I'm sorry, but I just purchased the new DLC, and...

[David]

1) You may use a script file to modify the CEO's salary if you want. Please see this for details:
http://www.capitalismlab.com/script---s ... rules.html
"CEO Salary Modifier=<1 to 200>"

e.g. if you set it to "CEO Salary Modifier=1", the CEO salary in your case will be 1% of $7 million = $70K.

2) We ran an open-beta where all registered users were able to test out the Subsidiary DLC's new features for free during the open-beta. When the open-beta is completed, if users like the Subsidiary DLC features, they may decide to purchase it. The reason why you found that there were no new features is because you were comparing the open-beta version with the release version of the Subsidiary DLC, as both contain the Subsidiary features. But like I said above, the open-beta is for a time limited event. Users who are using the normal release v2.7.25 will find the difference when they purchase the DLC as these Subsidiary features are not available in the previous release version 2.7.25.

Hope this clarifies the matter.

3) We offer refund within 48 hours after your purchase of the DLC. If you are not happy with it, you may email us at info@enlight.com and you will fully refund your Subsidiary DLC order.

4) The VAT was charged by your country. When you purchased the original Capitalism Lab, it also had the same VAT. Not all countries charge VAT. e.g. The US does not have VAT (but some US states may have state sale tax.)

5) Regarding the $20 million required to set up your subsidiary, I would recommend that you start a game with a higher startup capital, if you find the $20 million amount too much.

6) The Capitalism Lab launcher will ask you if you want to patch game by popping up a box when the update changes the save game format. So if you prefer to keep playing the existing save games, you may answer No and the launcher won't patch it.

7) Please read this page about the new features and new interfaces in the Subsidiary DLC that allows you to manage your subsidiaries better:
http://www.capitalismlab.com/subsidiary-control.html

For the list of new features in the DLC, please see: http://www.capitalismlab.com/subsidiary-dlc.html

8) If there are any other areas of the Subsidiary DLC that you are not happy with, please feel free to let us know and we will try to see if there are any solutions to those issues.

[David]

I guess I wasn't aware that it was a Beta, so that explains some things.

However, weren't most of the subsidiary features already available before? At least, if you owned 75% of another company, you could do most of the same things.

Actually all these subsidiary features are not available in the standard Capitalism Lab. These are the new features that we developed specifically for the Subsidiary DLC.

I'm not going to ask for a refund because I want to support you guys and this game, but I'm just shocked at how lacking in content this "DLC" is. The issue is that all the changes have just been mostly superficial. They don't actually improve the gameplay in any way, it's kind of just like a user mod.

Please take a look at this web site which describe the DLC's the new features and their impacts on the gameplay in details:
http://www.capitalismlab.com/subsidiary-dlc.html

If you like, you may try playing another game by disabling the Subsidiary DLC from the DLC menu, and you will see the differences in gameplay between a standard game and a game with DLC subsidiary. We were told by users feedback that once they have played a game with the Subsidiary DLC, they would not want to go back to play a standard game, because the DLC's new features are really making a difference in gameplay.

If I click on the company overviews, why don't the subsidiaries show up directly under my holding company?

Actually, the easiest way to view your subsidiary to open "Corporations" (the summary list) instead, then press the [Subsidiaries] button located at the bottom-left of the Information Center (or press hotkey 'a') to have the list show only your company and your subsidiary companies.

Why can't I not have a CEO in my subsidiary, or at least, give her a low wage? You said I can edit files, but it's still a % based thing that I fear will be too high regardless of how I set it.

Why don't you give it a try by setting the CEO salary to 1% and see if it is really still costing too much. By setting it to 1%, the salary is really low and you can get the benefits of the hired CEO's expertise effects on your firms, which should be worth the salary paid.

It's just upsetting. You guys are always releasing free upgrades to the game, so when I saw that a $10 DLC was out, I was sure it was going to freshen up the gameplay and bring a lot of new stuff. It's just the same old game with some tiny differences. Even the "full features" page you linked to barely names anything new.

