| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 10, 2011 - 04:32 am 
Here is rep's guide to the type of corps we need to be building on LU to pull us out of our funk. What I did was look at the factory utilization chart, compare capacity to demand, then look at the percentage of production. I've made a list of corps that are needed here on LU.
Bear in mind a few things: this list is as of 19 August 2799 LU. It will obviously not include any corps which are being built this month. It also cannot take into account changes in demand. Blah, blah, blah. Disclaimers put in.
I have ignored all government corps, military and related corps, and those corps which sell products only to countries. Those are nice, but will not help our overall supply situation. I also did not include FMU or electric because those are obvious.
The list is alphabetical, with the production % next, then the shortfall even after 100% production. I only included those products which had a severe shortfall (20% or greater demand shortfall at 100% capacity).
Books & News 88% 400M
Bricks 96% 200M
Build Materials 90% 200M
Cement 98% 1B
Chemicals 97% 500M
Computers 82% 80M
Electric Comp. 99% 400M
Glass 85% 46M
High Tech 93% 400M
Household Prod. 83% 1M
Ind. Equipment 76% 200M
Iron 98% 300M
Medical Material 101% 29K
Oil 73% 1.2B
Rubber 91% 50M
Soybeans 83% 3B
As can be seen, there are 8 industries which are running all but flat out (90% or better)which still have shortfalls of significant proportions.
One last disclaimer: this is the opinion of one man, who does not hold an economics degree. Remember also that fully upgraded corps can run at 120+% production, and that there may be countries and CEOs sitting on huge strategic supply waiting for the price to top out before dumping it.
All that said, I still think this is a valid list to consider if you're building new corps. Except med. materials. A little better production or one more corp will top it out. And if you're looking for a short to mid term profit run there are industries which have a huge backlog that didn't make the list due to the potential capacity being greater than demand. Have at it! |
| Accordion_This (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 10, 2011 - 08:29 am
If you wouldn't mind, could you figure out how many FMU and electric corps LU is short by? |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 10, 2011 - 08:42 am
Give me a couple minutes to check the Sept. chart, be right back. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 10, 2011 - 09:09 am
Okay, end of Sept. stats on FMU and electric:
FMU: Of course this is skewed due to the "supply fairy" and the magic dust. But we have a standing shortfall of almost 8M. This month's shortfall was 2.6M. FMU corps are running at 84% of capacity. If they ran full out 100% they could produce 3,451,645 units per month. Sept. demand was 5,533,587 units. Didn't take time to do the math (don't have my calculator handy)but if we increase our production by 2.1M per month we would just meet demand. Which is also skewed because even FMU corps use FMU! I'm going to have to look into this more closely. But at 8M backlog and 2.1M monthly add on to that total I'd say we're in need of a pile of FMU corps.
Electricity has a standing backlog of a tad over 122M, and is running at 87% of capacity. Sept. shortfall was 24.4M. Full capacity would bring in 123,625,000 units per month, Sept. demand was 132,186,130 units. So using the standard 25,000 unit monthly production value we'd need 1000 more corps to meet current demand. To actually eliminate the 122M backlog we'd need to add 2000 corps (producing at 100%) to have the backlog eliminated in roughly 5 months. Of course then we'd be stuck with green line electric after that. |
| Crafty (Kebir Blue) | Friday, June 10, 2011 - 05:05 pm
Where is Daconia when you need her. Her CEOs would have sorted out that electric shortfall in no time at all.
I might add that nuclear power should also be considered when looking at electricity. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 10, 2011 - 06:58 pm
I remember Daconia.
I agree about nuclear power. Nov. 2799 LU showed nuclear with a surplus. And it's cheaper than "regular" electric. I've been trying to use my CEO to buy nuke when there's a surplus, but the order never gets filled, and then nuke goes back red.
