. It's really easy to overload your fiefs with troops, so fire some of them.

Stack your garrison with high tier troops is a killer to your wallet. Imho, garrison is at large where you just park your units between doing other stuff. Max out militia and keep loyality high and it go a long way. If someone come attack, you can always come dish out the pain.

[Action Man]

When you're the new lord, you're generally up for the first fief the faction acquires. If it was captured by the AI, they most likely pillaged/devastated it. That's going to nuke prosperity and infrastructure, which takes a long time to get back.

If the fief has crap prosperity, give it away. Set yourself up for a high prosperity town. Capture it yourself so you can show mercy. Invest in a companion (family members are the best) into the perks to make them a good governor.

Be warned that if the town is really good, the ruler might just step in and take it, and other lords will try for it a well.

[Ruffio]

Originally posted by Action Man:

When you're the new lord, you're generally up for the first fief the faction acquires. If it was captured by the AI, they most likely pillaged/devastated it. That's going to nuke prosperity and infrastructure, which takes a long time to get back.

If the fief has crap prosperity, give it away. Set yourself up for a high prosperity town. Capture it yourself so you can show mercy. Invest in a companion (family members are the best) into the perks to make them a good governor.

Be warned that if the town is really good, the ruler might just step in and take it, and other lords will try for it a well.

Funny though, if you a vassal the king can take it for themselves. But when you are the king in your own kingdom... the same rules doesn't apply.

[Raymond Reddington]

As others have said, your garrison wages are way too high under the current financial conditions. I would advise purchasing workshops and caravans first of all, there is no reason to not max out your workshop number for your clan tier.

Also, how are you building your character? I would advise taking a skill that helps to generate more income, such as Trade, Smithing, or Roguery. Roguery is kind of hit and miss as far as the loot you get, but occasionally one gets lucky in getting a high value item. Trade and Smithing can both lead to enormous steady profits though.

Starting off as a merc is good, that can lead to steady profits if you are constantly fighting.

[Letheral]

How are you paying -150.000 "debts"? Never seen this. are they part of some mod?

[Ruffio]

Originally posted by Letheral:

How are you paying -150.000 "debts"? Never seen this. are they part of some mod?

Looks like that is the state of his funds. Expected changes is even more debt. At that rate you shouldn't be able to pay wages to party or anything at all? I never played so I got myself in debt, but would assume, units start to desert if they dont get paid..

[Action Man]

As I understand debts, other clans are footing your bills so you can maintain some soldiers. Since battle is the main/best way to get money, this lets you still be able to fight. As for how much debt you can get, no idea.

Originally posted by Ruffio:

Funny though, if you a vassal the king can take it for themselves. But when you are the king in your own kingdom... the same rules doesn't apply.

Definitely agree. This would be a great way for players to ultimately screw themselves by taking all the good fiefs while their faction goes completely broke.

[Ruffio]

Originally posted by Action Man:

As I understand debts, other clans are footing your bills so you can maintain some soldiers. Since battle is the main/best way to get money, this lets you still be able to fight. As for how much debt you can get, no idea.

Originally posted by Ruffio:

Funny though, if you a vassal the king can take it for themselves. But when you are the king in your own kingdom... the same rules doesn't apply.

Definitely agree. This would be a great way for players to ultimately screw themselves by taking all the good fiefs while their faction goes completely broke.

Ponders... could this be a way to cheese the hidden "faction banks" of AI kingdoms..