Making money in realistic mode?

[tiy]

So, I bankrupted second time just now... Both games in year 1968.
Both games are set on the hardest difficulty - money set on easy.
First game was like "getting to know this game" as I haven't played for a while, I didn't have any income whatsoever. Plus I accidentally cut water to my residents, so I think that started my bankruptcy...
So I started second game, which I build 3 cities from start - which I think was a big mistake, coz I just could't manage them. Only one city was working in the end, which had income from 2 coal power plants, which didn't generate enough money to support my expenses...
Another city was just useless as I connected gas power plant to border pipeline, which just wasted my money.
Last city had an oil refinery, which I think was making money - again connected straight to the border pipeline, but city it was in, had a slight food issue... So my population wasn't happy... etc.
Before realistic mode, I always made money from oil refinery, which in realistic mode isn't really possible from the start without buying oil...
So any suggestions how should I play? Do I even need to have some income, or should I just try to get self sustainable?

[Zero, Dark Knight]

Money in realistic mode is best done with clothing factory, people will argue otherwise, but the simple truth of 5 combined factors make it undeniably the best building and overpowered. Each factor on its own is, of course, not overpowered.

1: The clothing factory has a cheap resource input (Crops). vs output good (Fabric.)
Result: this makes the profit ratio skewer massive upwards.

2: It has a low worker count to maximum effectiveness.
Result: the factory can be run with foreign labour or a tiny support network on realistic, which means time to pay off loans (if starting on hard) is really quick, compared to almost all else.

3: Crops can be automated later on, no other resource can which is initially available.
Result: Removal of trucks/trains at the border bringing in goods lowers costs and makes it even more viable, but it is optional (as you add fuel costs and building costs to the farms and harvesters.)

4: Small blueprints of building, and low emissions, mean that it's a relatively "Safe" factory to have closer to the town, within walking distance of the better paths which ensures a constant stream of workers from homes.
Result: constant stream of high value goods.

5: Low quantities of product as product is slow to make.
Result: High ruble per ton, low amount of export trucks, no need for railway.

[TrackTerror]

Making money in realistic is for me almost the whole game, It took me more then a few tries to get my bankroll in positive. quite often 10s of hours in i realized that the debt spiral had won.

Keep trying with different logistical setups.

As most people says, clothing is a really good start. import fabric turnaround and export clothes. Look for low volume, high margin.

Tourism is fairly easy to make money off as well, although requires some research and with clothes factory already up, this should be enough to go green on your banksheet.

Don't fall into the trap of spending all your initial cash to setup construction industry. asphalt and concrete as well as gravel can be imported for a long time before you actually need it.

[gwahazar]

Find oil near boundary (for example Bongyi on EE map), build some pumpjacks, connect to imported electric power (just MV line), buy some decent oil trucks, profit.

[Delle(DK)]

tip.
Build 1 clothing factory in the start and deliver fabric to it.. It only require 80 max people for full production. This one factury will pay quite well ;-)
els you can also sell water if you possition the water load/unload close to the border and have 8 trucks then they can make about 9000 pr month in profit, or what about 2 such buildings.. just saying selling water is actually quite good it does not require much to get started and you have the water buildings anyway right ;-)

els you need a city with 6 x 150people buildings and one communist HQ so you can educate people to a higher education vs buying them..
Also a good tirck possition 3x road cranes and 1x bus together.
have 4x dozers in one construction office
have 4xexcavators in one construction office.
a super tip.. your dozer should be limited to only making road and walkways
your excavators should only make buildings and pipes/conveyor.
It is a VERY good idea to avoid importing people to make roads since your machines can make roads without the need of workers.. So think about that when you make construction offices to avoid busses and workers to make roads.. you can save a huge amount of money.
Also avoid exporting sewage, just dump it in the river or ocean.. if you cannot then dig a deep hole and dump it in there.
Regarding water then make the water well buildiing somewhere where there is no city or industry so you get 95% pure water.. and then connect that to a water cleaning facility to get 99% pure water.. the morep ure the source is the more money you save on chemicals to clean the water... this is very important.
Also build a dirth road to the west border ( always start your first city close to your east border ) and then you can import some BIG trucks and use your USD vs using your rubler money for eveyrthing.. Also import west resources like steel, and store it near you city VS buying it with rubler near your own city.. You might as well spend the USD vs not using them. It take time to import but dont worry just setup some trucks that go there slowly and come back with example 30 tons of steel.

Els try to save money in the start avoid more than 300.000 loan.
In general build 1 or 2 clothing facotorys, deliver people and export.
I recommend to build this factorys +1km away from yoru city to avoid pollution
Also build your heating plant there away from the city.

And keep 1-2 buildings only for people with higher education.
Remmeber that in the housing build menu you can unselect "get citizien" then your buildings wont have people in them when they finish.. You only want to import people after 2-3 years when your citys is ready and its +5c outside so they dont freeze.
Also be aware that the firestation only reach a few km.. so maybe build a small on in your industry area also.

