In this game, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women (couldn’t resist a little Scarface reference there).
Seriously though, Shogun 2 is all about having a strong economy, without a strong economy you will never survive. So in this post I am going to give you some very quick tips on how to make as much money as possible in Shogun 2.
1. Rush the trade posts: I cannot stress enough how important it is to take control of trade posts quickly. If you do not take control of Trading Posts quickly other clans will and that will bottleneck your economic growth.
In my latest short campaign I control five trade routes and they are making me 7,000 per turn on average. I am only 28 turns into the game and I have 35,000 in my treasury as it is too much for me to spend. That is why you rush trade routes!
2. Don’t Waste Trade Post Space: Each trade route supports ten ships, ideally you will want all ten ships to be trade ships. Military ships do not earn income on trade routes. The best option is to place ten trade ships on the trade post and have two military ships beside them as guards.
3. Monitor Resource Prices: Let’s imagine you control three trade posts: silk, cotton and incense. With 10 open spots per trade post you can place 30 trade ships (10×3) on all your trade posts. Building 30 trade ships can take a long while so you need to use each one wisely. Make sure you send the majority of new trade ships to the most valuable Trade post. For example if silk is currently at 30, cotton at 36 and incense at 44 send the majority of your ships to the incense post. If incense is worth more per unit there is no point sending your ship anywhere else.-
4. Diplomacy: Trade agreements are essential to building a strong economy so you must do whatever you can to acquire trade agreements. Exchange hostages, arrange marriages and pay tributes. Many times I will pay a clan 80% x 5 turns of the trade routes per-turn value as a tribute to solidify the agreement. This may seem excessive but I know it will pay off in the long run. So do what you must, hostages, marriages and tributes are in the diplomacy menu for a reason!
5. Metsukes: Metsukes are very expensive if you send them out on the field. However, if you have a Metsuke oversee a settlement he will make you a lot of money. When a Metsuke oversees a settlement the tax level is raised in that settlement without impacting public order.
So recruit as many Metsukes as possible and send them to your wealthiest provinces.
6. Upgrade the Right Farms: Farms are a consistent source of income across all of your provinces. However, not all of your provinces have the same fertility. Soil fertility greatly impacts how much income is generate by your farms.
Barren Soil = +969
Meagre Soil = +1259
Average Soil = +1300
Fertile Soil = +1938
Very fertile Soil = +2907
As you see the difference is significant, so do no randomly upgrade your farms, upgrade the very fertile ones first and the barren ones last.
7. You don’t need castles: In most cases upgrading your castle town to a fortress is more than adequate. Upgrading further costs a lot of money and consumes additional food thus lowering town growth. From a military standpoint a Fortress is easy to defend and upgrading to anything higher is not essential. You will want some castles and citadels for the expanded building option though.
I hope these tips helped, if they did please leave a comment below.
I will post some more tips soon! For now check out the Economy Guide >
