need to increase gnp need help!!!

[Zalcron]

i have been trying to increase my nations gnp that is piss poor, (its in the minus figures whilst my main rival is at 380) i slashed my armed forces by around 30% and it increased my gnp by a modest amount so it would seem that the size of your military does affect your gnp but not by much. Does anyone have any thoughts apart from building tons of towns on how to increase gnp?

ALso how the hell does inflation work ? its up and down and i cant see a patten.

all in all this side of the game seems hit and miss, i have tried many things and there seems to be few pattens any thoughts anyone? Its a shame this side of the game seems heavily neglected in favour of war etc.

 

[Bushface]

I too have had my GNP shown negative although I was ranked #1 in everything else and I had gold in my treasury and was running at a handsome profit per turn. It has to be a quirk in the program, I think. Anyway, it didn't affect my gameplay.
Inflation seems arbitrary. Mine has usually risen every time I look at it, and has been as high as 122%. This is just one of the program's ways of causing you pain, and hits harder as your empire grows.
I should like to know how the AI civs manage their economies so well that they always have 80-100 gold in their treasuries whenever I go to the trading screen. Mine seesaws between dangerously low and ridiculously high. Wish the same applied to my real-life bank balance, which to my sorrow has never been ridiculously high.

 

[Admiral8Q]

Remember the cottage terrain improvement is new and extremely important to Civ4. Another thing to keep in mind is that it takes time (turns) for it to upgrade to hamlet, end everntually town. I've screwed my GNP by building mostly farms and mines also.

 

[SewerStarFish]

Pay particular attention to the civics screen. Hover the mouse over each available one and see if you can lower your Maintenance costs.

Limit the number of cities.If you're in the red the next new or aquired city isn't going to help. Wait until the most recent city is more improved.