Only upgrade your most important roads to gravel.
wait with trains for x years.

ps. in general in your first city its will be good if people can walk everywhere vs you needing to have a transport system = money.
Ofcourse it cost to delive rthem to work but you should take pollution from factorys serious so that is just some cost you cannot avoid so your citizen are more healthy and live longer.. also finaly remmeber to build 1 cinema for culture and 2 monuments that give like 2-5% loyalty.. Happy people work harder.

tip. when you start a new game always check that you can connect things to the border and the electrical wiring.. there are steam workshop maps where you cannot connect power and that is very annoying since the game was not updated. Same goes with resources the map need ot have nuclear/uran and bauxer resources.

[tiy]

Originally posted by Delle(DK):

tip.
Build 1 clothing factory in the start and deliver fabric to it.. It only require 80 max people for full production. This one factury will pay quite well ;-)
els you can also sell water if you possition the water load/unload close to the border and have 8 trucks then they can make about 9000 pr month in profit, or what about 2 such buildings.. just saying selling water is actually quite good it does not require much to get started and you have the water buildings anyway right ;-)

els you need a city with 6 x 150people buildings and one communist HQ so you can educate people to a higher education vs buying them..
Also a good tirck possition 3x road cranes and 1x bus together.
have 4x dozers in one construction office
have 4xexcavators in one construction office.
a super tip.. your dozer should be limited to only making road and walkways
your excavators should only make buildings and pipes/conveyor.
It is a VERY good idea to avoid importing people to make roads since your machines can make roads without the need of workers.. So think about that when you make construction offices to avoid busses and workers to make roads.. you can save a huge amount of money.
Also avoid exporting sewage, just dump it in the river or ocean.. if you cannot then dig a deep hole and dump it in there.
Regarding water then make the water well buildiing somewhere where there is no city or industry so you get 95% pure water.. and then connect that to a water cleaning facility to get 99% pure water.. the morep ure the source is the more money you save on chemicals to clean the water... this is very important.
Also build a dirth road to the west border ( always start your first city close to your east border ) and then you can import some BIG trucks and use your USD vs using your rubler money for eveyrthing.. Also import west resources like steel, and store it near you city VS buying it with rubler near your own city.. You might as well spend the USD vs not using them. It take time to import but dont worry just setup some trucks that go there slowly and come back with example 30 tons of steel.

Els try to save money in the start avoid more than 300.000 loan.
In general build 1 or 2 clothing facotorys, deliver people and export.
I recommend to build this factorys +1km away from yoru city to avoid pollution
Also build your heating plant there away from the city.

And keep 1-2 buildings only for people with higher education.
Remmeber that in the housing build menu you can unselect "get citizien" then your buildings wont have people in them when they finish.. You only want to import people after 2-3 years when your citys is ready and its +5c outside so they dont freeze.
Also be aware that the firestation only reach a few km.. so maybe build a small on in your industry area also.

Only upgrade your most important roads to gravel.
wait with trains for x years.

ps. in general in your first city its will be good if people can walk everywhere vs you needing to have a transport system = money.
Ofcourse it cost to delive rthem to work but you should take pollution from factorys serious so that is just some cost you cannot avoid so your citizen are more healthy and live longer.. also finaly remmeber to build 1 cinema for culture and 2 monuments that give like 2-5% loyalty.. Happy people work harder.

tip. when you start a new game always check that you can connect things to the border and the electrical wiring.. there are steam workshop maps where you cannot connect power and that is very annoying since the game was not updated. Same goes with resources the map need ot have nuclear/uran and bauxer resources.

That is... Very detailed, thanks for the tips yall!

[In Ange We Trust]

A clothing factory initially supplied from the custom house and then two clothing factories supplied by a fabric factory is a great money maker once you have a town to supply labour. Initially, making your own construction materials and selling the excess starts mitigating your losses. Start with gravel, then bitumen and concrete. Gonna be expensive but once you get some coal and start making and exporting bricks, prefabs and boards and exporting the excess coal will make you break even.

I like to get a rail network going ASAP to eliminate hold ups at the custom house. Makes life much easier. Also, tarmac roads make a huge difference especially in winter.

Once you start making steel, even if you have to import iron ore, and exporting the excess you will start making decent money. This really requires ships but I suppose you could do it with rail. Exporting with ships reduces hold ups at custom house though.

I'm still learning the ropes, making a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of mistakes and having to waste time and money correcting them, but 18 years in I'm exporting half a million a month in construction materials, clothes and excess fabric. Population of 8k in two towns. Started with 10 million and in 1978 still have 4.6 million. Lowest I got to was about 2.9 million.

[Silent_Shadow]

The best approach to expanding in my opinion is to build the industries with the lowest vehicle requirements and the best returns on investment costs:

• Early on this is the clothes factory, fabric factory, distillery, explosives factory, food factory, nearby oil wells, and incinerating hazardous waste.
  
