Post by Silicon Consolidated Products on Feb 14, 2020 15:09:34 GMT
I found myself having a bit of free time so I decided to make an up to date beginner's guide for the benefit of new players.
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way telling anyone that this is how a new player should start out, as that is completely subjective and everyone plays at their own pace. With that said, I feel that with all the discussions I've seen in in-game chat about the topic, there's a need to collate all that knowledge so that we don't have to keep repeating the same things over and over again.
CHANGELOG:
Your First Day - Achievement Hunting [Updated]
My name is Walt Disney Conglomerate Inc. and I used Achievement Hunts to help propel me to the Top 3 in 9 months. I want all you new guys to start strong and what better way to do it than to teach you how to be worth $4,500,000 by the time you are around 3-4 weeks old? [Sadly the author is no longer with us for breaking the game's rules]
First of all, welcome to Sim Companies. The game gives you a brief tutorial just to familiarize yourself with the basics of the game. Most new guys ignore the achievements, but not you. You will be a rising star. Here is how you can be much better than the average player >>> simcompanies.com/achievements
As you can see from the link above, there are many achievements. Avoid the Scientist and Know-it-All for now and focus on Builder, Buyer, Supplier, Employer, and Retailer Achievements. These will be your bread and butter achievements at the start of the game.
1) Sell the Power and Transports that you get from the Tutorial.
2) Builder Achievement. Immediately build your second plantation.
3) Make those oranges and sell to your grocery store until you reach level 5. [This could be done by the first day, even before the x3 for new players expire]
4) Buyer and Retailer Achievement. Upon reaching level 5, scrap all buildings and build either 1 or 2 gas stations or electronics shops. Buy petrol/diesel/electronics from the market only and sell to your retail shop. You can get the achievement by the 1st or 2nd day, which will give you loads of cash to venture into the next achievement. [Still recommended, after trying out both of these options, I found that electronics is the better way to go, mainly because the items sell for more, but at this point you might only be able to build 1-2 electronics stores with no stock, so you might want to balance those out or do an electronics shop and a gas station]
5) You may be able to complete your 2nd Builder Achievement for extra cash. [Do this as well]
===================================================================
Note: If you receive a PA quest to have a free building upgrade for 200 sausages and Steak Quest.
DO NOT DO IT YET!! [very important!]
===================================================================
6) Supplier Achievement. You will need to sell to the market. Buy power on contract up to $100,000 worth and sell it to the market. "Buying from yourself does not count. Believe me, I tried." [There's also the option at this point to build power plant(s) or water reservoir(s) and sell your own power or water if you can't get anyone to sell you anything, but this method is slower compared to buying on contract.]
7) By this time, you might have enough cash to make a Physics Lab by scrapping all your buildings. [Make sure you have enough money before you proceed, otherwise make more money before continuing on.]
8) Sausage Quest. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE NO OTHER BUILDINGS besides the Physics Lab. Once the construction is done, buy 200 sausages in the market then do the PA quest for it. You will have a free upgrade on your Physics Lab giving you a cool $165,000 extra. [Why a physics lab? Because it's the most expensive building in the game, and the free upgrade to level 2 nets you the most materials when you scrap the building.]
11) Scientist Q3 Achievement. As you will complete the Prospector Achievement way before the Architect Achievement, you can use all slots for level 1/2 Fashion Labs. You will now be working on getting Q1 to Q3 achievements using only Fashion Research. Pick a fashion item and go for it. You will probably finish Q3 achievements by the time you get your level 20 plantation. [This was the recommended way because there was a lengthy gap between the completion of the prospector achievement and the architect/employer achievement, so getting scientist q3 using fashion research, the cheapest research there is, made sense back then.]
14) Start-up Achievement. Scrap Everything. Once you have decided on what you want to do, build the necessary buildings then issue bonds worth $500,000 for the Start-up Achievement. Use the money to upgrade your buildings further and now you are off to a very strong start. [Some players do this the moment they reach level 10, and bonds are always in demand. The only limiting factor is your ability to pay the interest and the amount of bonds you can issue, so this achievement is easily doable once you're able to while playing normally.]
===================================================================
Tip: The Steak Quest will automatically pick on a building to complete construction or complete whatever it is producing/retailing. It is better if you do not construct any building and run one building to produce 48 hrs of products to sell and earn an extra bonus that day. You decide when you want to use it. [Highly recommended!]
