Table of Contents:
1. Awards ranks and scores [ top ]
Why do you pay awards to the top players?
We are interested in building a players community and want to have a competitive game. We want to award good players for their effort and success.
When are awards paid and how many are there?
Awards are paid every month. The number of awards increases with the number of people playing. The more people participate the more awards will be given. There are currently more than 200 awards each month. You can see the numbers of awards. The link is at the top right of the portal page, directly after you login.
Who is getting an award?
We are using the ranking list at midnight EST on the last day of the month. That list is already fixed about an hour earlier. The game does not stop and continues uninterrupted. The best players on that list receive the awards.
Can a first prizewinner win every month?
First price award can be won once in four months.
All other awards can be won each month.
How are the awards paid?
Awards that are accepted by the players are put on their account in the game. All awards are paid in gold coins. The gold coins can be used in the game to purchase game assets and can be exchanged into game money.
Players can log into their account and request a payout of 500 gold coins. This is only possible if at least 1000 Gold coins remain on the account after the payout and depends on when the last payout took place. Each Gold Coin can be exchanged for $ 0.05.
Payments are always $ 25 and are paid out by use of Paypal.
How is the score computed?
The score is a combination of many indexes that depend on the situation in your country. Factors in the score include health, the employment level, social security level, the defensive index but also the general defense index, the assets you have are very important, the utilization index of your corporations, the salary levels in your country, the financial balance (income and cost), the transportation system and more.
It also depends on your game level and war level and it depends on your war status, using secured mode or temporary war protection. Countries that are not using war protection get a boost to their score.
Sometimes I see my score drop or increase. Why does it happen?
The score depends on many conditions in the country or Enterprise and these conditions change every month. The changes depend on what you do and on the market. If you build schools, the education index will increase. The defense and war indexes may change fast if you are involved in a war and the assets index may change dramatically if you have sudden war damage, or if your industry suddenly reduces production.
You should look at your index page and check some of the graphs, including the assets graph or at the value of your corporations, and you will see when the changes took place. Your loans graph and, for example, the defense costs graph, will show you what happens when you go shopping for weapons and how this may result in a drop in the score. Try to read the finance page. It shows exactly what was changed, this month and year to date.
2. Money and Loans [ top ]
Why is spending limited even if I have enough money and can take more loans?
You are limited in the total amount of money you can spend per month for all your purchases. (A month in the game is 4-6 hours). If you wait longer, the amount will increase. If the financial balance of your country is positive and your economy is making money, you will be able to spend more.
The limitation is intended to prevent huge spending by countries that cannot afford it. They may disrupt the market in an unrealistic way while taking large loans. This will not allow serious players do their business and it may destroy their economy. The spending limits are very high and it is difficult to overspend.
It seems that I get loans without asking?
You should not have a negative cash position in your country or enterprise. If you spend more than you earn, you will receive a loan to cover the shortage of cash. Taking loans is ok but you pay interest and you pay the loans back when they are due. If the maximum loan limit is reached, you cash might go negative and many country functions will be limited.
The interest on your loans is higher if you take more loans. The higher the amount you owe, the higher the interest rate. Loans from other players carry a low interest rate.
At some point each country or enterprise must create a positive cash flow and start paying its loans back.
Is it bad to have large loans?
No. You must take loans, all countries do. You must invest most of the loaned money in your economy so that your income increases. This way, you will be able to pay your loans back some day. If all of the money goes to the army, your economy will not grow and you maybe driven into bankruptcy.
How are interest rates set? Why do they increase and sometimes decrease?
The interest you pay on loans you take depends on the total amount. The more loans you take, the more reluctant they are to give you more. The interest rates increase with this reluctance. If you pay loans back, the amount you owe is reduced and with it the interest rate on new loans. The interest rate of existing loans does not change.
How can I balance my finances?
There are two ways around this. You either reduce your cost or you increase your income. Reducing costs means that you must look at all the cost numbers and try to reduce them. Social security can go down, schools may be closed, hospitals too etc.
An even better way is to try to increase your income. You may decide to increase the tax rates on your corporations but their profits will go down and their market value that is based on profit after tax will be reduced too. You can try and make them more profitable by upgrading them and improving their competitive position in the market. Profitable corporations pay more taxes.
Why are the costs for education, transport and defense so high?
The costs for education depend on the number of schools. All schools need teachers and other workers and they need materials. The cost of operating the schools adds up to a large amount of money that the government must pay and only a small portion of this education money is contributed by the population. You can see these numbers on the finance page.
The same applies for all other facilities in your country. It is also true for the army. With every weapon you purchase, your army must have the people to operate them. Every base, weapon, missile battery etc. has people in the army to operate it and the cost of the army is mainly based on the salaries of the soldiers and officers and maintenance cost of the weapons and of course, the money it costs to purchase them.
Does it make sense to increase salaries for government employees?
It makes sense to a limit. Government employees should be in line with the industry to keep their workers happy. Their salaries are updated automatically with the average of salaries in the industry. You may stop this automatic wage updates and decide to do this yourself.
I have built many schools, hospitals and more, why are some of them being closed?
You need teachers to operate schools and doctors for hospitals. The numbers of professional in your country changes with the education and with the aging of your population. If your education system does not educate enough teachers or doctors etc. more people may retire when they are 65 than the education system is delivering and the total numbers of these professionals may decline.
At some point, you can reach a situation where there are not enough teachers to run the existing schools or not enough doctors to work in the hospitals. In that case, some of them will close. It is clear that with such shortages, you are unable to build new schools or hospitals.
May I change the tax levels for my citizens?
No, at this point you cannot change income tax levels for the population. This function may be added at a later stage.
3. Trading [ top ]
There is a world market demand and supply on the trade page. What is it?
