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Victoria 3explores the social changes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as new forms of economics and governance grew out of the industrial revolution. The Sphere of Influence DLC, while primarily focused on international relations, also deepens the relationship between production and profit in its fascinating simulation of a modernizing economy.
The new rules for building ownership and nationalization will have a major impact on your strategy in every campaign, so it will be important to know how money flows in Sphere of Influence. Here is everything you need to know about shareholders and state-owned industries in Victoria 3.
Building Ownership
Every building in the game that produces goods is owned by one or more entities; each individual level has one owner that collects the profits from the building when its Productivity is positive. The owner of a building level is usually the one that initially built it, but shares of a building can change hands.
Your nation has two construction queues - thegovernment construction queue, which you control, and theprivate construction queue, which you don’t. Anything built through the government construction queue (that is, anything that you as the player directly ordered built) is owned by the state, while privately-built constructions are owned by members of the population.
No matter who owns a building, the goods it produces willstill enter the home market of the state in which they are produced.A privately-owned Coal Mine will still produce Coal for your industries, even if you don’t see as much direct profit from it.
The image above is a fairly simple example; the Paper Mills in Auvergne-Limousin start the game at level five. Two are owned by France directly, and the other three are owned by local investors, represented by theFinancial Districtsbuilding in the same state. When the Paper Mills take in their weekly profits after paying their workers' wages,two-fifths will go directly to France’s treasury, while the remaining three-fifths will be paid out as dividends to thepops that work in the Financial District.Those pops will thenpay taxes on those dividendsbefore putting money into the Investment Pool or spending to increase their Standard of Living.
It’s possible for Manor Houses and Financial Districts to own buildings outside of their own state. You can see an investor building’s portfolio on its details screen.
Nationalization, Privatization, And Foreign Investment
The ratio of nationally-owned versus privately-owned buildings in your country will almost always depend on yourEconomic SystemLaw. Laws that allow pops to contribute to the Investment Pool and divert construction into the private queue, especiallyLasseiz-Faire, will trend toward more private ownership, while late-game laws likeCommand Economylet you take full national control of entire industries.
If your Economic System allows it, you cannationalize any building in your country that isn’t owned by the stateby clicking the flag icon on its details screen. Doing so may require you to compensate the owners (usually to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds up front) and will radicalize some or all of them.
Rather than constructing a new building, pops may use the Investment Pool toprivatize a building, purchasing it out from under the state. Buildings that are struggling financially are the most susceptible to this, and once a buyer starts seeking investors there isn’t much you can do about it.
Finally, if a foreign country hasinvestment rightsin your country, they or their investor pops can construct buildings on your land! This can help speed up production and get new goods into your market quickly, but the profit from the buildings will go overseas unless you are in a customs union with the other country. If the agreement that granted them investment rights expires, you cannationalize the foreign buildingsthe same way you would a privately-owned one.
You can negotiate two-way investment agreements to build in foreign markets - why not produce the goods you’ll be importing?
Nationalization Strategy
Here’s a quick breakdown of the pros and cons of each ownership type, and how you can put the game’s new system to your advantage!
Private Businesses
A heavily-privatized, Lasseiz-Faire economy is best forlarge nationswith lots of space to build and resources to exploit, or for players who want toautomate their economy as much as possibleso they can focus on warfare and diplomacy. Shifting to Lasseiz-Faire means most of your construction capacity will go to the private sector, so you’ll have to use your government facilities to build up your administrative and military capacity.
Pass Free Trade and always make sure you have enough Convoys and Bureaucracy to keep goods flowing in and out of your country as needed.
Try to get foreign investment opportunities to pounce on emerging markets for Rubber and Oil,bringing home more money for the Investment Pool.By the same token, don’t be afraid to let other countries build on your soil - the engines of progress require a lot of fuel, after all, and that’s one less mine or farm you’ll have to build.
Most of your income will be from taxation, so be sure to pass themost advanced tax law that you’re able to. The capitalists will be positively rolling in cash, so they can afford to pay their share.
Nationalized Industries
A fully-nationalized economy is best forsmall countriesearly in the game, since you can’t afford to have private magnates eating up your limited resources and workforce. As you grow, it will be important tokeep building Administration buildingssince nationalized businessescost 2 Bureaucracy per levelto maintain. If you like micromanaging and taking your time to create the perfect engine of progress, this is the strategy for you.
While a fully-nationalized Command Economy offers the most player control, it also means thatthere’s little room for mistakes.If you accidentally create a shortage or tank the price of a key good, you’ll have to act fast to correct it.
Foreign Investment
A small or underdeveloped country can catch up quickly by letting in foreign investors - you probably can’t build a Steel Mill if you’re stuck on Wood-Frame buildings, but the Great Powers can throw one together in a matter of months. This allows you to produce advanced goods, but not to keep the profit from it; you’ll have to get creative to keep the investors from turning your country into a piggy bank.
Get two rival countries to invest in you. That way, if one tries to vassalize you or otherwise increase their control, it’s more likely that the other will step in. If you’re lucky, they’ll both bankroll you while you’re at peace.
This strategy requires biding your time, annexing neighbors until you can grow into a regional power, then breaking the investment deals and seizing the industries for yourself.Have an ally ready to intervene, since the Great Powers don’t take kindly to having their investments pulled out from under them.
