3.5 The map and purchasing zones

When constructing buildings, you will need land to build them on. This land is divided into zones, and each type of building has its own zone requirement.

## The country map (Level 1)

On the links menu on the right, you can view information about and maps over the Tycoon Online cities. When clicking the link, a map over Sweden or US appears (depending on which server you are playing on), the red dot being the city you are currently viewing. By default, the "Map" page will display information about the city that you have chosen to base your company in. To change the city viewed, choose another city in the city box.

**Information Boxes** are split into four different items. Mostly used for statistics about each city in general.

**Size:** Can aid in seeing an overview of how many players are running their companies, breakdown of building types and virtual population that has spawned to buy goods from the various shops.

**Average Values:** Nothing more than a statistic that changes as all the companies grow or fail.

**Vehicle:** Statistic of how many vehicles are currently related to each city. It can give you a good sense of how long the queue is in general, if you see 95 vehicles currently waiting the waiting time could be long vs if you see 7 vehicles currently waiting. The categories are listed below and what they could include.

Currently transporting: 1 (one vehicle is delivering goods from this city to their destination.)

Awaiting transportation assignment: 1 (one vehicle is waiting to be assigned goods for transporting.)

Awaiting goods to transport: 1 (one vehicle has received a partial load and is waiting for more goods to transport to the city assigned.)

Miscellaneous: 0 (currently no vehicles doing the following that would put the vehicle in this category. Tanking for gasoline, Driver is Absent or vehicle is moving to another city with no goods.)

Total: 3 (Total of all vehicles.)

**Office Service:** A good at the glance summary of office service prices (Sweden) or Office Contracts Awarded (US).

Under the information box, there are three links:

* "Show all the companies in this city" will display a list of all companies based in the city, sorted by company value.
* "Show a table over all cities" will display a table over all available cities with information about population, companies established in each city, total zones bought and the average savings and company values of the companies in the city.
* "View a detailed map over this city" will open the map over the city viewed.

## The city map (Level 2)

When viewing the detailed map, you will notice that the map is divided into squares, each square being a city section consisting of many zones. You can toggle a square grid on and off to more easily distinguish the sections. In the beginning, only a few sections will be available. These are the blue sections (offshore zones), the grey sections (downtown zones) and the light green sections (countryside zones). The dark green sections have not yet been made available. These areas can be viewed, but the zones that they contain may not be bought.

As more companies establish, and are expanding their businesses in each city, these sections will be converted into available downtown and countryside zone sections. A new downtown zone section is made available when the percentage of available zones falls below 35% in every downtown zone section. A new countryside zone section is made available when the percentage of available zones falls below 60% in every countryside zone section.

The colour of the zone sections indicate how many zones are available for purchase in them. The brighter the colour they are, the more zones are available.

Moving your cursor over the map, you will see the coordinates of the different zone sections and zones under the map. This is helpful when you are searching for specific zones. Also, by clicking the arrows on the edges of the map, you will move your view to the next city (if you are viewing zone sections) or the adjacent zone section (if you have zoomed in on a zone section).

## The city section map (Level 3)

Clicking on any map square on the city map will zoom in on the area. Here, you will be able to see every single zone located within that square of the map. Zones marked with green signs are currently unoccupied and available for purchase. Zones with red signs are owned by other companies. Moving your mouse cursor over the building will reveal what kind of construction it is, and who owns it.

## Purchasing zones

To buy zones, go to your "Zones" page. Here, you will see how many zones you currently have, how many of them are unoccupied, and where in your city they are located. If you have buildings, you will see which zones these occupy.

When clicking the "Buy zones" link, a map over your city will appear. Click an available zone area to zoom in on the map, viewing all zones in that area. Click the zones you want to purchase (their signs turn yellow), then click the "Confirm" button under the map. You have now made an order for these zones (appears on your "Orders" page). When the game updates at the next whole ten minutes of the hour, the zones will belong to you as long as you could afford them, and nobody bought the zones before you did. Zones owned by you are marked by blue signs.

When you found a company, your first ten zones are free. The 11th zone costs 300 iKr, and each zone after this will cost 100 iKr more (the 12th zone costs 400 iKr, the 13th costs 500 iKr, etc).

The amount of zones that a building needs varies, and so do the layouts of each type of building. Buildings may not be rotated, so it is important to choose the zones you buy carefully so that you avoid buying the wrong zones and zones you do not need.

## Zoning Violations

Every midnight, the zoning board does a property survey to find abandoned or unused property. For each unused zone they find, a warning is sent to the property owner. (Your secretary will pass the message on to you.) If the property owner has already received a prior warning for that zone, the owner is fined 500 iKr. If the property owner has already been previously fined for that zone, the property is given back to the bank, with no compensation to the owner.

## Selling zones

On your "Zones" page, you may choose to sell unoccupied zones that you own. The price you get for them is half the price you paid for your last bought zone.

To sell zones, click the "Sell a zone" link on the "Zones" page. Next, click the zone you want to sell on the list of zones. You will be directed to the map where the zone is located. Click the zone and confirm your choice.

Zones sold by players are made available for purchase by players 5-10 hours after being sold.

## The road bonus

All buildings located along a road receive a 30% bonus to their production.

## Choosing the right zones

Different buildings have different zone requirements. Most shops and offices require downtown zones, as this is where they offer their merchandise and services to the population. Most factories require countryside zones, as this is where there is room for big and often polluting industries. There are exceptions, though. The gas station (shop) requires countryside zones while the bakery and the newspaper printing press (factories) require downtown zones. Fishing fleets require offshore zones while the harbour is the only building that may be built on sea zones in downtown areas. The harbour requires four zones: two of which has to be on sea and two of which have to be on land.

## How to construct your buildings without making mistakes

These are a few easy steps to successfully construct the building you desire.

1. Decide which building you want to construct.
2. Study the zone requirements and layout of the building you choose. First, what kind of zones does it require (countryside, downtown or offshore zones)? Second, how is your structure shaped? The shape of your building must match with the zones that you buy - buildings cannot be rotated.
3. Purchase the zones you need. On the map over your entire city, blue squares are offshore zone sections, light green squares are countryside zone sections and grey squares are downtown zone sections. This must match your building's requirement.
4. Wait for your zone order to be processed. This is done as the time reaches the next whole ten minutes of the hour.
5. Check that your zone order went through. If it did not, find other suitable zones and try again.
6. Construct your building. Click the "Place" button and find the zones you want your building to occupy. When you move your cursor over the zones you have bought, the layout of your building appears on top of them. Click to place it, and confirm your choice with the "Confirm" button below the map. Your building has now been placed.
7. Assign workers to your building so that it can be constructed properly.
8. If you find that you have bought zones you do not need, or cannot use, you may sell them to the bank, though you lose half the money you paid for them.

*Hint:* If you have bought zones that match your building's layout, but cannot place your building on them, chances are you have bought the wrong type of zones. Check your building's zone requirements once more.

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