Tip: Don’t pay back the bonds after the 2 week time period. Use the money to upgrade buildings to grow instead. [With interest rates this low you're better off using other people's money to grow your own company!]
===================================================================
Congratulations! You are now worth over $4,500,000. You can either go for Scientist Q5 Fashion Achievement to win another $4,000,000 or just explore other industries. Enjoy! [If you're gunning for scientist q5 then you're not a beginner anymore lol]
Pros:
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way telling anyone that this is how a new player should start out, as that is completely subjective and everyone plays at their own pace. With that said, I feel that with all the discussions I've seen in in-game chat about the topic, there's a need to collate all that knowledge so that we don't have to keep repeating the same things over and over again.
CHANGELOG:
First edit: Boom has ended.
2nd edit: Formatting, added info on whether the old guide was planned to be updated or not
3rd edit: Cleared some stuff up now that there's more info available.
2nd edit: Formatting, added info on whether the old guide was planned to be updated or not
3rd edit: Cleared some stuff up now that there's more info available.
Let's start:
THE OLDER GUIDES - Why start from scratch when the work has already been done for us?
THE OLDER GUIDES - Why start from scratch when the work has already been done for us?
Obviously the definitive guide on how to start playing is the tutorial, then the Guide for beginners which is found in the Library. The Guide suggests doing achievements as an easy way to start the game, and the guide then links to this excellent article on the Times Issue #49 on Achievement Hunting.
The problem lies in the fact that the game has been updated since that article has been published, specifically the addition of the construction line, and parts of the article are now outdated. We are going into the steps outlined in that article in depth, updating and making suggestions as we go along, but we must first address a question:
WHY DO ACHIEVEMENTS AS A BEGINNER?
Of course, a new player is free to disregard achievements completely, and may finish some if not all of them after they've known how to play the game better. There's even a chance that during the course of a playthrough it's inevitable that they would unintentionally finish some of the achievements, netting them extra cash.
But the thing is, some of the achievements are so easy to clear that a new player can finish some of them in minutes. And the cash you get from completing achievements is of more value to you when you're starting out compared to when you're a more established player, so there's no downside to trying to get as much starting capital as possible to help you grow faster.
The problem lies in the fact that the game has been updated since that article has been published, specifically the addition of the construction line, and parts of the article are now outdated. We are going into the steps outlined in that article in depth, updating and making suggestions as we go along, but we must first address a question:
WHY DO ACHIEVEMENTS AS A BEGINNER?
Of course, a new player is free to disregard achievements completely, and may finish some if not all of them after they've known how to play the game better. There's even a chance that during the course of a playthrough it's inevitable that they would unintentionally finish some of the achievements, netting them extra cash.
But the thing is, some of the achievements are so easy to clear that a new player can finish some of them in minutes. And the cash you get from completing achievements is of more value to you when you're starting out compared to when you're a more established player, so there's no downside to trying to get as much starting capital as possible to help you grow faster.
My comments on the old guide are in BLUE
Edit: see this achievement breakdown to see all the achievements and the rewards you could get from them.
Edit2: Stuff might have changed since this guide was written back in February, better read Fluffy Cat's guide as well to get a different perspective and decide from there
Edit: see this achievement breakdown to see all the achievements and the rewards you could get from them.
Edit2: Stuff might have changed since this guide was written back in February, better read Fluffy Cat's guide as well to get a different perspective and decide from there
THE GUIDE
Your First Day - Achievement Hunting [Updated]
My name is Walt Disney Conglomerate Inc. and I used Achievement Hunts to help propel me to the Top 3 in 9 months. I want all you new guys to start strong and what better way to do it than to teach you how to be worth $4,500,000 by the time you are around 3-4 weeks old? [Sadly the author is no longer with us for breaking the game's rules]
First of all, welcome to Sim Companies. The game gives you a brief tutorial just to familiarize yourself with the basics of the game. Most new guys ignore the achievements, but not you. You will be a rising star. Here is how you can be much better than the average player >>> simcompanies.com/achievements
As you can see from the link above, there are many achievements. Avoid the Scientist and Know-it-All for now and focus on Builder, Buyer, Supplier, Employer, and Retailer Achievements. These will be your bread and butter achievements at the start of the game.
1) Sell the Power and Transports that you get from the Tutorial.