The world market page shows all the products that are traded in the world and it shows for each product the latest price on the market, what the total supply was in the last month, the total demand and the difference between them. Shortage is in red, surplus in green.
If you do not get products delivered to you, you can find out why. The world market will show a shortage. You can also look for products that are always in short supply and decide to build a corporation to produce one of these products.
Can I keep the products I produce and sell them to my own country, my friends or federation partners?
Yes you can. We call this private trading. You can make a corporation retain some or all of the products it produces. You can also close private contracts with others, including countries and corporations for delivery of products at a fixed price, one time or many times. This is all specified in the trading system (left frame). You bypass the world market and you make your trading less dependent on the market. You can ensure delivery of vital products to your own country and corporations and you can trade with your friends and federation partners.
It is also possible to setup common markets with other players and try to become less dependent on the world market. Countries can also setup strategic reserves of products to deliver to their own corporations when there are shortages on the world market.
Can corporations sell products directly to each other?
Yes they can. There is a "trade deals with others" link on every corporation page. You must specify the country where the corporation is and you get a list of all the corporations in that country that use the product you offer. If a corporation does not use that product in its production process, it will not be on that list. Some products may not be used by any of the corporations in some country. Cacao is probably used only when making chocolate so if a country does not have a chocolate factory, no corporation will show up on the list.
Can countries sell products directly to each other?
Yes they can, you do it on the trade pages. There are some conditions. First they must have the products in stock. They obviously cannot sell products countries do not use and the prices must be reasonable. Agreements may be arranged for a one-time sale or for long-term monthly deliveries.
Can countries purchase directly from corporations?
Yes, this can be done on the trading pages. You can set up a one-time deal or a deal that will run monthly for a longer period. You can agree on quantities and prices. You may not set prices to an absurd value. It has to make business sense. You are of course unable to sell products you do not have. Corporations selling to you, (they might be your own corporations), must keep some of their products and not sell them on the market. If they do not, they will not be able to honor their obligations to you.
Can countries sell to corporations?
Countries can setup strategic reserves of any products and sell them to their own corporations. This is typically done with products that are on short supply. Having strategic reserves makes it possible for the country to deliver to their corporations the raw materials these corporations need and ensure continuation of their production.
I signed contracts and sometimes get a message that it is not delivered. Why does it happen?
Some contracts are set for a high percentage of what a corporation produces. This is a risk because the corporation might be forced to reduce production, because it does not have all the raw materials it needs or it cannot hire enough workers. Workers tend to move into corporations with high salaries. Salaries go up in successful corporations. Workers also go to the army to become soldiers and officers and leave the industry wondering what happened. (If you purchase weapons, your army grows). So as a result, the corporation will produce less and is unable to deliver on the contact. When setting it up, choose the quantity carefully.
If I trade directly with anyone, when does delivery and payment take place?
If it is a one-time trade, it happens directly when the other party accepts the agreement. Agreements for monthly deliveries are executed as normal orders. They are placed on the private market once a month and the trading process is executing them and takes care of the delivery and payment.
Is it possible to trade privately at different prices?
We would have loved to let the contract prices free. The problem is of course, that if you may offer whatever you want, someone might offer a couple of billions for each ton of milk or anything else and make the selling party the richest in the universe. Such a feature would destroy the logic of the game. The buying party might be a corporation in an enterprise that was created for this reason only.
4. Corporations [ top ]
I do not understand the cash flow of my corporations. Can you explain?
Corporations have income and cost. The income of a corporation comes from the sale of its products. The income results in the increase of the cash of the corporation.
The cost for the corporation includes several items. The cost of salaries that were paid to the workers is calculated as the salaries of workers in each workers group and the numbers employed by the corporation. There is fixed cost which is the cost of maintaining the site of the corporation, marketing cost and other general cost. In addition, there are maintenance products that are used each month to maintain and replace the corporate equipment. The corporation also pays interest on loans it receives and it uses raw materials that it has to purchase on the market or in direct contracts.
The issue of raw materials is complex. Imagine a corporation uses oil as raw material. It uses 1 billion worth of oil every month. So you expect the cost to be 1 billion per month. But there are months that the corporation does not buy any oil. It may buy once in 6 months for 6 billion.
This means that the corporation will show 5 months of beautiful figures (No cost for oil and 1 billion reduction in cost can make it look successful), and then one month, it will have a 6 billion cost and make a huge loss. This is not the way things are done.
When the corporation is buying the oil, the cash goes down by 6 billion, but the value of the materials it has, goes up by the same amount. This means that the corporation spent cash but did not make a loss. The real cost for the corporation is what it is using in one month. So in many cases, it does not spend any cash (it has a big stock of oil), but the real cost for the corporation in that month is 1 billion because it did use materials for 1 billion and the value of the raw materials it has in stock is down by the same.
This is the reason why the cash flaw is not a straightforward computation.
To make all this a little easier, we are showing the cash at the beginning of the month, we show all the revenues and income that increased the cash and then show all the items that reduced the cash during the month.
We are also showing the revenue and real cost for the month and the resulting profit and loss.
My corporation is making a profit but its cash is not going anywhere is that possible?
Corporations sometimes make a very nice profit, but they pay a lot in taxes and most of what they do not pay in taxes, goes to the owner. The setting of taxes is 30%. You can change it, but initially it is 30%. The rest of the profit (70%), can remains in the corporation. In general, large part of the remaining profit goes to the owner. (You may change this percentage). It means that if profit payments are at 80%, only 14% (20% of the 70% remaining profit) of the profit of the corporation remains in the corporation.
This can be changed. You can reduce both percentages and keep more money in the corporation. But is it needed there? The money paid to the government or enterprise, increases the assets of the government (or enterprise). Most corporations pay large part of their profit to their owners.
