Total War: Three Kingdoms – How To Manage Your Income

Managing your Income is vital to your success in Total War: Three Kingdoms. The only way to rise to the throne of China is on the back of a strong Treasury.

In Total War: Three Kingdoms, an army marches on its stomach. Controlling your income is vitally important to success in the game, as it allows you to build up new territory, recruit new units and characters, and might even save your bacon if a huge army comes knocking at your door.

Managing how much money you generate is important, but managing how much money you are spending from turn to turn is the difference between a full Treasury and empty coffers.

To view the details of your Treasury, hit the second last icon beside your portrait in the top left corner of the screen, or hit the number 7 on your keyboard. This will bring up the Treasury screen.

Income is generated through farming, commerce, and industry. Each of these three types will be associated with different buildings that you can make in your towns and settlements.

How To Manage Your Income

On the Treasury screen, you will be able to see your sources of Income, the money that you are paying out for armies, spies, characters, etc., and you will also see a small sliding bar at the bottom that allows you to alter your taxes.

One of the most important things you can do to reduce your expenses is to disband armies and Retinues when you do not need them. A large army is great for war, but in times of peace, it just eats up money that is better spent elsewhere.

You can either disband units individually or Recall a character and their retinue. This will pull them off the map, and you will no longer need to pay upkeep for them, but you can call them back at any time, for a cost.

If you open up the Court screen, by hitting 2 on the keyboard, you can also make sure you do not have any dead weight in your faction. At the bottom of the screen, you will see all the characters in your faction. If someone holds no position in the Court, is not on Assignment, is not a Spy, or is not part of any army, it might be better just to let them go.

You have two ways to do this. You can Banish them, where you seize their funds, but must also take a hit to Satisfaction levels, or you can simply release them from service. The second option is better, as the first might result in a slighted former Faction member becoming a spy for someone else. Release them from service will also put them back in the Candidate pool, allow you to once again bring them into your faction in the future.