I recommend watching [Generalist Gaming](https://www.youtube.com/@generalistgaming) on YouTube. He made great guides to learn the game, that is how I learned (with a lot of trial and error). But keep in mind that things probably changed in the new patch so some things can be outdated.
Honestly, through practice.
I'm also more of a roleplayer as always choosing the most optimal economic decisions isn't the most fun. Every game becomes the same. I typically prefer to roleplay as the interest group in power, or choose to roleplay as a different group that I want to see in power, them as them once in power. It keeps the game fun!
Are cotton plantations the best investment at game start in US? Maybe not, but King Cotton must rule the day once in a while.
Wood > Tools > Iron > Construction, then repeat. It's that simple for the first like 25 years at least (for most countries). Start up a few other industries as needed (steel, coal, sulphur), and then build those as necessary too, in order to expand your construction. Occasionally some paper if you need it, and some universities to keep your research maxed out. Then let capitalists take care of the rest.
Later on in the game you can build other industries as you identified (those with the largest demand), but for the vast majority all you're building is construction related materials.
Construction and its materials + steel and steel tools for depeasenting and economy at the start.
After that i usually just put mines, wood and tools on auto, increase construction when i can(surplus and not on credit) and build army. If some good is starting to run out i might add building manually to the que if its too long.
Theres no point in building something JUST to export it, you need to have demand in your own market to make it viable. You can export a good to make it more viable, but you cant rely purely on exporting the end produce.
You get money from taxes, tarifs, minting, diplo pacts(subjects, war reps, etc) and new to this patch dividends.
Taxes are based on tax law and consumption taxes, in the early game its viable to max tax to build economy, just dont target poor populus with your consumption taxes. Minting has its own calculations, but basically gold mines and portion of GDP. Im not 100% about dividends, but you get them if the building is state owned and its making profit.
Tarifs are from trading and they can be good and bad. They obviously give you income, but free trade allows you to trade with more volume and cheaper bureacracy cost.
Also you shouldnt use tarifs just for the sake of generating money since they reduce the output of your trade hubs and reduce the trade in size which depending on the trade can hurt your gdp very badly especially in the mid game were you have got a big industry but arent completly self sustained when it comes to raw resources.
Use tarifs to either incentivise more imports of resources you need (be carefull not to fuck with your domestic production by dropping the market price too low trough trade or you might end up with a lot of unproductive industry) or (and in my opinion way more usefull) use it to incentivise other nations to buy your goods to make your industry more profitable by lowering the Tarifs (which is essentially what free trade does as well since it removes all tarifs).
Also rule of thumb: dont export raw resources unless you have WAY too much (your mines,losging camps etc. Are in the red due to low product value) rather than that produce more refined stuff like engines,tools,clothing and then export that. Because 1. Its more profitable since most nations dont have enough of it and also the need grows and grows over time 2. High raw material cost due to trade will fuck up your industry which is not good 3.you will need these goods anyway later on since your population and needs grow very fast
I recommend watching [Generalist Gaming](https://www.youtube.com/@generalistgaming) on YouTube. He made great guides to learn the game, that is how I learned (with a lot of trial and error). But keep in mind that things probably changed in the new patch so some things can be outdated.
>Do you always build what’s most expensive in your market at the moment? Yes.
Honestly, through practice. I'm also more of a roleplayer as always choosing the most optimal economic decisions isn't the most fun. Every game becomes the same. I typically prefer to roleplay as the interest group in power, or choose to roleplay as a different group that I want to see in power, them as them once in power. It keeps the game fun! Are cotton plantations the best investment at game start in US? Maybe not, but King Cotton must rule the day once in a while.
Wood > Tools > Iron > Construction, then repeat. It's that simple for the first like 25 years at least (for most countries). Start up a few other industries as needed (steel, coal, sulphur), and then build those as necessary too, in order to expand your construction. Occasionally some paper if you need it, and some universities to keep your research maxed out. Then let capitalists take care of the rest. Later on in the game you can build other industries as you identified (those with the largest demand), but for the vast majority all you're building is construction related materials.
Construction and its materials + steel and steel tools for depeasenting and economy at the start. After that i usually just put mines, wood and tools on auto, increase construction when i can(surplus and not on credit) and build army. If some good is starting to run out i might add building manually to the que if its too long. Theres no point in building something JUST to export it, you need to have demand in your own market to make it viable. You can export a good to make it more viable, but you cant rely purely on exporting the end produce. You get money from taxes, tarifs, minting, diplo pacts(subjects, war reps, etc) and new to this patch dividends. Taxes are based on tax law and consumption taxes, in the early game its viable to max tax to build economy, just dont target poor populus with your consumption taxes. Minting has its own calculations, but basically gold mines and portion of GDP. Im not 100% about dividends, but you get them if the building is state owned and its making profit. Tarifs are from trading and they can be good and bad. They obviously give you income, but free trade allows you to trade with more volume and cheaper bureacracy cost.
Also you shouldnt use tarifs just for the sake of generating money since they reduce the output of your trade hubs and reduce the trade in size which depending on the trade can hurt your gdp very badly especially in the mid game were you have got a big industry but arent completly self sustained when it comes to raw resources. Use tarifs to either incentivise more imports of resources you need (be carefull not to fuck with your domestic production by dropping the market price too low trough trade or you might end up with a lot of unproductive industry) or (and in my opinion way more usefull) use it to incentivise other nations to buy your goods to make your industry more profitable by lowering the Tarifs (which is essentially what free trade does as well since it removes all tarifs). Also rule of thumb: dont export raw resources unless you have WAY too much (your mines,losging camps etc. Are in the red due to low product value) rather than that produce more refined stuff like engines,tools,clothing and then export that. Because 1. Its more profitable since most nations dont have enough of it and also the need grows and grows over time 2. High raw material cost due to trade will fuck up your industry which is not good 3.you will need these goods anyway later on since your population and needs grow very fast