How should you develop your first companies? – my starting order for a new player
I have only been playing for a few days, so I am not going to pretend to be an expert. However, I have learned a lot from more experienced players, and I also started calculating some things myself.
At the moment, this order seems to make the most sense for someone who wants to develop their account with a focus on economy. This guide only covers the beginning of the game and the first four companies.
My calculations are based on the following prices:
Concrete: 1.67 coins
Steel: 1.62 coins
AE stands for Automated Engine.
Each AE level generates 1 PP per hour:
AE1 – 1 PP/h,
AE2 – 2 PP/h,
AE3 – 3 PP/h,
AE4 – 4 PP/h.
The engine works automatically and does not use our Energy or Entrepreneurship. This is why it is worth developing several companies evenly instead of immediately investing everything into one.
Build the companies in the following order:
Limestone
Concrete
Iron
Steel
This gives us a basic production chain:
Limestone is needed to produce Concrete.
Concrete is needed to build new companies.
Iron is needed to produce Steel.
Steel is needed to upgrade AE.
Each company should be built in a region with the best available Production Bonus for that resource.
With Steel priced at 1.62 coins:
Upgrade | Steel required | Cost
AE1 → AE2 | 20 | 32.40 coins
AE2 → AE3 | 40 | 64.80 coins
AE3 → AE4 | 80 | 129.60 coins
Upgrading a new company:
to AE3 costs 60 Steel, which equals 97.20 coins,
to AE4 costs 140 Steel, which equals 226.80 coins.
Upgrade the first Limestone company to AE3.
Upgrade cost:
60 Steel × 1.62 = 97.20 coins
Do not upgrade it to AE4 yet.
The second company costs 100 Concrete:
100 × 1.67 = 167 coins
Upgrading it to AE3 costs another 97.20 coins.
Total:
264.20 coins
At this point, we have:
Limestone AE3,
Concrete AE3.
The third company costs 150 Concrete:
150 × 1.67 = 250.50 coins
Upgrade to AE3:
97.20 coins
Total:
347.70 coins
The third company at AE3 gives 3 PP/h. The cost of 1 PP/h is therefore:
347.70 ÷ 3 = 115.90 coins
Upgrading an existing company from AE3 to AE4 costs 129.60 coins and gives only 1 PP/h.
That is why, at this stage, it is more profitable to build the third company and upgrade it to AE3 first.
Once we have:
Limestone AE3,
Concrete AE3,
Iron AE3,
upgrade each of these companies to AE4.
Each upgrade costs:
80 Steel × 1.62 = 129.60 coins
The order does not matter much. You can start with the company that has the highest Production Bonus or produces the resource you currently need the most.
The fourth company costs 200 Concrete:
200 × 1.67 = 334 coins
Upgrading it from AE1 to AE4 costs:
140 Steel × 1.62 = 226.80 coins
Total:
560.80 coins
After completing the whole plan, we have:
Limestone AE4,
Concrete AE4,
Iron AE4,
Steel AE4.
This gives us a total of:
16 PP/h, which equals 384 base PP per day
Production Bonuses from the regions are added on top of that.
The order is:
Limestone → AE3
Concrete → AE3
Iron → AE3
Limestone, Concrete and Iron → AE4
Steel → AE4
In other words, first build three companies and upgrade each one to AE3. Then upgrade all three to AE4, and only after that build the fourth company producing Steel.
It is not worth upgrading the first companies to AE5 or AE6 while we still do not have the full basic production chain.
At the beginning, it is not worth upgrading Storage.
Larger Storage does not increase production, and it uses Steel that could instead be spent on AE. You only need to use your accumulated PP regularly and avoid letting the Storage fill up completely.
Employees should only be hired at a wage that still allows the company to make a profit.
When creating a job offer, there is a profit calculator. If it shows a positive result, the offer makes sense. If it shows a loss, it is better to lower the wage or not hire anyone for the time being.
I am still learning the game myself, but based on conversations with more experienced players and my own calculations, this order currently seems to make the most sense:
Limestone AE3 → Concrete AE3 → Iron AE3 → all three to AE4 → Steel AE4
Each company should be built in a region with the best available Production Bonus. Do not upgrade Storage at the beginning, and only hire employees when the calculator shows a profit.
This is not the only possible development path, but for a new player it is simple, logical and helps avoid spending materials blindly.