Victoria 3 Standard of Living Tutorial

[@LarryPounder]

Hide your kids before 7:20. You'll thank me later.

[@pelayla]

cried tears of joy when generalist explained the difference between wealth and standard of living...

[@generalistgaming]

Yeah wait till I keep saying SoL instead of wealth when talking about income/exponential needs xD

[@gonshi9]

Kinda weird request: How to wage 'economic war' so to speak. Basically how and why expand your market, how to downscale the market of enemies, when to go out of your way to export at a cheaper price or import even at higher prices... that kind of things. Probably half of it is in earlier tutorials and the other half may be on the works tho, but you get the idea

[@Foolsgarden97]

Also waiting for that one!

[@generalistgaming]

I think "economic war" might not be the best way to frame it since you can't really sabotage people through trade and a bigger market is almost always better

[@yeetman4953]

make em depend on your processed goods

[@TheHanspeter8]

Import low value added goods from them and export high value added goods to them.

[@KayKusoden]

Thanks for the great explanation! Can you please do a run without colonization and only conquer the places that would make sense for that nation you play. Trying to get the best SoL possible while going for the nations interests.

[@generalistgaming]

I might try to run the SoL up in a one state Panama run

[@DrDoof1]

Dude these videos are absolutely amazing! I just picked up this game and so far maintaining the economy hasn't been too much of a struggle, but understanding SoL, productivity, and learning what buildings to expand and why, what materials go where, and all that micro stuff has been confusing. These videos have been a savior!

[@generalistgaming]

Glad you like them!

[@Destragond]

I tried to do the egalitarian society goal as Portugal recently, but kinda got stuck at SoL 17, while the goal is 20. I was hoping that having a variety of profitable, available jobs would drive up the wages, but it didn't seem to happen much, like you said. Maybe the problem was that multiculturalism just brought way too many new people into the country, which then reduced literacy and probably also SoL. I might have not passed closed borders fast enough. Or I guess I just haven't activated enough labor-saving PMs. Oh, I just noticed I have private health insurance instead of public. That would probably be a big jump. "Souls are the most important resource." I think you meant "hands". Not like you care if your workers have a soul or not.

[@Mavo936]

Go communal ownership; that should solve a lot. Unless you have millions of peasants and unused resources

[@generalistgaming]

I'm sure we can find a use for those without hands

[@Mavo936]

@@JohnYoga the dividends stop going to the investment pool, and get turned out to the workers inside the plant. So per building, let's say 100 capitalists get poorer, but 500 shopkeepers (and workersmust check) get a lot richer

[@celeridad6972]

​@@generalistgamingjeez what is it with Paradox games that make People who play them so based? I've seen this phenomena on HOI4 and stellaris as well

[@thejoemingus]

love you papa

[@generalistgaming]

[@bigworm3886]

😂😂😂

[@eternalerror1]

commenting for algorithm shenanigans

[@generalistgaming]

Based

[@19l4nc3l0t83]

I have yet to understand what I like more between playing Victoria and learning how to play it by watching your videos 🎉

[@ilayohana3150]

This whole part of Victoria III should be pretty obvious to all Victoria three players who went outside and gotten a job (so about 12 people)

[@Mike__Finger]

I would really like a detailed look into qualifications and pop promotion.

[@generalistgaming]

I might do this but I'd want to make a sheet for each SoL level and the goods basket isn't in the defines and the information isn't accessible to me to do a proper dive into it tbh

[@WeeJinterz]

Just found you channel and really enjoying it so far, thanks for tackling the tutorials that bigger pdx youtubers avoid ❤

[@generalistgaming]

Glad you like them!

[@SamuelLavoie]

Helpful and well-organized tutorial 👍

[@generalistgaming]

Glad it was helpful!

[@CapEm16]

Please re-release this video with a "standard of living" counter in the bottom corner that tallies up how often "standard of living" is mentioned. 😉

[@johnwalkiethepleb9033]

Great video as always! Thanks to you i really get to enjoy victoria more ^^

[@generalistgaming]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@connorthomas2667]

your country can easily increases its standard of living to 20+ with basic tech improvements and construction

[@tutugry3105]

Excellent tutorial. But i have an challenge: try to get the best SoL in the world as China. Extra points if its at least 1/3 more than second place

[@mehmetefevural5266]

I'll do it after my exam good idea

[@generalistgaming]

I've done this before I think, but these kinds of challenges tend to be more endurance/computer tests, and really take a long time

[@alexgmcm]

Can you please make a video about playing smaller/backward nations? I always get stuck in a debt spiral. I'll check out your Korea playthrough too as maybe that already explains it!

[@generalistgaming]

You cannot run a deficit if you're unrecognized, you'll death spiral, yeah

[@alexgmcm]

@@generalistgaming yeah, i think i got caught out as my military spending increased. Central America is really really hard. I'm doing Persia now and it's going much better.

[@generalistgaming]

@@alexgmcm you can use the step down cheese to make Central America a lot easier

[@DrillTheThirdHole]

Where tf did the beard go? -30 legitimacy!

