SimCountry

Skanky Burns · March 1, 2003, 08:40

http://www.SimCountry.com/entry.html

There are a few people from Apolyton who play this game on the White Giant world, and are part of the Apolyton federation for mutual defence.

For those who haven't played this game yet, you can become the president of a country, and control many aspects of that lucky piece of land. You can set the education priorities, control what corporations are built in your country, build a defensive and offensive military, perhaps even conquer other countries. Whilst the detail can be overwhelming at first, many things can be automated until you feel comfortable taking control, and current players should be able to help you with any problems.

For those just interested in the business side of things, you can also (or) choose to become a corporate owner - just building business' in other peoples countries, and hopefully, raking in the cash as you do so. This is much easier to control than a full country, and can be run sucessfully with as little as 1 company (my one-company corporation) or with as many companies as you can afford to build.

When you invite a new user, as an added bonus both parties get an extra 20 B$ which really helps out in the beginning. If anyone wants to join, just post in this thread and an invitation will be sent your way.
Since my country doesn't really need the bonus, the first person to join can invite the second (thereby getting a 40 B$ bonus), the second can invite the third, and so on.

For those who are playing the game, we can use this thread as an update on how our countries are doing, and discuss federation strategies.

Skanky Burns · March 1, 2003, 09:02

Update on the Empire of Drunken Macaque NoCEOs
http://sim03.simcountry.com/cgi-bin/...NMACAQUENOCEOS

Celebrations filled the capital of Skanky City over the weekend as the Empire finally reached the landmark population of 5 million people. To comemorate, the president (who wasn't one for much words) expanded the offensive force by 500 fighter planes, raised social security by 2% and increased the priority of middle-level managers. Thankfully, the people were easily amused.

The Empire of Drunken Macaque now has over 5,000,000 people, and a very strong economy. Health and education both have more facilities than required, and enough staff "spare". Social security payments are at 64%, and will slowly be raised to 70% over the next 6 months. Transportation exceeds requirements, and finances are surperb.

Each month, the Empire rakes in over 34 B$, which includes over 5 B$ in interest payments from others. Expences are over 16 B$, with the cost of government around 800 M$ above the monthly cost of defence. Each month, my country pulls in around 18 B$

Corporations in the country are now valued at 3,244 B$

Defence Forces (99.2 index):
Anti Aircraft Missile Batteries 2,000
Missile Interceptor Batteries 250
Short Range Missile Batteries 10
Armored Vehicles 100
Helicopters 2,000
Interceptors 100
Jeeps 100
Light Artillery 100
Light Tanks 100
Radar Planes 3

Offensive Forces (61.7 index):
Fighter Planes 1,000
Attack Helicopters 1,000
Heavy Jeeps 100
Long Range Radar Planes 3

Strategic Forces (2.8 index):
Strategic Bombers 10
Hydrogen Bombs 25

Az · March 1, 2003, 09:03

I had a country some time ago, but I quit.... I had tests, not enough time.

Say... how do you balance the frickin' budget, in the beginning?

Skanky Burns · March 1, 2003, 09:06

To be honest, I haven't used the budget yet. It would probably make my country more efficient, but... I'm reluctant.

When my country started out though, I put taxes to 40%, profit payments to 80%, and the two invite bonuses I got really helped keep me above water. I invested heaps into education, didn't do much to roads or rails, but still managed to get quite a large debt. Then I started to slowly make money and pay off loans. The biggest help was buying quality upgrades - now my companies are at 200 quality, and I am raking in the cash.

I have found a nice country with an 11 mil population

, so whoever asks for it first can have it.

DrSpike · March 1, 2003, 09:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
To be honest, I haven't used the budget yet. It would probably make my country more efficient, but... I'm reluctant.

Why? Noone will blame you if it goes wrong..........[pause]..........ok, question asked, question answered.

Az · March 1, 2003, 09:36

invitee bonuses! I didn't use those.

Still, I had a deficit of, oh, 60 billion E$, so I don't think it would do much to me.