You can reduce the percentages and more cash will remain in the corporation. You can pay back the loans of the corporation and purchase all the upgrades you want. In the long run, paying back the loans will increase the profitability and value of the corporation.
Can you explain how tax payments work?
The profit of the corporation is taxed by the government of the country where it resides. All corporations, both state owned and private corporations, pay the same tax percentage. The standard is 30% but some presidents change it.
When the corporation is profitable, the tax amount is then paid to the government. Both the profit and the tax amount are shoing on the corporation page.
When can I build a new corporation and what are the limitations?
You can always build a new corporation. If there are no unemployed workers in the country, it may make sense to wait until workers are available. Corporations might be built and have difficulties in operation due to lack of workers. An enterprise must find a country that has at least some of the workers it needs in each group of workers.
When you start building a corporation, an order is issued for a production Plant. When the production plant is delivered, the corporation starts operations. Enterprises cannot own more than six corporations in one country and it is not possible to have more than ten corporations under construction at the same time.
The workers that are needed to operate the new corporation are unemployed until the start of operations but they are not available in the market. On the employment page, they are counted as workers needed for new facilities.
How many corporations can I build?
Most countries have between 20 and 200 corporations the number is however unlimited and some have more than 400 corporations. The number depends on the population in the country and on the size of these corporations. Some employ many people, some less. If you look into the unemployment numbers in your country, you may find that you can start more corporations but very soon, you will run out of workers in some of the groups you need for the corporation. Setting up several more will be a problem. Some corporations will not be able to produce at full capacity.
There are however, ways to increase the number of corporations. You can work intensively on the education priorities of your country and try to change the balance of available professionals. If you succeed in educating the right balance in number of workers in all groups, it can result in a possibility for more corporations.
Another way is in trying to reduce the number of workers in each corporation. This can be done by efficiency upgrades in the corporations. The result will be that corporations will use smaller numbers of low and mid level workers and more executives and high-level workers and managers.
If your education system is capable of producing the high level workers you need for that, this is a way to go much further and increase the number of corporations.
You may also reduce the percentage of hiring in the existing corporations and use the people who were fired in new corporations. This will not help much as these corporations will compete for the same workers and hiring in many of the corporations will remain low.
What are production plants and why do I need them?
Each corporation needs a production plant to operate. Production plants are not all the same. A factory that produces cars, needs a production plant that is very different from an agricultural one. In all cases, when you start building a new corporation, a production plant is ordered and it must be delivered for the corporation to start operations.
I see very low hiring and production levels why does it happen?
A corporation might be forced to reduce its operations and even stop production altogether if it cannot find the workers it needs. If a corporation needs 10.000 high tech seniors and it can hire only 5.000, it will reduce it whole staff by 50 percent and its production too. This is the single most frequent reason for corporations to stop production.
Another reason for reduction or a complete stop of production is lack of raw materials. If no raw materials are available, the corporation cannot continue the production. The products must also be sold on the market. If a corporation does not succeed in selling its products, it will reduce its production.
Users may also influence the level of production and can decide to stop it completely. They can also decide to continue production at 100%, provided there are enough workers and raw materials to keep production at that level.
Do salary levels in a corporation matter?
Yes they do. If salaries are low, workers are less motivated in their work and even with a very high hiring levels production levels will be reduced. Workers can decide to move to other corporations where salaries are higher. Good salaries are important and mainly a balanced wage policy will prevent large numbers of workers from moving between the corporations.
When salaries go very high, corporations will find it difficult to pay and their profits will suffer. The salary costs are an important factor in the corporations finance and they must be controlled for the corporation to remain competitive.
Do people move around between Corporations?
Yes, workers are moving between corporations. If wages are better in another corporations, they might move. These movements are limited in size to about 5% of the work force per game month. In case that there is a very severe shortage of one or two workers groups, movement might seem much larger.
There is a difference between the hiring level and the production level. Why does it happen?
The difference depends on the motivation of the workers in the corporation. If the workers are poorly paid and the corporation is doing badly, workers produce less and the production level drops lower than the hiring level. On the other hand, if wages are good, the corporation is effective and produces high quality products, workers are motivated and the production level may rise beyond the hiring level.
I reserved products for direct trade contracts. Why do I get messages about not delivering on my contracts?
A corporation has a certain production capacity per month. Under some conditions it may produce at full capacity but if there is a shortage of workers, raw materials etc. the corporation can be forced to reduce production. If this happens, production may not be sufficient to fulfill all the obligations from the contracts it has set up.
What are quality upgrades in corporations?
You can upgrade the quality of the products your corporations produce. In general, the quality of the products in the world is 120. If you purchase one quality upgrade for a corporation, it will start producing goods at a quality level of 121. This is good news because it will make your products sell better and for a higher price. 5 quality upgrades will make your products also look 5% cheaper and theywill sell ahead of all the products that are of lower quality. You can even increase the price by 2% and they still look 3% cheaper. Quality upgrades will help you make your products more attractive and your corporations will make more profit. Quality upgrades cost a lot of money and you cannot order more than 2 at a time for one corporation. Upgrading is essential if you want to increase corporation�s value and profitability.
What are efficiency upgrades?
You can upgrade the efficiency of your corporations. Every upgrade that is installed in one of your corporations, will make it produce the same amount of product with a smaller number of workers. The corporation will employ smaller numbers of low-level workers and more high-level workers, managers and executives. You must have these higher-level workers and managers for this procedure to be successful and you should look into your education priorities and make sure you are educating the people you need.
The efficiency upgrades reduce the total amount of salaries. It makes your corporation more profitable. If you use a smaller number of workers, you will also be able to build more corporations. Efficiency upgrades cost money and also sometimes increases the need for high-tech services.
