Digital Age DLC — Tips and FAQ

The Digital Age DLC adds four connected businesses — software, internet services, e-commerce and telecom — held together by a talent system in which the people you hire matter more than the buildings you put them in. This page collects the prerequisites, the chains of cause and effect, and the questions that come up most, with each answer linking to the page that covers it in full.

In this guide:

• Requirements at a glance
• Getting started
• Building software
• Selling what you build
• Internet companies and telecom
• Talent, loyalty and research
• The video game MOD
• FAQ

Requirements at a glance

Getting started

The settings that decide how hard the tech economy is

On the Digital Age tab of the new game settings:

• Software Revenue Index and Internet Revenue Index — above 100 makes those businesses more profitable than normal, below 100 less.
• Max AI Software and Internet Companies — a lower value is an easier game. Note that AI companies focused on software and internet are added on top of the number of AI competitors you set, so this sector is always contested.
• Talent System — Simplified starts every talent at skill 50; Greatly Simplified also switches off loyalty and headhunting. If the hiring game is not what you came for, this is the switch.
• Disruption to Traditional Media — as people move online, TV, radio and newspapers lose their audience. Turn it on if you want the era simulated rather than just added.
• Maximum E-commerce Share — caps e-commerce as a percentage of total retail sales.

Pick the Digital Age goal set if you want the DLC to set the agenda

Select Digital Age Goals from the goal set menu when you start the game; press G at any time for the full list. See Digital Age Goals. The DLC also ships five scenarios — Scenario screen → the Digital Age DLC button. See New Scenarios.

Building software

Two different unit pairs, and mixing them up is the usual mistake

The structure is worth memorising, because nothing works until both halves exist:

• Tech Programming units develop a technology. Link several together for greater performance, the way R&D units link. The team lead’s skill decides what the unit specializes in.
• A Project Management unit paired with a Project Programming unit develops a product.

Read the requirements first: the Software Guide in the Information Center lists each product’s prerequisite technologies and the level each must reach. 3D Modelling Software, for example, needs 3D Modelling Engine at level 20 and 3D Graphics at level 10. Choose a development duration that takes the tech past the requirement — if it finishes short, you must run another round before the product unlocks. See Software Company.

Not all prerequisites matter equally

Each technology carries a Tech Importance Weight toward the finished product’s overall tech level — Computer OS Core counts for more than Computer OS Input. Hover the weight bar in the Software Guide to see the exact value, and put your best programmers on the heavy ones. There are 20 software products in 7 classes: Operating System, Office, Computer Security, Graphic Design, Video, Utility and Audio. See Software Products.

The OS you build for caps your sales

A brilliant product on a platform nobody uses will not sell. Watch the installed base before committing a product to an OS. If no operating system exists yet early in the game, wait — a specialist AI company brings the first one to market soon after the game begins. See Operating System.

If you launch your own OS, apps decide it

An OS product is rated on quality, brand and price like anything else — plus an Apps Availability rating, calculated from the variety and quality of applications available for it. That is the whole war in one number: an OS wins by attracting software, not by being technically better. Expect the incumbent to fight hard.

Ship new versions or watch sales decay

Products that go years without a new release suffer poor sales; every commercially successful product releases regularly. The Software report (F3) marks releases as yellow lines on the sales graphs — you can see the bump each one produces, on your products and on competitors’. Improve the underlying tech first, so the new version is noticeably better, and use the automatic new version option once you are running enough software companies that doing it by hand is a chore. See Selling Software Products and Software Report.

Selling what you build

Three routes, and early on only one of them works

You can produce packaged software and sell it at retail, produce packaged software and sell it through e-commerce, or sell by digital download through e-commerce. E-commerce takes years to become mainstream, so master packaged production and retail distribution first, and sell through both channels rather than betting on one.

Digital download pays 70/30 in your favour

Revenue from a digital download splits 70% to the software company and 30% to the e-commerce firm — and when you own both, all of it stays in the group while you skip the cost and hassle of manufacturing boxes.

Freight decides what sells online

On e-commerce the customer pays the freight, so it never appears as an expense on your income statement — but it does appear in their decision. What matters is freight as a share of price: a $600 desktop computer with $60 freight is 10% and sells well; a $4 pack of frozen chicken with $2 freight is 50% and does not. Put high-value, low-bulk goods online and leave the rest at retail. See E-Commerce.

