Running a Successful Corporation

A player's strategy guide — from founding to market domination

Contents

1. Founding Your Corporation
2. Choosing Sector Focus
3. Expanding Into States
4. Profit Margin Modifiers
5. The Commodity Market
6. Operating Strategies
7. Managing Sprawl
8. CEO: Salary, Marketing & Policy
9. Shares & Dividends
10. Corporate Bonds
11. The Political Angle
12. How Share Price Works
13. Quick Tips

1. Founding Your Corporation

Head to /corporations and click Found Corporation. You pay $1,000,000from your character's cash on hand. The corporation starts with that same amount as liquid capital — it's a transfer, not a loss.

What you start with

• $1,000,000 liquid capital (in the corp)
• 10,000,000 CEO shares @ $0.10
• Marketing Strength (MS): 10
• No sectors yet

Key rules

• One corporation per character
• HQ set to your current home state
• CEOs can relocate the company independently of their own character

Residence lock:If you plan to run for office in another state, be aware that relocating to any state auto-resigns you as CEO. Plan your political career around your corporation's HQ state, or hand off the CEO role before relocating.

2. Choosing Sector Focus

Your corporation has a primary type (required) and an optional secondary type, set from the CEO Office. This is the single most impactful structural decision you make — a −15% margin penalty on every off-type sector will drain any corporation over time.

Sector owned	Modifier	Why
Matches primary type	+5%	Core competency bonus
Matches secondary type	+2.5%	Half-strength diversification bonus
Everything else	−15%	Off-focus penalty

There are 17 sector types: Financial, Media, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Retail, Automobiles, Technology, Energy, Agriculture, Real Estate, Defense, Telecommunications, Entertainment, Logistics, Extraction, Chemical Industries, and Construction.

Secondary Type Trade-off

A secondary type gives you +2.5% on a second sector class instead of −15%. The cost: it doubles the sprawl penalty once you exceed the 15-sector threshold (see Sprawl section). Worth it if you genuinely want two sector classes and invest in Logistics Strength.

Type switching costs you: Changing your primary or secondary type triggers a −10% margin penalty on all sectors for 24 hours, followed by a 48-hour cooldown. Total lockout: 72 hours. Don't switch on a whim.

3. Expanding Into States

Each sector you own is a specific type in a specific state. Expand from the CEO Office Overview tab.

State market size per sector = State GDP (millions) × 100 ÷ 17
  → bigger states = bigger potential revenue pools

Parameter	Value
Expansion cost	$100,000 per new state sector
Starting revenue	$1,000,000 per sector
Starting workers	500
Default profit margin	35% (before modifiers)

Market Capture (Splits)

Once you own a sector in a state, use splits to capture unowned market share. Each split costs cash and Marketing Strength (MS):

Cash cost  = 5% of the unowned sector's current revenue
MS cost    = 2^splitEscalation  →  1 → 2 → 4 → 8 → 16 MS per split
Capture    ≈ 6% of unowned × (1 + marketingStrength ÷ 100)

Escalation drops by 1 each turn — costs halve if you wait

Split pacing:Don't spam splits. Each one doubles the next MS cost. At 8 MS/split, waiting 2 turns brings it back to 2. Patience saves MS and lets you capture more total share for the same marketing budget.

Unowned Sectors Grow Back

The unowned portion of a sector grows every turnat the average growth rate of player-owned sectors in that state and type. Don't sit on low market share in a sector you care about — the pool regenerates.

4. Profit Margin Modifiers

Sectors start at 35% marginand receive additive modifiers from state conditions, national macro, and your corporation's structure. Margins can go negative (a sector that costs you money every turn). All active modifiers are visible on each sector's detail card in the CEO Office.

Modifier	Max effect	Sectors	Notes
Sector type match	+5% / −15%	All	Primary +5%, secondary +2.5%, other −15%
Home location	+10% / +5%	All	HQ state +10%, same country +5%, abroad +0%
Subsidies	+15% each	Qualifying types	Federal and state stack independently
Unemployment	±5%	All	Pivot at 3% — high unemployment → better margins
Inflation	+2% / −8%	All (country-wide)	Target 2%; −8% at 10%+ inflation
Deficit spending	+5% max	All (country-wide)	+0.5% per 1% of GDP deficit; stimulative
Debt-to-GDP	−15% cap	All (country-wide)	Kicks in above 50% D/GDP
Power grid	−4%	All	No effect above 95% uptime; scales 85–95%
Corruption	−3%	All	Linear to −3% at index 100
Workforce skill	±4%	Tech, Chemicals, Healthcare, Mfg, Defense	Pivot at skill index 50
Crime rate	−5%	Retail, Real Estate, Entertainment	1,500–3,500 per 100k
Broadband	−4%	Tech, Telecom, Media, Financial	Gate 70%, full penalty below 40%
Road condition	±3%	Mfg, Retail, Agri, Autos, Const, Logistics, Extraction	Pivot at condition index 60
Carbon emissions	−3%	Energy, Chemicals, Mfg, Autos, Extraction	3–25 MT per capita
Cost of living	±3%	Chemicals, Mfg, Retail, Agri, Const, Logistics, Extraction	Pivot at index 100
Commodity market	Uncapped	Sector-dependent	See Commodity Market section
Logistical sprawl	Uncapped	All (corp-wide)	See Sprawl section

Three national macro modifiers (inflation, debt/GDP, deficit/GDP) apply to your entire corporation based on the country your HQ is in. These can swing margins ±13% on top of everything else — watch national fiscal health as much as state conditions.

