Can I start with more than $2000 cash?

[swingline]

Hi, Am I missing something? is there a way to start with more of my bankroll than $2000? Every level I start with 2000, even though I have much more in the bank. Can I take more than 2000 with me when I leave town to start drilling? If I run out of cash on my first well the banker charges me like 10% per month even though I have many thousands more in the bank. Is there a way to access my saved money? thanks,

[fredoverflow]

No, because if you could start with all your money, the game would pose little challenge. You could immediately send a dozen dowers (or scan the entire map), build a handful of rigs, upgrade all your pipes etc.

It's a conscious design design to keep the game challenging.

By the way, there is one character in expert mode who starts with 2,500 instead of 2,000.

[swingline]

Thanks

The issue I run into is once I got the dowsers that could find oil at any depth, they'd find deep oil at the bottom of a map, often under rock. There's really no way with only 2000 to deal with that. First time it happened I just ended the map and went back to town. Second time I clicked around and discovered I could borrow $500 at 10% per month (something like 213% annual interest rate) and used it, but seems wrong.

Conflicts with my principle of no payday loans ;-)

[Gibibit]

Here's the nitty gritty of it: Dowser's prioritize the well that they reveal based on the distance of the well from their starting position, favoring wells close to the surface over wells that are close to their horizontal position. This means that it matters where you place the dowsers, but usually they should find the wells close to the surface first. Hope that clears it up for you!

[swingline]

Originally posted by 1000 Gibibit:

Here's the nitty gritty of it: Dowser's prioritize the well that they reveal based on the distance of the well from their starting position, favoring wells close to the surface over wells that are close to their horizontal position. This means that it matters where you place the dowsers, but usually they should find the wells close to the surface first. Hope that clears it up for you!

Thanks. Usually that does happen, but sometimes I hit what seems like a dry well (or rocks making it essentially dry for now). I wonder if at the start of some levels the screen hasn't moved deep enough to reach the oil yet? I usually plop down 2-3 dowsers at the start and go with the one to find oil first. A couple times I've been lucky and been able to drill horizontally from my main vertical shaft to reach something a nearby secondary dowser has found without blowing my budget letting me bootstrap out of trouble.

Really fun game. Playing the game actually helps me understand my investments in energy companies a little bit better. ;-)

[Gamious]

Part of the challenge is to deal with oil that you find later (or lower) in the level. So it's possible Dowsers point at oil that will come available a little later in the level.
Think of a good strategy for that first $2000. If you find oil quickly, and you get a good price, ramp up. If not, adjust your tactics or borrow $500.
You will get better at this over time!

[swingline]

Originally posted by Gamious:

Think of a good strategy for that first $2000. If you find oil quickly, and you get a good price, ramp up. If not, adjust your tactics or borrow $500.
You will get better at this over time!

I'm doing alright, just don't like paying the banker in those rare cases ;-) Most confusing part was figuring out how to use the gas. My first couple of maps on the gas levels were the best opportunities to use gas, but I didn't have the right equipment/upgrades, and once I had the right equipment I didn't have very good opportunity to use. First time I hooked up the gas lines and gave one of the refiners a whole lot of gas. but I'd already sold my oil. I didn't realize I didn't get paid for the gas but I noticed the price of oil go way up. Then I realized I needed to store the oil and then sell it after I'd hooked the gas up. Other times the gas was hard to find, or on the opposite side of the map from my connection and I had too many wells in the way.

I'm already in the arctic and never successfully hooked up gas and sold oil at the same time to take advantage. It's only my first time through, but by missing those big possible paydays I pretty much can't afford the upgrades intended for the arctic, so I think I've sortof missed some of the game dynamics at this stage while still buying up all the mayor's stock.

Anyhow, cool game. Thanks for the conversation.

[Riptide360]

Once you win at the normal game you can play at Expert mode and one of the characters you get to choose, Larry? has the special power of starting with $2,500.