A problem with money.

[Diplomate]

Hello, I'm not sure where such kind of questions should be asked, so I'll create a new topic. Please merge it with another one if I'm mistaken. So here is my problem: I've played Spain a bit and met with a real shortage of money. It seems the colonies just suck the juices out of my economy. I'm suffering a severe loss of money due to maintenance and civic upkeep and just don't know what to do. I don't think the courts will help me a lot, so I had to start selling out my technologies to other advanced nations like France and make some of my cities convert production into gold, but that's still not enough. I know there's already a Spain guide by Fresol, but I'm afraid I'll not be able to repeat his achievements because of my laziness. Her's the screen:

Whole of Iberia is under my control, I have also vassalized Inca and Aztecs and took some of their cities (I have 4 cities in America right now). Maybe it's better to return the captured cities to them?
P.S. I know I'm a noob, but I still picked the regent difficulty because I believed it would be just right for me.

 

[Leoreth]

Making a separate thread to ask for advice is perfectly fine.

 

[Fresol]

For Spain under Regent difficuty, it's in general beneficial to have as many colonies as you can(up to say 40 cities). Each new city immediately has two trade routes(before Corporation and Free Market) and can work 3 tiles, negating the extra maintenance it causes across the empire. As you develop the cities(improve the worked tiles, build courthouse for halved maintenance, library or market etc. depending on whether your focus is on , or at the moment), you'll see a boom in economy.

I don't think you are expanding enough. Expansion at the first sight may not seem particularly beneficial to your empire, but it lays the foundation. Developing your cities helps your economy, but you need to mix it up with expansion for continuous growth.

 

[Diplomate]

Making a separate thread to ask for advice is perfectly fine.

Great then.

For Spain under Regent difficuty, it's in general beneficial to have as many colonies as you can(up to say 40 cities). Each new city immediately has two trade routes(before Corporation and Free Market) and can work 3 tiles, negating the extra maintenance it causes across the empire. As you develop the cities(improve the worked tiles, build courthouse for halved maintenance, library or market etc. depending on whether your focus is on , or at the moment), you'll see a boom in economy.

I don't think you are expanding enough. Expansion at the first sight may not seem particularly beneficial to your empire, but it lays the foundation. Developing your cities helps your economy, but you need to mix it up with expansion for continuous growth.

Thanks for your answer. I'll try expanding even further then and write the results here.

 

[Fresol]

Thanks for your answer. I'll try expanding even further then and write the results here.

Caribbeans, Phillipines, Argentina and Mexico, these are excellent choices and historical.

 

[Diplomate]

Caribbeans, Phillipines, Argentina and Mexico, these are excellent choices and historical.

And there are no rainforests like in Columbia. It just impossible to grow cities near them.

 

[Fresol]

And there are no rainforests like in Columbia. It just impossible to grow cities near them.

Colombian cities are fine, they can grow to size 10 or beyond. For most of the game(I mean before 1650 AD), your colonies won't grow too big anyway. A size 10 city is already a mature one.

 

[GuitarDemon]

Put your research at zero, build up your wealth, then slide it up to 100 again.

Assign more merchants too. Sell your extra resources.

You get so many luxury resources once you have the spanish empire running that I like to switch to slavery and just whip infrastructure in your colonies quickly.

edit: Once the british and france have their empires running you can net a good deals for resources with them.