[@generalistgaming]

It was sacrificed for the memes in the dating tutorial

[@RedStaryPuu]

Another opulent video General G. o7

[@generalistgaming]

More to come!

[@sjames1066]

So dang helpful. You sir are a hero!

[@generalistgaming]

You're welcome

[@JimStorrie-v3s]

happy thurmnday

[@generalistgaming]

Big nice

[@mackomako]

Great content! Do you have a guide on radicalism? How to handle it and preventions, strategies. Is it a big deal? Etc.

[@generalistgaming]

I do not atm. Its weird to evaluate - I was kind of wishing I had more radicals during the USA run so I could spawn rebellious movements to abdicate to lol

[@felixstrider]

one time a population bottleneck combined with minimum wage laws drove the wages into the several hundreds, which made every business run at a loss. the workers in those businesses each held a share and had to foot the bill of the losses, which led to them believing they werent being paid enough and demanding higher wages... it was. quite insane i think welfare was also part of the problem? what with paying the workers up to the average wage, which was already high. unemployed people were living at a SoL of 50 lmao

[@generalistgaming]

Back on release you could kinda do other, but both would kill your economy instantly

[@sasi5841]

0:41 you might scare the communists with that train of thought.

[@generalistgaming]

The truth hurts

[@Trotsky.-.83_years_ago_-_and]

what about the workforce protection law? At max level I believe it sets minimum wages at 200%. But I don't know if its worth it as it could reduce the profitability of the building. Is it better to go for the 200% minimum wage and the worker protections or just the worker protections by itself.

[@thebestdamager7400]

Minimum wage was REALLY bad on previous patches, as people just didn't work. Now it's still quite bad I believe

[@theorange1729]

Definitely go for it, it makes demand go up and your economy run. Buildings will still be profitable. In fact if they become unprofitable just because you raised wages a bit then these buildings probably shouldn't be operating anyways.

[@thebestdamager7400]

@@theorange1729 In my experience I always end up with unemployed pops. You always want workforce protection institutions at max, but the minimum wage starts causing massive unemployment after level 2/3. 200% minimum wage sounds good, as pops get richer and buy more stuff, but it doesn't work out as it eats into profit margins too much. Employed with lower salaries is better than unemployed.

[@joe-pm4ls]

🎉

[@theorange1729]

@@thebestdamager7400 Personally I've never encountered that kind of problem, but you definitely only want to go for it when your buildings are highly efficient and you're running out of demand. It just happens that I run into these situations most of the time. Also if I'm not mistaken, if tou have workers' cooperative, which you should probably get by the stage you get workers' protection anyways, then your pops would get the buildings' earnings one way or the other and so don't need high wages.

[@prototype102010]

I picked up Vicky 3 way back at releas and loved it but could not figure a LOT of stuff out. So glad I've found your channel now! How much can I follow your older tutorials sicne recent updates? One thing I'm really struggling with that's related to peasents is radicals. I'm doing tutorial Sweden and I have around 900k radicals to my 3m pop. They seem to mostly be peasants and the chruch of Sweden and between them and the peite blue boys (forget their name lol) I can't attempt to change any law forward without them going radicalized and trying to start a revolution.

[@generalistgaming]

A lot of them are still relevant, esp post 1.5, but need some changes. I only completely redid a few videos. Strategically giving into movements can help w/ radicals, Guaranteed Liberties is good. It's really a lot of little things. Playing w/ not maxed taxes might just be more straightforward for trying to figure things out

[@andrewgreenwood9068]

15:03 i really wish this was different because there have been several times where i have wanted to reduce civilian demand for radios in the late game.

[@jasonquigley2633]

Radios is a luxury need. Just produce other luxuries (like luxury clothes or luxury furniture).

[@Alexander-z6x]

Depends, sol is nice as it unlocks highet levels of consumption... Eg. Having 20 sol unlocks your people wanting to consume things like opium, aeroplanes, gine arts or guns... Even poor pops...

[@abhishekchaudhari913]

Good stuff👍

[@generalistgaming]

Thanks 👍

[@Omnicide101]

Re 16:00, wouldn't taxing opium incentivize switching to substitute goods for Intoxicants Needs (IIRC Liquor or Tobacco), assuming there's no Obsessions or Taboos in play? My gut reaction is that the consumption tax wouldn't hit the poor as hard as you'd think because of that, but I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

[@ParadoxaLGames]

Helping the algorithm gods

[@generalistgaming]

Based

[@frederickryeland313]

Instead of saying SoL is a bad metric, I'd say it's a badly constructed metric and your tutorial here highlights why SoL as it is derived now is misleading the player, pushing him into wrong conclusions on what actions he should take going forward. This indirectly leads to my main complaint about Vic3 - it neglects much of the non-economic rationale behind political and social development in the 19th c., putting the cart in front of the horse. E.g. people didn't outlaw child labor because of economic efficiency, moral and social concerns played a huge role and these are hardly represented in the game.