How many upgrades can be installed in one corporation, is it limited?
Upgrading is limited to 100 upgrades per corporation. That is 100 quality upgrades and 100 efficiency upgrades.
Why not upgrade all my corporations all the time?
You can do so and many players do but there is a chance that you will create problems in your economy. The efficiency upgrades result in a change in the way your corporations work. It reduces the number of low-level workers in the corporations but increases the number of higher level workers and requires more executives. If you upgrade your corporations very quickly, your economy will possibly run out of high-tech executives, and your corporations will have to reduce production as they cannot hire the people they need. Fast upgrading is also costly and many corporations will need loans or financial support from the country or enterprise.
Both upgrades need to be purchased on the market and very quickly, there will be a shortage of these products. The corporations that create them depend on high-tech services and executives and are hard to build.
I am a president of a country. How can I prevent takeover of my corporations?
You can protect up to twenty four corporations from a takeover. This is done by turning them into National corporations. Generally you do it with the strategic industries like the weapon industry or some other corporations that you just want to keep. You can also start an enterprise and bid for the same corporations and prevent a takeover but that is limited to six corporations.
The best way to prevent a takeover, if you think you must, is by making these corporations very successful. If a bidding is in process and your corporation is increasing its market value month by month, then the bidder will have to increase his bid time and again. If the best bid is lower than the current market value of the corporation, the bidding process will fail.
Is it bad when they takeover some of the corporations in my country?
In general it is not bad at all. If you make sure your corporations are well developed, other players will have to pay a lot of money for them. The corporations remain in your country and they provide many jobs. They also pay part of their revenue to the country and they pay taxes. This amounts to very large payments each game month by each private corporation in your country.
The difference between a corporation you own and one you do not own is that the profit after tax does not belong to you but to the new owner. On the other hand, you receive billions in cash when the corporation is sold. You can pay back your own loans and reduce your interest payments. The money can also be used to improve other aspects of your economy.
It can be negative if the new owner closes the corporation. But even in that case, you just build another one for a small part of the money you received. There is no logic for a closure by a new owner and it nearly never happens. It is possible to turn the corporations that have a small market value into national industries and have only the very expensive ones be taken over.
I am an enterprise president. Is it bad if they takeover some of my corporations?
In general it is not bad at all. The bidder pays for the corporation and in most cases it will be several times higher than what you invested to build the corporation. Your assets consist of the total market value of your corporations plus the cash you have, less the loans.
Use the money you get to either pay loans and even better, to purchase some corporations at the bottom of the list, (the losers), improve them, increase salaries, reduce product price and upgrade them. They will increase in value very fast and with them your assets. If such corporations are taken over for a large amount of money, you can make a good profit.
What is the difference between state and national corporations?
Both are owned by the state. National industries cannot be taken over by an enterprise and cannot become private corporations. State corporations may be taken over by a private enterprise. They remain in your country but are owned by a private enterprise.
What corporations should I keep by making them national industries?
You can decide to keep the ones that produce weapons. A private corporation can close private contracts with some other countries and sell you nothing. You can also decide to keep some of the most profitable industries or products you like. You can protect the industries that are new or have a low market value and have the very expensive ones bought by others. This will bring a lot of cash and when the new corporations are improved and their market value is increased, you can make them state corporations. In that case if they are bought, you make a good profit.
How do I change the status of a corporation from national to a state corporation or back?
There is a link on the detailed corporation page. The link is either: "Change its status to a state corporation" (if it is a national one), or "Change its status to a national corporation", (if it is a state corporation). If you already have 24 national industries, you have to first change at least one into a state industry.
Do private corporations pay their profits to the enterprise?
The success of the enterprise depends on profits it receives from the corporations it owns. The profits are not passed automatically but can be paid manually. It is a good practice to leave enough cash inside the corporations, so they can pay their debts and invest in upgrades.
How do I change the name of a corporation?
A name change function is placed on the details page of each corporation. A country president can also click on the corporation on the map of the country and use the name change procedure in the info window.
What happens when a corporation closes?
You can always decide to close a corporation you own. In that case, all contracts are canceled and all workers are fired. The corporation is discarded from your list and will disappear from the map of the country. This procedure takes some time to complete and the repainting of the map can take place one or two days later. Very high value corporations cannot be closed.
What happens to loans of the corporation when it closes?
The loans of a corporation that is closed by the owner or is declared bankrupt are inherited by the owner of that corporation. This might be the country that owned it or the enterprise.
5. Improving health, education and transportation? [ top ]
Why should I build Hospitals in my country?
The level of your health system depends on the number of hospitals. If you build more hospitals, your health index will improve. It will have a positive influence on the population it will increase the welfare index and have positive influence on your total score and rank. More hospitals also reduce the death rate in the country and people will live longer. This too has positive effect on the general feeling of people and a positive effect on your economy through the welfare index and general score.
Hospitals cost a lot of money to build, they employ many doctors and nurses and you must have them in the country (look at your education priorities), there is a monthly cost running them and your economy must produce the income to pay for the health system.
How does good transportation help the economy?
Good transportation has a positive influence on the production level in corporations in the country. It also is a measure for the quality of life in your country and is part of your score. Build more roads, railroads and also water treatment installations. Do this slowly as they are expensive and you need to purchase many other things as well. Get your transportation index to 100 or even more.
Your country map will be repainted from time to time if there are big changes in your transportation system. This is not done every game month but only once in a couple of game months.
What is the influence of good education on the economy?
Education is essential. The influence is not direct. The education system is responsible for the education of all the professionals that are needed to run everything in the country. If the education system does not do its job, there will be shortage of high tech executives or other groups of workers and corporation that are not able to recruit them, will stop production, fire many employees and the economy will suffer.