After I graduate enough tech people my plan is to build a nuke plant in my country. Then I'll probably need a uranium mine to supply it, since uranium is dicey on the world market right now. |
| Crafty (Kebir Blue) | Saturday, June 11, 2011 - 12:47 am
Rep, you never see the nuke power as such because it is automatically turned into electric power. If you look you will see your elec stock go up when you buy nuke power, excellent way of making some money considering price difference, but shhh... this is a vet trick, lol! |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 11, 2011 - 03:03 am
That's what I figured, and why I've been trying to get my CEO in the game. Guess I'm going to have to "fixed price" ask for market +5, since the order never gets filled with "best price", then nuclear goes red again.
Now, since nuclear is cheaper, when it converts does it convert at nuke price or "regular"? In other words, if I buy nuke and resell it to my corps which price do the corps pay?
Danke schoen. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 11, 2011 - 03:54 am
UPDATED:
Mid February update
Soybeans are off the list! Our capacity is now 600M over demand, and our backlog should be clear by the time you read this (projected May-August 2800 LU).
Iron now has a capacity overage of 240M, projected backlog clearance 9-10 game months.
Glass is iffy. Capacity is +100M but is only running at 78% capacity so continues to show a monthly shortfall. Also has a 1.6B backlog.
Apparently Medical Materials had numerous closings or a steep increase in demand, so will go back to solid recommendation there. Monthly shortfall 66M, backlog 644M, full capacity still leaves us short 58M.
Cement showed the largest improvement, capacity going from a 1B shortfal to a 400M shortfall.
HighTech had no change, still a 400M shortage, -921M this month, 5.6B backlog.
Books and News, Electric Components, and Industrial Equipment all slid further into the hole. B&N -900M monthly, 3.2B backlog, capacity -700M. EC -319M,5.7B backlog, -300M capacity. IE -714M,4.9B backlog, -400M cap.
The rest of the industries made some strides, still have room to grow.
That's it for now, have to tour the factories and hand out some goodies to help increase production.  |
| Crafty | Sunday, June 12, 2011 - 08:37 pm
When you buy the nuke power, with CEO or country, the nuke power is what you will pay. Upon delivery it is instantly converted to regular electric power and shows in the CEOs or country's inventory as such. Any further trading of that product will be of regular electric at regular electric prices. |
| Accordion_This (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 13, 2011 - 03:09 am
Okay, just to clarify: if my CEO's corp sells nuclear power on the world market, it is sold as nuclear, and then received as electric?
EDIT: How are we doing for FMUs right now? I must've built 100 new FMU corps over the past few days :P |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 13, 2011 - 05:37 am
Accordian,
Getting better on just about everything from what I see, it seems to be a matter of ramping up productivity.
Wish I had your cash to build with!
FMU, until there's a major revision, IMO, will be a constant strain. There's been improvement (it actually came off hard red for a month!) but you can still almost double the amount of FMU corps out there before demand is met.
Doesn't help that MY (single, lonesome) FMU corp is stuck in a country w/no president, and even the salary war the 10 CEOs are in isn't helping. We drove all the state corps out of business, and we're at 90% hiring! Grumble, grumble. |
| NiAi (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 13, 2011 - 09:24 am
Build Hospital corps. Got an order made for four (4) game-years ago waiting to be delivered :P |
| Crafty (Golden Rainbow) | Monday, June 13, 2011 - 02:38 pm
Yes Accordian.
Yes NiAi, more hospital corps please, and it will also help out the struggling pharma industry.
Anyone got light tank and arty ammo they have stock piled and feel like selling while price is high? contact me, will buy immediately. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Monday, June 13, 2011 - 07:35 pm
Crafty,
Since I'm downgrading my military, I do have in the neighborhood of 500k light tank ammo I could dispose of. Message me at JulMar on LU if your offer still stands. Going offline soon (7:30pm your time), but it will be available whenever you might need it. |
| Accordion_This (Little Upsilon) | Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - 04:26 am
Crafty, swing me a message at "The Republic of Brutillius". I have some ammo spare (I think) so just let me know how much you want. |
| Crafty (Fearless Blue) | Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - 08:02 pm
Got my ammo sorted, thankyou Rep, and thanks Accordion for your offer. |
| Accordion_This (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 04:07 am
K, how are we going for FMUs, rep? And how do you get this data, anyway? :S |
| rep | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 04:20 am
Accordion, Will check it out and get back to you.