• With a little research, you can do chemical plants, electrical component factories, bauxite mining/processing, uranium processing, tourism, mechanical component factories, and fuel/bitumen refining.
  
  
• Construction material industries should only be built to free up customs house traffic for exports, as they all have low profit and tend to need a lot of transportation to fully exploit. Gravel and boards are good first cases because you can set them up with less than 20 workers and 50,000 rubles each, including vehicles. Concrete and asphalt plants might also be built further from a customs house to expedite construction times.
  
  
• Power production is questionable, because although power plants cost a lot and will take well over a year to pay off (compared to just exporting the coal/oil), they eliminate a somewhat costly import of power and a good chunk of the transportation needed to move coal or oil to a customs house. I usually recommend building it once you start using a decent amount of power to eliminate the cost of importing power, as several thousand MWh a day at a ruble each add up quick.
  
  
• Coal/iron mining is not that profitable compared to the capital costs, and should be treated like power. Build it once you have a decent cash flow going and are ready to expand to steel or at least to replace your coal, brick, and cement imports.
  
• Steel, aluminum, and vehicle factories all give good income, but require a lot of transportation or investment in money or research.

[Big Cat]

Sorry guys, how to delete rails in realistic mode? I built many, but still can't understand this.

[Ethonal]

Originally posted by Big Cat:

Sorry guys, how to delete rails in realistic mode? I built many, but still can't understand this.

Have a dump directly connected to the RCO and room (or a open storage) to store the materials that are "refunded" (gravel/steel ect).

[MrKrabs]

Originally posted by Big Cat:

Sorry guys, how to delete rails in realistic mode? I built many, but still can't understand this.

Maybe my video helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpyQKNx0SwI

[Kircus]

try to build 2 cities. The main source of stable income in a realistic mode is farming with the transition to the alcohol industry. a good profit will be made from the 1st harvest. Build a city as close to the river and customs as possible.

[Silent_Shadow]

Most farm expenses need two harvests to pay off the investment though, which will take a little over a couple years to see.

I consider farms to be something you should set up after you have a decent cash flow going from a few different factory types (clothes, fabric, chemicals, explosives, etc.) to reduce customs traffic and imports, like certain construction industries, power, or coal mining.

[Beast of War]

Exporting raw bauxite ( this needs no workforce ) pulled me through going broke of too deep depths where steel industry and clothing came to a halt out of various supply chains collapsing.

With waste enabled it nearly broke my back as raw bauxite production stopped too : waste bins were full as waste collection suffered from fuel shortages and de-population ( general separation and incinerator ) because the trucks did not supply food in stores anymore.

When i solved that ( dragged civilians out of their homes elsewhere in the map in summer so they needed no heating ) it nearly collapsed again as the bauxite ore ships were 30+ years of age an near 100 % worn.

In the end solving all crisises it was still exporting raw bauxite ( 5 mines into 3 x 1100 ton ore ships ) that enabled rebuilding and repopulating my ruined and abandoned cities where all other export had grinded to a halt. Because without direct workforce needed it can continue quite some time where the rest fails at de-population directly.

Now i am rebuilding a foreign pipeline exporting bitumen cashes in nicely too. I have a large solar plant exclusively exporting power as well, only in daylight ofcourse.

The need to invent stuff first makes it harder to not go into debt. I never made it into tourism ( this time ) as having an airfield or helicopters guzzles fuel , even when you have an refinery...maybe no tourism n is the reasons why i ( partially ) failed.

I think i really am out of the woods if i can build and exploit a nuclear reactor and export that power. I reached that stage only once. Very happy i did not stop playing the map when i went broke as now i still have all the infrastucture i built in 200 or so hours. It took me hours to wreck all busted vehicles though....maintenance collapsing for 2+ years has quite an effect. It did provide much needed steel for the rebuild tho.

[Silent_Shadow]

Originally posted by Beast of War:

I think i really am out of the woods if i can build and exploit a nuclear reactor and export that power.

I hope you are not planning on importing the nuclear fuel for it (you will lose money). You at least need to fabricate the fuel from UF6 and chemicals to turn a profit, but then you'd be better off just selling the fuel.

[joeball123]

Originally posted by Silent_Shadow:

boards are good first cases because you can set them up with less than 20 workers and 50,000 rubles each, including vehicles.

I cannot say I agree with this suggestion; boards are too cheap and typically used in too small a quantity to really be worth producing domestically early on - most of the buildings you might be constructing at that stage of the game want no more than ten or maybe fifteen tons of boards, and utility pipes can be laid down for something like five or ten tons of boards to the kilometer if you keep things shallow. If you're really concerned about the customs house traffic that COs looking for boards might cause, an open storage supplied with imported boards by a single truck is enough for a long time and creates a negligible amount of traffic, and for 50,000 rubles you can do something pretty extravagant, like a Large Open Storage or two with attached Road Cargo Station, and still have enough left over to buy in a couple thousand tons of boards at early game prices.