Let’s take a closer look at the good called 🧶 Silk in Victoria III. This raw material is the key to the production of luxury clothing which your middle and upper class will need and require. In the early phases of the game, there are few manufacturers. As the game continues, you can gradually make silk in your own factories. Either way, you will need it for your economy if you want to dominate.
How to produce Silk?
🧶 Silk is produced in a Silk Plantation, which is one of the Rural buildings (thanks to that it is very easy to build and manage this building). The advantage of this building is that it has no inputs, so it is easier for people to work in it. People also don’t have to work on Subsistence farms.
If needed, the production of 🧶 Silk can be upgraded to “automatic irrigation” which gives you an additional +20 Silk per level. If you have a shortage, this can be quite an effective way to increase the number of produced goods.
Synthetic plants
The next way to produce Silk is Synthetic Plants. However, it is not that easy with them, because they will open after you try Aniline. In this case, you will also need to change the production method to a more advanced variant.
Option number three is the Rayon method. This production method will open together with the Aniline research. However, this research is only at level 3 and before trying it out, you still need to try Rubber Mastication, which is also at level 3. It takes longer to research.
Where is Silk used?
🧶 Silk is needed for Textile Mills which are used to produce Luxury Clothes. It is currently the only use of silk in the game. However, this is not the core functionality of Textile Mills. To create Luxury Clothes, you need to switch the production method to Craftsman Sewing.
From my point of view, it is not a strategic raw material that you have to guard any more. However, it still provides a rather important commodity in the form of luxury clothing that your residents may require.
In the beginning, you can’t have many suppliers so build at least some Synthetic Plants as soon as you can (in case relationships with Qing or Britain deteriorate). Still, I would personally not focus on such a direction right from the start – those needs are yet to come.
Shortage of silk what to do?
If you have shortage of silk and you have not yet managed to build Synthetic Plants, you need to start trading with someone who has it. In case you can’t trade directly with Qing, set up interests in the area and then it should work.
Which countries have Silk in Victoria 3?
In the initial stages of the game, silk is available only in the Asia region. So in case you don’t have enough of it to trade with a country that buys it from them, you will have to start trading directly with Asia. In the later stages (once you have explored Aniline) you will be able to produce it yourself through Synthetic Plants in case you turn on a proper production.
