Is it all about the land?

[jondonnis]

So my game was going OK, making a tiny profit with my farm and supermarket. Tried to do other things but failed so scrapped a few builds. Had to issues shares to get money back and pay off my MASSIVE debt that was slowly bankrupting the company. Paid that off so money started to come in.

Inflation is on, I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but over the years land has just gone up and up. Now all it appears I need to do to make money, is buy plots of land, wait a few years and sell it. Also have started to buy the land around the MASSIVELY overpriced natural resources no one is uses. Finally, despite these natural resources being stupidly overpriced, the AI has built on a few. This has ingress the price of the land I purchased around them quite a lot.

Would this all be classed as exploits like the old grabbing all the resources like oil extra and making a killing off them? Because the value of land never seems to decrease it just means you could just win by buying a loud of land at the start, wait a few years and then flog it all.

Some Timber appeared, oddly in the middle of town instead of the woods. Bought the land around it, each square being roughly $10mil. Now the AI has plonked a mill on it, so now the land is worth $34mil

[azxcvbnm321]

As long as the cities grow, land should get more expensive as there is only a limited supply. Inflation might make it look like you are making more than you are, but with zero inflation you should still be able to make money. This is how the real world works too, if you bought empty land way outside the city in Los Angeles back in 1950, you'd have made money. But most people don't have decades to wait like you can in the game. The AI also speculates in land, buying up space in developing areas.

It's just a question of how you want to deploy capital to make money. Build a factory, build you brand, invest in new technology, or invest in land.

[WilliamMGary]

Clever idea abut buying the land around the natural resources. I don't think natural resources are overprice at all.

[jondonnis]

Clever idea abut buying the land around the natural resources. I don't think natural resources are overprice at all.

They seemed to be on mine with inflation on. But this was after several years. $8bill to build an oil well. Watching the profits of the AI that had put a well on it, looked like they were only making a few mill from the oil each year.

Also near the CBD, I built an office building. Made decent profit then the land I'd bought from $10mil next to it rocketed up to $100mil per square. The next question was do I just sell the land or build another office block on it, that costs about $500mill and may not bring in much profit each year to make it worth it.

I guess if I understand inflation more it would help

My maths is shit.

[WilliamMGary]

The principle of inflation is that when economic activity is strong there's more inflation (prices increases, consumers are buying goods) and when economic activity is weak money is tight (consumers spending less, retail prices fall). No math needed.

[azxcvbnm321]

Also near the CBD, I built an office building. Made decent profit then the land I'd bought from $10mil next to it rocketed up to $100mil per square. The next question was do I just sell the land or build another office block on it, that costs about $500mill and may not bring in much profit each year to make it worth it.

You've spotted how inflation makes it seem that you've made more profit than you actually did. Another way to look at it is, "what can I purchase with the money I made"? If your $100mil can only purchase the same amount of stuff as your $10mil did at the beginning of the game, then you made no profit at all. The real return (inflation adjusted) was zero.

[jondonnis]

Also near the CBD, I built an office building. Made decent profit then the land I'd bought from $10mil next to it rocketed up to $100mil per square. The next question was do I just sell the land or build another office block on it, that costs about $500mill and may not bring in much profit each year to make it worth it.

You've spotted how inflation makes it seem that you've made more profit than you actually did. Another way to look at it is, "what can I purchase with the money I made"? If your $100mil can only purchase the same amount of stuff as your $10mil did at the beginning of the game, then you made no profit at all. The real return (inflation adjusted) was zero.

That suggests that the profit "Gain" on the tool tip when you hover over land then, doesn't take into account inflation? One square says purchase was $22mil now is $142mil, gain 533% (rough numbers from what it shows).