Tycoon Zone

New Features For Round 2 of 2008

We have some exciting changes in store for the new round. There are a few significant game changes, and quite a number of usability changes that have been asked for. Let’s get right to it!

• Gameplay changes. By far the most significant changes are in gameplay. The first 3 changes center around a common goal: Gives players more to do, and more choices to make, as the round goes on. So here are the game changes:
  • Buildings deteriorate over time. As a building gets older, its efficiency will start to decline. Factories have aging equipment, and older shops and offices will have a harder time selling their goods and services. Eventually you will want to replace the building with a new one.
  • Reduced construction times. The number of construction points required to complete a new building, whether it is a shop, factory, or office, has been cut in half.
  • Reduced upgrade fees. The first factory upgrade is now 5 000 iKr, and the second upgrade is 10 000 iKr.
  • Employee Training. You can now send an employee to training so that he or she can learn a new profession. Training costs 2 000 iKr and takes 24 hours to complete.
  • Wealth Tax option. Finally, by popular request, you may now elect to have your Wealth Tax calculated and deducted Sunday at 03:00 instead of Saturday at 15:00. You may only make this choice once per round, and once made, you cannot switch back. I made it a 12 hour difference in order to accommodate as many players’ time zones as possible
  • Fusions negative savings loophole closed. A fusion can no longer enter an auction if it does not have enough savings to make an opening bid.
  • Factory warehouses can now store 100 units, and you can control usage the same way you can control shop warehouse usage. Factories will only use 50 units of their warehouse by default, but you can change it at any time.
• Company Blogs. You may now publish a blog for your company. The blog is a great way for you to keep shareholders and friends up to date on what is happening with your company. Use the blog to issue press releases, or to journal your efforts in climbing the ranks as a successful Tycoon. These blogs can be read by anyone with an RSS reader, even without logging in to the game. You must have a Gold Membership to maintain a company blog.
• Records Page. The records page has been improved. You can now see the top record holder for the current round as well as for all time. Plus, players will get added to the records page anytime they make the top 50 for that particular record, rather than having to make it to #1 just to get on the list.
• Interface improvements. A number of changes have been made to the game interface to make it easier to play:
  • You may now sell multiple shares directly from the My Shares page. Just click the checkboxes next to each share you want to sell, then click submit.
  • There is no longer a separate confirmation page when you hire employees, reassign employees, or when buying shares
  • Investments, deposits to the salary account, and deposis to the fuel account are now considered “orders” and may be cancelled before they are processed. This provides a way to “undo” in case you accidentally put in one too many zero’s!
  • Your staff are now listed on a single page — you no longer need to click to the second page if you have more than 50 employees
  • Staff which have driver’s licenses are indicated with a car icon next to their names, so you don’t have to click on them to find out if they can drive
  • The link to buy new zones is at the top of the zone listing page, instead of the bottom. Same goes for the link to deposit to the fuel account
  • Your secretary will be a little less talkative at the beginning of the round — no more “Your first order!”, “Your first building!”, “Your first good!” messages.
  • You can now click on the count of logged in players to get a list of the logged in players.
  • The live chat is now more tightly integrated into the game. You must be logged in to the game to enter chat, and your name will be automatically set.
  • When looking at a section map, you can now click on buildings you own to go to the detail page for that building.
  • The nationality of players is now indicated by a flag next to their name in forum posts.