AI Behavior

[cfusion]

I noticed during a recent game that at certain times the game limits the cost you can charge for an item regardless of favorable scores.

eg: You may have a product at 35 and the best in the city is 25, but the cost is much higher, and demand will fall to 0.

Questionable, but ok, I understand elasticity of demand....not everyone buys $1,000 video consoles.

The problem came in when I hired the computer as operations manager.

He raised prices. Suddenly, my sales of several electronics products that I dominated were all falling to 0! (City wide sales also declined).

My company then nearly went bankrupt from the sea of red before I realized what was going on.

I reloaded the older game and lowered prices (now I was probably ~30 or more higher than city standard). Demand increased again.

If demand falls at a certain price point, the AI really should know better...or is this just a simple bug?

Todd

[matejfore]

I noticed that to. It's irritating and should be fixed before the release. I also think that my COO is an idiot. I'm producing all of my retail goods myself (internal sail is on), so he should know not to raise prices too high. It' s also true that local quality is around 30 and my products are pure 100. I think is has some thing to do with that.
The easiest way to fix this would be a slider or + - value, on the COO behavior setting of % to go over the local price.

[WilliamMGary]

"The easiest way to fix this would be a slider or + - value, on the COO behavior setting of % to go over the local price."

-Love this idea!

[Esoteric Rogue]

I I'm producing all of my retail goods myself (internal sail is on), so he should know not to raise prices too high.

If you're the manufacturer and the sole purchaser, then high wholesale price doesn't matter. The extra money you spend as a retailer is the extra money you earn as manufacturer. You always break even regarding price in an internal supply chain. Just sayin'.

But yea, I'm often offended by the COO's abilities.

[David]

I noticed during a recent game that at certain times the game limits the cost you can charge for an item regardless of favorable scores.

eg: You may have a product at 35 and the best in the city is 25, but the cost is much higher, and demand will fall to 0.

Questionable, but ok, I understand elasticity of demand....not everyone buys $1,000 video consoles.

The problem came in when I hired the computer as operations manager.

He raised prices. Suddenly, my sales of several electronics products that I dominated were all falling to 0! (City wide sales also declined).

My company then nearly went bankrupt from the sea of red before I realized what was going on.

I reloaded the older game and lowered prices (now I was probably ~30 or more higher than city standard). Demand increased again.

If demand falls at a certain price point, the AI really should know better...or is this just a simple bug?

Todd

1) Is the firm you assigned your COO to run a retail store or a factory?

2) If it is a retail store, could you provide the save game containing this particular issue you described? (the save game with the AI having set a price you think is unreasonable and you haven't yet corrected it yourself)

[David]

I noticed that to. It's irritating and should be fixed before the release. I also think that my COO is an idiot. I'm producing all of my retail goods myself (internal sail is on), so he should know not to raise prices too high. It' s also true that local quality is around 30 and my products are pure 100. I think is has some thing to do with that.
The easiest way to fix this would be a slider or + - value, on the COO behavior setting of % to go over the local price.

What are the overall rating of your product and local overall rating? Could you provide a save game with the aforementioned problem?

[David]

If we do not get any replies regarding the above 5 days after the above message was posted (4 Dec), we will assume that people are okay with it now and there won't be any changes to it in the final release.

[matejfore]

Here is the savegame but it's version 1.991. I kinda lost will to play anymore - too much micromanagement in all of my retail stores - would have to take back the control of my retail stores and set lower prices again.

link:
http://www.polzela.org/auto2.rar

[David]

We have created a new thread about COO management strategy at http://www.capitalismlab.com/forum/view ... =14&t=1099

You may vote for the new options you would like to see in the game. You may also suggest new options for affecting your COO's management strategy.

[David]

I noticed during a recent game that at certain times the game limits the cost you can charge for an item regardless of favorable scores.

eg: You may have a product at 35 and the best in the city is 25, but the cost is much higher, and demand will fall to 0.

Questionable, but ok, I understand elasticity of demand....not everyone buys $1,000 video consoles.

The problem came in when I hired the computer as operations manager.

He raised prices. Suddenly, my sales of several electronics products that I dominated were all falling to 0! (City wide sales also declined).

My company then nearly went bankrupt from the sea of red before I realized what was going on.

I reloaded the older game and lowered prices (now I was probably ~30 or more higher than city standard). Demand increased again.

If demand falls at a certain price point, the AI really should know better...or is this just a simple bug?

Todd

Have you tried setting your COO's pricing policy to "Aggressive"? "Aggressive" means competing at lower prices.

You may vote for:
Add a new option "Very Aggressive" for COO's Pricing Policy to prevent COO from setting prices too high.
at this thread http://www.capitalismlab.com/forum/view ... w=viewpoll if you think this will be helpful.