Another important thing found in Victoria 3 is production methods. This path is one of the key phases of industry optimization so I decided to write a shorter article on this topic as well, although I am preparing a larger and more complex article about industry optimization.
Theory of production methods
Every building has properties that affect what it does. You can see the basics whenever you hover over a detail of the building you want to build. Below you can see the overview, which is hidden under the shortcut Alt + 1, and through which you can place buildings.
However, the important thing is that you see Chemical Plants that produce Fertilizer from Sulfur and Iron, specifically that one build produces 90 Fertilizer…
… if you only built a building and never did anything with it, that one level will only produce +90 fertilizer and never more. But if you look at the detail of the building you can see that in the factory detail there is information called “production methods”. In the picture below I have shown this part in red box:
The production methods section is important and you should pay attention to it because by clicking on the icons in the left part you can influence how a particular build will work, what it will produce and how effective it will be.
In total, I noticed several colors of production methods:
- beige/pink >> changing the way things are made
- green >> sets up automation (allows fewer people to be employed)
- blue >> changes the way a building is owned
I definitely have to say that there is no best practice on how to fill and choose methods. It always depends on the market and the needs you have – think carefully about the changes.
How to change the production method?
Changing the production method is easy to do for each building or in bulk. Each way has its pros and cons. If you change the production method in bulk, you can move prices (down or up) much faster and this can throw off your economy. However, if you change methods gradually in individual factories, you can better see what you need.
How to change the production method for a building?
In case you are in the building detail, the easiest way is to click on the icon and explore what the change will do. Below you can see that they can switch Distilleries from Port Stills to Patent Stills and if I do that I will get +80 Liquor, but I will also lose -20 Groceries and I will need to produce +20 Glass. You can see everything in the picture below.
However, the money part is essential. There you can see how your resources will move. If the price rises after the change, it can be a problem – that’s why I always try to watch the price rise gradually and not cause myself any problems.
How to change production methods in mass?
What I’ve described above can be described as “micro-management” in which you’d go crazy in a moment, and I’ve also noticed that a few players, according to reviews, find this very thing about Victoria 3 bothersome. However, there is also a wholesale way to change production methods. Just open the building overview and then use the icons to change production methods in bulk.
This mass path will also show you the detail as above, but if you switch for example in all 21 factories (as I have above) the production method in some direction so you can really significantly faster decide the prices on the market.
In the case below, the price of luxury clothing would go down significantly (that’s good) but it would also raise the price of classic clothing (that would piss off a lot of people) and it would also raise the price of silk (that would reduce factory efficiency).
Therefore, I change the production methods in a sort of middle way, where I first click on the industry and then change the production methods for each factory separately. Thanks to this, I have almost immediate feedback on how much the price of material goes up or down and I can better optimize everything.
As you can see, I didn’t cause such a price fluctuation here – the only thing that somehow got worse is the “silk” and I will order that hold from the market and lower the price again before I proceed to switch methods.
Is it worth changing the production method in mass?
I don’t think so. I would recommend you change gradually as I described above. I.e. optimize specific factories on the overview of all factories. It’s the most efficient way to achieve something.
How to get other production methods?
You can get more production methods by supporting research and choosing the right things to research. Most of the research on production methods can be found in the technology tree under the logistics tab. With that said, each research is focused on a topic.
Since research is limited, research in advance what each method will allow you to do and how much it will advance your economy. If you see progress in a production method you like as shown below, you do not need to research that method. It will test itself – more slowly, but it will test itself.
In the meantime, you can pursue production methods that you are not currently exploring at all so you get 2 technologies, albeit more slowly, which can be more rewarding.
