Inflation...AAUGH...Help

[superdave23075]

I have recently run into a problem in my late games, I am playing with the warloards expansion pack and my inflation rate usually goes through the roof around 1900....In my last game my total expenses per turn was 225 but 99 of that was for inflation. (75% rate)....What can I do to combat my inflation levels?? Can I build something in my cities?? In this game I had the following civics...Universal suffarage, serfdom, nationhood, free market and therocracy and still my inflation levels were this high...

Please send me any ideas that will help with this or suggestions for future games that will help me eliminate the inflation problems...

Thanks

 

[DaveMcW]

Win the game before 1900.

 

[Stewie0416]

i dont think its possible in warlords. In BtS you can get a random event that lowers inflation

 

[superdave23075]

Yeah thanks, great suggestion...Do you have anything pertinant to suggest for my inflation problem?? I am playing on the noble difficutly level so its a little harder to win early...especially when I am playing 7 other civ's....

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[The Capo]

I was actually wondering the same thing (although I never have huge problems with it), but how can you curb/stop/reverse inflation?

 

[Sciguy001]

Realisticly, no one could be able to economicly survive whith %82 inflation per year!. As far as I know, there is no other way to counteract it besides just winning the game earlier. It can get realy annoying, like when on my Incan file I was generating 257 gold per turn, which would have been at least 400 if not for inflation. Someone should build a mod where there is a way to reduce inflation.

 

[Single Malt]

If the game inflation rate is anything like in the real world it has to do with your economy stagnating. All your cities cannot grow any larger (at the happy cap), so they do not produce any extra resources. But the demand for resources keeps growing in the game (techs and builds become more and more expensive). If the demand science:/ required) is growing at a higher rate than the supply science:/ generated), inflation goes through the roof, as prices rise. A more accurate representation would be that the actual / cost increases.

Thats just my interpretation of inflation in the game. If anyone wants to delve further into this subject, be my guest. I don't have time or inclination, as I consider it an expense that cannot be avoided. Mind you, if my theory is correct, then going to war would lower the inflation rate, as your economy can expand again. But of course the commerce hit of a late war could also cancel out the expansion effect.

 

[Single Malt]

Realisticly, no one could be able to economicly survive whith %82 inflation per year!. As far as I know, there is no other way to counteract it besides just winning the game earlier. It can get realy annoying, like when on my Incan file I was generating 257 gold per turn, which would have been at least 400 if not for inflation. Someone should build a mod where there is a way to reduce inflation.

In the late 1920's Germany had massive inflation (1000%+ {Iceland did or even still does now}). Suffice to say a certain leader started a war with the world and Germany became one of the strongest economies in the world. I suggest trying to do the same in a game of CivIV, who knows, it may well work.

 

[oyzar]

Yeah thanks, great suggestion...Do you have anything pertinant to suggest for my inflation problem?? I am playing on the noble difficutly level so its a little harder to win early...especially when I am playing 7 other civ's....

Moderator Action: Keep it civil.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

Seriously though daves answer is the correct one. Only sure way to combat it is to win earlier. What you should do is to find out how to win earlier not to flame him(the answer is probably to get better, the answer to that is to use resources bubbles, build enough workers, work only improved tiles, specialize cities, don't build too much building etc etc...). There are probably a ton of things you can improve on if you are playing on noble. Every improvement will make it easier for you to win earlier hence combating your inflation problem. Of course your problem is that you don't know what question to ask and hence ask totaly irrelevant ones!

 

[Endure]

Of course your problem is that you don't know what question to ask and hence ask totaly irrelevant ones!

How was his question totally irrelevant? For someone who's probably relatively new to the forums (hence his low post count), it seems like a fairly legitimate question. If he knew ahead of time there was nothing you could do besides winning earlier, then yes it would have been an irrelevant question, but he did not, so the question is not.

 

[batavier]

I suppose you already did everything you could to keep costs down? (courthouses, discard redundant military)? If you have a large empire,
running state property will help.
The only thing left is to make more money. By 1900 you should be able to make 2000 commerce/turn, and you should certainly have at least 1000/turn and inflation shouldn't do more than force your slider down one notch.

 

[Bleys]

Win the game before 1900.

