How do I aquire new customers?

[Elf]

I produce like 100 Homebrew every 2 turns. I keep producing and producing, but I am stuck with the 3 same customers as in the first 5 rounds. Noone knows anyone who is willing to buy and I cant switch productions because I cant have another backroom. If I discover shops manually, they dont trust me enough to buy ♥♥♥♥. I am stuck here since like 40 turns now pls help. What am I supposed to do/ where did I go wrong?

[trojanrabbit]

1.) Build a backroom bootlegging operation which will take care of selling your products to walk in customers. If you upgrade it and use a manager most of your overproduction will be sold. Bootleggers even sell for a better price than wholesale (if I remember correctly)
2.) If you have big stockpiles check for events, they often exchange T1 drinks against cars, buildings or knowledge/skills
3.) It's not the most effective way, but you can refine most T1 alcolohols to T2 alcohols to sell them at a higher marchin

[Twelvefield]

Also, explore more of the city, you should be able to find more customers in a new neighborhood.

[Elf]

thank you for the answers!
how can I refine them? do I need a special tech for it? because I have the needed equipment already, i just cant produce it somehow
and am I supposed to uncover the whole map at some point? because it looks pretty big

[Twelvefield]

Yes you need more skills, which you can sometimes get through events and mostly get from using up favours. As far as exploration goes, the maps are big. Uncovering the map gives you the most access to the greatest variety of resources and people. Cities are divided up into neighbourhoods, and many neighbourhoods have specializations. If you haven't found what you need, it's possible that you're in the wrong neighbourhood.

Beyond that, exploration is a slightly tedious way of easily gaining XP for your muscle. And then there's a slim possibility that you've found a bug where the random generator failed to provide a resource. I don't think that's happening to you, though, since there are always customers.

You've mentioned that the shopkeepers don't trust you enough to do black market business with you. That's normal. Do their events and try not to kill anyone and they should open up to you quickly. Or buy their legal stuff enough times and they will begin to trust you. Use up favours to make more connections, that works too: the "Put In A Good Word" dialogue.

[primeinsurrection]

You should start your game over.
Be careful who you kill and extort. Their friends wont like you.
You get better relations with people and new connections through favors and you get favors just by doing business with different people, giving them good prices, doing favors, and so on.
You do better with people of your own ethnicity. And each person only has a limited number of favors, so use them wisely.
Also just doing good by them will increase your relationship and they will trust you more.
Try making those places under your territory and sell them other things they might need or buy stuff from them if you can sell them.

[Ole "Slim Jolo" the Hobo Hero]

Favors are big for learning new skills, and usually also cost money. But it's how you learn both brewing and bootlegging of various thing. I didn't realize this until frustratingly late into 1922 with a bunch of larger gangs quite closely encroaching on me.

Favors are sometimes also necessary for advancing plot/connections in general, opening options like starting a front (at cost), meeting people, or sometimes other map specific options (i.e like on the Detroit map, getting criminal connections on the Canadian side of the border in the city of Windsor since there was no prohibition in Canada).

Not sure if there are ways to increase favors other than I guess quests, using other favors to increase relation, or buying/selling stuff.

In my game I was trying to operate solely off a brickwine operation. Had 2 grape concentrate sellers in my neighborhood and lots of buyers. But I didn't really understand how to get the skills for opening other operations even as my own territory started expanding quite a bit. Eventually I kind of hit a money wall trying to pursue a connection in canada and a beer brewer for hire because I didn't realize I could just use favors to learn these things.

Once I eventually had the money for opening up a gambling den (again, favors) and for learning skills like bootlegging, and other mechanics for getting buildings, I'm only just now getting a beer brew, brickwine brew, beer bootlegger, and brick wine bootlegger online. My supply for both beer and brickwine is contested by the much larger gangs around me (specifically grape concentrate bought out a lot). But it's way easier just being able to put wine into a building than cart it around the city for wholesale.

Also note, a favor can put you in with a police precinct, and then some money can put you in good with the head cop, and you can use that to tip off raids against rivals, source guns, etc.