How to make money?

[Grotius]

Wow, I had no clue about any of that. Thanks for the information, Maerchen. I may start a new game and build the Interior Council first.

Not to say that my current game is dull! I started about 6 hexes from another major power, on a lifeless world. In previous games, I've been able to beat up on minors or non-aligned, but not so here. From the get-go, I've been fighting a major power. It has much stronger units than the minor regimes. It's been fun, and militarily it's going okay. But my unrest is high, my popularity is low, my treasury leaks 60 credits a turn, and I'm running out of food and water, lol.

[Maerchen]

You are welcome. One has always to take advice with a grain of salt though:

Interior first works very well, but only if you have a bit of a breather; like on your world it would be sort of a waste of time.

I had a short 3 major 1 minor small moon like you described. I went full aggro and made model design the first as I wanted better troops asap and light tanks early on can do wonders. Taking the food and water supply away from the enemy was key.

[PerfectDeath]

Efficiency Drive is huge, though it scales off your admin level but its about 15k to 30k depending on roll for around turn 100+
Until then i was basically selling via trader to cover each turn's expenses.
I'm -700 in the hole each turn rn but can easily make it back. Also some market prices are very inflated now so I can make 2k from selling a turn worth of food.

In some earlier games the income was easy to come by from private economy growth but my last few games were lower pops.

[beyondwudge]

I've found that worker salaries can really empty the coffers early on. You build all these assets, have roaring resource extraction but suddenly a massive deficit.

[JaidBoyer]

Instead of focusing on rapid expansion or just accumulating military power, it could be worth putting more attention on internal stability. Balancing your treasury and resource supplies while also boosting your popularity can help keep unrest in check.On a related note, if you're looking for ways to increase your financial stability while also balancing your in-game priorities, you could explore some side jobs from home. There are plenty of opportunities out there that might help free up some cash flow, especially if you're managing multiple in-game responsibilities.

[Voker57]

If you find yourself suddenly drained of all money, check Theft column in your staff management: often one of your advisors manages to embezzle insane amounts of credits, thus grinding the national economy to halt.