The education system is also responsible for the education of doctors, nurses and senior doctors. If there is a shortage of any of these, hospitals cannot be built and some of the existing ones may close. This will result in bad health care, more people will die younger which may damage the workforce but for sure will damage the welfare of the people and make them less interested, work less and produce less. It will hurt the economy. Good and balanced education is extremely important and should be taken good care of.
Why should there be good social security payments?
Not necessarily. The level depends on your own judgment. If payments are low, it will make people spend less and they will of course pay less tax. It will also reduce the good feeling people have about their country and reduce their motivation and production. On the other hand, government will pay less in social security payments. You can see this in the monthly report on the financial page. The social security page also shows how much it will cost to increase payments by one percent.
The best of course is to have a high level of social security payments and a low percentage of unemployment that will keep the number of people who receive these payments down.
Why do I need mid-level-managers?
Mid level managers are an essential group in all corporations. The numbers that are needed per corporation differ widely but they are needed in each and every corporation. Mid level managers are also needed in the army. All the officers in the army are recruited from this group. Officers are recruited from the age groups of up to 50 years.
This means that if you build a large army, that army will hire many of the mid-level managers and your corporations run the risk of not being able to operate at full capacity, due to shortage of these managers.
Many players had their economy damaged because of shortage in that group. They start building a large army and find themselves out of mid-level managers. They are unable to build a strong economy and make large financial losses every game month.
You need many mid-level managers and your needs depend mainly on the size of the army you want. The education priorities must be adjusted to increase their numbers and this should be done before a large army is being built.
Where do soldiers come from?
Soldiers are recruited from the low-level workers group. This is the largest group of workers and they are needed in large numbers in all corporations. The army has a high priority when recruiting them and if they are in short supply, it is the corporations who will suffer as a result.
Why do I have a shortage of low-level workers? How can I get more?
Both the army and all the corporations in the country need low-level workers and as a result of better education, their numbers may fall in time. More young people are being educated and become higher level workers and as older workers retire, the number of low-level workers may start to fall. There is nothing that can be done about this except for turning off the education system which is not a good proposition for many other obvious reasons.
There are ways however, to reduce the need for low-level workers. One way is to upgrade your corporations. If the efficiency of your corporations is increased by upgrades, they will hire a smaller number of low-level workers and turn into more educated people while the total number and cost of workers for the corporation declines.
The shortage of low-level workers can be large. Building a large army while this problem is looming, may accelerate the process of decline as shortage of workers will be much bigger if the army is taking many of them away from the industry.
6. Defense and War [ top ]
I want to start a war. What should I do?
You may but they will fight back. Wars are expensive and you must be economically very strong to have a large army. If you want to succeed in this game, build a strong economy first, along with some army bases and mainly defensive weapons and build your army more seriously later, when you can afford it.
Do I need an army?
You need a defensive army or you can choose to become a peaceful player. There are always some countries that will start wars and you must defend yourself. Simcountry had a document describing how to build the army.
You can also choose to become a peaceful country and never participate in any wars.No other country will ever be able to attack you and you will have no way of attacking any other country.
How fast can I build my army?
Weapons can be purchased either in the trade section or in the defensive, offensive and strategic army sections. The army needs officers and soldiers. Soldiers are recruited from the low-level workers and officers from the mid-level managers groups. Both are limited to people younger than 50 years. If you take them all into the army, your economy will decline. When you purchase weapons, you automatically recruit soldiers and officers to operate them.
Can I always purchase all the weapons I want?
You can only purchase weapons if you have a base to place them. For example, you need an offensive military airport if you want to purchase bombers. And you need a strategic army base if you want to purchase strategic missile launchers. You are also limited by the monthly purchasing limit that depends on your financial situation.
I see the number of soldiers and officers changing. Is that automatic?
The number of soldiers and officers is determined by the military assets in the country. There is a fixed number of officers and soldiers that are needed to operate these weapons and maintain them. If a country is building a new a defensive airport, or a strategic military base then the number of officers and soldiers in the army will increase.
The same applies to all the weapons. An Interceptor needs a pilot (in many cases more than one), but also some people on the ground to maintain it, and keep it running during service. When Interceptors are purchased, the army grows. The same applies for all the weapons that are available in the game. When you receive a delivery of such weapons, you will see the size of the defensive, offensive and strategic armies grow accordingly. It depends on what weapons have been purchased.
The size of the army decreases if the number of weapons declines. This can be the case during a war, or as result of selling some of the weapons to others or the result of deactivation part of the army and turning it into a reserve army that can be called back to duty when needed. The weapons document shows how many soldiers and officers are needed for each weapon.
In war, can I use all weapons against anybody?
No. First, you cannot use your defensive army to attack. You can use your offensive and strategic weapons only. There is also a difference between a war against your neighbor and a war against a far away country.
When you fight a neighbor, you may use all your offensive and strategic weapons and your military units. When you fight a war against a country with no common border, you can use only air power and missiles and you can land forces in that country. Each weapon system has a limited range and a weapon is usable in war only if it is within range of the target.
When the navy is used, navy missiles and airplanes can be in range of countries far away from yours if the navy or part of it is positioned close to these countries.
What weapons are most effective in attacks and against what?
The weapons document shows many details on each and every weapon system that is available in the game. It shows the ammunition that is used in each attack round, the chance of hitting the target and the damage to the target if it is hit. The damage is shown as a percentage of destruction.
All weapons have their specific characteristics and are good in different situations. The picture is complex because there are many different weapons and they may be stationed in combinations that make them very strong against any attack. In general, Land based military units can attack other military units There are many obvious conclusions that can be drawn and some experimentation is needed.
