Freeman gave a lot of good advice there.
I can add to some of his points.
When i say small branch, i would just go with minimum size. Branches can actually be really really expensive.
Youll notice this if you look at the cost per unit in the expenses screen. Medium and Large sized branches can literally cost 100s per unit and ruin your profitability unless you sell large volumes.
If you really want to learn the game in a really simple easy to understand way, start off with a branch(minimum size) and factory(minimum tech slider) in either London or NY.
Just run the game with that one factory and branch for 5+ years.
If something is of average demand or above, in London or NY you should be able to sell in the hundreds per month, unless there is a lot of competition which can potentially reduce overall sales quite a bit.
The AI certainly sell vehicles by the hundreds every month in those cities and thats achievable for the player too.
Referring to costs, go into the expenses screen and look at the expenses per unit sold.
Adding your Transportation, Marketing and Branch costs together will give you a rough estimate of how much it costs to actually get your vehicle to your customer.
Even transporting short distances, you can expect this to be 150+ (usually 250+)and possibly a lot higher.
Add this to your production cost you will get a rough estimate of how much it costs overall, excluding other costs like factory labour/upkeep.
I believe there is a user generated report which does this as well, though i think it averages it across all your cities.
$900 is probably a reasonable price early on for a Compact, but if you look at your competitors youll notice that its probably a low price for most other vehicle types including things like Pickups.
I use 3-5x per capita sales price as a rough figure for new players to aim for as its often in the region of what players use.
So thats probably 1000-1800 early on in the US/UK.
On that vehicle i posted.
It was built for fuel and dependability as those are the two main concerns of its type.
I also hoped to eventually be able to sell it or the cars i designed after it to the middle classes which favor fuel efficiency more than the higher ones. (as some of the tips say)
I would say its fuel efficiency is well above average. I think its fuel rating was 90's in 1900.
So i wouldnt worry too much about matching it, i think 20-50mpg or low is pretty normal at the time.
On your actual setup.
Dont forget to use a fair amount of marketing it can be extremely cost effective.
If you check your marketing expenses per unit which is in the expenses screen as well, keeping them under $20-30 per unit can produce really good results without increasing your cost enough for it to be noticeable.
I can add to some of his points.
When i say small branch, i would just go with minimum size. Branches can actually be really really expensive.
Youll notice this if you look at the cost per unit in the expenses screen. Medium and Large sized branches can literally cost 100s per unit and ruin your profitability unless you sell large volumes.
If you really want to learn the game in a really simple easy to understand way, start off with a branch(minimum size) and factory(minimum tech slider) in either London or NY.
Just run the game with that one factory and branch for 5+ years.
If something is of average demand or above, in London or NY you should be able to sell in the hundreds per month, unless there is a lot of competition which can potentially reduce overall sales quite a bit.
The AI certainly sell vehicles by the hundreds every month in those cities and thats achievable for the player too.
Referring to costs, go into the expenses screen and look at the expenses per unit sold.
Adding your Transportation, Marketing and Branch costs together will give you a rough estimate of how much it costs to actually get your vehicle to your customer.
Even transporting short distances, you can expect this to be 150+ (usually 250+)and possibly a lot higher.
Add this to your production cost you will get a rough estimate of how much it costs overall, excluding other costs like factory labour/upkeep.
I believe there is a user generated report which does this as well, though i think it averages it across all your cities.
$900 is probably a reasonable price early on for a Compact, but if you look at your competitors youll notice that its probably a low price for most other vehicle types including things like Pickups.
I use 3-5x per capita sales price as a rough figure for new players to aim for as its often in the region of what players use.
So thats probably 1000-1800 early on in the US/UK.
On that vehicle i posted.
It was built for fuel and dependability as those are the two main concerns of its type.
I also hoped to eventually be able to sell it or the cars i designed after it to the middle classes which favor fuel efficiency more than the higher ones. (as some of the tips say)
I would say its fuel efficiency is well above average. I think its fuel rating was 90's in 1900.
So i wouldnt worry too much about matching it, i think 20-50mpg or low is pretty normal at the time.
On your actual setup.
Dont forget to use a fair amount of marketing it can be extremely cost effective.
If you check your marketing expenses per unit which is in the expenses screen as well, keeping them under $20-30 per unit can produce really good results without increasing your cost enough for it to be noticeable.