New Players' Guide / In Game FAQ

ok... with the blessing of the admin, I am starting a FAQ tread to guide new players (newbies ) in the game. Feel free to make comments and corrections to this treads (as I know the admins will... although I try not to give them any reason to :P). This thread is aimed to answer the frequently asked questions from newbies and will not cover as much (or as detailed, for that matter) as the manual does.

Starting with the basics...

Q1: What is this game about?
A1: This is an economy simulation. Players start and manage their own company and try to acheive their goals (highscores / research levels / profit ...etc., or just not to go bankrupt :P).

Q2: What should I start with?
A2: Start with reading the manual. You can find it here; http://en.industrie-tycoon.de/downloads.html .
Download and save it, as you will find it helpful in the future.

Q3: What is the "gfx-pack"?
A3: It is the graphics pack and it is currently in use. Download it, save it onto your computer and input the address you stored at into the designated place under the
"option" page in the game. It helps the game page load quicker by loading the graphics from your computer (from where you stored the gfx-pack).

Q4: Is there a way to make quick cash?
A4: You can try hacking into the server although that is illegal, unethnical, highly-inappropriate and you will definitely be banned after doing so (that is, you are highly discouraged to do that ). So, I guess the answer is NO.
You HAVE to put in some effort to start up well. Reading this thread is a good start.

Q5: How can I make money?
A5: The official answer is "build something and make something, then sell that something". A common suggestion is to build up a production chain (from raw materials to factories to shop). Product / production information can be found here; http://en.industrie-tycoon.de/products.html . You should also look into SuDe (Supply&Demand) before deciding on an industry. Please note that farms and vineyards only harvest once a year, which means you would not have any cash-in from them in the period before the first harvest while you have cash-out for maintenance and salaries.

Q6: How do I build buildings?
A6: Please read the manual!! ... or the "tutorial/walkthrough" thread below...

Q7: What is a good map?
A7: You would want plenty of resources and of a variety either if you have not decided on an industry / industries. If you have, however, it could be helpful to have more of those resources used in that industry / those industries that you plan on going into.

Q8: How often are goods produced?
A8: Most of the goods are produced every wu (which stands for world update). It is on the top of every hours (x:00) in real life. However, farms and vineyards only harvest once a year (12 wus).

Q9: Do the buildings produce even if I am not online?
A9: Yes, they do. However, you may go bankrupt if you don't have the cash or cash in-flow.

Q10: How often are goods sold in shops?
A10: Goods are sold in shops every wu (which stands for world update). It is on the top of every hours (x:00) in real life

Q11: How long can I be offline?
A11: You can be offline / inactive (not logging on) for 1440 hours, after which your account will be deleted.

Q12: Which industry is best to start with for newbies?
A12: Different players have different recommendations. It is up to you to decide which industry you want to go into. Some common recommendations include furniture and diy. Nevertheless, you should make use of the SuDe data to make your own choice.

... to be continued...

Thanks, HAL

Continuing with the FAQ...

Q13: What products do (insert a building here) produce?
A13: You can find the information here; http://en.industrie-tycoon.de/buildings.html

Q14: What products do (insert a shop here) sell?
A14: See http://en.industrie-tycoon.de/products.html

Q15: What products can I produce?
A15: Look it up here, http://en.industrie-tycoon.de/researchlevel.html
The default research level is level 0.

Q16: Why didn't I sell? / Why didn't I produced certain products?
A16: There are several possibilities.
- First, has the wu passed? (refer to Q8 or Q10).
- Second, did you set you production for the buildings? If not, then they would be at standstill and nothing would be produced.
- Third, are you sure the goods were not produced and sold? Shops take products from products warehouse directly and sell automatically (even if the products were produced at the same wu -- the same time). Go visit the shop to double check (revenue).
- Fourth, are your raw materials send to raw material warehouse? Or more, do you have any raw material for the product?? Factories take materials from raw goods warehouse automatically. However, if no raw materials needed were present at the time for wu, then nothing would be produced.
- Fifth, your selling price may be too high if you can't sell in shops. (Please refer to Q19).
- Lastly, if the goods were not sold, are they in the raw goods warehouse? Shops only sell products in the product warehouse.