LOL, that is Dave's equivalent of "Doctor, Doctor, it hurts when I do this"

 

[The Capo]

Well in my games, which I play on Noble (unless I'm feeling "saucy") I never appear to have high inflation. That said, I don't really check my inflation rate. But it never appears to be a problem for me. So I think this is a very relevant question; why does it go so high?

There SHOULD be a way to stop it from rising, or to at least slow it from rising though, at least I would assume so. So basically the question isn't really irrelevant. The response "win before 1900," while it may be a very good way to prevent it from being an issue, is far from helpful, and I think the person who started this thread (and this thread in general) would have been better off without such a worthless response.

Some people enjoy playing into the late game, sometimes I like to play into the late game so I can use all of the late weapons. Or sometimes it takes longer to get different victories.

I think the REAL question here is what actually causes inflation to go up? Or how can this process be slowed down? (assuming it can't be stopped)

 

[ryzax]

it's frustrating but there's nothing you can do to slow down inflation. Increase your commerce if you don't want inflation to kill you. Also, you may trade excess resources for gpt.

 

[6K Man]

a) Inflation isn't annual, it's cumulative.

b) I had no idea that it was hard to win early on Noble with 7 Civs. I've won Prince games versus 14 Civs fairly early, but from now on, I'll be playing Noble for the added challenge.

 

[S.ilver]

Inflation can't be slowed down except by the random event that slashes it.

However, there are ways to reduce the impact of inflation. Since it is basically an extra percentage added on top of your expenses, your priority should be reducing the expenses.

Expensive civics can be traded for cheaper ones, the military can be streamlined so you aren't paying as much maintenance for them (or adopting something like vassalage to pay some maintenance for you, although vassalage is high upkeep...).

Courthouses slash city maintenance from distance and number of cities. To take it a step further, State Property will eliminate the distance penalty, thus there is nothing there for inflation to multiply. The Zulu and HRE UBs shine here, because they reduce the maintenance of cities before inflation is stacked on them. They are also very good for keeping corporations profitable.

Speaking of which, corporations add directly to the city maintenance (although are modified by courthouses), so that expense is multiplied by inflation as well, meaning corps will become more expensive as inflation rises.

 

[Endure]

b) I had no idea that it was hard to win early on Noble with 7 Civs. I've won Prince games versus 14 Civs fairly early, but from now on, I'll be playing Noble for the added challenge.

How is this comment even remotely helpful?

There's players with all different skill levels on these boards, from new players learning the ropes to experts who can win on deity and are here just to share their wisdom.

Just because you've playing at a harder difficulty level then the original poster is no reason to mock them.

 

[CCRunner]

Inflation doesn't go up as a result of anything you do in the game. Inflation goes up due to the amount of turns you've been playing. Nothing you do will be able to reduce it, except getting what I consider one of the best random events (Only BTS). So really, Dave's answer is the only correct one. If you want to feel inflation less, either increase your per turn or reduce costs. I recommend you re-read S.ilver's post because it is entirely right.

Inflation can't be slowed down except by the random event that slashes it.

However, there are ways to reduce the impact of inflation. Since it is basically an extra percentage added on top of your expenses, your priority should be reducing the expenses.

Expensive civics can be traded for cheaper ones, the military can be streamlined so you aren't paying as much maintenance for them (or adopting something like vassalage to pay some maintenance for you, although vassalage is high upkeep...).

Courthouses slash city maintenance from distance and number of cities. To take it a step further, State Property will eliminate the distance penalty, thus there is nothing there for inflation to multiply. The Zulu and HRE UBs shine here, because they reduce the maintenance of cities before inflation is stacked on them. They are also very good for keeping corporations profitable.

Speaking of which, corporations add directly to the city maintenance (although are modified by courthouses), so that expense is multiplied by inflation as well, meaning corps will become more expensive as inflation rises.

I agree that it's not the most fun aspect of the game but without it, it would be easy to run 100% science the entire second half of the game.

 

[Joshua368]

Wasn't that bottom aspect with corporations removed in 3.13, because it made corps broken and too expensive? I'm fairly certain they're immune to inflation costs now.

 

[Mercenary82]

I've had the 25% reduced inflation event a few times in BTS, anyone know a way to make this event more likely to happen?