I love Economy Simulators. Is this Game for me?

[Roland]

Hi,

i love as said above Games that simulates the Economy. Like my all time favorites Capitalism+ and Capitalism 2. ( I woulkd love to see them on Steam) So ist this Game for me?

[Eric.B]

We're pretty heavy in the economic simulation department.
I'll let others answer the general question if they recommend it or not because I'm a bit biased. ^,~ (That being said I would in your case.)

I can point you to the demo on www.gearcity.info
It is much more buggy and crash prone than the steam build, so be warned. Also watch the tutorial videos in the Steam Guides before trying to play.

Or you can watch some youtube play through reviews. (That'll cover basic tutorials and show you the game mechanics)

I recommend ppcc: http://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1583
or devlook: http://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1592

They both cover the basics fairly well. PPCC probably covers more, but is much longer.

[Roland]

Hi Eric, Thank you for the quick response. The Videos looked like i will like it. Buyed.

[Eric.B]

Wonderful, let me know if you have any question, comments, or suggestions. I'll be happy to help!

[Malaras]

Originally posted by gnuelpf:

Hi,

i love as said above Games that simulates the Economy. Like my all time favorites Capitalism+ and Capitalism 2. ( I woulkd love to see them on Steam) So ist this Game for me?

Love this game really hard for me if there is AI making smaething i'm. But Great Game. :)

You know there is a standalone to capitalism 2 right, Cap Lab was released in 2013 i just bought it last month after i found out about it XD

[Draa]

Originally posted by Malaras:

Originally posted by gnuelpf:

Hi,

i love as said above Games that simulates the Economy. Like my all time favorites Capitalism+ and Capitalism 2. ( I woulkd love to see them on Steam) So ist this Game for me?

Love this game really hard for me if there is AI making smaething i'm. But Great Game. :)

You know there is a standalone to capitalism 2 right, Cap Lab was released in 2013 i just bought it last month after i found out about it XD

If you like captialism simulators you should try Virtonomics. It's an online simulator and it's very good. It allows you to create a business that includes manufacturing, retail, and wholesale elements. You can also buy exsisting businesses if you have enough money in the bank. It updates daily and it's quite detailed. I played it for a couple of years and I'm considering getting back into it again. Anyway, it's worth a look if you're into those type of games.

www.virtonomics.com

[Swisspike]

This is the nearest game to Capitalism 2 that I have seen in years. If there was a bit more randomization in the game, that would make it even better. Now, New York and Pickups, or London and Sedans.

[Eric.B]

We'll get randomized scenarios before we hit retail. Don't worry. I think the GUI for it is already in the MainMenu, just hidden. ^,~ (Although I might of erased it, it is there in v0.3 though)

[foxpyt]

I love economic simulation as well and I can tell you after having played about 40 hours go for it! Its beta but it already has a much more depth than I could explore in 40 hours. And it still has a lot of potential. Especially the combination of designing cars with economic simulation is motivating! Dont forget to understand and learn the Mega-Menu to avoid too much clicking in hundreds of menu's. And there are a lot of reports - and even player defined reports (havent seen this one before).

And you can go for different activities and interesting themes:
- designing
- marketing
- stock activities
- car history
- factory building
- cost optimization
- design optimization
- transport optimization
- demographic optimization
- human resource optimization (however havent done this yet - atm I have it on automatic)
- the research crew is improvint its skill depending of acomplisched reseach
- (your) time management
- historical events (world financial crisis 1929(?))
and much more.

But you will need to have some perseverance since you have to set up quite a lot of stuff (but there are assistants helping) to get the first success in mass production.

And if your design does not match market demands you will fail. :-)

have fun

[foxpyt]

Originally posted by Eric.B:

We'll get randomized scenarios before we hit retail. Don't worry. I think the GUI for it is already in the MainMenu, just hidden. ^,~ (Although I might of erased it, it is there in v0.3 though)

Maybe both could be interesting. It could be a nice game option: historical or randomized!

[Swisspike]

My company crashed and burned in 1929. Hard. Next time, I will shut down most of the factories, and most of the dealerships, eliminate R&D, and hoard cash.

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by swisspike:

My company crashed and burned in 1929. Hard. Next time, I will shut down most of the factories, and most of the dealerships, eliminate R&D, and hoard cash.

Just a little word of advice, you may want to idle factories, they get progressively more expensive to build in the future.

How I would play the depression? Design cars in the mid twenties. Build a huge reserve of them while you're still making cash. Depression hits, idle factories and sell through reserves. Once you get an understanding of the demand in the depressions, and the economy stabilizes somewhat, you can start up just enough production to cover demand and hopefully make it until WWII :)

[Verek]

And on the subject of the World Wars... Build a factory in Switzerland. The earlier you can build it, the cheaper it will be, giving you a factory that will remain happily unmolested through both World Wars, due to the age old Swiss policy of neutrality. The Swiss market may not be big, but their GDP is high, so you could sell them some high quality, high margin vehicles. The German market remains pretty strong throughout both world wars, in contrast to the UK and France which completely shut down, so you can sell your Swiss built cars to the Germans, or in any of the other European markets that remain at a Green conflict level during either war. You can also do the same thing in Spain after the Spanish Civil War, and in Turkey after the Ottoman Empire falls at the end of WW1.

Demand for Hatchbacks in Europe seems to pick up dramatically in the 30s, so build a solid level of reserves before war breaks out, and slash as many costs as possible during war time so the Hatchbacks you move in the European markets will help keep you running in the black, or at least as close as possible. You're never gonna make a ton of money during war time since there are less cities in play, but the idea is just to survive while keeping your stock prices largely intact... which leads me to my next point. These periods of strife usually provide great opportunities to buy out your competitors. Even buying large stakes in your competitors without attempting a buyout can really benefit you, cause if you buy, say, 39% of Forward at $20 you give yourself a lot of options. If the price continues to drop, a buyout is easier and cheaper. If it bounces back after the war, hey, good on the AI... sell the stock for a huge profit!

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by Verek:

Swiss built cars to the Germans, or in any of the other European markets that remain at a Green conflict level during either war.

Germans are green during the wars? Hmmmm... Sounds like a bug to me. I'll have to check next time I do a play through. (Or if you have a picture that will help)

You can also do the same thing in Spain after the Spanish Civil War, and in Turkey after the Ottoman Empire falls at the end of WW1.

Stockholm, Andora, and Lisbon are also good countries to target in Europe if you're playing against the wars...

When military contracting is implemented, HQ'ing in these cities will probably not be a smart idea as you'll miss out on war time profits.

[Verek]

I thought it might have been a bug. I can't remember what the map looked like during WW1, but all of "Germany proper" was green whenever I checked during WW2, don't have a picture though, I'll try and see what it looks like the next time I run through that time period, but it might be awhile since I've got two active games I'm working on at the moment.

[Swisspike]

OK..where do I check on conflict level?