Q17: The overview says my buildings are not activated, why is that? And how to activate them?
A17: Buildings that are not activated mean they are at "standstill" for production. All you need to do is to change their production setting. If n in "n buildings not activated" differs from 0, you can click on n - and you will get a list with all buildings with 0 % productivity. There you can mark all (by clicking on their name, and they would change into deep blue color), and click on the button "change productivity. (quote from HAL )

Q18: How do I send goods to market or other players?
A18: Read the manual!!

Q19: How much should I sell (insert a end-product here) in (insert the corresponding shop here)?
A19: The max selling price in store = norm * (1.5 + ql/100).
Being the "max", it guarantees you won't sell if you exceed it, but not that you will definitely sell if you price lower than that. The formula is good when the demand>supply for a particular product (see SuDe for data). However, when supply>demand, you may want to adjust the price accordingly.

Q20: I am out of money and want to restart. How can I do that?
A20: In option, at the bottom, there is a reset button that you can use. However, you will lose all your possession in the game (including ql, if any) if you reset manually. It may not be a bad choice to start fresh if you are in financial trouble. Don't be afraid to do it as you are not the first, and will not be the last. You can also delete your account if you want to quit this game.

Q21: In the market, I see QL|RL for the products, what do they mean?
A21: RL (FL in german) stands for product and building research level. That is the research level required for you to manufacture the product. QL stands for quality level for that shipment. (see manual for details)

Q22: How do I research QL?
A22: You need to build a research facility. However, it is quite expensive to maintain, with an upkeep of at least 500,000 per wu without any research. It is recommended that you at least wait until you have a steady income of more than that amount to start your QL research.
Also note that the research level (RL) of the products you can research is correlated to the level of your research facility. The higher the RL of the product is, the higher the level of research faciltiy is required to research that product, and thus the higher the upkeep is.

Q23: Why didn't I make a profit?
A23: There are a number of factors affecting the profit.
- First, there is the construction/demolition. There is no depreciation policy in this game so the whole building cost is write off as expense. It could put a dent in your profit.
- Second, if you have purchased products from other players (from market, harbor, or accept offers), the cost (amount you paid) is record at once without matching to revenue.
- Third, maybe you revenue really is smaller than your maintenance and salaries.

If it is due to the first or second reason, don't worry too much. However, if it is because of the third reason, fix it. Keep in mind it is cash flow that matters, instead of profit. As long as you have cash, you are in, but if you don't, you go bankrupt.

...to be continued...

After 23 serious questions and answers, let's take a break. The following are some amusing questions and answers. Most of them are not directly related to the game play, but they are definitely asked frequently ...

Q24: Can you send me some money?
A24: If you can send money, reset and send me 2.5 millions

In chat...

Q25: Is anyone here?
A25: The answer is most often yes, but whether the "someones" are going to answer you... hmm... that is a different question

Q26: Can anyone help?
A26: "We help, where we can"... but it is up to you to help us help you (by reading the manual, the forum, and the Q&A) and we already help you help us help you by providing them :P.

Q27: What language are you guys speaking?
A27: Usually German. This is a game developed and hosted by Germans. There are a lot of German or German-speaking players. English is the second common language (although only 2 languages are commonly used ).

Q28: Can you speak English? / Speak English please!!
A28: There are usually a couple of English speakers online at least. However, if you want everyone to speak English, that won't happen. So... use online translators if you have to. Don't ask for recommendations as there aren't any that deserve to be recommended. Providing English contents is seen as a service here... so be thankful :]
Also, if you have questions in English but there are no English speaker online, be patient and wait for a while before you ask again.

Q29: Do you know any good MMOPG?
A29: Hmmm... Industrie Tycoon??

Q30: Is this game good?
A30: No ... Seriously, you expect the active players here to tell you they are playing a bad game???? Wake up, dude

ok... next post, we will get back to some serious questions...

... to be continued...

back to the serious questions...

Q31: How can I move my goods from one warehouse to another?
A31: To move goods between raw goods whs and product whs, in the warehouse interface under "move /delete", input the amount of goods you want to be moved and click the arrow icon next to it. The export whs only store goods that you offer to market or to other players.

Q32: In which warehouse should I store my goods?
A32: Products you sell in your shops should be stored in the product warehouse while raw materials should be stored in raw goods warehouse. As for the remainings (goods that you sell on market / to other players, or those you don't need / use but just want to tie up some cash with :P) can be put in either one of them. However, it is recommended that you put them in raw goods whs because the storage of the product whs is double that of the raw goods whs for the same goods.