A good defense includes a large number of air force units and in order to destroy them, you need many offensive air force units. The defensive air force units are stationed at the defensive airbases and they are launched against any attack by air. Their efficiency depends on the availability of radar planes.
If a radar plane is not available for the defense, the defensive air force will not know where the attack is coming from and will be sent to many different places. The number that will be sent to each possible target will be very small. In case a radar plane is available, air force units will be directed to counter the attacker.
An effective attack may start with trying to destroy the radar planes. If there are several, this will be more difficult. An attack can be more effective if the defensive land units are destroyed. For that you need either offensive air force units including bombers or strong land units to invade the enemy territory and destroy the defenses. Beware these defensive units. They shoot back onto your offensive units and can destroy them.
How do I protect against nuclear attacks?
There are multiple types of nuclear attacks. They can come with missiles, both tactical and nuclear missiles, it can involve nuclear submarines or it may include hydrogen bombs, delivered by strategic bombers.
The only way to prevent a nuclear attack is by stationing nuclear defense batteries as part of your garrisons in all potential targets (only large cities and military bases can be attacked by nuclear weapons). You must have nuclear defense missiles that are used by these defensive batteries.
How does a war end?
A war can be stopped if one of the parties offers peace and the other party accepts. It will also end automatically if there is not action for several game months. A war can also end, if one party resigns or is defeated.
Can wars end automatically?
Wars stop if there were no hostilities for a period of 7 game months. Any attach during such period will prolong the war. This is done to prevent wars from going on forever while there is no activity by either party.
How do I repair the war damage?
War damage repair is automatic but may take a very long time. To repair war damage, the country is placing orders for construction and the damage is reduced each month. By clicking on an object on the map, you can see what the damage to the target is.
Damage to corporations is handled in the same way. Damage repair is on going for many months and corporations reduce their production accordingly. As the damage is reduced with time, corporations gradually restore their production levels.
What can be attacked in my country?
An enemy may attack any target in your country. An attack can be aimed at the target itself, trying to destroy a city or a factory. He may attack your military units only, or he may attack the long-range weapons that reside in your military bases.
What is the effect of defensive weapons on attacking forces?
The defensive forces only function when you are attacked. Defensive units shoot at targets on the ground, they will counterattack the offensive units that are attacking them. They do not shoot airplanes off the air.
Anti aircraft missiles that are part of defensive units will shoot down both bombers and attack helicopters etc. but it is not sure they hit. There is a fair chance they hit and you need a well equipped garrison to defend a target. Your defense garrison and its defense batteries that are deployed to the target will launch missiles and the more you have, the greater the chance they hit these air planes.
Can attacks be stopped without damage?
Yes they can be stopped. When the fight is on, the defensive forces get the first chance. If you have a large number of weapons that have effect on the attacking forces, you may be able to destroy them all before they even shoot once. In most cases this is unlikely to happen and only some attacking weapons will be destroyed. The ones who survive the first round, will be able to damage the target.
There are many wars and we see players defeated. Can we prevent it?
We see many of these fights and we urge you to defend yourselves. We have seen that attackers are losing more material, and their success is limited but many times they win too easily. Defensive units are not purchased in large quantities. This means that you just do not defend yourselves good enough.
What happens if a country is defeated?
This is a very serious situation. If a country is defeated, its president will lose the country, lose his job. He will leave the country and it will become a protectorate of the winning party. The losing president may start a new country immediately, but his old country is gone. The winning country president can start moving resources between the two countries, including people, which is a very important resource in the game.
If you start a war, be advised that you may lose a country. Everyone who wants to prevent defeat in war should keep building his defenses at a slow pace, to prevent damage to the economy. The score list shows how good your defense is compared to other players and you can decide on the strategy in increasing you defensive or offensive power.
There is always the option of the peaceful country that will free you from any worries about defense and limit your participation to the economic part of the game.
7. Game settings and rules [ top ]
How long will this game last?
There is no time limit to the game. The intention is to continue for a very long period with countries and corporations going through different periods in their development in a world that becomes more complex all the time.
More worlds will start running in the future, some will have exactly the same rules. Some worlds may be different. Development is ongoing on the game and there are many new features to come.
What is the policy on multi playing?
Multi playing is not a pattern that we would like to see. It is however hard to prevent. The game has features that in fact allow multi playing to a limit you can conquer countries and own many. Our policy is to make multi playing irrelevant. If two countries cannot do much for each other, multi playing will bring few benefits. Everyone can play both a country and an enterprise and there is some limited synergy that can be created between the two. This is a legitimate part of the game.
Multi playing requires a significant effort from the person playing it and his multiple sessions do not improve his position. A president must take good care of all his countries and if he abandons one, then another of his countries will inherit all left over loans.
Players can have only one account in the game.
When does the trading take place?
Trading takes place most of the time. There are 4 to 6 main processing sessions each day (depending on the world) and they run several hours. During these runs, every product in the world is traded 4 to 5 times. The trading of a product takes everything that have been offered or requested at that time and try to match them into transactions. In addition, users can place immediate orders and these are traded directly if products are available. If no product is available, these requests are executed at the start of the following trade run.
It is impossible to predict when the products you offer or request will be traded. When you look at your outstanding orders, you will see that the queue of waiting orders becomes shorter in time and most times disappears within an hour or two. It depends on the market conditions, prices requested and offered and possible shortages of products.
When an order is executed, clearing is immediate. The product is delivered and paid at the time of the transaction.
How frequently does the ranking list set?
The ranking list is re-computed directly after a month processing is completed. Most changes in the country or enterprise data are taking place during the month processing.
When does month processing take place?