2) Builder Achievement. Immediately build your second plantation.
3) Make those oranges and sell to your grocery store until you reach level 5. [This could be done by the first day, even before the x3 for new players expire]
4) Buyer and Retailer Achievement. Upon reaching level 5, scrap all buildings and build either 1 or 2 gas stations or electronics shops. Buy petrol/diesel/electronics from the market only and sell to your retail shop. You can get the achievement by the 1st or 2nd day, which will give you loads of cash to venture into the next achievement. [Still recommended, after trying out both of these options, I found that electronics is the better way to go, mainly because the items sell for more, but at this point you might only be able to build 1-2 electronics stores with no stock, so you might want to balance those out or do an electronics shop and a gas station]
5) You may be able to complete your 2nd Builder Achievement for extra cash. [Do this as well]
===================================================================
Note: If you receive a PA quest to have a free building upgrade for 200 sausages and Steak Quest.
DO NOT DO IT YET!! [very important!]
===================================================================
6) Supplier Achievement. You will need to sell to the market. Buy power on contract up to $100,000 worth and sell it to the market. "Buying from yourself does not count. Believe me, I tried." [There's also the option at this point to build power plant(s) or water reservoir(s) and sell your own power or water if you can't get anyone to sell you anything, but this method is slower compared to buying on contract.]
7) By this time, you might have enough cash to make a Physics Lab by scrapping all your buildings. [Make sure you have enough money before you proceed, otherwise make more money before continuing on.]
8) Sausage Quest. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE NO OTHER BUILDINGS besides the Physics Lab. Once the construction is done, buy 200 sausages in the market then do the PA quest for it. You will have a free upgrade on your Physics Lab giving you a cool $165,000 extra. [Why a physics lab? Because it's the most expensive building in the game, and the free upgrade to level 2 nets you the most materials when you scrap the building.]
[From this point on, you can choose between different paths. If by this time you've already decided on what industry to go into, then go do what it is you want. If you need capital and you're level 10 or above you can issue bonds to raise capital, although it is recommended that you reserve a slot for scrapping mines or quarries 200 times to get prospector and additional cash.]
[If you're planning to enter an industry involving oil rigs, mines or quarries, then proceed to step 9.]
9) Prospector Achievement. Dedicate all but "one slot" to making and destroying mines 200 times. This should take you around 5-8 days. [Can't choose between quarries, mines or rigs? Remember that Rigs are the most expensive, Quarries and Mines cost the same in materials but Quarries finish an hour faster than Mines. If you can dedicate large chunks of your time to waiting for buildings to finish then I suggest scrapping quarries, if not go with Mines.] [If the industry you decide to join involves prospecting or exploration, then I suggest reading The Art of Prospecting]
[It is from this point on that experienced players generally considers to be the outdated portion of the guide.]
10) Architect Achievement and Employer Achievement. Use that "one slot" to make one plantation and upgrade until level 20, which will take you a quite some time. [This is NOT recommended anymore, mainly due to the construction update. At the time this guide was written the cost of building and upgrading buildings was fixed. With the new addition market prices now affect building costs through the price of construction materials.]
10) Architect Achievement and Employer Achievement. Use that "one slot" to make one plantation and upgrade until level 20, which will take you a quite some time. [This is NOT recommended anymore, mainly due to the construction update. At the time this guide was written the cost of building and upgrading buildings was fixed. With the new addition market prices now affect building costs through the price of construction materials.]
[There are rumors that the author wanted to recommend getting into the construction industry at this point so that players could make their own construction materials and lessen the cost of the upgrades. This has not been confirmed, and not everyone can just go into the construction business anyway.]
[Does that mean that you shouldn't do this achievement? Of course not! The plantation is still the best building to upgrade to level 20 because of the lower quantity of materials and the amount of time needed to get the achievement, you just have to time it right. By timing it right I mean building it when materials are at its cheapest, or when you have enough cash to invest in getting this to level 20.]
[Cheaper Materials - To minimize losses it's recommended to build this during the normal or recession phase when costs are more reasonable.]
[Cheaper Materials - To minimize losses it's recommended to build this during the normal or recession phase when costs are more reasonable.]
[Enough Cash - Sure, you might have enough cash to upgrade this building to level 20 now, but there might be more useful things to invest your cash in rather than rush this building to level 20. Upgrade your production, raise your daily income first etc. before getting this achievement.]