Q33: Is researching RL (product and building research) worth it?
A33: Most players would say yes to that question. It is because the product and building research enable you to produce more (and sometimes more lucrative) products. There are also new industries for you to explore. However, there are also players who don't do RL research (or stop at low level) and do well in the game (in terms of profit margin and cash management). It depends on how aggressive you are and what goal(s) you want to achieve.

Q34: Is researching QL worth it?
A34: This is a controversial topic among players. Some say QL is an essential part of success, while others think that researching QL is not cost efficient and the benefits are exaggerated.
Some advantages:
- You earn more from products with QL. The prices increase norm*(1/100) per QL.
- It is the only element in this game that you can keep for the next round... that is, you can start the next round with better revenue and profit.
- QL products could sell better in shops if sold for the same price.
- QL research could lower tax and even tax percentage because of the cost of the research.
Some disadvantages:
- High costs (see Q22)
- It takes quite a while to research QL (see manual for details).
- You don't necessarily need QL to do well... although it may help.
- Products with QL need raw materials with QL (see manual for details), and thus limit you supplies/purchases of raw materials.
The benefits of QL research depend on your goals and commitment to the game. So, it is your decision whether QL research is worth it.

Q35: I have taken a forward transaction and it didn't go through. Why?
A35: The products have to be placed in your product warehouse 1 wu before they are due, with the required QL and quantity. If any of those four criteria was/were not met, you would be penalized.

Q36: What is "round reset"?
A36: "Round reset" occur every 3 months in real life. Everything you own in the game except QL would be reset back to default. Round resets are at the beginning of February, May, August, and November. Watch for announcements in forum and portal.

Q37: Why are players selling products above max shop selling price in market? Who would buy them?
A37: It is because they think they can sell the products at that price. Some players also put the goods at high price when, for some reasons, they want to store them in the export warehouse temporarily. And then, there are the players who are going bankrupt and other players help them by buying expensive goods. Finally, there are those that don't know or don't bother to check the price.
As for why people would buy those goods, there are several reasons...
- To obtain top-seller highscore.
- There is an event going on in the newspaper (through donating, players get event-manager highscore).
- They have too much spare cash.
- They need to keep their shop worth (sw) up.
- As a move to lower their profit to lower tax % for that wu. (It may or may not save the player cash... it depends, and see taxation details in manual).
- They are helping bankrupt players.
- They don't know the price.
- They are idiots (this is not originated from me ... so don't curse me or beat me up :P)
- and other special reasons...

Q38: What does the graph on top of the "balance" page show?
A38: Your total revenue (turnover) for each of the previous 12 wus.

Q39: What does "patents" means in the balance page?
A39: The money you have spent on research, both RL and QL.

Q40: Why would the mean selling price in SuDe be way high?
A40: Some player(s) put a high price in their shop (something like 999999999). Because it is the "mean" selling price, that high price is also taken into account during the calculation.

Q41: Why would the player(s) want to price that high (99999999)?
A41: A couple of common reasons:
- They don't want to sell that product which they have in their product warehouse. It could be because they have taken forward transactions, they need them for other products but can't fit all into the raw goods warehouse (it happens with semi-finished goods), or they can sell them at a higher price in market than that in shop.
- They don't have the product but want to maintain a high shop worth. By manipulating the price, they manipulate the demand of their shop, and thus manipulate the sw.

... to be continued...

Thx HAL, *hugs&kisses* (not that I would do that in real life :P)

a short continuation...

Q42: Why am I back at the default setting again? / Why do I have 2.5 million again?
A42: You are back to the default setting due to a couple of reasons.
- The most common reason is that while you were gone, your company went bankrupt. When a company went bankrupt, it would be reset automatically. All your possession would be lost (well … except your cash , which was at negative anyway ), including any QL you might have researched.
- Another possible reason is that there was a round reset. See Q36 for this.
- and... what?... oh... you have reset manually? Then why are you asking this question?

Q43: What do I need to do to make (insert a product here)?
A43: You need to have the required research level (RL), and then you need the corresponding raw materials and building(s). You can find those information here; http://en.industrie-tycoon.de/products.html

Q44: How long will this game / round last?
A44: See Q36.

