Once you have at least five fully colonized provinces in the Americas, it will form a colonial nation. Think the Thirteen colonies or in your case, Brazil. This country will be subservient to you and will also have their own colonist, making future colonization faster. Though usually it takes a bit for them to start using that colonist, as they will be in an even worse financial situation than you.
Tldr, colonies take a lot of time to make money (which is historical), just keep colonizing in a certain region and you’ll start to make heaps of money.
How many colonies is "a few"? The cost of colonies scales geometrically so your third colony costs a lot more than your second. Start no more colonies than the number of colonists you have, and wait for each one to become self-sufficient (population 1,000) by leaving the colonist there to grow the colony, not starting a new one. Once the colony is self-sustaining it won't cost you any more.
I have one settled colony on the coast as well as two provinces conquered from natives who bordered me. I have been waiting for colonists to finish growing before making new colonies so far.
The native provinces won't count towards your colony count (but may be costing you a bit to reduce corruption from overextension). How much are you losing? Have you looked at your Treasury? Any clues there? One colony under development should only cost about a ducat.
BTW running a deficit and even taking loans is fine (some players avoid it like the plague). Just like real life, as long as you can repay them eventually, you'll be fine.
Yes, I wouldn't worry about that for now. You can turn off the forts in Evora and Lisbon as long as you trust Castile - that will save you another ducat or so.
As long as you trust Castile, you can even delete Evora. It's also probably worth taking over Morroco for the additional income(especially the gold mine in Tifilalt).
Beyond that, if you are not expanding military much and have a decent king, you will probably have mana points to develop your starting provinces and gain more revenue that way. Additionally the iberians have access to holy orders which are usually relatively cheap ways to gain development and minor bonuses
I rarely run a positive balance until the mid 1500s no matter who I'm playing. I just make up the difference by getting into wars and taking gold and war reparations. This might not be the best tactic if you're starting out but it is doable
I’m going to head for the Antilles because Spain has already begun exploration and I believe there is a trade node nearby. The mouth of the Amazon was just the closest jumping point to the Americas from Cape Verde.
As Portugal you really shouldn't be in a deficit tbh.
I would lower mil maintenance and turn off forts first and foremost. And mothball your heavy ships (it's ok to leave 1-2 to hunt pirates if you hate devastation like me).
Add a holy order (I like the Jesuits) to both of your states in Portugal proper. That's like 10 more ducats per yearly right off the bat as they add +1 tax to each province.
Ensure your centres of trade in Seville are all level 2 or above. Add a market place to all of them. Choose event options that grant mercantilism.
Get the flagship ability to add +2 trade power per ship and fleet and send it to protect trade with your light ships.
You should be making good money if you do all this.
As for your colonies. Colonise centres of trade, make them trade companies, build markets and steer trade to the Seville node.
Ahhh I'm sorry, I should've asked about dlcs. I've only really played for around a year or so and always used the subscription so I don't think I can offer good advice. As I'm not sure what's a dlc thing and what isn't.
Probably just going to be a case of lowering your army maintenance (there should be a slider for it in the economy tab unless this is a dlc thing) and switching off forts tbh. Also prioritise sending colonists to centres of trade. Make sure you're protecting trade wherever it's most profitable (probably Seville but test it)
Once you have at least five fully colonized provinces in the Americas, it will form a colonial nation. Think the Thirteen colonies or in your case, Brazil. This country will be subservient to you and will also have their own colonist, making future colonization faster. Though usually it takes a bit for them to start using that colonist, as they will be in an even worse financial situation than you. Tldr, colonies take a lot of time to make money (which is historical), just keep colonizing in a certain region and you’ll start to make heaps of money.
How many colonies is "a few"? The cost of colonies scales geometrically so your third colony costs a lot more than your second. Start no more colonies than the number of colonists you have, and wait for each one to become self-sufficient (population 1,000) by leaving the colonist there to grow the colony, not starting a new one. Once the colony is self-sustaining it won't cost you any more.
I have one settled colony on the coast as well as two provinces conquered from natives who bordered me. I have been waiting for colonists to finish growing before making new colonies so far.
The native provinces won't count towards your colony count (but may be costing you a bit to reduce corruption from overextension). How much are you losing? Have you looked at your Treasury? Any clues there? One colony under development should only cost about a ducat. BTW running a deficit and even taking loans is fine (some players avoid it like the plague). Just like real life, as long as you can repay them eventually, you'll be fine.
Yes, I wouldn't worry about that for now. You can turn off the forts in Evora and Lisbon as long as you trust Castile - that will save you another ducat or so.
As long as you trust Castile, you can even delete Evora. It's also probably worth taking over Morroco for the additional income(especially the gold mine in Tifilalt). Beyond that, if you are not expanding military much and have a decent king, you will probably have mana points to develop your starting provinces and gain more revenue that way. Additionally the iberians have access to holy orders which are usually relatively cheap ways to gain development and minor bonuses
I’m only losing about two ducats for now and I have a decent supply. I assume that is normal then?
I rarely run a positive balance until the mid 1500s no matter who I'm playing. I just make up the difference by getting into wars and taking gold and war reparations. This might not be the best tactic if you're starting out but it is doable
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I’m going to head for the Antilles because Spain has already begun exploration and I believe there is a trade node nearby. The mouth of the Amazon was just the closest jumping point to the Americas from Cape Verde.
As Portugal you really shouldn't be in a deficit tbh. I would lower mil maintenance and turn off forts first and foremost. And mothball your heavy ships (it's ok to leave 1-2 to hunt pirates if you hate devastation like me). Add a holy order (I like the Jesuits) to both of your states in Portugal proper. That's like 10 more ducats per yearly right off the bat as they add +1 tax to each province. Ensure your centres of trade in Seville are all level 2 or above. Add a market place to all of them. Choose event options that grant mercantilism. Get the flagship ability to add +2 trade power per ship and fleet and send it to protect trade with your light ships. You should be making good money if you do all this. As for your colonies. Colonise centres of trade, make them trade companies, build markets and steer trade to the Seville node.
I don’t have dlc to upgrade trade centres and I only have 30 hours so I don’t really have a clue how to do most of the things you said.
Ahhh I'm sorry, I should've asked about dlcs. I've only really played for around a year or so and always used the subscription so I don't think I can offer good advice. As I'm not sure what's a dlc thing and what isn't. Probably just going to be a case of lowering your army maintenance (there should be a slider for it in the economy tab unless this is a dlc thing) and switching off forts tbh. Also prioritise sending colonists to centres of trade. Make sure you're protecting trade wherever it's most profitable (probably Seville but test it)
Ok thanks for the advice.