How do I increase Personal New Worth? [Answer Found]

[Didz]

I'm just starting the Britain scenario and the goal is to increase my personal net worth to £40M.

So, how do I do this with a starting investment of just £150k. It's not going to happen just based on my salary no matter how generous the board is with their rewards. The guides talk about buying stock, but I can't even see a way of doing that in this version of the game. You can buy back issues shares, but I can;t see any way of increasing your own shareholding.

Can anyone help?

[trar]

Your purchasing power needs to be high enough before you can buy stocks. Try raising dividend payments on your company's stock - you certainly own a bit of that, so you'd receive some of those payments.

[Didz]

I own 4,000 shares of company stock and have been maximizing the dividends, but can't say I've seen much obvious income as a result. I notice other people have been questioning this and wondering if it's bugged. 4000 x £5 ought to net about £20,000, but I'm not seeing it in my bank balance.

The other uncertainty I have is related to buying back company stock. Several guides suggest that this is a good thing for increasing PNW, but my understanding was that this was the company buying back it's own stock, not you buying more of the companies stock. So, I'm not sure how it would help, does reducing the number of shares in circulation actually increase the value of those that I own?

[AREUHAPPYNOW]

You should use your own companys stock to increase networth. You need to play on atleast normal difficulty so you can buy stock on margin.

Stock price increases with company profits and also when the newspapers show "Boom times ahead!". The price decreases when you have the same or less company profit or when the newspapers show news about recession or depression. Stock price also go up when being bought and down when being sold.

Using this info you will know when stock prices go up and when they go down.

If you keep on expanding your company and slowly buying stock on margin, you usualy end up with really high networth. although keep in mind that your real cash will be at negativ a couple of grand meaning that if you stop expanding and the price of the stock goes down you might crash and burn.


As for the dividend, keep in mind that its per year. 20k in a year is basicaly nothing.

[Didz]

[Answer Found]
I finally found a decently written guide that explains this aspect of the game. So I've posted a link and a summary below for everyone elses benefit.

http://6quack.com/rrgames/rt2gage.htm

SUMMARY

1. Building the Company: Always start the game with maximum investment on your part and the minimum on the part of external shareholders.

2. Short Lines Lead to Profit:

Make your first track short and simple. Do not build water towers, sanding towers, roundhouses, etc. this would be a waste of precious cash at the start of the game. Your trains will let you know when you need to make these improvements.

e.g. Be frugal with your investment. Don't spend your money untill less you have to.

3. More wheels more cash, more rails more expense:

Buy more trains as soon as you can afford them. The most cost effective way to increase profits is with mulitple trains on short tracks, as opposed to laying miles of track that are only partially used.

4. Commerce grows profit:

Building up commerce between two cities not only helps your company get off to a healthy start, but it will also inspire growth in those cities. As a city grows, the amount of goods it supplies and demands increases as well. Consequently, your rail company will enjoy the benefit of this informal partnership.

5. Micro-manage consists to maximise income. (up to 6)

Early in the game, micromanage every load of cargo your trains haul. Double-click the train just before it pulls into their next stop and make sure to load them it with all the available freight and passengers (six cars max).

6. Freight trumps passengers

Generally, freight (in demand) should take priority over passengers.

7. Feeding customers = extra money.

Furthermore, if you have 3 or more passenger cars ready for transit, combine them together with a dining car to maximize profits.

8. Managing departures

As the game progresses, spending time managing every train may become too time consuming. Once the game reaches this point, you can set some parameters to allow the trains to 'manage themselves'. In the train dialogue use the cargo lights to determine when a train is allowed to leave the station. Red means the train will wait until fully loaded before departure. Yellow means the train will hold until it half the cars are full. Green means the train will leave the station without regard to the cargo load.

9. Expanding Your Line

Once the flow of traffic on your original line has now reached the point of steady traffic with an occassional blockage. The time has come to start laying more track.

Keep it simple. Join another town/city onto your existing line or join two towns that are in close proximity to each other.

10. Don't be afraid of empty trains

If complimentary production sites stand close to your existing track you may want to consider connecting these sites to your original lines as well. However, this should not be the primary focus of track building. These sites only provide economic growth in one direction. For example, attaching a grain producer to a city with a bakery will definitely help the city. However, you will gain no profits on the return trip. Don't be afraid of sending your engine back without any cars.

11. Build support in the center.

Train stations that become the hub of traffic are the best candidates for maintenance improvements, such as water towers, sand towers, and round houses. Add the other buildings where appropriate.

12. Absorb local industries

Use large stations to tie in more industries to a particular line. Large stations can overcome the costly 'boundaries' of rivers and mountains and in the long run the are usually cheaper than laying long lines of track and bridges.

13. Establihing Your Personal Empire

The pittance your board attempts to pass off as an annual salary is hardly just compensation for your efforts. You must capitalize on your position within the company to fatten your own wallet.

14. Elminating the Leeches

Believe it or not, the individuals that assisted in you in starting your venture are now the parasites that stand in the way of your ultimate achievement. Every bit of success your company enjoys must be shared with everyone that holds shares in your company. You must buy these people out!

14a: Buy back their stock.

When you have enough cash, you may buy the outstanding stock held by other investors.

14b: Cull your shareholders

Second, when your company has enough excess cash (anything over $1 million), you may buy some of the stock back from the shareholders.

14c: Slow and steady stock control.

You should spread these purchases out over several months or even years to prevent an over-inflation of the stock price. You want to systematically eliminate these external shareholders without damaging the cash position of the railroad.

15: Maximise the dividend

Increase the amount of income you receive from the business through the use of dividends.

Be frugal in the early game as you will be giving the company's money away to 'strangers'.

However, once you become the sole owner of stock in the company, dividends become the easiest channel for passing company cash directly into your wallet.

Cash in hand also gives you the power to invest in another company, or buy other businesses.

16: Diversify and expand your business empire.

Once you have the cash buy struggling buinesses before using your rail network to make them successful powerhouses of industry.

17. Look after yourself.

Grow your net worth as quickly as possbile and worry about the other objectives later. Once you have establish your personal worth, you can go on to achieve the stated mission of each game.

[Melodic Death]

Only issue I have with short tracks between cities is that passengers/mail run out too quick.
Later in a game you want to transport pasangers to far away cities for big gains, but if you keep with the short routes it could be a problem with shortage of passangers and mail.

[Michal]

Also use "buy back stock" option to acquire stock for company money