Marcus Lindicus,

Thanks very much The calculations make a lot of sense.
It'll be a lot easier to know in advance how much Caesar is going to take from me.

EPS_CoCreator, you were right too... I just needed specifics in this case. Always appreciate the help, though.

Proconsul Fortuna

Interesting..

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Homage to thee, Osiris, Lord of Eternity, King of the Gods, whose names are manifold, whose forms are holy, thou being of hidden form in the temples, whose Ka is holy."
-- Book of the Dead (1240 BC)

Very useful information, indeed While on the subject, (how) does the size of the tribute influence your favour rating?

I don't think the amount you pay has any influence on your kingdom rating, not paying it has a rather negative influence, though.

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Homage to thee, Osiris, Lord of Eternity, King of the Gods, whose names are manifold, whose forms are holy, thou being of hidden form in the temples, whose Ka is holy."
-- Book of the Dead (1240 BC)

I have just finished comparing the Prima Guide’s information (as reported by Marcus Lindicus) to my year-end financials in CBC’s ULTAC competition. If we adjust for terminology, the Prima Guide is essentially correct. Caesar uses three factors in determining tribute: year-end cash balance (before tribute), year-end net cash flow (before tribute) -- not "profit", and population. No tribute is taken if your year-end balance is negative (see year 6 in the table below), instead you suffer the "fail to pay tribute" penalties. Cities with a negative pre-tribute cash flow are assessed tribute based on their population as in the Prima Guide’s "Loss Making Cities" table (as in years 0, 3, 4, and 10). Cities with positive pre-tribute cash flows pay the greater of 25% of their pre-tribute cash flow or the minimum based on their population as indicated in the "Profit Making Cities" table (see years 2 and 13 for examples when the 25% is greater). I reran year 6 a few times: only when I ended with a positive cash balance (even if was only 6Dn) did Caesar take his tribute -- but never when I was in debt (even if only by 7Dn). In these reruns, Caesar took 200Dn if I had negative cash flow for the year and 400Dn if I had positive cash flow. In a separate test, I determined that Caesar will take tribute in the first year if you have positive cash flow.

	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Taxes in	0	0	0	0	669	2168	984	2953	4964	7793	11417	13007	15529	17837
Trade receipts	900	5400	7020	6930	6290	5270	4590	5440	5780	6085	6200	4030	2325	7 905
Donated	1500	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Income	2400	5400	7020	6930	6959	7438	5574	8393	10744	13878	17617	17037	17854	25742
Imports	0	600	0	0	672	1008	1120	151 2	1344	1120	3447	1456	1288	3980
Wages	640	1461	2171	2958	3920	4265	4478	4664	5330	6593	8468	11199	12102	12489
Construction	4306	2854	1960	4062	4460	15 72	696	1132	3304	4346	7136	2764	3158	2771
Interest	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Salary	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	240	180	220	180
Sundries	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tribute	0	225	722	100	200	400	0	400	500	500	200	500	500	1580
Expenses	4946	5140	4853	7120	9252	7246	6295	7709	10478	12559	19491	16099	17268	21000
Net in/out flow	-2546	260	2167	-190	-2293	192	-721	684	266	1319	-1874	938	586	4742
Bal ance	454	714	2881	2691	398	590	-131	553	819	2138	264	1202	1788	6530
Pre-Trib ute Net Flow	-2546	485	2889	-90	-2093	592	-721	1084	766	1819	-1674	1438	1086	6322
2 5% of PTNF	-636	121	722	-22	-523	148	-180	271	191	454	-418	359	271	1580
Populatio n	606	1005	1390	1846	2932	3434	4554	4873	5528	7061	8077	9050	9613	9498
Profi t (NF+Construction)	1760	3114	4127	3872	2167	1764	-25	1816	3570	5665	5262	3702	3744	7513