am I ready to invest ? and what options do i have

List of forums -> Main forum of the online business game "Virtonomics" -> am I ready to invest ? and what options do i have

Discussions on our virtual business game, your ideas and game mechanics

Topic:

Topic created : 2.11.2010, 08:24

Last time edited : 2.11.2010, 08:26

Jaybo

HI everyone first time poster and newby to this game. I won the30day new players contest by a fair bit but noticed in this new contest I have some catching up to do Well

I just was wondering what I could invest my 7 844 927.18$ into.
my profit is on average 1.4 mill now. my management is at 7 so am I ready to expand to another city or into my current city . or should I still be focusing on making my current investments more profitable. Any advice would be appreciative. I find it difficult without being able to access high quality forage so that I can increase the quality of my cowshed ect.. also is there anyway I can make mines without paying (I am only a student lol) Should I wait till my management is 10 so I can start tenders? I kinda understand this game but at the same time I get lost hehe

this is the current situation thanks this is a cool game ;)

27 October 08 20 October 08 13 October 08 6 October 08

18 590 606.08$ 17 815 070.51$ 16 370 123.31$ 15 865 046.77$ Assets

7 909 196.67$ 7 240 485.97$ 8 107 868.81$ 7 394 538.84$ Money

28 800.00$ 102 998.00$ 0.00$ 2 400.00$ Investments

Jinan
Central China
Office 50 work places
100.00%
Jinan
Central China
Sausage factory 200 work places

66.60%
Jinan
Central China
Laboratory 1 level
94.17% 2.2 Cheesery
86.10%
Jinan
Central China
Store 500 sq.m.

100.00%
Jinan
Central China
Store 10 000 sq.m.

100.00%
Jinan
Central China
Poultry farm 1 building

100.00%
Jinan
Central China
Cowshed 1 building

100.00%
Jinan
Central China
Cheesery 100 work places

100.00%

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2.11.2010, 09:21

Jaybo

hmmm I re read my question. seems like i was asking for a specific answer which im not. I am just asking for a general idea of the different options I have with my current situation qualifications. can I do mining?

Mining

influences the efficiency of mines and oil wells 0.00%
Stock raising

influences the efficiency of stock-farms 64.43% +5%
Marketing (advertising)

influences the efficiency of advertising in offices and stores 14.64% +3.6%
Science research

+1 influences the efficiency of laboratories 4.83% +1.7%
Production

influences the efficiency of factories, mills and sawmills 40.76% +4.6%
Agriculture

influences the efficiency of farms and plantations 0.00%
Commerce

+2 influences the efficiency of stores 30.61% +7.2%
Management

influences the efficiency of offices 28.90% +5.8%

2.11.2010, 09:27

Last time edited : 2.11.2010, 09:28

VLLord

Golden Empire

also is there anyway I can make mines without paying

Become a big company and win virts in tenders.

2. Your top manager qualifications are growing slow as you've got few subdivisios. Read attached topics in FAQ, there you'll find, that you should load your top manager at max to get good qualification growth.

3. Start one new office in rich country and open stores(size 1000m) and start another office in poor country and open some new factories.

2.11.2010, 09:47

Jaybo

ok great thanks heaps yay . Im pumped now ;)

2.11.2010, 15:07

Last time edited : 2.11.2010, 15:13

austenbosten

Jaybo, one success I had in the toy industry was that I made heavy investments in an industry that had high demand and short supply, for a product that had a relatively low variable (prime) cost.. At one point I was selling Toys that cost ~ $150 at $1,300 (A profit of ($1,150 - Fixed Costs)/toy!) however the toy market is very saturated and I do not recommend it now.

If I were you, I would look at the Markets (via 'Reports' Tab) and find a product that appears to be in high demand, but is short on supply (Dont be fooled by prices just because it's high doesn't necessarily mean the good is in short supply.
(Ex. The toy market has very high prices, however if you noticed there are many toys available = no one is buying)

I would think of something you would like to produce in real life, if you want to be a Sam Walton focus solely on retail. Or if you want to be Lord Alan Sugar, then focus on computers. The products you get excited about will help you be profitable as in RL...you have to believe in the product you are selling.