You might wonder when trading takes place and also processing in general. The large simulation runs start at 5:20 am, 9:20 am, 12:20 pm, 3:20 pm, 7:20 pm and 11:20 pm EST. On some worlds, the scheme is different and runs only 4 game months every day.
They run about 2 to 4 hours each, depending on the world and the trading process that may change with shortages and surpluses of products.
During processing, all countries and corporations are re-evaluated, normal trading takes place as part of these simulation runs. Changed maps are repainted and all contracts, agreements, private trading and loans are processed. At the end of each run scores and rankings are recomputed.
I noticed that my map is changing from time to time. When is it done?
Repainting takes place if there are "significant" changes. A change of the name of the capital city will trigger it. Many new roads or railroads, a military base, a new city (if your population expends) and such will also trigger a repaint. Generally it happens once in several game months. Repainting all the maps is a major resource problem and we try to reduce the system load by repainting some maps each game month.
8. Shortages [ top ]
I see shortages of products in my factories, why?
Your factories are placing orders for raw materials. These are delivered during trading which takes place most of the time. If you see shortages, you can check the world market, the link is on the trade page. If you see a shortage in a product you need, you can replace the order by an immediate order. It will be delivered faster, possibly directly, but it costs more.
Is it bad to have shortages in factories?
Yes. If a factory does not get its raw materials, it will stop production. It cannot sell products and it will not pay taxes. If many corporations are not producing, your economy will decline. Make sure the factories have all the raw materials they need.
How long does a factory remain idle of there are shortages?
A corporation will remain idle or partially idle as long as it does not have enough raw materials and base products needed for the production process and for the corporation to continue operations. Every month the production process is taking place. Before it starts, the process is finding out how much product it can make. It looks into the available raw materials and the available people. It then computes what can be done with these people and materials and decides on the quantity it can produce.
Raw materials that arrive after the decision is taken will be used in the next month. It is important that everything needed for the production process is available within the corporation at the time the production is decided upon. This is taking place each game month for the current month.
What can I do when a corporation has shortage of supplies?
There are shortages in many products. If corporations do not get the products they need, they will stop production. In case of shortages, you can replace an outstanding order by an immediate one. It will be delivered as soon as products become available. Immediate orders cost more but an idle corporation is worse.
There is a shortage of Air Transport. Who can build a corporation?
Countries only. Air Transport corporations imply the construction of an airport. As many countries have only one airport or none, they are only constructed by countries. Air Transport is important. It is used heavily by both Services and High-tech services companies.
There is a shortage of Production plants, what can we do about it?
There are corporations that build production plants. You can build such corporation yourself and deliver production plants. Production plants are very large objects and have a very high sale price.
I have shortage of products in my country. How do I solve it?
Shortages in your country are bad for your citizens and reduce your welfare level. You can replace some of these orders by immediate orders and they will be delivered directly or with high priority when the products become available. You pay more; the price is 10 to 15% higher.
My corporations have shortages. How do I solve it?
This is more severe then shortage in countries. A corporation with no raw materials will stop production altogether. It will not pay salaries, people are sent home, and the corporation does not produce a profit and does not pay taxes. The workers get social security payments from the government; they spend less and hardly pay any taxes. You should watch out for this and replace regular orders by immediate orders. Rethinking your sale strategy and offering more money for the products will help too.
How do immediate orders work? Should I use them?
Immediate orders you place for products are put into the market and are traded immediately. If the products are available on the market, the trade transaction is executed directly. You get the products and pay immediately. In case the products are not available, the order is placed on the market and will be traded with the highest priority at the start of the next trading session. In case that there are products on the market but not enough to deliver your complete order, the order will be split into two partial orders, one will be executed directly and the other will wait on the market for offers of products.
The price you pay is higher than the market price. It is 10 to 15% higher than the current market price. This makes sense in case you have a corporation that might stop production if the products are not available.
What happens if I sell immediately?
You can place immediate offers. These offers will be traded with the highest priority at the beginning of the next trade run. The price you receive for these orders, is 10 to 20% lower than the market price.
I see shortages and they disappear within several hours. How does it happen?
Your country is evaluated or processed each game month (About 4 real hours). During processing it places many orders on the market and offers all its produce. Nearly none of these orders is processed immediately. Trading takes place in between the processing of the countries. Product by product all offers and requests are matched and depending on prices and priorities they are executed. When your requests are processed, you receive the products you ordered. In many cases you will receive everything within two hours after the processing of your county is completed. If there are shortages, orders will wait for the next trading run and for new products to be offered on the market.
I have many unsold products. How can I sell them?
You can make sure that your products are sold if you place them onthe market at a price slightly lower than the market price. Set the sale strategy for some or all of your corporations where you have a problem.
If you have unsold products now, you can retract your offers and then sell all the product you have using the immediate procedure. You will receive a little less money for them but unsold products are hurting your corporations.
There are shortages of upgrade products, can I purchase them immediately?
Upgrade products can only be purchased on the market. There are no direct contracts and no immediate orders.
9. Education - priorities - workers and employment [ top ]
Education priorities: what is better a higher or a lower number?
The higher the number, the higher the priority and the better off you are for that profession. The total of these numbers should be 120. A total lower than 120 reduces the number of graduates from your schools. A total more than 120 does not increase the number of graduates.
I increased education priorities for senior doctors and the numbers remain low. Why?
Increasing the priorities changes the way the education system works. For any senior doctors to come out of the education system, the education system must function at a certain level. If the education system of the country is not working because of lack of schools and universities or is at a low level, increasing the priority for some professions, will do very little.
