How to kickstart Rome's economy?

[Amphisbaena]

How to build a strong economy in this game? I know this has been discussed before, but the older threads I have found have not helped me much. As Rome, for example, I start with a low income, ranging from slightly negative to about 2 gold per month. With this income, I need to wait for a very long time to be able build anything, leading to an economy that stagnates long-term, even as I expand. Expansion has not helped me much, in my various games, to strengthen my economy either. So how to deal with this?

[NotImoprtant]

Free, unrestricted trade

[Fozzforus]

1. Turn off fort maintenance when not at war.

2. I think free trade is a bad call for almost anyone, but especially for Rome early on. You have are literally in the middle of the world and have everyone to trade with right at the start. You want to keep boosting your capital import routes as much as possible. Get your stone buff as quickly as possible. Sometimes you will run out of new goods. Fear not, just import grain. Monitoring your goods into and out of Latium is almost a full-time job.

3. Something I overlooked in my first few plays, taxes! Build tax offices in places like Ostia and Capua early on (if they aren't there already, I don't remember). Get other things that boost your taxes. Import iron everywhere.

4. Quick expansion is absolutely necessary to the survival of Rome's economy in a very short term way. Peep the historical note at the beginning of the game regarding Rome. They just lost a war against the Sabeans and a bunch of territory with it. Your first war should be to take that swath back and reunite your territory in Apulia. A great deal of this used to be Roman and very early on there is a mission event in which the senate encourages you to integrate the Sabellians. Either way, these cities are big money early on, especially if you keep #2 in mind. Taking on Sabea early is important so they don't form a powerful defensive league.
4.5 Super-pro tip: invest in improving opinion with your feudatories early. You can integrate them.

[Fozzforus]

5. If its not there already, put "available trade routes" in your map tray and keep checking to see import routes you can use

[Amphisbaena]

Thank you. This does help. I am doing at least a lot of what you describe, but it does not seem to have an impact. To describe my current game: I am playing as Rome, have reached the year 479 (275 BCE) and have conquered most of Italy, except for the Senones, Boii and other Celtic tribes in the Northeast. Other small parts of Italy belong to my Italian Feudatory states. Taxes are set to default, maintenance for army (levies; no legions yet) and navy (about 20 ships) are set to default, fort maintenance is low, and commerce is set to "trading permits". I have invested my very small gold income into tax offices, marketplaces, a few libraries, and a few slave estates and mines in relevant rural areas. At the moment, I am running a small deficit of about -1 gold per month.

A few more questions:

1. How long does it take for economic investments (buildings) to show a return?

2. What commerce policy is preferable, and why?

3. Should I prioritise trade within my own territory, importing and exporting between my provinces, or should I focus on foreign trade? What are the reasons for doing one or the other?

4. What are the key economy buildings for cities, and what are the key economy buildings for rural areas?

5. With a larger territory, I now have access to a number of trade goods I could develop, by building mines. Which ones to develop, and why?

[Fozzforus]

Prioritize foreign trade. Never take your own goods if you can help it.

But if you're losing money at that rate and you have tax offices up and all your trade slots filled, you're probably bleeding out money on something weird like going over the fort limit or something.

Also, one I forgot. Switch Roma and Campania to "acquire wealth" early on. Governers will switch it to borderlands all the time. Your levies should be big enough to handle whatever at this point.

[Amphisbaena]

Yes, the fort limit is a problem - spending a lot on forts, even with decreased maintenance. Tearing them down would be a big hit to my defence, though, which has made me reluctant to do so. Time to reconsider, I think. My levies are indeed big enough to handle anything locally, apart from, just yet, Carthage.

A question about provincial policies. I have indeed set Latium and Campania to "acquire wealth". The question is what to do with the not yet assimilated provinces to the south and, especially to the north. Focus on rapid assimilation, grant local autonomy to maintain the peace for the time being, or go for economic development? My strategy so far has been to focus on rapid assimilation for a while, take a moderate hit on province loyalty, and then switch policies to local autonomy until assimilation is achieved, via buildings etc. Any suggestions in this regard?