I think the main reason why you had such a feeling is that you thought that the Open beta you were playing-testing was the release version. But the Open-beta is a timed event that is meant to end. So this gave a misunderstanding that the release version of the DLC has nothing new, when it is compared to the Open Beta of the DLC. But in fact, the DLC should be compared to the standard release version without the DLC, instead of compared to the Open Beta of the DLC .

p.s. So for the next DLC (the City Economic Simulation DLC), we will have to review our approach of open-beta and perhaps stay with close-beta only, to avoid having the same kind of misunderstanding with user expectations.

[azxcvbnm321]

Andypandy, like David said, anything regarding subsidiaries or even being able to set up a subsidiary is brand new. Most people, me included, used the beta for subsidiaries as it has a lot of good ideas. However if you had never played the regular capitalism labs game, then you wouldn't notice what was different and what was upgraded.

The product customization feature which allows you to sell multiple versions of the same product (one budget, one middle, one luxury) is a big feature that can change gameplay. The multiple floors system is the feature I find most helpful because I no longer have to spam retail stores and struggle to find space for all of my stores. These are just two of the features that I found really really helpful that add to basic gameplay without using subsidiaries.

[anjali]

aye got to agree, multi floor stores are a huge plus, was always a pain in the ass to plant 40 stores every month as you gonna run out of space quite soon, and its much easier to find the right store if you got only 200 stores a town instead of 600 or more

product custimization, havent plaid much with it as i m too lazy to waste my time on changing the mod data but i got a few customized products and the AI loves to roll this out, giving them quite a market share, so in order to take a heavily customized AI down, you gotta roll out the customized versions too to grab his market share and bring him down.

the changes on operating subsidiaries are as well very interesting as it gives you the chance to smoothly integrate a company into your own after taking it over. it was alwas a disaster pre sub DLC to integrate an AI corp into your own. now you can just keep the AI company running if strategicially wise, and integrate into your own corp what ever you need, then either dispose of the remaining corp or keep it running and integrate other AI corps into it, whatever doesnt fit into your main corp at the time being.

I am certain there were a few issues fixed for the ordinary CapLab due to the testing in the DLC beta, like some random crashes and other issues for real estate etc. but all this development and bug fixes aint for free, it costs money for the company and i doubt you see any other game spending that much effort on a contineous support and bugfix without monthly subscription fees. therefore i dont see a problem on charging this 10 bucks for the DLC, you dont have to buy it, but if ya really love this special type of game you should consider buying the DLC because creating the DLC also brought more stability to the ordinary CapLab due to the core issues found and fixed while testing the beta as pointed out above.
i bought capitalism II when it came out but ditched it because of lack of support and the bugs/random crashs (german version) wouldnt have to buy the english version as i could have gotten it for free due to the fact that i bought the german one, but i didnt bothered and just bought the english version. even though there was a lot of unwanted games in the package and the heavy taxes, which i had to pay on top. but when i did go through this forum i noticed the endless superb support for a game with a very small customer base and decited not to opt for the free game and rather pay again as i appreciate the support and would like to see the game dev be continued.

For the DLC are also different Script modifications implemented, so you can tweak the difficulty like you wish, of course caplab and its subsidiary DLC cant be tweaked to be ultra difficult, but due to the beta testing we got the devs, to increase competivness of AI's not sure if this AI upgrade is also availible in caplab itself, but still its a fine line between "hardcore" and "casual" gamers, if you tweak it too much you could loose more then half the customer base which would be the end of the game, if you want it absolutely hard, wait for the city economics, thats deffo a new level of difficulty. once the rewards are adjusted in the next patch, you can create a real impossible game, you will loose for sure, no matter what unless you draw a perfect businessplan and turn every penny 3 times.

you mention crazy salaries for CEO's well ... 7 million is pretty cheap unless you live in a country in which there are maximum wages like germany, were a ceo will get like 150k anually if the compnay has less then 50 million revenue and 225k average if its above. but in the real world of capitalism, theres no such limit and CEO wages are crazy.
not to forget, you want to open up a public limited company, the only purpose of this company or C-corp, as its called in the states, is to make PROFIT as much as possible, and everyone wants its share, so wages are high. also you can not be the CEO of more then 1 corporation its just impossible because of conflict of interest etc. if you wanna run the whole show, you gonna be ceo/president of the holding and have hired CEO's in the subs. dont forget it is not your corp no matter what. the corp is its one entity and you are just the legal representant obliged to act in the favour and to the advantage of said entity. and this is the reason why you cant be the CEO of every company to reflect the real world business as close as possible.

also you mentioned that there are all the features missing, well i have no problems with the futures, private company/AI private company/multi floor retail, all and everything is availible to me.

at the end its your own choice if you buy or not, and the open beta was running long enough to test it, to see if you like it or not.