Will you take a look at my post in General under "corp production"? I'm not getting the answers I'm looking for. Thanks, be right back. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 05:48 am
All right Accordion,
End of August report on FMU: Corps are running at only 78% capacity, which led to a 1.8M shortfall for the month.
This increased the backlog to 7.9M, and we are still short 1.1M monthly even at full capacity.
But I can now at least put a tentative number on our needs. My FMU corp has a base monthly production of 805 (producing 983 at it's current level). Using the 805 as a guide we'd need to put roughly 1250 more corps out to meet current demand. What I'd really like to see is for FMU corps NOT use FMUs. Electricity doesn't use electricity, why should an FMU corp have to buy what it has sitting all over?
Because, of course, those 1250 new FMU corps will all have to have FMU corps to supply them, etc.
Oh, and where do I get these numbers? I make them up as I go, of course!
Seriously, first I go to the world trade factory utilization chart. It tells you how many corps are producing each product, then after the product name it lists full capacity of the corps. Next it lists the actual monthly production, which gives you the usage % for the month. The demand column is next to last, and the final column gives you the shortage/overage for the month. Then I go to the buy/sell page of world trade and click on the market situation line. This tells you of course what the TOTAL shortage/overage is. Also known is repese as the backlog.
Combining the two (market situation and factory utilization) can help to make informed choices about what corps to build. If you have a deep red, it doesn't always mean it's a good corp to build.
Quit preaching, rep!
Sorry, got carried away. But you DID ask! :P |
| Accordion_This (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 10:09 am
1250 more corporations? Madre de dios! |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 06:29 pm
Si. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 09:23 pm
We badly need more corps making the following products:
-Attack Drone Missiles
-Attack Torpedoes
-Cruise Missiles Ship Based
-Heavy Armored Vehicles
-Heavy Artillery
-Heavy Tank Ammunition
-Heavy Tanks
-Land based Cruise
-Mid Ranged Missiles
-Off. Air to Air Missiles
-Precision Bombers
-Precision Bombs
-Seals Ammo
Our whole weapons market is dead and I am trying to win a war here!
Alternatively, you can hook me up with a contract for any of those weapons. Propose to the country "RSFSR". |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 10:04 pm
Welcome Comrade,
The problem isn't in needing more of those corps, rather it needs (for your purposes) the corps out there to push out more product.
Many of the products you mention, the corps are only producing 40-50% of their capacity.
I suspect that most of these products are produced strictly for the use of the owner, or their Fed/CM.
So one option you may consider would be to look into a Fed or CM. Another would be, if you have a CEO, have him purchase or build the corps you need. If these are options you can't or don't want to do, then your choices are limited, particularly if you're a free player. You can go to the world trade page and put in orders for what you need and wait for them to be filled. Using "immediate order" will get them quicker, at an extra 30-40% markup.
Or you can convince someone to contract some to you.
Good luck, even if you are a communist! |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 10:11 pm
I am a full member. I will not join a federation because I am trying to make one. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 10:41 pm
Makes sense to me, Vlad.
The offensive weapons tend to be something you are better off making yourself if you possibly can. And war is fun, but if you're in for the long run, it's a good idea to get your main country's economy humming before you get too deeply into the war aspect. Wars are very expensive on the offensive side, and so is the maintenance of the military.
