Starting Out Tips

[Tinal]

So after playing for a few hours I've kinda come up with what I feel would be some helpful tips for other people just starting out.

* Space bar pauses the game, USE IT. Even with a manager telling your devs to repeat tasks, you'll need to micromanage and time flies in this game. I probably pause 20 times per ingame day. Moment any dev hits idle or sales exec finds a contract, pause the game.

* Hire two sales execs and two devs, not one of each, very early game contracts only have one or two component requirements which your devs can easily handle. I'd suggest using the first two game days to run the recruitment for both. Pay close attention to their work speed percentage (star) and their salary. You can absolutely find 140+% people who want less pay than 90%. Do not accept any contracts (you can have your sales execs look for contracts while you're hiring devs, just don't click on the button to see the contract once they do).

* Never let your developers, lead developers, etc. idle. Stockpile components and modules, though try to keep it to no more than 10 of each until you move buildings and can hire more devs and managers to dedicate to specifics.

* Let your sales execs idle on incoming contracts. It is better to not accept a contract after 12:00 because the contract timer goes down overnight after every leaves around 4pm. Better to accept them in the morning and give yourself the most time since the contract will remain in limbo until you accept.

* Without mods the starting building can only hold 8 desks, Place four at the start and the other four as you hire a unlocked employee.

* I suggest a manager (intermediate, have them manage the devs and designers), two designers, and one lead dev to fill out your Small Building's remaining four spots. By the time you unlock any more you should be more than capable of moving to the Medium Building.

* Work Environment Rating or WER is one of the ways you manage Exhaustion (Unhappiness). Each employee has a minimum WER and they will want to go on vacation more often.

* Unhappy employees are unproductive employees (and they may quit!). Vacations restore them to happy and productive employees while a high WER slows down how fast they become unhappy. Send them on vacation with the little green button with something that looks like a white trophy on the top right of the Employee Window. Do this when their smiley turns yellow, or if you need them to stick around to finish a task first, then go. Red faces should be sent on vacation immediately.

* Decorations affect your WER with diminishing returns after you place three of any object. You can make your place look nice, but the highest WERs in the starting building are had by piling 8 desks in one corner and filling the rest of the space with no more than three of every object. Your employees do in fact, not need walkways and you can completely box them in (for now).

* Never pay back loans early. Over 365 or early you pay the same amount back. You cannot avoid the interest. If you can afford the payback then your daily income likely far exceeds the Daily Cost of every loan put together. Save the loans for when you move buildings so you can setup desks and decorations quickly.

* Don't be afraid to decline a contract you know you won't be able to meet. It says there's a 30 day cooldown but that doesn't seem to be true right now. I've declined all the companies at least once and they will happily give me a contract the next day.

[ristar85]

1. At start 3 dev, 1 sales, 2 managers, 1 designer and 1 lead dev.

2. managers give bonus.

3. Do not rank up anyone. Always hire the highest rank available. Never hire any basic fella below 120%, intermediate 200% and expert 340%. Get some money buffer. fire all the old guys and everyone else go on a vacation. An upgraded employee will always be significantly inferior to somebody you hire if you follow my hiring rule.

[Tinal]

I find that the sales execs don't need the speed boost, especially as contracts start getting more complex. I use one interemediate manager to boost two devs and two designers. Each additional employee managed reduces the boost and my lead dev idles until I get to the Medium Building and can hire another designer, four more devs, and a manager to keep him in components/boost.

[SickDucker]

I would suggest instead of focusing so much on contracts, you focus on making your product better