[Either way, experienced players have said that even at the highest historical cost of construction materials, the cash you get from the achievement is far above the cost of the materials you lose after scrapping the level 20 plantation, in the end it's up to your play-style]
11) Scientist Q3 Achievement. As you will complete the Prospector Achievement way before the Architect Achievement, you can use all slots for level 1/2 Fashion Labs. You will now be working on getting Q1 to Q3 achievements using only Fashion Research. Pick a fashion item and go for it. You will probably finish Q3 achievements by the time you get your level 20 plantation. [This was the recommended way because there was a lengthy gap between the completion of the prospector achievement and the architect/employer achievement, so getting scientist q3 using fashion research, the cheapest research there is, made sense back then.]
[By this time you're already making steady money from the industry you've chosen, maybe you've even consider raising the quality of your products, so it doesn't really make sense to waste time making q3 fashion items through fashion labs when you're not in the fashion business. No matter what industry you're in you'll definitely raise the quality of your products on your way up the ranks anyway, and you can buy research from other players, so why bother with fashion labs?]
[BUT if you'd still want to continue on with Walt's recommendation of building fashion labs to get scientist q3, then I suggest asking the people in help chat about it first. It is my opinion that you should know enough about the game to make an informed decision if you reached this point, but there are things that are still unclear to you, or you need more detailed advice, feel free to message me or ask the brilliant people in help chat!]
12) Scrap the Plantation! [After the architect achievement, of course.]
13) Scientist Q4 Achievement. With the added cash from all your achievements up to date, you have enough cash to make all your slots Lvl 2 Fashion Labs. Use all the fashion research you produced for yourself. If you lack a little cash to do so, start scrapping some fashion labs or sell some fashion research until you can get Q4 achievement. [Not recommended anymore, unless you've followed the old guide to the letter]
[BUT if you'd still want to continue on with Walt's recommendation of building fashion labs to get scientist q3, then I suggest asking the people in help chat about it first. It is my opinion that you should know enough about the game to make an informed decision if you reached this point, but there are things that are still unclear to you, or you need more detailed advice, feel free to message me or ask the brilliant people in help chat!]
12) Scrap the Plantation! [After the architect achievement, of course.]
13) Scientist Q4 Achievement. With the added cash from all your achievements up to date, you have enough cash to make all your slots Lvl 2 Fashion Labs. Use all the fashion research you produced for yourself. If you lack a little cash to do so, start scrapping some fashion labs or sell some fashion research until you can get Q4 achievement. [Not recommended anymore, unless you've followed the old guide to the letter]
[If you want to max out the scientist achievement you can always buy fashion research from other people, but that's not an appropriate topic for a beginner's guide.]
14) Start-up Achievement. Scrap Everything. Once you have decided on what you want to do, build the necessary buildings then issue bonds worth $500,000 for the Start-up Achievement. Use the money to upgrade your buildings further and now you are off to a very strong start. [Some players do this the moment they reach level 10, and bonds are always in demand. The only limiting factor is your ability to pay the interest and the amount of bonds you can issue, so this achievement is easily doable once you're able to while playing normally.]
===================================================================
Tip: The Steak Quest will automatically pick on a building to complete construction or complete whatever it is producing/retailing. It is better if you do not construct any building and run one building to produce 48 hrs of products to sell and earn an extra bonus that day. You decide when you want to use it. [Highly recommended!]
Tip: Don’t pay back the bonds after the 2 week time period. Use the money to upgrade buildings to grow instead. [With interest rates this low you're better off using other people's money to grow your own company!]
===================================================================
Congratulations! You are now worth over $4,500,000. You can either go for Scientist Q5 Fashion Achievement to win another $4,000,000 or just explore other industries. Enjoy! [If you're gunning for scientist q5 then you're not a beginner anymore lol]
WHAT BUSINESS SHOULD I GET INTO?
Players generally fall into either of 2 categories, Production and Retail. By production I mean producing materials that you sell to other people, either through the exchange or by contract. Retail means buying or producing your own materials and selling it through the different buildings in the game. Both has the potential to make you rich, and obviously you can always do both at the same time.
Production - Producing stuff for other people is what most players would recommend, considering how we're at a boom phase and with more active players than ever before demand for certain products are at a all time high (maybe). Margins for certain products might be lower than in retail, but sale of goods is faster and you'll get your money back instantly, especially if you're doing daily deliveries under contract.