Home Location Bonus

Sectors in your HQ state get +10%; sectors in the same country (different state) get +5%. This makes early expansion in your home state very strong — you effectively start with 45% base margin before any other modifier.

Subsidies Are Huge

Each active subsidy adds +15 percentage points to qualifying sectors. Federal and state subsidies stack. A sector with both starts at 65% margin. Use your political influence to champion subsidy bills for your sector type.

5. The Commodity Market

Your sectors buy and sell commodities each turn. Commodity prices and supply/demand ratios modify your margins — sometimes dramatically. Check /commodity/[type] for live price charts and supply/demand data. There are 22 commodity types covering everything from steel and oil to software, healthcare services, and real estate.

Market price (ratio ≥ 1) = basePrice × (1 + 0.7 × ln(demand ÷ supply))
Market price (ratio < 1) = basePrice / (1 + 0.7 × |ln(demand ÷ supply)|)

Margin modifier = 40 × Σ(rate × ln(demand ÷ supply))
  → logarithmic curve: big moves at extreme ratios, diminishing returns

D/S ratio	Seller bonus	Buyer penalty
0.5× (oversupply)	−27.7%	+27.7%
1× (balanced)	0%	0%
1.5×	+16.2%	−16.2%
2×	+27.7%	−27.7%
3×	+43.9%	−43.9%

Be a seller in shortage markets.If your output commodity is in shortage (demand > supply), you get a large positive margin modifier. Watch commodity pages to identify which sector types are underserved — then expand into them.

Retail is special: Retail sectors take only 25% of the downside from negative commodity input modifiers. They can substitute or absorb shortages better than other sectors. Their demand also scales with national GDP growth, making them more sensitive to the macro economy.

6. Operating Strategies

Each sector has an operating strategy that changes which commodities it buys and sells (and at what rates), plus a separate production policy level that adjusts the volume/margin trade-off. Both are configurable from the CEO Office.

Operating Strategy

Each sector type has 3–4 named strategies that change commodity supply/demand rates.

• Switching costs 25% of daily sector revenue
• 12-turn transition with −5% margin penalty
• 24-turn cooldown after transition completes

Production Policy

A continuous −25 to +25 scale. You set a target; the active level moves toward it at 1 unit per turn.

• Positive (+25): More volume, lower margins
• Zero: Balanced default
• Negative (−25): Less volume, higher margins

Before switching strategy, the confirmation panel shows a per-commodity comparison (old vs new rates) and current market status. Use it — don't switch into a strategy that demands an already-scarce commodity.

7. Managing Sprawl

Every sector beyond 15 applies a logistical sprawl penalty to all your margins. It compounds quickly at scale.

Sprawl penalty = −0.5% per 2 sectors over 15
  doubled to −1.0% per pair if a secondary type is set

Logistics Strength (LS) raises the threshold and halves the slope:
  LS = 0   → threshold 15, −0.5% per pair
  LS = 200 → threshold 30, −0.25% per pair

Total sectors	Over threshold	Penalty (LS 0, no secondary)
≤ 15	0	0%
17	2	−0.5%
21	6	−1.5%
25	10	−2.5%
35	20	−5.0%

Invest in Logistics Strength before aggressively expanding past 15 sectors. At LS 200, your penalty-free threshold doubles to 30 and the slope halves. Find the spending option in CEO Office → Settings.

8. CEO Controls: Salary, Marketing & Policy

CEO Salary

You can configure a daily salary for yourself in CEO Office → Settings. The amount is deducted from the corporation's liquid capital each turn (spread evenly over 24 turns per day) and deposited as personal cash. There's no enforced minimum or maximum, but high salaries drain capital and depress the share price over time.

Marketing Budget & Marketing Strength

Marketing Strength (MS) determines how much unowned market share you capture per split. It grows each turn based on your daily marketing budget (set in CEO Office → Settings).

Base growth    = 1 MS/turn (if any spend at all)
Scaled growth  = 0.65 × ln(1 + dailyBudget / 100,000)
  → strong returns up to ~$100k/day; heavy diminishing returns above that
  → both components slow further once MS exceeds 100

Starting MS is 10. Effective range is 0–200+, but MS above ~100 gives diminishing capture gains. The marketing budget is deducted from liquid capital each turn like any other cost.

9. Shares & Dividends

You can trade shares in any corporation from its page, accessible via the stock exchange (/stockmarket/us or /stockmarket/uk).