Lemmy · March 1, 2003, 10:17

I have a corporation on White Giant name Lemcorp Incarnate

It's my second corporations there, i closed the first one because i had a $200 bil debt..
Now i only have $69 bil debt, and my corporations are making money, my networth is $137 bil now, with 3 companies.

Eli · March 1, 2003, 13:06

Sorry, I'm loyal only and only to Utopia.

Az · March 1, 2003, 15:34

Quote:

Offensive Forces (61.7 index):
Fighter Planes 1,000
Attack Helicopters 1,000
Heavy Jeeps 100
Long Range Radar Planes 3

Gosh, I wanna go back to that game.

Sandman · March 1, 2003, 15:40

My country is Neo Tantallon. It used to be called Tantallon 2, but I realised how naff that sounded.

My population is 10 million, but my companies are only worth 2.5B, compared to Skanky's 3.4B. Probably my dodgy pricing strategy. My finances are in great shape, with me being able to cut profit-taking from my state companies. Hopefully, I should be able to increase their value by doing this.

I had a problem with my loans when a whole load of my companies went bust, but they've all been cleared now.

My main shortage at the moment is skilled people types. Employment wavers between 95% and 97%, so I've been constantly balancing my education priorities to get necessary people. These shortages have made it difficult to build hospitals and universities. When I took control of Neo Tantallon, I made sure to 'bleed off' the excesses of nurses and engineers that the AI seems to like building up.

Due to these constraints, my military is quite small.

I'm the leader of the Apolyton Federation, but I've been a bit neglectful recently.

Neo Tantallon boasts a long coastline, mountains in the interior, and a spectacular meteor crater.

Datajack Franit · March 1, 2003, 18:19

Franit Empire salutes you

Remind to give lots of cash to others as loans, you'll have a marginal but steady income every month (interests)

Frozzy · March 1, 2003, 19:24

I started a corporation called FrozzCo Ltd

I'm starting to get the hang of it... but these numbers a confuzzling

pg · March 1, 2003, 21:50

is this game really as complex as it seems at first? how long does it take to play(and do well)?

Az · March 2, 2003, 04:20

yes. Well, in any case, my connection speed got me frustrated with it.

Urban Ranger · March 2, 2003, 06:03

Yeah you probably can't play witout broadband connection.

Skanky Burns · March 2, 2003, 06:26

It depends on how much you want to control. My one-company corporation takes a minute each day to keep it on track. I could now probably leave it for a week and still be doing well. All I do each day is check that it has full upgrades (they drop down by 1 every 10 months or so) and so long as that is fine, I just loan out the profit my corporation has spare.

Controlling more businesses will increase the time you take each day potentially, but not by too much. Again, what I do is buy upgrades each day, check hiring is at 100%, and increase the selling price of each company to just under its quality level. Then loaning out my spare cash to get me even more income.

Running a country is of course more complex, and takes more time initially to get things in order. You will need to check education frequently to ensure you have enough facilities, and also to check you are producing enough people of each skill type. You will also be controlling many businesses in your country, ensuring there are enough of many different product types for people to purchase each month, balancing budgets, etc etc.

To do well (but still let the automation do some work for you), your best bet would be to keep buying efficiency and quality upgrades. They will let you charge a fortune and still have your customers leave smiling. I set my companies to sell at 1% less than their quality level, and reduce by 1% each month. Sure, they won't sell every month, but if you can survive a month or two with no income, the third month you will be raking in the cash - selling 3 months worth of goods all at once. I start buying at 2% above market price, as the automated buying system only buys stuff when you are about to run out (less than 1 month of stock left). This generally ensures you don't have shortages. I increase this by 3% each month it isn't filled, as shortages will drain your money faster than the increased stock price will.

One of the biggest time-savers you can have is to make trade contracts for items your country uses per month (trade -> View products your country has in stock) so your country doesn't have any shortages. Once these contracts are set, you can ignore them for another 99 months, rather than trying to buy enough products each month and being unable to purchase enough due to budget constraints.

Sandman: Nice unemployment rate! Mine is at 15.4% at the moment, but I don't have enough high-level workers for another company at the moment. I have decided to expand my military again to try and soak up some of those unemployed, and 500 attack helicopters will soon be on their way.

