Add-on plan (new details)

[RougeRogue]

Two stock market bugs I'd love to see fixed:

1) If my company has a controlling interest in two other companies, and each of those controlled companies has a decent amount of available cash, I may then use those two companies to buy up the remaining stock of a third company. If those two companies that I control then buy each others' stock, alternately and repeatedly, I can easily have those two companies drive up the share value of the third company to astronomically high levels. Then, upon having each company sell off their shares of that third company, they have netted HUGE profits -- one may too easily turn a few hundred million of available cash into billions, in this way, for both controlled companies. Then merging with either/both of these controlled companies is, essentially, gamebreaking, as cash is no longer an issue for any endeavor.

2) When a company buys back its stock on the open market in the real world, the stock price goes up; when done so in this game, the price doesn't budge. I realize why you set it up this way, as it would be too easy to add to your player's own cash, through manipulating stock buybacks, but as it exists, it is too easy to consolidate ownership.

The best fix for each that I can think of is a proxy system (as I suggested a few posts earlier, without detail), which allows for a certain amount/percentage of cash for stock buybacks, or an amount/percentage of cash available for outside stock purchases. Since companies typically only issue such proxy voting once a year (exception being special proxies, usually at the behest of a significant stock holder, which I think this game can ignore), this may only be adjusted once per year. Since the two problems I'm identifying here are typically problems when player ownership (or, player control through corporate ownership) exceeds 50%, I think, for purposes of this game, that's where a company board comes into play, and a dynamic approval rating by that board -- even if the player controls 50+% of a company, he/she still needs board approval to take certain, extreme actions with company cash.

Using such a method, even if my company owns 95+% of another company's stock, if the board doesn't like me, I might be stuck with low limits on what I can do with that company's cash. Even if the board DOES like me, I will be stuck with maximum, game limits of how much cash I may use for stock buyback, or stock purchase in other companies.

This might set some more reasonable limits on a stock market feature of the game that is, currently, far too easy to take advantage of.

[hexinverter]

Hiya! I just registered here to say that I am super interested in paying for an expansion as well. I play on a 2550x1600 monitor so the resolution cap really sucks.

Please do let me know if I can be of any help beta testing. I program in ASM/C/C++ and could probably provide some useful debugging information.

PM me, David! I would like to donate and help iron out bugs so the expansion can be for sale sooner!

I can also be reached at hex[at]hexinverter.net

Cheers

[3xetfbear]

Hi

I would be happy to participate in beta testing. Please contact me at dale@feiste.com when you start looking for more testers.

Thanks

[lastbayezid]

Hi there

Thats the good news i was waiting for years. Keep up the work, i am willing to buy the addon and to participate to beta. Heyaa

Alper

[MikeInCape]

I would love to be a beta tester....

I am a software developer and feel I could offer valuable information in the debugging process.

I have also been playing these types of games for years and love economic sim games, so I can offer good opinions on the economy and gameplay aspects.

Thanks,
Mike