If you've got a ton of cash available and really need the weapons/ammo go to the world trade and use "immediate order" for what you need. You may not get it right away but it's the fastest way unless you make it yourself. Do you have a CEO? |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 10:48 pm
I use immediate order for everything. I do not have a CEO. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 10:52 pm
And the sad part is, my enemy is a C3...I managed to bomb their war index down to 9.34 yesterday and then I had to get off the computer -_- and it recovered and now I have to start all over again! Grrrr! |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 11:01 pm
Could someone just sell me some weapons directly??? I wanna bash this C3 and give it what for!!! I am also plagued with lazy supply units that don't replenish; they just sit there and do absolutely nothing while that stupid C3 recovers and makes the job all the more difficult! I have corps that make nukes, so I have a lot to bargain with...someone just help me out PLEASE! |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 12:27 am
I AM GOING TO FLIP IF THIS C3 DOESNT DIE IN 1 HOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! SOMEBODY------SELL--------ME--------WEAPONSSSSZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! |
| Accordion_This (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 04:41 am
This is a common problem in taking your first couple of C3s. The problem here is that you didn't stock up on enough ammo in the first place. Next time, before you declare war, make sure you have ridiculous amounts of ammo spare just in case. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 07:31 am
I feel SO much better now!
I'm sorry Vlad. I'm not laughing at you. In '08 it took me 3 tries to kill my first c3.
The first try I didn't kill all the c3's Air Force and my ground troops were mincemeat.
The second time I tried I did what Accordion mentioned: I didn't have near enough ammo.
The third time I succeeded. After doing just what you are, going on the boards with a WTF cry. A vet took pity on me and told me the best way.
I'd be happy to sell you some weapons except I don't have any. I'm building up my econ first.
What you might do is go to the church of sim site. They have some decent strategies on all aspects of the game. Most, if not all of it, was written by Scarlet, an experienced (and still playing) veteran. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 09:20 am
END of MARCH results: It's getting tougher to read the situation on LU. We are slowly moving out of our capacity problems (good news)but a number of products have seen a drop in the usage % , so that even if capacity is there real production lack continues to thwart the recovery.
Since I have no way of knowing what the cause of the decreased production % is, I'm limiting this update to those corps running over 90% capacity which are still showing significant shortfall.
The winners are:
Air Fuel
Books & News
Bricks
Cement
Electric Components
Electronic Components
Rubber
Software
The "I'd still add a few":
Chemicals
Computers
Copper
Machine Parts
Plastics
And just for Accordion:
Electric Corps needed:800
FMU Corps needed:1250 (still)
Edit: Forgot to mention Oil. Still on winners list. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 04:07 pm
I made a soybean corp and I will make sure it always runs to capacity. I also gave up my war with the C3. I am just gonna work on my economy now. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 04:57 pm
Yay I am a nuclear power now!!! I have corps making nukes and I plan to stockpile them. My country really is turning into the Soviet Union! XD |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 05:39 pm
I am also short of Plutonium. Can someone please sell me some plutonium?
I have corps that make copper, plastic, bricks, software, and oil. Message the country, "RSFSR" if anyone wants a contract. I am happy to share and I have plenty. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 06:39 pm
Couple of suggestions: Your country uses software products. If you contract to your country the amount they use monthly (plus a little) then you will avoid the game buying it for the country.
So you're keeping the money in the family instead of paying a stranger for it.
The other is to have your corp trade strategies set correctly. Church of Sim recommends selling at market +30%, minus 10% each month not sold, follow the quality.
I have found this difficult at the lower quality levels. So if your quality is 100 you might want to try +10 or +15, minus 5% until your Q goes up (assuming you are upgrading the corps). Trial and error.