[@generalistgaming]

For a long time I've said there needs to be a social system underlying laws

[@mathew4430]

Generalists would you say wage competition is the key towards empowering the trade unions? On another note, do you need to have ran out of labor to have a very powerful TU?

[@generalistgaming]

Wage competition doesn't work like it used to - I'd say running out of labor when using labor saving PMs is key

[@mathew4430]

@@generalistgaming how does wage competition work nowadays?

[@HJ-ul1eg]

Thanks! :) idk what else to say and wanted to comment for the algorithm.

[@generalistgaming]

Thank you too!

[@sureee_kidsure9180]

At 7:43, you did not warn about the spr*adsheet you were about to show. Luckily, I sensed that something not safe for work was about to appear and shooed everyone under 18 from my room. But I am still appalled by your irresponsibility in not warning about the appearance of such a mature thing.

[@generalistgaming]

I'M SORRY!

[@sureee_kidsure9180]

@@generalistgaming im not angry, just disappointed. please do better next time.

[@henrycabralnunes]

Since the needs increase exponentialy. Can I play the game focusing in increasing the wealth of the upper strata instead of taxing them as a way to increase demand? Just looking for a different gameplay strategy since i always try o improve the lower strata .

[@metaflight9495]

Why would interest be bad for SoL? The interest is paid to ownership pops, who will invest in & consume things with that additional income, no?

[@generalistgaming]

It might be easier to think of it like a reverse consumption tax on the rich - you'd rather extract money from the rich, relative to other ways of getting it

[@JokerDR71]

But does it make sense to use labor saving methods when i still have peasants? Isn't it preferable to get peasants into work even if its just laborers?

[@generalistgaming]

I haven't checked, so I'm not sure, but I think it doesn't make sense because it will raise SoL but lower GDP and IPT contribution. But I also think it will raise SoL. Though, not sure

[@brandonrush3269]

One thing I still don't quite understand about changing production methods...so I see yon can upgrade the PM to cut labor, but I don't understand how to prevent them from going back to being a peasant as mentioned at 25:30. Does it only work if there are no unemployed in the province?

[@generalistgaming]

They'll go to a peasant sometimes before finding another job

[@donaldpetersen2382]

*Knocks over cans hitting play button* Heck yes SoL vid!

[@generalistgaming]

Poggers

[@yukowl]

any tips on increasing living standard for single states? im playing russia and I have a few states that are poor AF, just build there?

[@CoolBoyDude96]

At 2:42 that population menu looks completely different from mine, mine gives less info, i own all the dlcs so im confused. Is this a mod or something?

[@Qavsify]

That's why no matter what kind of era we're in, there is always a need for the poor and the unprivileged. As much as this is just a game, it's sad that the truth is not far from it.

[@ditakrisna1818]

Is there any tips how to play minor nation like Bahrain for example?

[@generalistgaming]

Bahrain is like insanely small start and the info for playing them better kinda amounts to expanding efficiently until you're effectively playing a different starting nation. Going for soft spots w/ zero troops when you have just one boat and one battalion.

[@whitefang20]

How do you get to 100% literacy as a large nation

[@penzorphallos3199]

Education decree, unis, less low class and time

[@generalistgaming]

The Ericcson company in Sweden gives 10x levels of private education

[@agaapitodisousa6014]

I have 60% excess in the lower strata, and the standart doesnt grow, whyyyyyyyyyyyy ?

[@generalistgaming]

It does, it’s just not instant

[@agaapitodisousa6014]

@@generalistgaming Thank you for answer. Not sure :S my SoL keep decreasing until 6.5, and the excess keep growing until 70%. How much time it takes ? 5-10 years ? or am i doing something wrong ?

[@generalistgaming]

@@agaapitodisousa6014 that sounds super weird and might be a bug actually.

[@agaapitodisousa6014]

@@generalistgaming It happens to me in all the runs, and it's confusing me a lot. Thank you by the way, your videos are great

[@agaapitodisousa6014]

https : // Ribb . co / 89QddwR

[@theclimbto1]

5 goes into 200, 400 times? I think you're looking for 40, my friend. :D

[@generalistgaming]

Never do math on video tbh

[@danieljabonski4705]

Jesus, image in miniature is... I never thought that 99 points in SoL is possible! The highest I achieved is 25... :( Greetings!

[@generalistgaming]

This is just because the pop has like 1 person in it and is not possible at all w/ a reasonably sized pop

[@jabloko992]

With beard was better good sir. A shorter style suits you best I think. Sincerely: A fellow beard-haver.

[@generalistgaming]

Shaved looks better for weight cut before/after though

[@John-li6sk]

😮

[@phluphie]

Pounds. Not Ducats. 😉

[@generalistgaming]

Fun tokens

[@name-os8kl]

Tax the billionaires!

[@charlesiphone5765]

Just make opium dirt cheap in America, and all will be alllllright🤣

[@Fluoman_]

TLDR: tax the rich.