The Game Actually So Close to Achieve a Perfect Trade Mechanism, At Least for Me.
I'm lucky that rich Iron deposit and Salt are spawned in my territory.
I'm importing tools, spears, sidearms, salt and sausage.
I'm so rich, I could earn 300-400 regional wealth so quickly, but as soon as I import Malt to produce Ale, I'm broke (I'm lucky if I have 10 regional wealth).
So, I switch to Barley and I still broke. It's just not making any sense.
This playthrough opened my eyes, I'm so rich. I'm exporting valuable processed goods, yet importing a raw material cost me this much?
It's like Rome going bankrupt because they're importing foods from Egypt. That weird.
So, I completely stopped that import and wait for my population to grow to start my own Malt production.
The point is the game force you to export.
As someone who learn economics this is just unbearable and so unrealistic.
For instance,
Venice is one of the richest cities back then, they have no timber, no irons and no agricultural land to grow. So, they import timber from the Balkans, iron from central Europe and silk from the Levant. They turned that raw materials into world class processed goods, like Galleys, Venetian Glass and High-end textile. And they're getting rich by doing that. Which you can't do that in the new Manor Lords because of that +10 import tariff.
I know this is to force you to expand, claim other region and prevent infinite money loop.
But you can prevent money loop, just by enchanting the mechanism the game already has. Market Saturation and Scarcity.
If you dump 10 thousand swords on the market, the price for that sword will become too cheap that it's not even worth to manufacture another single sword. Forcing you to diversify.
If you import too much, the price should naturally skyrocketed due to scarcity.
The game already has that; the only thing we need is just to make it better and more reactive. And I think it's much more fun and realistic if the game didn't force you to expand as it allows more playstyle to be played.
Like playing tall instead of expansionist, just like in any other strategy games, allowing you to play however you want with their own consequences.