Private capital query.

[Tach]

Ok, so, I thought I had a handle on the economy. Things seemed to be ticking along nicely for 18 months or so (GC as the US - 1.03c). Then things seemed to suddenly take a nose-dive.

To start with, I was bringing in around £400 a turn private capital. Then, some time in 1851, that dropped a lot. It coincided with my state fund income going up a lot, but that was due to me managing to start converting gold to cash which I have now stopped.

For the past 7 turns or so, I have brought in less than £100 a turn (I think ~30 was my lowest). I don't understand why. As an example, this is what happened last turn (the late oct 1851 turn) that I noted down before hitting next turn.

Initial funds: 1939
Production sites: -670
Commerce and Transactions: 700 (this one bothers me a little, as the historical transactions balance for this shows as 0 for the last 12 turns).
Construction & Various: 405
Final Funds: 2374 (I think this is what it was, this is the one I forgot to note down, ewps! was definitely £2300+)

My new total is 2032 (a gain of 93).
My log shows I bought goods worth £44, sold goods worth £453 to my national market, sold goods worth £366 to the international market and made £10 from transport fees. My maths makes a total of £2758 (or £2088 if it hadn't subtracted the production sites costs). Either way, it doesn't seem to balance.

Am I just being a bit dense and missing something, or is something going wrong?

[Wilsh8517]

Your production sites in the plus ??

[Kensai]

Several things might go wrong, but there is no need to panic. It is too early and the game has many auto-balancing mechanisms as new techs come in and the global population demanding resources and goods rises.

First, craftsmen in nations might be producing some stuff which has dropped the demand and price of goods you offer. Second, you might be overexpanding your economy meaning that you need more stuff than you can offer (your commercial balance is negative, at least in value terms). Third, you might need to expand your merchant fleet to reach markets that effectively need and can buy your stuff. Start from the major nations, reinforcing your trade fleets in MTBs, and lowering significantly tariffs and merchant fees.

[Tach]

Wilsh8517: no, my production sites is very much in the negative (I assume that the cost it shows for the production sites is the capital required per turn to keep them running).

Kensai: I'll not worry about it too much at the moment then. My products seem to be selling ok, just the money isn't making it into peoples pockets. Maybe I am just mis-interpreting what I am seeing as regards the log entries. If tariffs/fees reduce the amount that becomes private capital that could be it as I think I increased them a little when I was low on state funds. I'll go tinker for a couple of years and be back with more questions no doubt! Thanks.

[Jim-NC]

Ok, so, I thought I had a handle on the economy. Things seemed to be ticking along nicely for 18 months or so (GC as the US - 1.03c). Then things seemed to suddenly take a nose-dive.

To start with, I was bringing in around £400 a turn private capital. Then, some time in 1851, that dropped a lot. It coincided with my state fund income going up a lot, but that was due to me managing to start converting gold to cash which I have now stopped.

For the past 7 turns or so, I have brought in less than £100 a turn (I think ~30 was my lowest). I don't understand why. As an example, this is what happened last turn (the late oct 1851 turn) that I noted down before hitting next turn.

Initial funds: 1939
Production sites: -670
Commerce and Transactions: 700 (this one bothers me a little, as the historical transactions balance for this shows as 0 for the last 12 turns).
Construction & Various: 405
Final Funds: 2374 (I think this is what it was, this is the one I forgot to note down, ewps! was definitely £2300+)

My new total is 2032 (a gain of 93).
My log shows I bought goods worth £44, sold goods worth £453 to my national market, sold goods worth £366 to the international market and made £10 from transport fees. My maths makes a total of £2758 (or £2088 if it hadn't subtracted the production sites costs). Either way, it doesn't seem to balance.

Am I just being a bit dense and missing something, or is something going wrong?

Welcome to he forums Tach!.

The screen shows the expected balances from transactions. Let's break it down.
1. The -670 means it will cost your sites 670 capital to make the stuff they do (this is an estimate of course, and things may change - like a region becoming enthusiastic for example which increases your costs, but also increases the amount you produce from the region)
2. The transactions show +700, this means the game is assuming you will sell 100% of your attempts, and purchase 100% of your attempts (or to whatever percentages you have set the slider bar). This is important, as you don't always sell 100%, nor do you always purchase 100% of what you are trying to do. (the historical transactions value is not recorded, so ignore the 0 that shows there). My guess is that you are not selling as much as you could [you are trying to sell 10 mechanical parts, but only sell 5 for example]. In your example you sold 366 and purchased 44, thus your net was 322 (not the 700 the engine thought it would be). Taking away the 378 from the 2374 gets a net number of 1996 (which is very close to what you got).
3. The Construction and Various is national sales, transport fees and etc. Here again, you only received 376 (vs. a target of 405). This could be due to a substitution of goods sold in the national market or some other factor (such as a colonial action or something).

The problem is most likely that people are not buying everything you are trying to sell, and this causes you to not make as much as you thought you would. You can adjust the amount you think you will buy/sell by moving the small slider bars underneath the commerce and transactions section of the page.

[Tach]

Jim-NC: Aaah, now it all makes sense. Thanks. I guess that the amount sold ties in to what Kensai said about expanding my trade fleets to new markets and more techs coming on line.

I suspect my "Got a handle on the economy" was a little premature. I get the feeling that just when I think I'm understanding something, I'll find I don't really understand it for quite a while to come yet.

[Kensai]

It's rather complex indeed, but both Philippes have gone to great lengths into finding balancing mechanisms. There is only one (ok, two maybe) advices I can give you for a long and entertaining grand campaign:

(1) do not rush... the game is a marathon, not a sprint... when on SP I play 1-2 actions per turn (excluding troop movements) to simulate the "slowness" of things... you are smarter than the AI, let them have their time to grow for the challenge!
(2) try to have an open trade policy, buying and reselling stuff, including things you might not need... by reselling you get trade taxes anyway... you should avoid being mercantilistic!! resources must flow...