Okay! Thanks for coming to this Tips and Hints page... I've understand from some of my friends who played Capitalism that profits were really slow and they didn't know what to build at the start of the game and all the other things... I understand 'cos there are so many things available for you to build - Departmental Stores, Factories, Research and Development centres, Mines, Oil Mines, Farms, and Logging camps.

So, here are simple tips to get the game started... Oh yah, before you continue, I suggest that you save this page and view it offline or don't come running after me for your high internet bills. The Author is in no way responsible for your expenses!! (I hope I've got myself clear....)

Okay, here goes...

 

Customise a game with 20% sea, 30% mountains, and 50% land. Competitors' expertise level should be set to the highest and you should start with 50% ownership of the company ($10 million) and depending on your preferences, a good and easy game for beginners should be around 49% to 78% difficulty and for more experienced people, I will recommend 100% to 156%. Only when you are crazed over Capitalism Plus or you feel that there is no challenge at all at other difficulty levels should you select 200%....

When you start a game, always (I mean it) check if there is a good president available in the game - you don't have to worry if he already has a company. But most importantly, he must have lots of expertise, especially in Manufacturing, Retail, and Farming.

Now that you have verified that, look around for the city that has the highest population and lowest competition. If you are playing the game with seaports, its a great advantage if there is a city that is big (around 1.8 million) near the ports.

At the beginning of the game, there are normally not much competitors around because from general observations, competitors tend to follow what you do and not innovate! So, first, PAUSE the game!! And, using all the money you have, build departmental stores at the cities which are big and close to seaports (if any). You should only be able to build two if you've followed closely.

The next immediate thing for you to do is to select what items to sell in your departmental stores. When you first start a game, since there are little competition from the other companies, EVERYTHING SELLS! So, just go to the nearest seaport and sell the consumer goods available there. Each departmental store should be able to sell up to four items, following this example...
 
Purchasing Sales  Purchasing
Sales Advertising Sales
Purchasing Sales Purchasing
This is the most basic configuration for your departmental store and should prove useful all the way till the end of the game. (you have to link the units together yourself) So, when you've got all the 8 products ready for sale, click on "fastest speed" for a few seconds. You will be faced with two scenarios - profits are up, or, you're bankrupt. The first scenario is fine... The second will require you to borrow as much bank loan as possible (should be around 15 million) Pause the game soon after and you should be having a steady income by now...

We neglected the stock market for a good one month period and if your profits are up (as the theory should go), your share prices will be rather high now (probably $30-$40). Now, the objective of this game is to dominate all the industries and attain the highest possible score (so you can enter the online score board as well). Now, we realise that personal wealth holds more weightage than the corporate value...Since your company will be the dominant company eventually (if you play it right), won't you want to benefit yourself from this? Purchase all the available stocks you can from your own pocket (please pause the game while you are doing so) and when you can't purchase anymore, use the company's funds to buy back all the stocks (take a loan if needed) until you have 100% ownership of your company. Now, you can set dividend level as high as 80% without fear that your money goes into other people's wallet, but beware that too high dividends hurt future performance of your stock since your stock is based on your company's assets (and cash holds a major in your assets) so...

Now that we have two firms running profitably and 100% ownership of the company, it's time to EXPAND! In the beginning of the game, other competitors will probably want to research on some stuffs and by theory, you should do so as well... But, we lack the most important S-11 ($). I will advice you to use all the available funds into an aggressive expansion of departmental stores in possibly ALL the cities in the game. Aim to open 25 stores by the end of the year and by the next year, 60. Somewhere in the middle, it's time to hire your President!! Get him at whatever cost he wants and make him run all your stores (just build a store, set the layout for him, and make him choose what to sell). Let him take care of littles things like store management (he MUST, of course, be a good president) while you take care of channelling funds into profitable businesses.

By the third year, your company should already see stock prices at $1500 and above. Take all the loans you can and expand rapidly. Capture all the chemical mineral mines and oil fields. These are necessities in the future when the electronic sector picks up... If you haven't set up any R and D units, it's time for you to do so now... Research into electronic goods and basic stuffs like Beverages. Build your farms and factories and produce your own drinks to sell and monitor the opponents' companies. Aim for a merger with the best performing company. A general time schedule is to merge with the biggest company in the game within 12 years and use the profit from that company, to prepare for future mergers with the other up and coming companies. Within 20 years, you should be dominating most of the industries in the game except for a few smaller ones; your profit should also be around 8 to 9 billion a year. Since your company is so rich now, channel funds into your personal bank account so that you gain points (you do this by setting incredibly high dividends). Depending on your own goals, once you have reached your goal of personal wealth, initiate a final acquisition of the remaining big company with the remaining of the dominating products and you should win the game in a few months or years time...

The general hint is quick response and aggressive expansion to gain a firm hold in the market first. Use profits to initiate mergers with strong opponents so you can build your business on its technology. Repeat this step till you complete your goals... (it shouldn't take more than 40 to 60 years virtually)

This is how I have been playing this game so far and my highest record is $320 billion of personal wealth and ending the game with 38,000 points... All in a day's work! Try to work on my idea of quick expansion and innovate with your own ideas... Share your success story with me! I'm most glad to share my experiences and ideas if you would share some with me....
 

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Updated on 20 March 1998