One price, everywhere

An e-commerce product can be sold to any customer in any city, so its price is the same in every city — unlike retail, where you can price city by city. Plan the pricing strategy accordingly: you cannot skim a rich city and discount a poor one through the same online catalogue.

Internet companies and telecom

Check the internet population before you build

An internet company’s viability depends on how many people are online, shown on the Digital page of the City report. That number grows only when telecom providers offer service with enough bandwidth — which is an opportunity: build the telecom yourself and you create the customers for your own websites. See Telecom.

Run a telecom by watching one subtraction

Subscribers are limited by infrastructure capacity. Infrastructure capacity minus utilized capacity tells you whether the network can carry peak-hour traffic; when the gap narrows, raise the monthly infrastructure upgrade budget. Pricing is set a month ahead — the price you set takes effect next month.

Quality is features plus technology

A website’s Overall Quality drives monthly unique visitors and how fast market share grows, and it comes from two places: Features Quality, raised by the monthly development budget slider, and Technology, raised by Tech R&D units in an R&D center. On a subscription site, Features Quality is replaced by Content Quality with a content budget. See Internet Companies.

Advertise on your own media if you own any

Use Link Media on the Marketing page to advertise a website. Where you own the media firm, the advertising spend comes back as that firm’s revenue — the same money buys traffic and stays in the group. Note the structural difference the DLC introduces: internet advertising reaches every city, while a traditional media firm’s advertising only reaches its own city.

Know which revenue model you are running

• Advertising — social network, search engine, video sharing, photo sharing, microblogging. You set the Cost per Click; price far above competitors and advertisers simply go elsewhere.
• E-commerce — covered above.
• Service fees — online auction, hotel booking, car rental booking, online stock trading. Revenue is directly proportional to visitor traffic, so traffic is the only lever.
• Subscription — news site, video on demand, where content quality replaces feature quality.

See Types of Internet Companies.

Talent, loyalty and research

Hire early — the supply is finite

Lead researchers for R&D units and lead programmers for software companies are recruited individually, and each city holds a limited supply of talented people. Companies compete for them, and slow movers are left with what remains. Before you decide where to build an R&D center or a software company, check which cities actually have the talent through your Human Resources Department. See The Talent System.

The lead’s skill is the unit’s ceiling

A unit also employs ordinary team members, but the lead researcher’s skill is the most critical factor in the unit’s research efficiency — the team performs to the level of whoever leads it. One excellent lead beats two mediocre ones.

Loyalty has two numbers worth remembering

80 or above and an employee will not entertain offers from competitors. Below 20 and they may quit at any moment. Raise loyalty with a salary rise or a bigger training budget — and remember that as someone’s skill grows they expect to be paid for it; not recognising that erodes loyalty on its own. The automated loyalty targeting switch raises salaries by itself to hold a target you set, and new units inherit your most recent setting.

With inflation on, salaries must move with it

If inflation is enabled and team lead salaries stay flat, loyalty drifts down and your best people leave. The Human Resources Department in your headquarters has an option to adjust team lead salaries by inflation automatically — it is on by default in games started with inflation, and it is worth checking rather than assuming.

Headhunt only when the maths works

Taking someone from a rival costs a higher salary plus a sign-up bonus of one year’s salary, and the more loyal they are to their current employer, the higher the offer has to be. If the Subsidiary DLC is enabled, there is a cheaper move first: transfer a talent from one of your own subsidiaries, which puts subsidiary employees in the headhunt list.

Being behind is not fatal — the game boosts catch-up

When a competitor’s technology level is above 100 and yours is well below it, your gain from R&D projects is boosted:

Additional Tech Gain = Baseline Gain × (Highest Tech Level − Your Tech Level) ÷ Highest Tech Level

With your level at 50, the leader at 500 and a baseline gain of 30, the bonus is 27 — a total of 57, nearly double. Entering a technology late is therefore much less punishing than it looks; what you cannot recover is a user base. See Technology Research.

Buying in is sometimes faster than building

Private, independent AI tech companies may accept an outright acquisition offer, made from the Corporate Details report. With the Subsidiary DLC enabled you can choose which of your companies makes the purchase. See Acquiring a Private Company.

The video game MOD

The video game mod kit replaces the DLC’s software industry with a video game industry, and adds one rule the base game does not have: a game title can be owned by only one company. Once a rival makes “Restaurant Empire”, nobody else can — which turns franchises into something worth collecting.

