A Question from Newbie

[HSJ_ADV]

I have a question about the economic system of the game. It is about the town development progress.

Does, our involvement in a city will effect the local economy? For example, I build a factory in Beijing, Qing, to sell my cars to Japan. Because the game tell me that my factory absorb hundreds of workers, then, my factory will effect the growth of Beijing's economy? A car factory is indeed a big corporation. So it should improve the local economy in the game. But I don't know. Will it effect the local?

[Eric.B]

Yes. The AI's and your wages paid in a city will effect the city's growth. It is not very much, If memory serves me it's no more than 0.0025% a year, but over time that sort of increase should make a city grow more than it would otherwise.

I have not tested this feature since roughly 1.08, so 6 months ago. So I'm not entirely sure if it still works. Some code has been altered for turn times, so if you notice anything different let me know. It takes several game years to see the effects, but you should notice it in the per capitas of places like United States where I have all the per capitas set the same.

So that said, I believe the values should probably be tweaked more. So I will probably take a look at them whenever I start balancing work again.

[HSJ_ADV]

I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but the infrastructure level affect the sale more than the per capita. That's why I always failed when opening a branch where the infrastructure level is at minimal, compared to countries who have a better infrastructure level. My question is what should I do to affect this infrastructure level in a city?

Like the example is that I have a factory in Ninbo China. I sell my cars to Japan and Australia. But I have a dream to sell my car in China. Yet, the infrastructure level there is not friendly for my business. What should I do? Waiting for the infrastructure to raise by itself? Or can I effect the growth of a town indirectly?

[Arakash]

I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but the infrastructure level affect the sale more than the per capita. That's why I always failed when opening a branch where the infrastructure level is at minimal, compared to countries who have a better infrastructure level. My question is what should I do to affect this infrastructure level in a city?

Like the example is that I have a factory in Ninbo China. I sell my cars to Japan and Australia. But I have a dream to sell my car in China. Yet, the infrastructure level there is not friendly for my business. What should I do? Waiting for the infrastructure to raise by itself? Or can I effect the growth of a town indirectly?

For your direct question, i dont know the answer, so i wont weigh into it. I can discuss whether infrastructure is more important than per capita tho.

Before i do, ill mention that playing a company in Japan before you do one in China would be a good idea if you haven't already. Japan is possible in 1900 (ive done it before) and is easier than China. Its a good stepping stone imo.

Personally, ive always thought it was mostly the per capita, though the infrastructure is always a factor.

Let me break down the per capita a bit, so you can see what your dealing with a bit better.
Its becomes clear when you compare the big cities to the backwater ones. (backwater in 1900's at least)
Ill share an example, with per capita numbers from my 1908 game.
London is 521
Ninbo is 152

In London, most people sell their vehicles for 1100-2000 in the early game (roughly speaking) which is about 2-5x the per capita.
If you try to set the same relative figures in Ninbo(2-5x per capita), here is the prices you have
$304-$760
That is extremely low. You'd have to make an extraordinarily terrible vehicle to even sell at that price. (it would probably have to be $200-400 production cost or lower)

The problem you run into is that from what i can tell, even if you do sell a vehicle at 700, it will likely be a cheap car like a compact, but your still selling it at 700, which is the equivalent of 2000 in London.
So a car that you would probably designed for what, the upper middle class in London, now has to be sold to the upper classes because their income bracket/percapita is so low? Such a cheap car is going to have difficulty meeting the increased demand for luxury that the upper classes have.

Also, you have other problems to deal with.
Labour skill in the city at half a star will penalize you for making a vehicle with a higher manufacturing requirement than half a star.
Fuel prices are pretty bad, which means there will be more demand for fuel efficiency.
Infrastructure is terrible which as i understand it will reduce your overall sales and increase your other business costs in the area.

[Eric.B]

I don't remember if infrastructure growth is effected by the increase in percapita due to your effects. I would have to look at the code, which I can not do at this second.

Infrastructure does effects sales, but per capita and vehicle price is more important. Infrastructure can also increase the cost to produce vehicles in a city. So be advised of that.


Historically China has always had problems creating industry in the early 1900s, due to civil wars and what have you. Almost all Chinese car companies were founded post WW2.

As such China is one of the harder places to start the game in 1900. You will probably be better off starting in 1950 or 1980, until you get the hang of game play mechanics then attempt to run a Chinese car company in the 1900s. It won't be easy, and you'll probably fail a bunch, but It can be done. I've done it before.

If I were to play a 1900 Chinese game, I would base my self in either Beijing or outside of Hong Kong and Macau Beijing route, you export to mainly Japan, and sell as cheap as possible cars in china. The Hong Kong Macau route, you mainly export there, again, in mass amounts. In the end though, a purely native Chinese car company pre-ww2 is a challenge! But you can do it~!

[HSJ_ADV]

Thank you for the quick reply and advice. Now, I can considered that I've manage to stand on my two feet in my China game. Thanks to Arakash's cheap car design, I develop cheap compact car and export it to Japan (Tokyo and Osaka). I put my HQ and my factory in Nanbo (today Shanghai?) because of it's short range to Japan. Later on, I develop a truck and export it to Brisbane and Sidney (Australia). To anticipate the production capacity, I build my second factory in Jakarta.

After my compact car design rating down, I design new compact car.

my 1st compact car : Han 1900. My 2nd compact car : Han 1903; my 3rd compact car : Han 1908
my 1st truck : Tang 1904, my 2nd truck : Tang 1908

In my current game situation, I have stop my Han 1900 production line. I sell my Han 1908 and Tang 1908 to Japan and Aussie; then I sell my Tang 1904 and Han 1903 to China and India with reduced price (I open my price with 700 for my new products. I sell my old product with only 400 - 500 to Beijing, Ninbo, Hongkong, and Mumbay. I plan to open my new branch in Singapore). Right now, I've open my 3rd factory, and upgrade my first factory to 10 line of production. Dunno what will happen when WW1 happen. I should anticipate WW2 by building factory in India or Aussie I guess.

I still consider to expand my branch to either USA or Russia. Dunno. I want to fill my Asia market with cheap car.