As CEO: Raising Capital

Public issuance — Sell up to 50% of outstanding shares into the public float. Dilutes your ownership but raises liquid capital.
Self-issuance — Issue shares to yourself at a 15% premium; proceeds go directly to corporate capital.
Stock splits / reverse splits — Adjust total share count. Market cap and ownership percentages stay the same. All open limit orders must be cancelled first.

Dividends

Set your dividend rate (0–100%) in CEO Office → Settings. Dividends are paid pro-rata to all shareholders each turn from post-tax income. 24-hour cooldown on rate changes.

High dividends vs. reinvestment: Dividends move money from the corporation to shareholders. Early-stage corps should reinvest — retain capital for expansion and logistics spend. Mature corps with excess capital can reward shareholders.

CEO Elections

When the CEO position is contested, votes are weighted by share count, not one-per-holder. A voter with 500,000 shares contributes 500,000 votes. Maintain majority ownership (or build a loyal shareholder bloc) to control any leadership vote.

Shareholder Address

CEOs can broadcast a message to all current shareholders via CEO Office → Admin subtab. Useful for announcing strategy changes or rallying investors. Limited to once per 12 hours.

10. Corporate Bonds

Issue bonds to raise capital without diluting equity. Other players and corporations can buy them as investments.

Parameter	Value
Minimum issuance	$100,000
Maximum total debt	2× equity
Maturity options	1 yr (48 turns), 2 yr (96), 5 yr (240)
Coupon rate	Auto-set: prime rate + credit spread
Face value per unit	$1,000

Credit Rating

Your credit rating (0–100) is computed from: debt-to-equity ratio, interest coverage ratio, profitability, and liquidity. A higher rating means a lower credit spread and cheaper borrowing. Keep your corp profitable and debt-light to maintain it.

Debt ceiling: Total debt cannot exceed 2× equity. If equity shrinks through losses or heavy dividends, you may lose issuance capacity or face pressure to retire outstanding bonds.

11. The Political Angle

Your corporation lives in states with legislators, governors, and national policies that directly affect your margins. The political and economic systems are deeply intertwined.

Legislation that helps

• Sector subsidies — +15% margin each
• Infrastructure bills — improve grid, roads, broadband
• Low corporate tax rates — straight to the bottom line. Each country now sets two rates: a domestic rate (for corps HQ'd in that country) and a foreignrate (for everyone else). When expanding abroad you pay the host country's foreign rate on those sectors' profits.
• Crime reduction — helps Retail, Real Estate, Entertainment
• Deficit spending — +0.5% per 1% of GDP deficit

Legislation that hurts

• High corporate tax rates— the domestic rate on your home country hurts every sector; foreign rates on countries you've expanded into hurt only those sectors.
• Tariffs — hurts cross-border operations
• Carbon emission caps — Energy, Chemicals, Mfg, Autos, Extraction
• High sovereign debt — −15% cap on all margins

12. How Share Price Works

Share price is recalculated every turn as a weighted blend of three components:

Share price = 0.15 × previousPrice + 0.60 × bookValue + 0.25 × incomeValue

bookValue   = (liquidCapital + income + sectorNPV) ÷ totalShares
incomeValue = (annualIncome ÷ totalShares) × 6    ← P/E multiple of 6
incomeValue is capped at 4 × bookValue

sectorNPV = (yearly sector profit) ÷ 0.25         ← 25% discount rate

Component	Weight	What it rewards
Momentum (previous price)	15%	Stability — prevents violent swings
Book value per share	60%	Liquid capital + sector NPV — the actual asset base
Income valuation	25%	Profitability at a P/E of 6

Book value dominates at 60%. Growing sector revenue, protecting margins, and accumulating liquid capital all increase book value — which drives share price more reliably than chasing short-term income.

13. Quick Tips

•Stay focused. The −15% off-type penalty will drain a diversified corp. Pick a primary type and stick to it.
•Scout states before expanding. Check unemployment, crime, grid reliability, and corruption on the state page before buying in. High unemployment is actually better for your margins.
•Expand in your home country first. The +5% same-country bonus (and +10% in your HQ state) makes domestic expansion significantly cheaper to sustain.
•Don't over-split. MS escalation doubles with each split. Wait a turn or two for costs to decay before splitting again.
•Watch the commodity pages. If a commodity your sectors supply is in shortage, your margins are boosted. If oversupplied, consider switching strategies.
•Never leave the CEO seat vacant. A corp without a CEO bleeds 10% of sector revenue per turn into the unowned pool. Fill vacancies immediately.
•Subsidies stack. A federal + state subsidy on your primary sector type = +30 percentage points. Push for both.
•Invest in Logistics Strength early. Raise it before you hit 15 sectors so the threshold is already extended when you need it.
•Use bonds before equity issuance. Bonds are cheaper than diluting your shares as long as your credit rating stays healthy.
•Retain capital early, pay dividends later. Young corps need capital for expansion and logistics. Once established, dividends reward your holdings.
•Watch national macro. Inflation above 2% and sovereign debt above 50% of GDP directly cut your margins. These are worth watching on the national metrics page.

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