Game is extremely frustrating.

[captain403]

I can't seem to get ahead with this game. Can't actually get profitable at all. I'm forced to survive on mandates, because the tax collector seems to do nothing, and the planks and polished stone I'm trading barely make up for having to buy tools.

I have 2 farms with grain fields of a suitable size, 3 workers each, who can't keep up with the windmill parked right next to them. Consequently, the mill with 2 workers can't keep up with a bakery (right next to the mill) with 2 workers. That's 10 workers that can't provide enough bread for a population of about 45. That is ludicrous. If it wasn't for the fish and berries, they'd be starving.

Constantly says not enough housing, but because of the money not coming in, I can't afford to expand. Even if I could, I can't feed them.

I'd get a refund, but of course, the game is structured so that you need more than the 2 hours to find out the economy is a dud.

[AgentX320]

Too fast an expansion and poor decision-making are the real problems here. You don't start with bread—you start with meat. It's easy to manage, has low labor costs, and produces fast as hell. Then, you sell the meat, and you'll have so much money you won't even be able to gather it all.

Unlock bread only when you're stable enough to support its high costs. Go for clothes first—they produce quickly, and only commoners need them, so you can sell them easily.

Polished stone is a bad product to sell. Production is way too slow. You'd need a massive stone workshop with all upgrades just to make it viable, and even then, the price is too low.

and don't rush you have time, don't unlock things too fast be sure you need it and you can sustain the cost

i made multiple games before i found that but now that i always start like that i have no problems

[captain403]

Ah, righteo. Normally bread is the 'staple' for an early food production. Clothes before polished stone.

Ok. Restart ahead.

And the tax offices? I have a tax collector right smak in the middle of the housing, Not a single rupee collected.

[Pico 22]

Monasteries are by far the greatest money makers in the game. As soon as you build your first dormitory you can start cultivating and selling herbs; later on you'll want to add apiaries and finally, wine.
ETA: You can survive just fine without taxes, or with minimal ones, if you really want to have a taxman. Villagers will really appreciate that.

[City Builder]

Trade, trade, trade. And over produce what can be sold like planks and then sell them. I had so much gold coming in that I had to lookup and ask how to make more treasury space to hold it all.

In the beginning it's more difficult but soon enough with trade you should be swimming in gold.

[Piggy]

Originally posted by captain403:

Ah, righteo. Normally bread is the 'staple' fore an early food production. Clothes before polished stone.

Ok. Restart ahead.

And the tax offices? I have a tax collector right smak in the middle of the housing, Not a single rupee collected.

Did you set the the slide bar on your taxes? By default it collects nothing.

[captain403]

yes I did. 15%.

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by captain403:

Ah, righteo. Normally bread is the 'staple' fore an early food production. Clothes before polished stone.

Ok. Restart ahead.

And the tax offices? I have a tax collector right smak in the middle of the housing, Not a single rupee collected.

TBF, the historical progression is (was) gatherer, hunter, herder, farmer. And that holds true here also. Gather berries until you can hunt meat. Then add a herd of sheep for clothing, then add farms for bread.

Each fully-upgraded wheat farm takes up nearly an entire territory and costs almost a full warehouse of wood and planks. Get a solid economy before expanding into Bread.

SEE ALSO: https://steamcommunity.com/app/690830/discussions/0/600769927810430919/#c600769927810431326

[captain403]

Ah, thanks for the link. Good to know I'm not the only one struggling. Perhaps this means the game needs proper documentation to explain these things. Then again, modern game publishing doesn't seem to care to tell players HOW the game works.

[Wantoomany]

Serfs do not need to eat bread or meat. That food should only be reserved for your commoners. And you shouldn't be promoting serfs into commoners until you are well established and cash positive. Make the food and sell it, your serfs can eat berries.

Once you have commoners, arrange your markets so your serf housing is closer to markets only selling rustic foods. Your people will shop at the closest market they can. If your rustic food is closer to your serfs they will get food there and not go to your markets selling the more advanced foods. Those foods should only be going to your commoners, and if only your commoners are consuming it. You wont need vast quantities to feed everyone as only a small percentage of your population should be consuming it.

[Ryu.82]

Originally posted by captain403:

yes I did. 15%.

Did you check if the requirements of the tax office are fulfilled? It needs light fortification to work, otherwise the collectors won´t work, and the icons are kind of small and hard to miss.

And I really would just ignore refined food until you want to promote your first Sefs to Commoners, and then you need two stable sources of refined food anyways. The -20% to happiness for your Serf don´t really matter and since refined food is not one of their needs it has no negative effects not to have it.
I mean, the buildings just take space, cost money in upkeep and use up tools to build, without being really necessary in the early game, in my opinion they are only a burden on your village until you reach the point when you want to start promoting, which is probably not before you have 80+ villagers anyway, because of the two refined foods you need.

I was basically able to keep a small positive income with just my two tax collectors and the trade of planks until I had more than 80 villagers, which was the point when I started building farms and a hunter. Not before unlocking the upgrades for the farms, mind you, because it is a lot easier to plan if you can start with seven workers and build a big field.
And you don´t really need to keep your mill and bakery working all of the time, with nearly 100 villagers one fully staffed upgraded farm, mill and bakery should be more than enough to provide enough bread for everyone, with a surplus to sell. Only had about 15 Commoners though, changes if you promote more.

I would say it is really important to keep an eye on the upgrades. I personally always try to get the walls as soon as possible, because having the higher density early saves a lot of space for the housing, making it a lot easier in the beginning to grow without having to buy and upkeep lots of territories.
And the upgrades to production buildings, more workers and storage, are really helpful too, making things a lot more efficient.

[captain403]

Originally posted by Ryu.82:

get the walls as soon as possible, because having the higher density early saves a lot of space for the housing

What walls would these be? Are you meaning city walls?

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by captain403:

Originally posted by Ryu.82:

get the walls as soon as possible, because having the higher density early saves a lot of space for the housing

What walls would these be? Are you meaning city walls?

You don't need city walls for higher density.

Church & Manor towers provide light fortification in a radius around them. Walls don't really come into play until later when you want heavy fortification; even then, you can get active heavy fortification from a City Watchtower.

[captain403]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

Church & Manor towers provide light fortification in a radius around them. Walls don't really come into play until later when you want heavy fortification; even then, you can get active heavy fortification from a City Watchtower.

And this is what confused me about tax collectors. I built the tax office with a small manor tower (one of the original ones), yet I got no tax, even after setting the rate. It those towers provide light fortifications, should that not fulfil the requirement to collect tax?

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by captain403:

Originally posted by Maehlice:

Church & Manor towers provide light fortification in a radius around them. Walls don't really come into play until later when you want heavy fortification; even then, you can get active heavy fortification from a City Watchtower.

And this is what confused me about tax collectors. I built the tax office with a small manor tower (one of the original ones), yet I got no tax, even after setting the rate. It those towers provide light fortifications, should that not fulfil the requirement to collect tax?

Tax requires a Tax Office, a Tax Collector, a tax rate, and Houses from which to collect the taxes.

"Light fortification" has no direct bearing on collecting taxes -- it's simply that the Tax Office must have it to be built.

EDIT: Look at your Budget (F7) to see whether taxes are being collected. You can also follow the Tax Collector around in-game just to watch and verify they're making their rounds.

[captain403]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

they're making their rounds.

If they are not, what is the solution?