Improved Gameplay Balance

The following aspects of the game have been revised to enhance overall gameplay balance.

Freight Costs

Freight costs for purchasing products from another city are now calculated based on:

1) freight costs between the supplier firm and the nearest seaport

2) freight costs for shipping products between two cities.

3) freight costs between the buyer firm and the nearest seaport

Viewing the freight cost breakdown 
Select a Purchasing Unit and hover the mouse over the “cost+freight” display. A pop -up box will show a detailed breakdown of the freight costs (see screenshot below).

Maximum Capacity of Functional Units

The maximum capacity of functional units has been adjusted to a more realistic level. This change is especially noticeable for units that have been trained to higher levels.

R&D Progress

For research and development projects in R&D centers, increases in technology values will be higher when the Top Technology on the market exceeds 100. This addresses the issue where R&D improvements have minimal impact on product quality once the Top Technology has reached a very high level.

Training

For both normal and intensive training, functional units that have reached level 9 will no longer incur any training costs, regardless of the training slider settings.

Random Events

When the “Technology Breakthrough” random event happens, the research in progress will complete instantly and the resulting tech will be 20-60 points higher than the original target tech.

Merger Mechanism Improvement

An improvement has been made to allow brands of the target company of a merger to survive under the conditions described below. If both the acquiring company (parent) and the target company (child) are using unique brand strategy, and BOTH of the following conditions is true, then the child’s brand ratings will be retained.

Condition #1 
The child’s brand rating > the parent’s brand rating (brand rating is the sum of brand awareness and brand loyalty)

Condition #2
The child’s brand loyalty >=0
OR
The child’s brand loyalty is at least 10 points greater than the parent’s brand loyalty.