Planning for the round start

Planning is the key to a good start. During the week off between rounds, you should decide on a specialty and plan your first buildings. Also nailing down your company name and starting city is important because you do not want to waste valuable time at the round start because of indecision.
A few things to keep in mind about the beginning of the round:
* There are NO goods on the market until someone produces them and sells them to the bank (or places them on the market).
* Selling to the bank instead of waiting to sell through the market can be very helpful the 1st couple days.
* The first 2 factories always build quickly. Whenever you own no factories the first 2 will always build fast. Shops and offices always take the normal amount of construction time.
* A 28 day loan for 5000 is very helpful the 1st day, and the daily payment is pretty easy to afford.
* Every company share is priced at 100 the 1st day, and there are alot of potentially great shares to choose from. Try to buy 5 every day until you have 50 shares from other companies.
* Don't forget to put some of your own shares up for sale (keep 2, since you can earn dividends from only 2 of them), or sell them to the bank if you are a new player or can't sell them quickly. Don't worry, you can not lose your company this way.
* Sometimes it is better to start with buildings outside of your specialty to get a faster start.
* Pay salaries every day until you have spent the initial 2500 in the salary account to be able to push you first big salary payment further into the future when you will have more income.
One of the best ways to get started is with two factories. 2 buildings are twice as good as 1 right? And since your first 2 factories are built very quickly; you can start producing goods right away.
With your 2500 starting cash, a 5000 iKr loan (28 days) and some voting (Day 0 you get 620ikr) you can easily afford to build 2 factories in the first 10 minutes and possibly a 3rd building when your shares are sold. BUT some buildings cost too much or use too many zones to be able to build 2 right away. Here are some affordable combinations that should provide a nice start:
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These Level 1 factories are a good, easy, safe way to start...
* 2 Wheat fields costs = 5900 (all include zones but not staff costs)
* 2 Stone quarry's costs = 6000
* 2 Pig farms costs = 6400
* 2 Cotton fields costs = 6700
* 2 Forests costs = 7500
* 2 Oil Drills costs = 11,600 (must sell shares to build right away)
* 2 Fishing Fleets costs = 13,000 (too expensive to build 2 right away)
Check the market to choose the next building, or continue with the next building up the chain to get a shop, more factories, offices and transports as soon as possible.
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For the more ambitious players, a partial chain can be a risky but more rewarding way to start. Some time is required to hunt and purchase goods to keep the level 2 factory at full production, while cash on hand is very low and goods may be very hard to buy the first day.
* Stone and Marble factories costs = 5500 (all include zones but not staff costs)
* Forest and Sawmill costs = 5800
* Wheat field and Flourmill factories costs = 6100
* Wheat field and Brewery costs = 6100
* Cotton field and Mill costs = 6200
* Pig farm and Slaughterhouse costs = 6400
* Forest and paper-mill costs = 7000
* Oil Drill and Plastics Factory costs = 9100 (must sell shares to build right away)
* Fishing Fleet and a Harbor costs = 9250 (must sell shares to build right away)
* Oil Drill and Refinery costs = 9700 (must sell shares to build right away)
* There are other building combinations that can give you 2 buildings right away but they require even more time clicking for goods that will be extremely rare and mostly nonexistent during the first day of the round (or longer).
When you can afford it, you can continue building 1 of each building up the chain to a shop or 2, while also trying to buy goods needed to make your buildings run at full production. Then maybe some offices and transports while working on your building strategy. There is also the option of tearing down the level one factory to build another factory quickly since you would have fewer than 2 factories.
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For the truly ambitious (or just plain crazy); starting with a shop can lead to a very nice start but the time and risk involved with buying the goods to keep it stocked is more than most players will want to endure. Shops do not build quickly like the first 2 factories which leaves you stagnating until it finishes many hours later. Then you have to keep hunting for goods (if they are around yet) to build up your meager savings.
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Decisions, decisions. Do you have a plan yet?
Strategy and How to Guides