Victoria:Revolutions Capitalists FAQ
From VickyWiki
[edit] Capitalists? Who??
In Victoria:Revolutions, many nations' capitalists will build railroads and factories, if the government has the right economic policy.
[edit] What do the Capitalists build?
A Capitalist has several building options. These are listed roughly in the order of priority for the Capitalists.
Railroads in your state: Capitalists like to build railroads. They generally pick the most productive areas to do first so the first one often goes in your capital. A capitalist anywhere can build a railroad anywhere. Factories: Capitalists can build or expand factories in the state they live in. They cannot build factories anywhere else. Furthermore if the existing factories (including closed factories) are less than 80% full of workers they won't build a factory. Capitalists build factories based on demand on the World Market. That means lots of civilian goods the POPs demand, and not very much military goods. Railroads in your colonies: Capis will quite happily upgrade railroads all over the world in your claimed colonies, even in places like Easter Island. State Bonds: If theyre is nothing else to do the capis will buy some State Bonds.
All capitalist building depends on the techs available to your nation just the same as it does to the player.
[edit] What does it take for capitalists to build stuff?
This is the big question!
The only thing capitalists really need is money in their pockets.
You can see a capi's cash reserve in the most detailed POP view of him. Once a capitalist's cash money goes over a certain trigger level he will eventually build something (but see below for the 'disappearing money' problem).
The trigger levels depend on your government's economic policies:
Laissez Faire: $500 Interventionism: $1000 State Capitalism: $2000 Capitalists can't build at all under Planned Economy.
There is also a $10 increment to the trigger level per factory existing in your nation.
Capitalists have an income which is a share of the national income, less Rich taxes and tariffs. Like all other POPs they spend money first on their goods needs; once they have bought all available goods they save up.
[edit] Does this mean Machine Parts don't matter?
If you have capitalist-led development then machine parts are far less important than they were and you don't need to spend so much time concentrating on developing MP techs and factories.
[edit] Why aren't my Capitalists building anything?
Probably because they don't have enough money, or you haven't given them enough time. Some nations (e.g. France) can take 5 years for capitalists to start building things in the GC, even with laissez-faire governments.
[edit] Does money disappear from my capitalists?
Often money just vanishes from capitalists to no effect. This is particularly common in minor nations such as Greece.
[edit] Does my country need capitalists?
It depends on your country! If you are a relatively poor nation with no starting Capitalists then you should definitely consider choosing a government which gives you State Capitalist or Planned Economy policies, and building factories and railroads yourself.
[edit] How do you create a capitalist?
Capitalists can be created by promoting Clerks, for the cost of a wodge of cash and some resources. Bear in mind that many governments (e.g. thos with Citizenship policies other than Full Citizenship) are unable to promote POPs that aren't the state's primary culture.
[edit] What are those capitalists doing in the Congo/Micronesia/Outer Mongolia?
Occasionally capitalists crop up in your colonies. There are a number of events which change Clerks and Aristocrats into capitalists. These capis do no harm, but will accumulate money fairly slowly (being non-national POPs) and unless you convert their territory into a State will never have the chance to build factories.
[edit] What's the best strategy to get loads of industry built for free by capitalists?
There are several things to bear in mind:
Economic policy. Clearly Laissez-faire is best, because of the lower cash threshold for building. Interventionism is a respectable second-best.
Tax and tariffs. Keep Rich Taxes as low as you possibly can to help the capis accumulate funds: zero is ideal. Tariffs should also be low if possible.
Capitalists: You need at least one capitalist per state to get industry across your entire nation. Also consider promoting largish clerk pops to Capitalists: starting Capis tend to be small, reducing the rate they accumulate wealth.
Craftsmen & Clerks. Existing factories need to be 80%+ full for capis to build more. Splitting POPs and promoting new ones to fill existing factories can prompt capitalists to build you anoter one for free!
