Pride of Nations

[sbr]

Does AGEOD have any new projects on the horizon?

Nothing announced, AFAIK.  There is a lot of talk of a ACW 2 game but I don't think that is by anyone more than fans. 

[Tamas]

I don't have any background info, but I am still very suspicious regarding the ultimate motive of the Paradox buyout of AGEOD.

[Caliga]

I hope to one day finish the tutorials in PoN.

[grumbler]

I hope to one day finish the tutorials in PoN.

They aren't very useful.  I'd play the game a bit and then look at some AARs to see what you did wrong.  It took me three tries before I got my nation on a sound footing, but virtually none of what I needed to know I learned from the tutorials.

[Caliga]

Oh ok, thanks for the tip grumbles.  I've had very little time for the game since d/ling it, but I will probably have some this weekend.

[Grallon]

I have only the slightest idea of what Im supposed to be doing.  Numbers change - up or down - with every turn.  At least the satisfaction is at 100% and the fame? is now at 722 after a dozen turns.  I'm playing Japan btw.  Trying to buy stuff on the global market is... counter-intuitive to say the least.  I ordered a merchant fleet built but it's not finished yet.  So far the only tangible effects I've seen are selecting state orders/bans on certain commodities like coal and steel.

I'm confused. 




G.

[The Minsky Moment]

For Cal- based on very limited experience to date:

The tutorial has some value getting you used to using the interface and locating the various screens, which I found less than intuitive.

One key thing is to learn how to understand and use the F4 display.  It is a little unwieldy and complicated but it has almost all the key economic info you need and you do need it.  Do not forget the button on the top toggles between agricultural and industrial goods - it does not display both at the same time.  The smaller balance "B" display can be useful for getting a quick picture of balances but you need the more detailed F4 data to calibrate things. 

Check your factory status each turn - sometimes they shut down for lack of required inputs. 

Always keep a decent stock of private capital; otherwise your capitalist raises prices and you get inflation.

Manufactured goods are important - they are needed for almost everything - building structures, building key units, various colonial actions etc.  So build out those goods factories when you can (unfortunately, it also costs a bunch of goods to build a goods factory).

But to run the goods factories you also need mech parts, and there is an early game shortage.  So who may need to build a mech parts shop early.

Importing consumer goods is not necessarily a bad thing.  The imports cost capital but you get a lot back selling it into the domestic market, and it can help keep your people happy.

If you are playing a big country like Russia or the US, or if you are colonizing, make sure you place depots and collection points where you need them before you rush in with lots of troops and structures.  reguarly check the supply screen and the trade zone screen for gaps. 

[The Minsky Moment]

  Trying to buy stuff on the global market is... counter-intuitive to say the least. 

There are global prices but no global market.  You set orders to buy from individual trade zones and you can only buy from zones adjacent to you by land or with a port in a sea zone where you have a merchant fleet. 

it is a PITA to calibrate your international trade orders in their interface, but the system is intuitive enough.

[Syt]

It's certainly more interesting than the magical market of Vicky where everything gets everywhere without problems, provided you have the prestige.

[grumbler]

The key to trading, IMO, is to have the F4 screen, the B screen, and the "T" trade screen for your capital open at the same time.  Move them around so they are all visible at once.

It is essential to have all the required resources for running your structures available at the start of the next turn.  You cannot buy/produce a good or capital and use it in the same turn. 

Toggle all production on at the start of your analysis, and turn things off manually as necessary.  It is easier that way than trying to find what is shut down and manually start it.

I look at the B screen to see where I am going to be losing goods or capital, and decide if that is acceptable (stocks over 200 start to rot, so you want to avoid producing anything that will take stocks over 200 - usually better to produce and sell than not produce, but you cannot guarantee sales).  It sometimes pays not to produce, as prices can get out of whack and it becomes cheaper to buy a good and sell the raw materials you would otherwise use than it is to make the good. 

The key to selling is to see what the demand is, and try to meet that.  The B screen tooltips tell what the demand is for any good that you are buying or selling.  Look for goods that you have in surplus of and the market has a shortage of, and change your sell amount on the T screen to match.  If supply exceeds demand, consider simply not trying to sell, as the prices will drop if you over-saturate the market.  Make sure you change the internal market demand (on the F4 screen) to 80% in that case.  Lower internal demand for other products if necessary.

Stop making something if there is no demand (internal or external) and stockpiles get near 200.

The key to making money, IMO, is to satisfy the internal market demand for luxury goods using your own manufacturing.  Obviously, luxury good production should be an early priority.  The other key is keeping an eye on the resources for which demand is increasing, and have a facility ready to produce those when prices go up - you save yourself having to buy them, and can sell any surplus.    This is true for minerals in every game I have played so far.

Don't build extraction facilities to the capacity of an area to provide the resources, if you can avoid it.  Unused resources provide a bonus to existing facilities (e.g. 2 iron mines in an area with an iron resource value of 3 produce 6 iron instead of 5 - increasing the number of mines to 3 increases all costs by 50% but only increases total output from 12 to 15).  Not many countries have this luxury, of course.

The US is a good country to start with, since you can solve your problems a number of ways, and you get to perform pretty much every action without a lot of negative consequences if you do it wrong or poorly.  Piedmont-Sardinia is a more interesting country to play,once you have the basics down.  Russia will be a challenge, I think.

[grumbler]

There are global prices but no global market.  You set orders to buy from individual trade zones and you can only buy from zones adjacent to you by land or with a port in a sea zone where you have a merchant fleet. 

it is a PITA to calibrate your international trade orders in their interface, but the system is intuitive enough.

I do my buy trades mostly on the B screen.  It takes into account where you have fleets, and is easier if less precise.

[grumbler]

It's certainly more interesting than the magical market of Vicky where everything gets everywhere without problems, provided you have the prestige.

Yes, Vicky assumes that there are merchants in the world, and that they will hire space on whatever ships are cheapest, as opposed to PoN's idea that all goods bought for Japan have to be carried on Japanese ships (which is particularly ironic given that there were no Japanese merchant ships in 1850!)  The merchant ship thing is weird and counter-intuitive and should be scrapped.  Merchant ships make money from what they carry, no matter what the nationality of the goods' owners are.

[Tamas]

There is a new beta patch out.

[Grallon]

Things were made clearer thanks to Grumbler's instructions.  However I'm still losing manufacturing parts - even though I'm telling (or trying to tell) the global market to *buy* 'manufactured goods' - not to sell them.

I do hate these confused games where one thing means another and its opposite depending on which display panel you find yourself looking at.

Oh an pressing "t" - or "T"-  or SHIFT "T" - or SHIFTT "t" -  or Control "T" - or CTRL "t" - or ALT "T" - or ALT "t" - will bring the trading screen - or not - depending on... I don't know what.  I've tried all combinations under various settings - to no avail.  An then it will appear... Most aggravating 





G.

[Syt]

It's certainly more interesting than the magical market of Vicky where everything gets everywhere without problems, provided you have the prestige.

Yes, Vicky assumes that there are merchants in the world, and that they will hire space on whatever ships are cheapest, as opposed to PoN's idea that all goods bought for Japan have to be carried on Japanese ships (which is particularly ironic given that there were no Japanese merchant ships in 1850!)  The merchant ship thing is weird and counter-intuitive and should be scrapped.  Merchant ships make money from what they carry, no matter what the nationality of the goods' owners are.

I said "more interesting", not "more realistic".

You could probably pretend that instead of nation owned merchant marine it represents cargo haulers *hired* by your nation (regardless of flag it sails under), but that'd be a stretch.