Manual - Steam

Income
Your income statement shows where your gold comes from. The income from trade is
summarized. If you want to check how much a particular route is making, just roll your
mouse pointer over the Merchant.
All happy citizens pay taxes. If you raise the tax level, you will collect more but you will
have more unhappy citizens who don’t pay taxes. As a result, you should be careful
when you raise the taxes, because you can occasionally lose money. On the other
hand, if your citizens are excessively happy, you could raise the tax level and greatly
increase your income. Excessive happiness is an profitable luxury. If your income is
greater than your expenses, your profit is shown in green.
Expense
The expenses part of your income statement shows all regular money outflows. The
upkeep for your knights is one of the major expenses. The upkeep is progressive, so
for each additional knight in a profession, you will pay more. This means that having
three Marshals will cost almost twice as much as having a Marshal, a Cleric and a
Spy. Members of your Royal Family don’t require upkeep, so use them as wild cards.
You incur expenses if you import resources or if you have to pay vassalage or religious
fees. If your expenses are more than your income, your loss is shown in red.
Inflation
The most important expense is inflation. It appears when the gold in your treasury
is much greater than the gross income of your kingdom. You can avoid inflation by
spending some of the gold in your treasury or by increasing your income. Please note
that inflation takes your income into account, so even if you are operating at a loss, a
sufficiently high income will still prevent inflation.
Piety
Piety is a resource that quantifies the religious fervor possessed by your kingdom
and your subjects. It is produced in town-based churches and cathedrals, as well
as in monasteries/mosques. You need to spend piety for many religious and state
activities.
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