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Getting started questions

Short answers for new players: founding a company, choosing a speciality and city, the starting money and first steps, game time, help in the game, playing a little each day, inactive companies, the cost, phones, Back and languages.

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Contents
  1. How do I start playing?
  2. Which speciality should I choose?
  3. Which city should I choose?
  4. Can I change my company's name, city or speciality later?
  5. How much money do I start with?
  6. What should I do first?
  7. How does time work in the game?
  8. Where can I get help in the game?
  9. Can I play just a little each day?
  10. What happens if I stop playing?
  11. Is the game free?
  12. Do I need to download anything?
  13. Is there a back button?
  14. Can I play in another language?

Short answers to what new players often ask. For the whole story, see How the game works, Founding your company and Your first day.

How do I start playing?

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Sign up with a username, an e-mail address and a password, and follow the link in the e-mail the game sends you. Then found your company on Start your company, in three steps: its name and speciality, its city, and a last check. Nothing is paid until you press Start your company. Between rounds, the page counts down to the next one instead.

Which speciality should I choose?

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The branch you mean to build in. Factories that make one of its goods, and shops that sell any of them, produce 10% more; offices never get the bonus. Each of the seven branches is named after its raw good, such as wood or wheat, and its raw-goods factory needs no inputs, which makes it an easy first building.

Which city should I choose?

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Factories and shops earn the same in every city, because everyone trades on one market. The city still matters:

  • All your buildings stand there for the whole round.
  • A city with fewer companies leaves more free zones next to roads, where buildings make 30% more.
  • Offices earn more in some cities than in others.
  • Busy cities have more cargo for vehicles.

The page shows each city's population, companies and buildings, and Random city picks one for you.

Can I change my company's name, city or speciality later?

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No, all three stay for the whole round. To start again, use Resetting your company under Settings: your company closes with everything it owns, and you found a new one with new starting money and a new name. Resets are limited to 1 in any 24 hours, and you may have to pay off your loans first.

How much money do I start with?

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Every new company gets £7,500. Registering it takes £5,000 of that: £2,500 opens your salary account, which pays your staff, and the rest opens your gasoline account, which pays for fuel. What is left is your savings. Your company also owns all 50 of its own shares, and selling some of them is the usual way to raise more.

What should I do first?

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Follow the tutorial. Your first factory and its staff take most of your savings, so raise money first: sell your own shares on My shares, keeping 2, or borrow on Loans. Then build a factory with nothing under Requires, ideally in your speciality and next to a road, hire staff for it and move them in. Your first day goes through every step.

How does time work in the game?

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The game runs in real time, on UK time, and a game day is a calendar day. The top bar shows the day of the round, the time and a countdown to the next update. Every 10 minutes, day and night, the world updates: your buildings collect points and waiting orders go through. On the hour the points become goods, and at midnight a new day starts: loan instalments are taken and, after the round's first 4 days, market prices move. See Game time and updates.

Where can I get help in the game?

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When you found a company, the tutorial takes you through your first day step by step, in a box at the top of each page: Show me points at the control to use, and Hide tutorial hides it. Many pages also explain themselves in a quick help box, and Page tour at the top of a page points out each part of it. Settings turns the tutorial and quick help on or off. Help me! in the menu lists more places to find help, such as the forums.

Can I play just a little each day?

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Yes: a visit or two a day is enough. Your company keeps working while you are away, market prices change only at midnight and most orders wait for the next update anyway, so being online all day gives little edge. Before you log off, make room in your warehouse and check your salary account and savings. See Playing at your own pace.

What happens if I stop playing?

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Your company carries on without you: factories keep working until your warehouse is full or their inputs run out, and wages, loan instalments and fines are still taken. If you don't visit for 11 days (21 for VIP members), the company is closed with everything it owns, and Bankruptcies lists it as Inactive. Any visit restarts the count. If your company was closed, you can found a new one as soon as you are back.

Is the game free?

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Yes, it is free to play. VIP membership is optional and paid: it saves clicks and shows more information, but never makes your company produce more, and free players have the same buildings, market and prices. You can try it free for 7 days. See Premium membership.

Do I need to download anything?

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No. The game runs in a web browser on a computer, tablet or phone, and you can add it to your phone's home screen. On a phone, four tabs and the menu sit along the bottom of the screen.

Is there a back button?

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Use your browser's own Back button: the game keeps your history, so it takes you to the page you were on. On a phone, Back also closes the menu when it is open, and the menu's Find a page box and Recent row take you straight to a page.

Can I play in another language?

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No, the game and its help pages are in English only. The forum rules also ask you to write in English in the main game forum.

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  • Building questions Short answers about buildings: building step by step, placing them on the map, road-side zones, sites that are not being built, how many buildings and staff you can have, upgrades, ageing, rebuilding, missing materials, what makes what, and investing instead.
  • Staff questions Short answers about staff: who works best where, hiring from the list or by job ads, placing, moving and firing people, wages and salary demands, absences, dissatisfaction, training, builders and drivers.
  • Market questions Short answers about buying and selling goods: orders that come back unfilled, goods that do not show for sale, prices, daily limits and a full warehouse.
  • Shop and office questions Short answers about shops and offices: how shops sell, their prices and customers, why a shop sells little, what offices do, why an office makes no money or cannot be built yet, choosing its service or price, and where offices do best.
  • Money questions Short answers about money: ways to earn and raise it, savings and the salary account, loans and their interest, investing, taxes, bonuses, what your company pays each day and why savings drop overnight.
  • Company value questions Short answers about company value (CV): what it is and how it is counted, why it rises or drops, deposits, buildings and loans, bankruptcy, starting again, resetting your company and inactive companies being closed.
  • Share questions Short answers about shares: buying and selling them, your own company's shares, share prices, the stockpile and dividends, S-points, sales that do not go through, the bank and what happens to shares at the end.
  • Transport questions Short answers about vehicles: whether you need any, buying them, drivers and speed, where cargo comes from, what deliveries pay, routes and distances, gasoline, running costs and why a vehicle stands still.
  • Round and ranking questions Short answers about rounds and rankings: how long a round lasts, joining late, the end of a round and starting again, C-rank and S-rank, the other rankings, career points, records that do not show and prizes.
  • Account questions Short answers about your account: one account each, changing your names, e-mail address and password, two-step sign-in, devices, your secretary and avatar, the paid membership, e-mails, your data and leaving the game.
  • Community questions Short answers about other players: asking in the forums, mail, blogs, teams, company logos, reporting and blocking, bugs, reaching the game staff, playing fair and suggesting changes to the wiki.