Knowing how to make money in Victoria 3 is an essential part of ensuring that your country not only functions and avoids bankruptcy, but that you also get to fulfill whatever ambitions you might have as you set upon your playthrough.
The game’s deep economic simulation translates to money entering your treasury from multiple sources that can be tough to track if you’re only now learning the game and getting to grips with its UI. Below, you’ll find a few pointers explaining how to make money in Victoria 3.
How to Make Money in Victoria 3
Taxes represent one major contributor to how your country makes money in Victoria 3. You can raise or lower them from the Budget menu, accessible by clicking on the button with the icon depicting a stack of coins on the left side of the screen or by pressing F2.
While it might be tempting to raise them right off the bat, doing so does lower legitimacy and results in a greater portion of your population radicalizing as its standard of living decreases.
The type of taxes in your country is governed by the Taxation law, which you can change over the course of the game from the Politics menu (shortcut F1).
You also need to ensure that the Pops in a state don’t outgrow its taxation capacity to get as much money as possible flowing into your coffers.
The tooltips of each law show you the predicted change in revenue, but it’s generally a good idea to take note of the types of pops living in your country and how wealthy they are prior to going through with this change.
From the same menu, you can also add consumption taxes on certain types of goods or reduce government and military wages to further fill your treasury. Where the former costs bureaucracy, the latter is sure to decrease approval with certain interest groups.
Smartly expanding your buildings is another way to make money in Victoria 3. Ensuring that you exploit your country’s resources and refine them into goods you can not only offer your people but sell to other nations is key to keeping your nation prosperous.
You’ll need to carefully look at the goods that your pops need as well as those you can produce and sell off before setting up production chains.
You can then export surplus goods to other markets. The Export Trade Routes tab in the Trade Lens (shortcut Alt+F5) lets you quickly go through all eligible goods, offering a list of all available markets and how profitable a pick they are.
Prices shift as the game progresses, so you’ll want to keep an eye on them, or at least look for the notification that informs you about unproductive trade routes.
Having subject countries under your influence also means that a part of their income is directed to you. Although it’s not a direct approach to making money, keeping track of your subsidies (and turning them off whenever possible) can also make your treasury grow.
Obviously, another important aspect of how to make money in Victoria 3 is to always be mindful of your expenses, whether fixed or temporary, and how they relate to your income and gold reserve.
You can get a quick breakdown of them by hovering your mouse over the pound icon at the top of the screen.
It’s perfectly normal to have periods when you’re losing money, especially if you’re going through wars or constructing a lot of buildings, but you’d ideally want to maintain a certain amount of balance.
These are a handful of helpful pointers that touch upon how to make money in Victoria 3. For more help with the game, read up on how cultural assimilation works and why stockpiliung gold isn’t always a good idea.
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