Vehicles and cargo

Vehicles carry goods bought on the market from the seller's city to the buyer's. You do not need any for your company to work: transport earns extra Company Value, but not much money. It all happens on the Transport page in the menu.

When a company buys goods on the market that were sold in another city, a cargo appears on that route. Trucks can also take trades within one city. The goods reach the buyer whether or not anyone carries them. Cargo nobody loads within 48 hours is gone.

The Transport page shows the cargo waiting where your vehicles are. The Map tool tab shows every city's cargo and waiting vehicles, coloured from blue (good) to red (poor). You can move the colour cutoffs; VIP members can also change the points behind them.

Press Buy a vehicle. Every round has trucks, trailers and airplanes, and either ships or trains, each with its own price, load, speed and fuel use. Each extra vehicle of a type costs more than the last. Buying one adds a little to your Company Value.

A new vehicle waits in your city with an empty tank and no driver. Place someone with a driving licence in it from their staff profile (see Hiring staff). A Driver brings their production points; anyone else their attribute points. Skill is those points divided by 2, as a percentage, and speed is half the top speed plus half again times the skill. A vehicle stands still while its driver is absent.

Vehicles waiting in a city queue up, first come, first served. The first one claims a route with cargo and loads until it is full or at its minimum load, then leaves. Nobody else can load on that route until it has gone.

On a vehicle's page you can:

• set Leave with at least (units); a new vehicle leaves at 50% of its load
• press Send it now to leave with what is on board
• choose what a truck Takes: any trade, same city only, or other cities only
• Send it there: drive empty to another city after its current task, using fuel and earning nothing

In some rounds you can also choose full loads only (FTL) or any load (LTL) for your whole fleet on the Transport page; VIP members can set it for each vehicle.

Each delivery pays £1 per unit, whatever the good or distance, plus Company Value for the units times the distance. A same-city trip counts as a fixed distance.

Fuel is paid from your gasoline account at the market price of gasoline. Founding your company puts part of the registration fee into it. A new vehicle tanks up at the next update and takes no cargo until then; on the road, vehicles refuel as they run low. With the account empty they stop where they are until there is money in it again.

To top it up, use Deposit money to your gasoline account on the Gasoline expenditure tab. The money leaves your savings now, arrives at the next update and cannot be taken back out. Your secretary can warn you on the front page when it runs low (see Settings).

While it is not on the road, a vehicle can be sold for 20% of what your newest one of that type would cost today, and you lose some Company Value. Fuel in the tank is lost, and the driver goes back to head office.