[David]

Please see http://www.capitalismlab.com/subsidiary-control.html

Changing the Firm Manager

When you get involved in the micro-management of a subsidiary firm, as stated above, the effect will be short-lived as the AI manager of the firm will make his/her own decisions which will supersede yours. (for example, the AI manager will change the price again based on his/her judgement soon after you have changed it.)

If you want your decisions on a subsidiary firm to have lasting effects, you may assign yourself, who is the chairman of the subsidiary company, to run the firm directly and release the AI manager from his/her duty as the firm's manager.

To do so, click the Assign Manager icon (as indicated in red outline in the below screenshot), it will bring up a window allowing you to assign a different person to the manager role. Now simply select yourself (the Chairman).

[WilliamMGary]

the changes on operating subsidiaries are as well very interesting as it gives you the chance to smoothly integrate a company into your own after taking it over. it was alwas a disaster pre sub DLC to integrate an AI corp into your own. now you can just keep the AI company running if strategicially wise, and integrate into your own corp what ever you need, then either dispose of the remaining corp or keep it running and integrate other AI corps into it, whatever doesnt fit into your main corp at the time being.

Hehehe. So you like this

[WilliamMGary]

Don't all these new subsidiary additions just really make it harder for the player, by adding hurdles? Like the CEO thing, for example. Is there actually any reason to hire people to your business? I mean isn't the easiest way to play the game to just have 1 company where you control everything, and then expand and control every product on the market, while giving yourself 100% share of your company?

This is how I've always done it, and I've never seen the value in hiring someone to the company. I've always crushed all my competitors by out-researching them and selling superior products en masse.

I think management features/settings should be enhanced to allow for more nuance settings such as All New <Store Type> make firm manager X would be nice via management policies.

[anjali]

aye some more twesking be nice, but finally a ceo of the holding should not be totally useless. if the AI's would be too good, you just open up a sub buy a chair, glue a ceo to it and lean back, watch the money come in.

regarding new shops and ceo of subs adding stupid stuff, i would suggest to instantly change the manager of the new shop to yourself, set up the shop properly and after this you can turn the firm over to the ceo. if you tweaked the settings enogu hto your liking, the AI wont do too bad in managing it if he doesnt have too much rights, or specialize your sub in a certain product range and let em only buy from own companies, that works not too bad. if you got a plain retailer you gonna have to let the AI only price the goods else you not gonna get them to sell what they shall sell.

[azxcvbnm321]

There's a setting under the COO office that forbids the AI from seeking new products to sell or changing the firm layout. I don't think that applies to subsidiaries though, but in reality, if you're creating a subsidiary, you want the AI to handle everything. Otherwise why create a subsidiary in the first place?

For Min/Maxers and those who must squeeze every last cent, you'll never be able to find a situation where AI is better than the human, but it just takes too much micromanaging for my tastes, especially in regards to setting prices of products and advertising products. That's why I always hire a COO after a certain point, so that they can take care of the day to day adjustments in price and leave me to build new product lines and establish new retail stores.

I find that subsidiaries are very good for your real estate holdings and your media holdings. They are also good for stock acquisition. Plus they can be used to manipulate your own company value and subsidiary value. Often going IPO from a private company will make the value of the subsidiary (market capitalization) greater than before IPO (book value). You've made a profit by doing nothing other than selling 20% of the stock for more than the company's worth.

I think there are some interesting things that I may experiment around with in creating subsidiaries and IPOs and profiting via the stock market and merges, I haven't had enough time yet to get into all of what the DLC offers.

