How to not go bankrupt?

[ohdear]

I would love to get into Victoria as it seems a game of great depth and interest. The problem is I can't even begin to manage my economy properly and just get overwelmed. Can anyone give me any hints for balancing the need for resources, spending etc with not running a massive deficit or possibly a country that can be run easily to allow me to get into the game a bit?

I have tried USA, Belgium, Holland & UK.

 

[Xz2]

I would love to get into Victoria as it seems a game of great depth and interest. The problem is I can't even begin to manage my economy properly and just get overwelmed. Can anyone give me any hints for balancing the need for resources, spending etc with not running a massive deficit or possibly a country that can be run easily to allow me to get into the game a bit?

I have tried USA, Belgium, Holland & UK.

tariffs. thats what i do atleast.

 

[Jingles]

Cut military spending and army maintenance if you are not at war and are not threatened by your neighbors. Always have naval maintenance at the minimum unless you are at war.

 

[MrLatency]

At the start of the game I tend to:

Set all taxes just under 50%
Education to max
Crime fighting to max
Defence spending around middle
Cut naval maintenance funding
Raise tariffs to max
Sort out imports, close unprofitable factories
Split pops where possible in RGOs to maximize output

That should put you on a fair positive. I tend to industrialize fairly slowly at the start, focusing on railroads, steel and lumber factories. If you don't want to go bankrupt, don't splash so much cash! Getting in to heavy debt at the start can be bad, because high debt reduces your income. For small countries, spending enormous amounts of money you don't have can result in your entire income being used to pay off the interest of your debt alone. Take things slow is my advice ^^ Once you have a stable industrial base, and a good income, you can start to really get going. Also, I advise researching lots of industry techs at the start. They give excellent bonuses to production efficiencies which will really help your cash flow.

You might want to try playing as France. They can be a bit daunting to a new player, but tbh France is pretty easy to manage (early on anyway!), starts on a good income and can industrialize pretty rapidly. If you decide to try France, I suggest switching to the reactionary party as soon as you start. I find reactionary parties more suitable to new players than Conservatives or Liberals.

 

[henryjai]

remember don't try to "save money" by not investing in crime fighting, the cost of crime fighting goes up with the number of crimes...

 

[Legosim]

I would love to get into Victoria as it seems a game of great depth and interest. The problem is I can't even begin to manage my economy properly and just get overwelmed. Can anyone give me any hints for balancing the need for resources, spending etc with not running a massive deficit or possibly a country that can be run easily to allow me to get into the game a bit?

I have tried USA, Belgium, Holland & UK.

Play as Sweden, and stay out of wars as much as you can. Try to form Scandinavia, otherwise, stay peaceful. Set army/navy/defense spending to zero, education and crime fighting to 100%, tarriff's to 85-90%. It should allow you to get a good profit of about £10-20 per day. If you want, I'll take some screenies of the trade/budget screens. Wish you good luck! Remember, war is bad for business.

 

[Will Lucky]

May I ask, what are the negative effects of Tariffs, if any? I am a newcomer to the series likewise and have picked up quite a bit.

 

[unmerged(77251)]

May I ask, what are the negative effects of Tariffs, if any? I am a newcomer to the series likewise and have picked up quite a bit.

A bit OT, but the obvious negative effect is capitalist stopping saving cash to build your industry. Tarriff is a tax placed on every good bought by pops on the World Market; if this tax is too high, pops can't afford the goods. While basic goods are usually of no problem, luxuries can easily get overpriced. Thus, knowing that capitalists only start saving money once they can afford everthing, they just stopp doing it. Notice that this is not true (mostly) in early game, where you can safely increase tarriffs, because your rich guys have still simple needs (their needs will increase with industrial techs).

Of course, this ain't true for a state-driving economy lead by a reactionary or socialist party: in that you build everyting (railroads, factories), you don't rely on capitalists, and can simply max out tarriffs and forget about it.

 

[Legosim]

A bit OT, but the obvious negative effect is capitalist stopping saving cash to build your industry. Tarriff is a tax placed on every good bought by pops on the World Market; if this tax is too high, pops can't afford the goods. While basic goods are usually of no problem, luxuries can easily get overpriced. Thus, knowing that capitalists only start saving money once they can afford everthing, they just stopp doing it. Notice that this is not true (mostly) in early game, where you can safely increase tarriffs, because your rich guys have still simple needs (their needs will increase with industrial techs).

Of course, this ain't true for a state-driving economy lead by a reactionary or socialist party: in that you build everyting (railroads, factories), you don't rely on capitalists, and can simply max out tarriffs and forget about it.

Tarriff's shouldn't effect your capis too badly unless you promote too many, or until your economy generally starts to slow down.

 

[Will Lucky]

A bit OT, but the obvious negative effect is capitalist stopping saving cash to build your industry. Tarriff is a tax placed on every good bought by pops on the World Market; if this tax is too high, pops can't afford the goods. While basic goods are usually of no problem, luxuries can easily get overpriced. Thus, knowing that capitalists only start saving money once they can afford everthing, they just stopp doing it. Notice that this is not true (mostly) in early game, where you can safely increase tarriffs, because your rich guys have still simple needs (their needs will increase with industrial techs).

Of course, this ain't true for a state-driving economy lead by a reactionary or socialist party: in that you build everyting (railroads, factories), you don't rely on capitalists, and can simply max out tarriffs and forget about it.

Ahh thanks, still getting to grips with it. Much more complex than other Pdox games.