If the number of graduating senior doctors used to be 100 a month and you increased the priority 4 fold the number will eventually rise to 400. This will take some time. But if you increase the quality and size of your education system, the number of graduates, even with a lower priority may increase to 500 or more. The education index is a very important factor. You must try to increase it up to 150 or even to 200 so that even lower priorities will produce large numbers of professionals. This means that boosting the education system by educating many teachers and university teachers, and consequently building schools and universities is crucial.
Why do I need elementary schools high schools and universities?
You need to build up an education system. The number of professionals coming out of your schools and universities into the economy depends on the quality of your education system. The better your education is (higher education index) the larger the number of graduates from your schools and universities. You need teachers for the schools and you need a high education priority to produce all these teachers.
Unemployment in my country is going up. Can I do something about it?
Yes you can. Unemployment goes up if your corporations reduce the number of people they employ. If a corporation is not able to sell its products on the market or in direct trading with others, it will reduce its production capacity. It will also reduce the number of people working in the corporation. When it succeeds in selling all its products, it will increase production and hiring again.
You can make it easier for the corporations to sell their produce. You can reduce prices, increase the product quality and place direct offers on the market (you will receive less for your products). Making your corporations sell their products will boost employment.
Another important reason for increase in unemployment is lack of workers in one or more workers categories. If you build a large army, you might recruit many mid-level managers into the army as officers. This will reduce the number of mid-level managers available for the industry. There will be competition between your corporations to get these managers and some of your corporations may get less than they would like to. If a corporation gets only 50% of the number of workers it needs in even one category, it will reduce the total hiring for all groups to 50%.
In such cases you will see corporations reduce employment by 50% or even back to zero hiring and they stop production. Unemployment can increase fast and become very high. Be careful with a fast buildup of the army. You must have the high-level people or the upgrades will cause your corporations to decline.
How do I know how many mid-level managers I have and how many will be needed for the weapon systems I purchased?
The employment page shows how many people are available in all professions. It shows how many are employed, unemployed and how many will be needed soon.(They will be needed for the army, schools, hospitals and more assets youare building).
How do I increase the number of mid-level managers so the army can get officers?
Change the education priorities and increase the priority for mid levelmanagers. It will take some time but their numbers will grow. The number will also depend on the quality of your education. If the education index is high, you produce more professionals.
How do you get more low-level workers?
You don't. The way around this is to use less or increase your population. Your population grows faster if your health system is good and you can purchase population on the direct trading market. A reduction in the numbers needed can be achieved by upgrading the efficiency of your corporations. They will produce the same but use a smaller number of low-level workers. Read more about upgrades in this document.
Can my education system overheat? What happens then?
If you build many schools, high schools and universities, and you keep doing so for a very long time until your education index reaches 200 to 300, and at the same time hold the education priorities at a total around 120, then your education system will produce a very large number of graduates. It might produce much more than needed for your economy. The priorities can be reduced and the education system will cool down in a day or two.
The education priorities page shows the number of graduates every month and you should follow the changes and react on time to prevent overheating. There is also a possibility for professional exchange with other countries.
What are "Workers needed for new facilities"?
When you start building a corporation or place an order for the construction of schools, the system makes sure you have the workers needed to operate such corporations or schools. The construction of such facilities can take some time and in that period, these workers are unemployed but cannot be hired for any other job as they are in fact recruited to work in the facilities that are now under construction. The numbers of such workers that are needed for facilities under construction is showing on the employment page.
10. New users [ top ]
I am a beginner, what should I do first?
Improve your education. Increase the priorities of education to a total of about 120. Teachers are very important because you need schools. You also need High tech executives and mid level managers. Invest in schools, high schools, universities, roads, hospitals, and if you have many unemployed, start new corporations. Also read the beginners document. The link is on the left frame and it is also part of the documentation set.
I am a beginner, what should I NOT do?
Do not spend your resources on stuff that is not improving your economy. Long term planning should wait for the initial economic boost to take place. Do not start building the offensive or strategic forces. These forces drain a lot of resources you need to build the economy. Defensive forces can be strengthened but there is no need to build a huge defensive army. Check the three education indexes and create a balance between schools, high schools and universities.
Is there some information for new users?
New users should start with the beginners document and look into the �Now What� section that can be entered from the country home page. Enterprise users and presidents should read the FAQ document (this document) as it includes many answers to common questions we receive from mainly new users. There are also tutorials and videos showing you how to use basic functions in the game.
11. Federations [ top ]
Can a federation change the rules that govern it?
The rules of a federation can be changed by a vote of the members. The percentage of members that need to vote for such a change is part of the rules of the federation.
How does it work when a federation member is attacked?
If a federation member is attacked and the federation rules include mutual defense of the members of the federation, then the air force of the federation members will assist the attacked member by sending their defense wings. These forces might be damaged in such attacks.
Federation members can also setup automatic war declarations if their friends in the federation are attacked. This feature reduces the time between a war declaration by an enemy and the intervention by allies.
12. Communicating with other users [ top ]
How can users communicate between them?
Users can send messages to each other. They can participate in the Forum adding their comments on existing discussions or start new discussions.
Players can also participate in the chat rooms in the game and communicate directly with other players in live discussions.
13. Other issues [ top ]
Can countries merge?
Countries cannot merge. However, if you conquer a country, you become the president of that country and you may run it. In that case, you can move resources between your country and the one you conquered. You may even move some people. It is possible to conquer multiple countries and build an empire.
Can people migrate to another country?
People may migrate to other countries. Migration is triggered by a bad situation in the country compared to others. A bad situation means mainly low salaries, bad health system, social security and education. The situation in a country may also deteriorate as result of war and people dying in war. Depending on the relative situation in all the countries in the world, some migration may be triggered from very poor and failing countries to the rich ones that can easily absorb the immigrants and have many available jobs for them.
Immigration always involves young and middle age people with their families. The numbers may become very high if a country is selling its population.
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