Q45: What does "rtfm" mean?
A45: Due to offensive language, I can't answer you here . If you really want to know, ask HAL in chat . (This was a frequently asked question although I hope that it wouldn't be in the future)

... to be continued... that is if I can think of any other faqs...

another short update...

Q46: Why would the min price > norm price (or max price < norm price) when forwarding products ( min: 2711 | norm: 2295 | max: 4518 )? Is this a bug?
A46: No, this is not a bug. It happens by design.
It is because the norm price of any products that can be sold in shops are fixed. The min and max prices are calculated from previous successful trades and are flexible. That is why it is not uncommon to see the min > norm. However, you have to be careful if you buy goods that fall in this category because you may not make any money out of them. (Refer to Q19).
The norm of products that can't be sold in shops are the average of their respective min and max. So their norms are also flexible and thus they are always min < norm < max.

... may be continued...

Hi aqua,

I have asked similar questions when I started playing IT. I can't say that I agree with JW totally (although he is an admin :P). I would think that the answer depends on what kind of control you mean.

Technically, you could control a part of the market (or a certain product). It is not that hard if you have enough money. It is especially easy to push the price of a certain product down low if you are willing to loss profit (provided other parts of your operation are profitable enough). Granted, the maximum number of offers for the same product at one time is ten. But if you could stay online for long enough and push the price down to a level where players would be losing money selling it, you could control it (at an ultra-cheap price). All you need is profit from another part of your operation and enough quantity of that particular product to keep the market supplied at the low price.

On the other hand, if you want to maintain a high price, you would need a lot of cash in addition to profits from elsewhere in your operation. It is because, unlike the low price situation, other players would try to underprice you. You would need the cash to buy those goods thrown on market by other players. This is not easily done in the normal round but it has happened in the speed round which has a lot less players. (In fact, at the time this post is written, I perceive that a player is trying to raise the price of iron ore in speed round, and has been quite successful in doing so.)

Yes, when you upgrade a building, it could and would produce more. For each upgrades for production buildings (mine, farms, factories...), their capacity increase by 10% of their capacity on lvl 0. For shops, their sales capacity (max sales units or "supplies") increase 5% of the previous level. For research facilities, their lvl correspond to the RL lvl of goods you could research QL for.

As for researching... I take it you mean RL research (for QL see Q22 /for difference between RL and QL see Q21 ). It should not be a huge problem to start RL research. I don't know what buildings you have and what settings they are on, so I can't pinpoint a reason why you don't have enough money. (If you really want to know, message me or query DDD in chat with detailed information.) Generally, when a player has one or maybe two shop(s) set up, it would be the time to start researching RL. You should have adequate cash in-flow and profit by then and it wouldn't take long for you to save up the amount needed. I would say that if you can't come up the money for RL 1 within the first week, then you may have a cash/profit problem (this is just a personnal opinion). There are also players who start early on because they aim at producing RL 1 products. However, this is not recommended for new players.

LOL... same here... never successfully download the manual in PDF format.

I downloaded the PDF in ZIP one and saved the zip. I basically have to open the zip and extract the file every time I need it. Be careful not to close the zip folder when the file is being extracted. The link is here . Saying that, I still have not been successful in opening the product tree but the product page in portal is good enough for me

Where else have you tried
You know, when you log into the game, a chat box open in the bottom 1/3 of your screen. There is our chat channel where you could ask questions. There are usually players who speak english good enough to answer your question (I am virtually online 12 hours a day, on and off) and the admins would also be there. You really should try it as you could get instant answers (with close to, but not exactly, 100% chance they would be right :P).

As for the color code of the products, the prices on market are coded on a spectrum from red to green. Red means expensive, yellow neutral, green cheap (in relation to the current norm prices). Because the colour code is based on the norm price, it may or may not reflect the situation accurately in regard of prices in shops. The colour code helps you made decision but by no means does it make the decision for you.

After some work, I have turned the manual into a word file and it is uploaded to google documents.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhd293vt_2cjcbzw

I know that the support team is working on hosting the manual on portal directly but, meanwhile, this may help

Please also note that although this is the most updated version of the manual, it is not really that up-to-date.

Oh... this is only for those of you who have problems downloading the manual; all others, please download you own copy from portal