If you want to go retail:
- Think of what goods you want to sell (I recommend that you focus on one specialty, either Jewlery, Clothes, Groceries ect.)
- Do your research...find what goods are available and at what price and then find the city to which you can make the most profit
- Don't assume that just because it's a big city with a lot of wealth means that it will be the profitable choice. My highest performing store is in Turkey while my lowest performer is in Paris, simply because in Paris the quality is high and the price demanded is low...aka Do Your Research!!
- If possible try and network and find a supplier who can give you a reliable stream of goods at an affordable price...(sometimes reliability is more important than lower prices)
- Remember if your selling your own produced goods....dont forget to advertise them and give them some branding in the region you are selling them

If you want to go manufacturing:
- Think of what you want to produce (sometimes you can be more profitable by making a commodity rather than a final product so if you think you want to make steel or fiber...Go For It!)
- Think of what quality you want (For higher Q look to cities w/ high IQ for lower Q goods look to cities with low IQ, and as always weigh in the salaries and the taxation rate).
- If you've done your research you can take a risk and make a big factory, however I do recommend you start off relatively small...that doesn't mean that you need to start off tiny, but just watch your costs.
-when selling, think of the price you want to sell at, then sell it 9.5% cheaper...that way you can tell if the price is in demand or not. I tend to find the "Wholesale Price-Quality" to be unreliable, so sometimes it's hit and miss.
- When things go good, focus on it...expand it..improve it...and make more profit!

Hope this helps....Cheers and Good Luck!

PS One of the things that made me successful was my ability to always maintain $1mil in Cash Reserves, so if I were you I would invest $6million and see where it takes you...that way if the plan goes bust...you don't lose your shirt and you don't have to wait as long until you can build up your Cash again to reinvest.

3.11.2010, 09:26

Jaybo

thanks heaps for the replies I now have some investigating to do hehe didn't realize there is so much to this game its really cool

I think I will always leave some cash reserves just in case Well

3.11.2010, 18:49

Jaybo

I have started to look at researching the market. what tabs should I be looking at to work out which products are high in demand and short on supply . I am getting confused because I am a noob lol I have been looking at sales volume ect. I will have a look through the faq.

3.11.2010, 20:01

austenbosten

well an easy way to figure out, is by going to "GAME WORLD" tab then clicking on the "Reports" sub-tab and looking at the "City Retail" to find out the average prices goods are being sold in the world (you can specify down to the country, region, and city [if you specify to the city, you can find a graph that shows the trend]) this helps you find where you should open your store. Clicking on "Products" will help you find the supply of goods available. "Sales Volume" will show the demand, when mixed with the "City Retail" and once you find your product, (REMEMBER to think of the product first then research otherwise you will go nuts with research) then build your factory, do one round of production, then find out what your quality is. The go back to the "GAME WORLD"- "Reports" tab and go to the "Wholesale trade price-quality" and you can relativly gauge on how to set your prices.

Pick your price, and begin selling.

Hope this helps.

4.11.2010, 03:31

pectopatop

KKompany

Go to food industry - i think that it is easy and good profitable now.
Not to agri-farms and animal farms, but to food INDUSTRY (sausages, yoghurt, pastry, pasta..)

4.11.2010, 17:59

Jaybo

thanks austenbosten your the best. I can see the graphs and everything now Well

This is a fantastic game woop woop

I might stick to the food industry because that is what seems to be doing well for me now.

Thanks for the quik replys too Well

4.11.2010, 19:37

Jaybo

should I buy a warehouse ? and also I am having trouble working out if there are suppliers with available products. I looked at the graphs and thought Korea seol was good for electronics. hmmm wasn't too good with no suppliers with available products. maybe I read the graphs wrong because I thought all products would have sold ok besides the computers but it was actually completely opposite to what I thought lol. Computers will sell good and nothing else

I assumed if the local suppliers prices was lower than the stores price I would be able to make some cash. But I was wrong and moved there and not much available products. hmm I will have a closer look tomorrow maybe I was reading it all wrong.

I was looking at the dark blue line on the graph and light blue line. I thought that if the light blue was above the dark blue I could buy product from the local suppliers and then sell below the other stores in the area. I must be doing this all wrong

4.11.2010, 23:12

austenbosten

You dont have to buy from local suppliers, you can buy from any nation. When at the buying screen, you will see tabs that say [Quantity] [Quantity Available] [Price] [Customs] ... [Quality] next to those titles are arrows ^, these arrows by clicking on them will help organize and make your decision process faster. So if you want to buy High Quality goods and don't want to sift through 9 pages...just click on the down arrow and it will organize by HQ goods first. The same goes for available goods. If you click the down button it will show the highest amount of available goods first.

0 Available goods, means you will not receive goods, unless your contract is bumped up in queue, or the factory is expanded and more goods are made.

If you see a number like 2800 for example, that means you can purchase up to a maximum of 2,800 and will receive it, however sometimes like in real life, it's not guaranteed.

