W3C - Game News - March 28

Corporations Update

Some corporations use of workers has been updated to increase the number of LLWs and reduce the number of MLWs and HLWs corporations hire.

The change was mentioned in a discussion on the forum in recent days.

As a result, all countries will see some changes in employment, that will further correct the traditional shortages of HLWs and MLWs and surpluses of LLWs.

It will take several days for the dust to settle and we will then check again if this is sufficient.

The aim here is to reduce (not eliminate) the need for manual conversions of workers. That feature remains important but should not be needed everywhere all the time.

Birth Rates

Birth rates are declining a bit in high population countries. The birth rate always declined with growth of the population and was highest in very small countries.

This remains of course but the break even point declines a bit.

It was increased to correct a problem with declining population several months ago and Now returns to a lower pace. Population numbers however remain higher than they were in the past.

The birth rates in countries played by players who are not full member are becoming lower to help maintain Population levels around 20M. Once a player becomes full member, birth rates will increase and population levels will increase quickly. The 20M number is not new but it was hard to maintain while birth rates were very high as with other countries with low population levels.

Jonni,

Thank your for the update, and all the detail you provided about your future plans and how you are thinking about the problems. It is greatly appreciated.

My Country, DanNation, on LU, has been experiencing a bug. Where the "Needed for New Facilities" workforce always says I need 3,200 high level workers, even when I am not building anything, and all other worker types say I need 0 workers. It never goes away and removes 3,200 High Level Workers from my "available" workforce whenever I am building a new Corporation. Would it be possible for someone to look into it and correct the issue? Thank you for your help.

Signed President of DanNation on LU

As a free player max corp's one could handle would be 30?

Anthonyzappulla,

The rule of thumb is usually 2 Corps per 1 million population. So with free players limited to 20 million population, you'd expected an average Corp count of about 40.

Signed President of DanNation on LU

Also, I love the idea of using a low birth rate to keep population stable in Free to Play Countries. It enables their demographics to be properly balanced. The Cap system of just taking adults out of the population wasn't nearly as realistic.

Although as a premium player, I don't have to worry about it. It's just nice to see the simulation being improved for everyone

Yes Daniel, you are right and it comes far too late.
It should have been done before.

Actually, as a free member, I can't support 2 corps per million in population. At a pop max of 20M, I find I can only support 1.3-1.4 corps per million pop. At 25 million pop that improves to 1.5-1.6 corps per million in population. I think free members should have their pop cap set to 25M instead of 20 million.

I have 30 corps right now, 23.3 mil pop that is declining fast. I currently have the man power to support another corp but for some reason the corp under construction has been sitting for over a game year to build.

Do you have production plants?
If you have them, and the corp does not build, let me know (world and country too) and I will have a look.

Population in these countries is set to 20M and recently, it went up.

It will correct itself back to 20M it will take several weeks.

Thank you Andy,

Any word on the bug with my workers "Needed for New Facilities" always saying I need 3,200 more than I actually do? High Level workers are usually the employee type that I have the fewest of, so it means the game can say I don't have enough to fully support a new Corporation, when actually I do.

Signed President of DanNation on LU

Andy- The correction you mentioned, does that apply to all countries? Either way, what actions would cause a population to drop?

Daniel,

I will clear the number of pending workers.
we do it from time to time. There is an old error that manifests itself now and then.

Khome

Population in full member countries cannot be reduced.
It is the most important asset in a country.

it will however slow down and may decline in countries with more than 100M.

Andy,

Thank you, I greatly appreciate the help.

Khome,

A player can't directly reduce their population. However, Healthcare index does have a significant effect on it's growth rate, and the level it ultimately stabilises at. On births, from my observations, the update included another reduction in births. My country now sees declining numbers of elementary school children and slower population growth. It should be easier to manage population going forward.

Signed President of DanNation on LU

Thanks for responding Andy!! Yes I currently have 4 in stock

Andy - at this point populations at this magnitude is a detriment . I know normally it is an asset but for me it's not, for several reasons I have said in other forums .

With that in mind, you said populations should decrease around 100m .that does not seem to be the case in mine .


The reason I ask these questions is because I have set my own objectives that are not typical .

Anthony
where is this corporation you try to build.
world name/country
I will look into it.

Khome,
check population growth. It is slowing down.

I see it stopping already in countries with 140M, declining in a country with 200M.

It will take time.
Fast changes can get us back to the upside down distribution of the population as we had several months ago.

FB
The Holy Ground

Thanks much!!

Anthony,
I looked into your country.

I do not see any corporation under construction.
in the past 18 game months, no corporations was build.

I do not see the problem.

I stopped it from being built. Seems the 60k a month lost in pop I cant keep up the work force to build one.

Andy sorry to bother you, but can you take one more look at my country? ATM I feel I should have enough workers for a new corp but it's not building.

Thanks much

Anthonyzappulla,

The Corporation isn't building, because you still have Corporations with unfilled jobs, due to past worker shortages. Corporation can only increase hiring by ~10% per game month, so it can take them a few game months to fully recover from a worker shortage. Give them 2-4 game months to get their hiring back to 100%. If you still have enough unemployed, then you can build another Corporation. While it might look like you have lots of spare workers right now, you have 285,576 unfilled jobs as of Dec 4321 FB time, so unemployment should decline as your corporations work their way back up to 100% hiring.

Signed President of DanNation on LU

I figured it had something to do with shortages but being I'm losing 70k to 80k now a month I feel I will never be able to build another. Especially when I lose the 300k a day bonus

Thanks for responding buddy!!

Anthonyzappulla, Any other 'Free to Play' Players reading the thread,

Due to recent changes in how the births rates are calculated, and how the population caps are enforced, demographic balance in 'Free to Play' countries are in flux right now. Right now, these countries have more children, and fewer working adults, than they will have long term.

Depending on exactly how the demographics play out, and whether or not a player has enough CEO Corporations in their country to return the maximum number of Housewives and Disabled workers to the workforce. I estimate that these countries should have somewhere between 9-11 million workers once they are stabilised.

As a rule of thumb, once a country has fully upgraded all it's corporations, and stabilised it's demographics, it can support roughly 2 Corporation per 500,000 workers. However, the exact number depends on which types of products are being produced, and how many Corporations are CEO controlled.

As such, long term, I'd expect 'Free to Play' countries to be able to support roughly 40 Corporations, once their countries are properly set up and optimised.

Signed President of DanNation on LU

Anthonyzappulla, Anyone Struggling with choosing what to produce,

There are roughly 240 different products in Simcountry, and a lot of players are overwhelmed by having to decide what they should produce. There are lots of different strategies, and it's largely a question of priorities. However, there are a few key products that are much more reliable than most, and as such form a good foundation for any economy.

I'd recommend any player to have at least one Corporation producing each of these products. To provide a stable base for their economy. I've grouped them by game level, so that players can easily see which ones they are capable of building at their current level.

Game Level 1:
Services
Chemicals
Oil
Road Maintenance
Construction
Military Services

Game Level 2:
Electric Power
Household Products
Books And Newspapers
Robotics

Game Level 3:
Air Transport
High Tech Services
Medical Equipment
Medical Materials

These 14 products form a stable base for your economy. After you have all 14 (or all the ones your game level can allow). Then you can consider branching into the more "exotic" product types, since these 14 products will give your economy a decent base.

Signed President of DanNation on LU