Patrizierforum

It's not an opionion, it's a mathematical fact. There are already players who missed max points for CV because their's is too low.
I do some planning and, just for estimation purposes, added 60,000 ppl for 1302 and 80,000 for 1303 to my current score. That tells me by how much my CV has to increase over the year to get max points. If I get really optimistic and add 100,000 for 1304 I start to faint.
Using the spreadsheet for such planning is actually part of my contest strategy and one of the main reasons (beside the loss of building space) for my restart; my CV just wasn't nearly enough, and it's still lacking.

I believe Anne's comment was directed at me, not you. After all, she quoted me.

There is a problem with that trick - pirates can disappear in stealth mode and so does your money. And imagine, just as the pirate left in submarine modus, he gets caught by the AI and you end up with a huge fine. I plunder, pilfer, capture, but I do not work with pirates nor do I use Levon's Gold trick.

Well, in theory it works, in practice it is not always so. For example, London has always had bricks and timber and it produces IG so there should be no problem - wrong,; there is. You cannot beat the speed of constrcution when you are LM. For example, I have moved some 3,500 loads of bricks from Danzig to London. They were earmarked to place buildings in at least one complete sector but now have been re-allocated for wall building in London. Come May I move there, place the 2nd wall, suggest another expansion and place the 3rd wall in one stretch. In July it's off to Ladoga and in October to Helsinki. That will complete 9 of the 14 walls under my direct control. (Aalborg has to wait until fiurther notice. Any activity there will be restriced to fishing huts since I believe I have enough housing. Stavanger, Memel, Rugenwald,Konigsberg,Stocjholm, Haarlem, and Harlingen all work on the 3rd wall already. That will give me enough towns to build in. The towns still working on their 2nd wall are of secondary importance.
This contest, for whatever reason, requires more meat/leather and whale oil to satisify the poor than last years, even though, IIRC, the needs of the people are at the same level. I have quit placing buildings, other than 5-day types, outside the walls.

Currently it makes no sense to build more industry since I would only end up with more disgruntled people. The fisher in Edinburgh and Oslo are at around 10% production, so not enough whale oil to go around. The meet and IG industry in Edinburgh is also in the dolldrums. The only industries that heve recoverd are grain, beer, fish and salt. The Med is not supplyihg enough cloth and I don't have enough sheepfarms to support weavers within the Hanse. Even the spice import has fallen off; I had to import from 2 spice towns to get the stocks back up.

The loss of population is around 2,000 in several towns but in most it has stabilized now. I guess in another 3 months I will finally have a normal increase again.