As for a warehouse, they are really more for logistics purposes. If you are a retailer and own let's say 15 stores in different nations. It would be a pain to have to constantly make purchases in each store and try and find suppliers. A warehouse means you can buy your goods first and sell them to the retail stores so you don't have to constantly go back and forth between stores. Also warehouses are great for making bulk purchases for example if you see a high quality good selling dirt cheap, you can just make a huge purchase and just store the good until your store needs them (Stores can only hold so much and overloading it will affect your efficiency). Also warehouses are great for ensuring a reliable source of goods to your stores, since you will only need to check one place to see if shipments have been canceled, instead of 15 different stores (AKA makes life easier)!!

However there are some downsides to warehouses, you can make a large bulk purchase and find that the price of goods has fallen below the price you have purchased, so you either stuck with a bunch of goods you can't sell unless you short, or you are back to making independent purchases from each store.

In short Warehouses can be a great tool if you wish to apply it, but it's not the be all end all to your problems.

Since you are still small, I don't really recommend it. I didn't have warehouses until my company was worth around $8 billion...even now I still hardly get much use out of them, since I tend to find them inefficient when it comes to maximizing profit, but then that's just me and my style. I use warehouses to stock up on goods for my stores since I own 5 and don't want to have to constantly tweak, however a lot of my stores purchase goods outside of my warehouse simply because there are better deals and when I get around to trying to get my warehouse to make the purchase, the availability has ran out, so I don't get much use as compared to others, but that's my way of doing business and business is like music...there's a certain style for all of us and you will find what works best for you.

It sounds like there are hardly any goods available, if that's the case then this is the perfect opportunity to start producing. When I got into the business (game :p) the economy was severely lacking supply, so it was a producer's market, meaning that those who were manufacturing goods were making the easy profit, while retailers were struggling...now the winds of business and economics have changed and it's retail that is making the money

Stick with the food industry...business is idiot proof, the secret is to just stick with what works. If food is bringing home the bacon (yes couldn't hold back the pun) then stick with it. At your stage I wouldn't even bother venturing into other fields, but remember the success of this game depends upon nobody but yourself...this is not a game dictated by algorithms, it's dictated by some of the most chaotic and unpredictable equation out there....people. So if you see something good that others don't, you might be wise to heed your words.

Hope this helps and you're welcome.

5.11.2010, 12:39

Jaybo

words of wisdom Well

thanks heaps I am really starting to see the endless possibilities and I guess will take me time to understand but just from these reply's I feel confident in what I am doing now.

So I am guessing there is not too much supply in certain products over the whole game. I guess if you buy your products locally I would save on customs tax ect.

Thanks heaps for your time to help me and others who may read ;)

5.11.2010, 17:38

austenbosten

Hey no problem, I knew what it was like starting out,

Yes, buying locally will save you a load on customs taxes (which can take a pretty big chunk out of your profit), but unless you have your production and retail all in the same region as where you are getting your supplies...it's pretty hard to avoid the taxes.

Some have said that they can avoid these taxes by opening up a warehouse, buying the goods there, and selling them to their factories; but my experience is that this does little more than just wipe the custom taxes from your factory's balance sheets and places them on your warehouse...So basically I didn't find any use for warehousing other than a 3rd party that represents a negative profit on my balance sheet, unless I mark up the goods to make my warehouse profit...but then my factories have to burden the costs, or the customers ect.

So just accept that a healthy chunk of your profit will go towards improving infrastructure, defense, law and order, and social welfare programs.

5.11.2010, 19:26

Jaybo

yes, I noticed we have great footpaths where we live because we pay taxes Well

went to 3rd world country Bali and was rats coming out of the footpath and I almost fell down a hole (need to watch where your walking over there) :/

anyway thanks heaps for the help and one final question. I started an electronic store and found that I can only profit from 4 electronic products. Is it ok to only have 4 products in a store 1000 m2 or even have 1 product for sale in a store, say I specialized just in computers and nothing else or am I restricting myself from selling other products?

Thanks

6.11.2010, 23:29

austenbosten

Honestly, I would ask someone else. I'm still trying to learn Retail (goes to show how deep this game can go). I do have 1000m2 stores that sell 4 electronic goods, but they also sell a lot of consumer goods.

If I were you, I would start off small if you're selling only 1 or 2 goods, and expand if the box says to.

Hope this helps

List of forums -> Main forum of the online business game "Virtonomics"-> am I ready to invest ? and what options do i have

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List of forums -> Main forum of the online business game "Virtonomics" -> am I ready to invest ? and what options do i have

List of forums -> Main forum of the online business game "Virtonomics"-> am I ready to invest ? and what options do i have