Delete unwanted factories. By the same logic, if capitalists keep building factories you think are useless, you can always close them and then delete them: if the capis are rich enough they'll just build another one for you!
[edit] Why have my capitalists suddenly stopped building?
(originally posted at the Paradox website by OHGamer)
Your capitalists were building factories and railroads with little problem, then suddenly they just stopped building, and their reserves are either zero or barely above 100. What happened?
The important thing to remember regarding capitalist building is that capi POPs daily income comes from their cut of the export income, and that they must fill all their needs first before they will build reserves needed for factory or railway construction.
If your nations doesn't produce the goods the capitalist need (and export them to the WM, as your POPs get first crack to buy the goods you put out into the marketplace, and do not pay tariffs on the domestic quantities they buy), they have to import it from other countries, and if you have tariffs, that raises the cost of those imports.
All that is after you take a cut of their daily income via taxes.
So to give a hypothetical
Daily income for a capi pop is 50.00
30% tax takes 15.00, leaving it 35.00
the cost to purchase the amounts needed (including additional cost in tariffs to pay for the needs they have to import in) for their needs must be less than 35.00 for the capi to have money left over to put into reserves.
If the daily cost to fill needs are less than the 35.00, the extra goes into reserves. Once their reserve income is sufficient to build a factory or railway, they will do so. The amount of reserves needed depends on the economic policy of your government.
If the daily cost is more than 35.00, the difference is made by taking money out of reserves or buying all they can until they hit 0 income for the day. In either case, no reserves are being build up to allow the POP to be in a position to start a railway or factory.
The biggest causes for players falling into a cycle where capis no longer receive enough export income to cover their needs are
1) Quatities of needs demanded rises faster than economic growth, thus more of the daily income needs to go to buying needs, until such point that the cost to buy is more than the income made. Because in Revolutions quantities of goods needed to fill needs is proportional to the number of industrial and commerce techs researched (so that full quantity demanded is reached when all 60 techs are researched), if you rush the commerce and industry techs without expanding your export amount by a similar rate, the result is a demand/income scissor that cuts off reserve growth.
2) goods that were not available on the World Market for your POPs because they were either not produced at all or not produced in quantities to allow your POPs to buy given your overall ranking in the game (higher ranked nations get first dibs on WM goods produced by nations other than their own) suddenly become available either due to the beginning of prodution of other nations creating supply that allows you to buy given your overall ranking, or you yourself start producing the goods and putting them on the world market, and your POPs get first chance to buy them.
Biggest culprit in this are the really expensive luxury toys - cars and, in base Victoria but not VIP, airplanes. Those are really expensive when they first come on the market because demand is almost always higher than supply, and if your capis are in a position where they either can buy your production first or your nation is high enough ranked they can import them in, the potential hit to their reserve income can be huge, and magnified if you put high tariffs on the goods.
Solution - focus on rapid production expansion in the couple decades before these new goods generally start appearing (usually 1890s) so that your capi POPs are making huge daily increases in reserve income and thus will have plenty of extra income for making the new, expensive purchases.
And note here having very large capi POPs can be the worse thing. Quantity of good demanded for a need is based on the formula base need * (pop size/100K). So if it says a capi pop has a 1.2 demand for cars, IIRC if that capi POP is 100K in size, it will try to purchase 1.2 cars, which given that they run in the 150-180 pound range per car, means they need something approaching 200 pounds in free reserve income to cover the cost when they become available. If their reserve margin isn't that big before the cars come on the market, then the capis will dip into reserves until they fall to below 100, at which point no POP buys luxury needs, reserve income builds back over 100, capi buys lux needs, putting reserve back below 100, and you end up in the dreaded luxury need reserve loop that is very difficult to break, esp if you have a laissez-faire party in power. This is why small to medium sized capi POPs are better in the long term unless you are playing an economic juggernaut, you reduce the risk of getting caught in the lux need warp come the 1890s.
