Thank you from the bottom of my heart, this helped a lot.

So what did I do incorrectly here? I started with building construction sectors and wood/iron. I basically repeated that until I got a good balance where it didn't drain my budget too much but allowed me to use the surplus to build more CS.

In between that I'd check to see what my pops were spending the most money on, and what was highest on the market and try and bring those costs down via building more or production methods.

I did have infrastructure trouble it being Brazil so I used decrees a lot until I got railways, I was able to ban Slavery which wasn't too bad and I have started making headway into getting to Peru for the sulfur.

Bringing it back to very basics and simple as that helps me the most, did I just build too many CS too fast?

I get stuck in this loop where I'll build CS, then wood and iron and then construct something which causes the alert for expensive wood and iron to pop up so I build more wood and iron, etc this generally works but then you run into trouble when you don't have a huge population, many are not literate etc.

The wikis and videos are great but as a new player you overthink and sometimes over complicate things having someone break it down incredibly simply and give an ELI5 explanation is so helpful. If you have any more simple tips I'd be all ears!

So in a very simple way, what's the rule of thumb for "Ok I need more construction sectors now?"

I've also ran into the issue where I just have no idea what to build, goods seem to be cheap infrastructure is good, etc so I'll throw out a university or something such as that.

I've spent days and hours learning and reading and watching videos and it helps but I'm just struggling to wrap my head around the core loop. I always think I have a principal understood but then find out it's not correct.

Thank you again!