Retail - Since most people are producing goods for other players, demand for end product goods is also extreme. While you'd have to wait for your goods to be sold in retail outlets, the margins are pretty good, though some retail goods are hard to find considering the demand, so you might have to produce your own.
Production - Producing stuff for other people is what most players would recommend, considering how we're at a boom phase and with more active players than ever before demand for certain products are at a all time high (maybe). Margins for certain products might be lower than in retail, but sale of goods is faster and you'll get your money back instantly, especially if you're doing daily deliveries under contract.
Retail - Since most people are producing goods for other players, demand for end product goods is also extreme. While you'd have to wait for your goods to be sold in retail outlets, the margins are pretty good, though some retail goods are hard to find considering the demand, so you might have to produce your own.
WHAT INDUSTRY SHOULD I GET INTO?
The ages old question. Most players who don't want to or can't answer this in depth would always tell new players "It depends on you" or "That's hard to answer" and it is, as it's not only highly subjective, but most players also don't appreciate getting a complicated answer to what they consider is a simple question.
Here are some of my opinions on what industry a new player should get into to start with, together with the pros and cons of each industry.
POWER
Here are some of my opinions on what industry a new player should get into to start with, together with the pros and cons of each industry.
POWER
Pros:
No resource input needed, only cash through wages.
Everybody needs and wants power, EVERYBODY, you'll never run out of customers.
Cons:
Cons:
Margins in this industry are low, and most players move on to other industries and don't stay in power for long.
WATER
Pros:
Second fastest moving item in the exchange, a basic good for almost every industry.
Cons:
Cons:
Margins are low but higher than power
Needs power to produce water.
CRUDE OIL
Pros:
Margins are better than power or water
Third fastest moving product on the market
Always in demand
Cons:
Needs significantly more capital than water or power to set up
You'll have to go into prospecting/exploration which depends entirely on your luck
Needs not only power, but relatively cheap power to be viable
Might need to increase the quality of crude before you get more customers
Those 3 products are the most basic and fastest moving products in the game. For anything else you might need competitive pricing or a reliable customer to get decent and timely returns.
AGRICULTURE
For those that are not absolute beginners (below level 5) The only worthwhile products under this category are Sugarcane, Wood and Cotton. Almost nobody wants sugarcane, but it can be turned into Ethanol which is moderately in demand. Wood is turned into planks, and you can find some players who need a constant wood supply. Cotton by itself is not in demand, but Fabric is, mostly those of higher quality. Occasionally somebody would be in need of large units of steak and sausages because of government orders, but those are rare.
FASHION
Most players in the fashion industry are self-sufficient, and there's almost no demand for fashion related stuff in sales chat. Fabric, on the other hand, is in demand, mainly because it's turned into basic interiors. Raise the quality of your fabric and you'll definitely find some customers.
ENERGY
Everything under this category is in demand. There are a few players looking for methane, but most of the time people are looking for rocket fuel instead of the raw material.
CONSTRUCTION
FASHION
Most players in the fashion industry are self-sufficient, and there's almost no demand for fashion related stuff in sales chat. Fabric, on the other hand, is in demand, mainly because it's turned into basic interiors. Raise the quality of your fabric and you'll definitely find some customers.
ENERGY
Everything under this category is in demand. There are a few players looking for methane, but most of the time people are looking for rocket fuel instead of the raw material.
CONSTRUCTION
Planks are easy to process and are always in demand. Some people look for limestone from time to time, and nobody wants clay.
RESOURCES
RESOURCES
The hottest resource at the moment is gold, either as gold ore or gold bars. Minerals and bauxite are fairly in demand too, so is sand. Iron ore? Not so much but you'd find players looking for it from time to time, as most steel producers mine their own iron ore.
RESEARCH
Yet another viable option for a newbie player, but the capital requirements might be high if you're planning to build multiple physics laboratories. Research with the least demand are Plant, Fashion and Breeding research.
RESEARCH
Yet another viable option for a newbie player, but the capital requirements might be high if you're planning to build multiple physics laboratories. Research with the least demand are Plant, Fashion and Breeding research.
IN CONCLUSION
Let me know if I missed anything. Comments, violent reactions and any kind of criticism are welcome