If you are constantly getting "too high" each month your prices may need to come down. If you're at "some left" each month this is considered to be optimal. If you're at "none" you can probably raise your prices a bit (unless you're contracting them all to yourself, then it doesn't matter). |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 08:05 pm
I do have it contracted. I am not having any problems with my corps at the moment, except for my Nuclear Missile corp...it needs plutonium. Other than that, it's all good. I have plenty to share so anyone can ask me for a contract and I will gladly sell to anyone. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 11:07 pm
Ok I continue my war with C3. I just spam-ordered mid range missile batteries and missiles and now I am just gonna bash that dumb C3 to no end!!! Mwuahahahaa! |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Friday, June 17, 2011 - 11:42 pm
I am just gonna murder it no matter what deficit my country takes. That C3 has 12 CEO corps! Any loans my country takes can be repayed with the profit I get from the corps in that C3 country, so I am just gonna go all out for it. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 01:58 am
Better get a veteran's opinion, but I don't think those CEO corps transfer to your ownership if you take the country. They stay there, but the original owners still have control. That's my understanding, but I'm not sure, so best ask someone who knows. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 02:02 am
No I know I don't own those corps but I do know that they will definitely still pay taxes to me. BTW, "Estonian SSR" is open for business as the newest annex of the USSR :D LOL |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 02:10 am
And I have every intention of expanding further. Much further. I learned my lesson from this war, to stockpile before I attack. Now, killing C3's will be easy. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 02:22 am
Glad to see you've got a gameplan. I'll have a look at Estonian SSR, possibly can do some business.
An added bonus on those CEO corps: not only do they pay taxes, they also pay 40% of their turnover to you as what is called "country resources". That amount alone can more than make up for high taxes. So just another suggestion: keep your taxes reasonable. There's a lot of CEOs who will abandon a country whose taxes are "exorbitant". I have mine set at 15%, and when I'm ready for a major CEO influx I will lower it to 5% or 0%. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 02:24 am
Oh, and just out of curiosity, are you of Russian heritage?
I'm American, but my ancestry is full blooded Kraut on both sides (although if you go by a post WWII map I'd be half Polish!). |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 09:28 pm
No, I am completely German 100%. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 09:40 pm
That's interesting. I lived in Aschaffenburg for two years back in the late 1970s, and until about 10 years ago still had elderly relatives living near Fulda.
If you're not familiar with A-burg, it's about 40K from Frankfurt. They make Heyland's beer (big red ball as their symbol). Good stuff, especially the dopplebok. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 09:50 pm
I just attacked another C3. Why is it now that I am losing all my stuff in battle while attacking an UNDEFENDED target??? That makes no sense! |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:00 pm
Did you kill all it's air defenses first? |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:01 pm
Oh that might help. -smacks head- duh! |
| Open Sesame (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:05 pm
Vlad, do you plan on maintaining a 15 country empire for a whole month? |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:10 pm
A whole game month or a real month? |
| Skandar (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:25 pm
The game does have a built in limit to the number of countries you can annex - above a certain number (I'm not sure how high), you start paying large financial charges in each country. I guess these are supposed to represent the burden of administering a large empire. This puts an extra strain on your economy to limit your expansion. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:26 pm
This is only my 2nd C3 im conquering. That shouldn't be a problem. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:29 pm
Whats the best weapon to use for killing air defense? I was thinking either Off. Anti-Aircraft Missiles or Attack Drones. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:38 pm
@Open Sesame
Yes, but I have an economic plan to counteract it. I am building an as-real-as-possible model of the Soviet Union, so of course I am going to have a massive empire. I am thinking a dozen countries. |
| rep (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:40 pm
I can't remember off hand, but use the keyword search, I know for sure there was forum discussion about this on some threads. |
| Vladimir Lenin (Little Upsilon) | Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 10:45 pm
Im getting corps that make off. antiaircraft missile bats and missiles. Once those corps are built, I am just gonna create brigades completely made of antiaircraft and then I'll just crush their air defense. |
| Crafty (Little Upsilon) | Sunday, June 19, 2011 - 04:45 pm
Vlad, fighter planes or navy fighter planes. Fighter planes with precision bombers or drones, as a shield to absorb the C3s defensive fire, in an attack wing. Forget your off AA batts, you'll need way to many. Dont forget to put a land unit next to any target if the C3 is a neighbour.
10 to 12 countries is about as many as you want on one world really, but you can make more work, seen it done, as long as they really are properly profitable. |