Lemmy: Internet and high-tech companies will get you quite a good income, but you don't have any services companies.

Services are cash-cows, get one asap!

Perhaps check your salaries too, they might be a little on the high side.

Frozzy: There's something fishy about your corporation.

If you do win that corporation (and I'm guessing you probably will), change the sell prices at least - otherwise you will never make money.
Anyway, see if you can start a services company too. And keep on buying quality and efficiency upgrades.

Adagio · March 2, 2003, 07:13

I just started yesterday, with my country "The Great Republic of Vibressa"

A country that has lots of depts (Before I entered the game), and doesn't maky any money at all...

But today they call me Experienced

How come? I have no clue on what to do, I just did some things, so it looks like it just gives this Experienced to random users...

Az · March 2, 2003, 07:28

How do I produce workers? I seem to remember having lot's of medium and high-skill workers, but not enough low-skill ones.

Datajack Franit · March 2, 2003, 07:40

If you set your education priorities too high all of your low-skilled workers will become nurses and teachers instead of simple peasant, working masses- drop them down

ADG- you probably chose a crap country to begin with- abandon it and search for a decent one, possibly with some kind of income (PM Franit Empire if you need any kind of advice

)

Skanky- do not waste all of your money in that. Military equip and all of that is cool, but I'd rather spend all of that money in giving loans to other players and CEOs. If you really want a decent army then invest in defence

Skanky Burns · March 2, 2003, 07:44

My defence index is nearly at 100, so there is no great need for more.
My loans are over 1.4 trillion dollars and increasing by 20 B each day.

I'm basically trying to increase my score by increasing employment and military indexes, and who knows, perhaps invading a country sometime too.

For those who want to join and want a large population to work with, look up the country "Serbian Monarchy". That has 11 million people. You can change its name after it becomes yours too.

btw, let us know some of the stats from your country. Most of the interesting bits are secret.

Datajack Franit · March 2, 2003, 07:54

No, settle near Franit Empire and help Datajack defending himself agaisnt his mutual enemies

btw, here are my details:

Corporation value: 713.84B (I know it's low but I like building up companies and selling them to ceos for quick cash)

Profits and loss: expected full year
Income: 207,907.78M
Cost: 179,915.46M

Total loans given to others: 200B

Defence Index: 99
Anti Aircraft Missile Batteries 1,030
Fortification 35 -
Military Airport 6 -
Military Base 5 -
Missile Interceptor Batteries 10
Short Range Missile Batteries 10
Armored Vehicles 1,800
Helicopters 309
Interceptors 600
Jeeps 420 -
Light Artillery 300
Light Tanks 300
Radar Planes 15

Offensive Index: 13.3

Anti Aircraft Missile Batteries 10
Anti Tank Missile Batteries 20
Mid Range Missile Batteries 0
Military Airport 2 -
Military Base 2 -
Bombers 20
Fighter Planes 100
Attack Helicopters 100
Heavy Armored Vehicles 100 -
Heavy Artillery 25
Heavy Jeeps 510 -
Heavy Tanks 40

Strategic Index: 4.0

Conventional Missile Batteries 1
Nuclear Missile Batteries 1
Land Based Cruise Batteries 1
Strategic Airports 1 -
Strategic Military Bases 1 -
Tactical Weapons Launchers 1
Strategic Bombers 1

Datajack Franit · March 2, 2003, 08:01

Hey what kind of workers are used by military units? The manual don't explain that

Skanky Burns · March 2, 2003, 08:04

I think the military soaks up low-level workers. I'm not 100% sure that they are only low-level though, could be some med or high too.
The officers are all taken from the middle-level managers group only. (I am 100% sure of this)

Lemmy · March 2, 2003, 08:08

ok, i have lowered the salaries by 2% for now, let's see how big the effect is..

I've also requested a 4% interest loan of 50 bil, with that i'll repay a 6.667% interest loan of 30 bil and start up a Services company.

Adagio · March 2, 2003, 08:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Datajack Franit
ADG- you probably chose a crap country to begin with- abandon it and search for a decent one, possibly with some kind of income

Ok, I'll do... but where do I abondon my country? I can't seem to find any resign option or something