Product Class Expertise
In the game, both the player character and AI-controlled individuals may possess expertise in specific product classes. This expertise provides the following strategic advantages when managing a company:
- Improved R&D Effectiveness — a person’s expertise in a product class boosts the research and development performance of technologies within that class by 1% per expertise point.
- Maintained Manufacturing Levels — when applying higher-level technology to an existing manufacturing unit producing products in the expertise product class, the unit’s level remains unaffected. In the original Capitalism 2, upgrading technology would downgrade the manufacturing unit’s level.
Strategic Impact on Long-Term Gameplay
In the original Capitalism 2, long-running games — 80 years or more — often ended with a single corporation dominating most markets. Product class expertise makes that considerably harder. Companies led by CEOs with expertise in specific product classes pose a much stronger challenge, which keeps the field competitive for longer.
From the player’s side, hiring managers such as COOs with strong expertise in the right product classes becomes a real strategic decision rather than an afterthought.
If you prefer the classic gameplay style, the feature can be switched off in the new game settings by setting “Competitor Expertise Level” to None.
Knowledge Points
You earn Knowledge Points as a reward for achieving specific goals in the game. They can then be spent on raising the expertise of your management executives.
Knowledge Points Settings
On the game settings menu, a section labelled “Goal Rewards” sits under the “Goals” tab. It offers several ways to customise Knowledge Points:
- Turn Knowledge Points off entirely.
- Allow Knowledge Points to raise the expertise of your management team. With this disabled, they can only raise the expertise of your player character.
- Set how many Knowledge Points you start a game with.
- Change how many Knowledge Points each goal awards.
Enhancing Expertise Points
You can spend Knowledge Points on your player character’s expertise, developing the skills that suit how you actually play rather than a fixed progression.
When the option “Can Increase Expertise of Management Staff” is enabled, you can raise your leadership team’s capabilities directly, aligning their strengths with the company’s strategic needs.