[anjali]

I don't think that applies to subsidiaries though, but in reality, if you're creating a subsidiary, you want the AI to handle everything. Otherwise why create a subsidiary in the first place?

in reality subs only do as much as they permitted to, tight to their memorandum and policies given to them by their parent.
why creating subs in the first place, if they cant do what ever they want? lets see ...
... for example, lets assume i only got $500k and i want to build a company that runs a bar.
well the problem is, that building the bar gonna cost me mostlikely more then i got and i only can take so much leverage which comes down to what 75% LtV? anything above 80% LtV is a bad loan, you will never receive from a bank unless you are someone special and am pretty sure you re not Pepsi Cola which has 190% leverage roughly (which after banking policies is a bad loan, but again those rules dont apply to everyone). and you can not go to the bank and say gimme cash, you get the cash for assets, in this case the property in which the bar shall run. so on $500K your max leverage be somewhere around a million and thats only if you are very creative in accounting. so you gonna build the bar with that million + 500k = 1.5 million bar + inventory. fine and what cash you got to pay your installments, wages etc? nothing you cant pull it off as you maxed out on leverage.
now lets assume you gonna take $400k of your companies $500k and create a sub. this sub only does 1 thing: purchase the land, build the bar for $400k + $800k leverage = $1.2 million. the parent company gonna rent this bar and gonna take $250k loan and $50k cash to pay for the inventory that costs $300k thats a total of $1.5 million again. you got a $50k cash left easily $50k overdraft on business account so you have $100k left over to run the business and total leverage is $1.1 million and you still can loan out more if necessary as you got in parent company books $750k assets but only $250k loans + $50k overdraft so you got easily $300-$400k air to breath enough to get the business going.
theres a downside in real life thats for sure which depends in which country you live, your sub needs to build capital reserve for the amount of shares your parent company is holding on the subs stock and thats 3-5% depending on country laws. so in 20-30 years you gonna sit on $400k cash in a bankaccount you are not permitted to use because your parent is holding 100% of the sub. the parent also needs to build capital reserve by law, so you sit on even more cash that you can not use. but ingame it doesnt exist and you can exploit it til the doctor calls you nuts.
so you could ingame start with 30 million and form 20 subs sub of sub of sub .... and pass the money down the line, 95% of it everytime, you could instantly loan out about $500 million secured with this $30 million. (20 companies a 25 million loans) woala you got your empire over night by just creating companies. and loaned money is the cheapest money. ofcourse now you could merge all 20 subs into the parent company to sit on $30 million cash + $500 million loans to not pay the $240 million anual salary for 20 ceo's. but then i would call it exploit.

For Min/Maxers and those who must squeeze every last cent, you'll never be able to find a situation where AI is better than the human, but it just takes too much micromanaging for my tastes, especially in regards to setting prices of products and advertising products. That's why I always hire a COO after a certain point, so that they can take care of the day to day adjustments in price and leave me to build new product lines and establish new retail stores.

i never hire AI's and micromanaging isnt that much, every 1st january and 1st july each year i adjust the prices across the globe thats it.

I find that subsidiaries are very good for your real estate holdings and your media holdings. They are also good for stock acquisition. Plus they can be used to manipulate your own company value and subsidiary value. Often going IPO from a private company will make the value of the subsidiary (market capitalization) greater than before IPO (book value). You've made a profit by doing nothing other than selling 20% of the stock for more than the company's worth.

real estate is the least work ... plant the apartments myself, so the AI doesnt screw it up, and set the price to market+5% fire n forget. AI will never make a profit anywhere close to this in real estate. and i dont like them throwing the buildings on the land like they do and have the least profitable buildings as their favorite. i usually dont set up subs because the IPO itself is only worth doing for the parent company, theres enough money on the stockmarket to make by buy low / sell high and if the price keeps falling, well then i get 75% of the company for less then 50% of the networth, merge it into a sub and you got free money that way.

I think there are some interesting things that I may experiment around with in creating subsidiaries and IPOs and profiting via the stock market and merges, I haven't had enough time yet to get into all of what the DLC offers.

[/quote]
of course its very intresting, offers a lot different strategies. whatever i wrote above is my personal approach to it, others might disagree and thats fine, everyone should try their own way of playing