• Hardware IP first, if you want your own console. Add a Product IP unit in an R&D center and choose Proprietary — higher margins, no help growing the platform — or Open Source, where third parties manufacture too, so the user base grows quickly but price competition takes the margin. Skip this entirely if you would rather write games for someone else’s console.
• Then a console OS. Console OS Core, Display and Input at level 30 or better. The research takes several years; the Player Starts with OS Tech new game setting removes that wait.
• Then games. Pick a genre from the Software Guide, develop its technology, and choose from the pre-defined titles available at your tech level. Generic titles are not possible by design — and since each MOD ships a finite list, a genre whose titles are all taken means moving to another genre, or adding your own custom titles as 120×120 PNGs.

See How to Use Video Game Mod and, for modders, the Video Game Modding Guide.

FAQ

I built a software company but cannot start a product. Why?

Two likely reasons. The prerequisite technologies have not reached their required levels — check the Software Guide — or you have Tech Programming units but no Project Management unit paired with a Project Programming unit, which is what actually develops a product.

My tech development finished but the product is still locked.

The technology did not reach the required level. Development duration determines how far the tech advances, so start another round with a longer duration.

There is no operating system to release my software on.

It is early in the game. A company that specializes in operating systems brings the first one to market shortly after the start — wait a year or two and one will appear.

My software sold well at launch and then faded. What went wrong?

Nothing broke; you stopped releasing. Products without new versions for years suffer poor sales. Improve the tech, then release a version that is noticeably better, and consider the automatic new version option.

Why is my software selling so poorly compared to a worse product?

Check which OS each is built for. Sales are limited by the user base of the operating system, so a good product on a small platform loses to a mediocre one on a large platform.

Should I sell by digital download or in boxes?

Both, at first. Digital download keeps 70% of revenue with the software company and needs no manufacturing, but e-commerce takes years to reach the mainstream, so retail distribution carries the early game.

Why do some products sell badly on e-commerce?

Because the customer pays the freight, and what matters is freight as a share of the price. Around 10% is fine; around 50% is not. Heavy, cheap goods belong in stores.

Can I charge different e-commerce prices in different cities?

No. An e-commerce product is sold to any customer in any city at a single price. Only retail supports per-city pricing.

My internet company has no visitors. What is wrong?

Check the number of internet users on the Digital page of the City report. If the city is barely online, no website will do well there — a telecom with spare bandwidth capacity is the prerequisite, and building one yourself creates your own market.

How do I grow a website faster?

Raise Overall Quality — the monthly features budget and Tech R&D both feed it — and advertise through a media firm. If you own the media firm, the spend returns to you as its revenue.

Why are advertisers ignoring my site?

Your Cost per Click is likely well above competitors’. Advertisers move to cheaper sites, so keep the rate competitive rather than maximal.

Why do my best researchers keep leaving?

Loyalty. Below 20 they may quit at any time; at 80 or above they ignore offers. Raise salary or training budget, and if inflation is on, make sure team lead salaries track it — there is an automatic option in the HR department for exactly that.

Is headhunting worth it?

Rarely as a first move. It costs a higher salary plus a full year’s salary as a sign-up bonus, and rises further with the target’s loyalty. Check whether one of your own subsidiaries already employs someone suitable first.

A competitor is 400 tech levels ahead. Is the game over?

No — the further behind you are, the faster you gain. At level 50 against a leader at 500, a baseline gain of 30 becomes 57. Technology is recoverable; installed user bases are much harder to take back.

Can I buy a rival tech company outright?

If it is private and independent, yes — make the offer from the Corporate Details report. With the Subsidiary DLC on, you can nominate which of your companies buys it.

I do not want to manage individual hires. Can I turn that off?

Yes. Set Talent System to Simplified in the new game settings and every talent starts at skill 50; Greatly Simplified also disables loyalty and headhunting.

Read more

Software business: Software Company · Software Products · Selling Software Products · Operating System · Software Report

Internet and e-commerce: Internet Companies · Types of Internet Companies · E-Commerce

Telecom, talent and research: Telecom · Talent System · Technology Research · Acquiring a Private Company

Scenarios and settings: New Scenarios · Digital Age Goals

Video game MOD: How to Use Video Game Mod · Add Custom Video Game Products · Video Game Modding Guide · Customize Console Hardware

Don’t have the DLC yet? See what the Digital Age DLC adds.