Design Document:World Misc.

Stock Market

Just like in RT2/RT3 the player (the chairman) is a separate entity from the company and amasses his own cash.

The player starts the company with 10-20% investment in the company and the rest is ‘outside’ investment.

Each company has about 40%-60% of its stock on the market. Only this stock is available for purchase.

Stock price is determined by company value. If a stock goes above $100 per share then a split 2 for 1 happens (number of all stock doubles, its price drops to $50).

Stock price goes up when somebody (player, other players, AI) buys them. Stock price drops when somebody sells it. These are temporary changes and the stock will return to normal value after some time.

Buying on margin. It is buying on ‘credit’ – eg above current cash level of the buyer. Money is borrowed to buy stock in hope for it to rise – and thus make some profit

Selling Short – reverse of above, borrowing stocks to sell them in hope to drop and thus make profit on this.

In both cases a margin call might happen – when a broker requests either buying back short-sold stock or selling margin bought stock.

Bonds

Bonds are a form of borrowing money for future profits. Depending on bond rating (from C – lowest to AAA – highest) are differently yielded.

   * C – 21%
   * CC – 19%
   * CCC – 17%
   * B – 15%
   * BB – 13%
   * BBB – 11%
   * A – 9%
   * AA – 7%
   * AAA – 5% 

Depending how high is the rating the bonds may attract more investors.

Bonds are usually for 25 years, but player can set any amount. Also the sum for which the bond is taken is set by the player

Bond may be repaid at any moment with +10% penalty which is not considered if the bond is repaid when it matures.

Loan

Loan is a form of debt when a company takes a sum of money (no more then 75% of company value) and then repays it in regular intervals until all is repaid.

Cargo Distribution

Industries have a pre-set group of receivers.

In the beginning of the game receivers are close to the source, but during the play there will be shift towards longer distances.

Receivers list is not static – each change will be reported in the newspaper in 6 month notice.

Fares

Fares for transporting are set per type. Eg. All hopper type cargo are $0.43 per tile-tonne.

Player can set percentage from which it will deviate for a single cargo (like coal or ore). Lowering fares will attract more cargo to the station (in a case of competition with other carriers). Making it higher will make reverse effect.

If there is a more then 75% difference between the lowest offer and the current offer then the current is discarded (station rating = 0%)

Maybe fares could be controlled on station/single industry level to actively compete for cargo on station level.

Ratings - station

Station ratings define how much cargo is transferred to a given station. Station ratings may depend on:

   * Vehicle reliability (passengers may spot junky car and refuse to ride it)
   * Vehicle age (likewise)
   * Mode of average speed in last 10 rides
   * Frequency of service
   * Amount of cargo stored on station (perishables for instance) 

   * Overall – ratings show how efficient is the station at luring cargo to it. 

Station rating of 39% shows that the station lures 39% of cargo produced by an industry. Ratings are per cargo (Eg. 25% of iron ore etc)

Which of above rules is applied is set through types (eg hopper: freq of service & amount of cargo)

Ratings – industry

Industry ratings show how much of the total possible production is actually produced. This production is proportionally spread among stations.

Amount of produced cargo is calculated on efficiency of transport around the industry.

Ratings – city

City ratings show how much the local authority likes/dislikes the current transport corporation.

If the ratings are not high enough then the authority might not allow the corporation to do certain things (like build track/stations etc) within city or district limits.

City ratings are dependant on efficiency of commuter, mail and inter-city traffic in the city.

If there are no other companies moving stuff (passengers, mail) within city limits then starting ratings are maximum. If there are other corporations then drop to 50% of maximum ratings.

Scenarios – plot side of the game, goals

Scenarios are maps with certain goals in mind. These are one (or few) of the following (and a few other may be added ofc):

   * Achieve certain company value(CNW – company net worth)
   * Achieve certain personal cash (PNW – personal net worth)
   * Move A tons of cargo B from C to D
   * Hold control X% of transport of commodity Y for at least Z years
   * Be one of X top performing companies 

Also – during the game (at date or because other dialog box was selected). These dialog boxes allow to modify certain game data like running costs or company overhead.

Once the objectives are completed the player will be graded and will be presented a chance to either continue playing or finish the game.

High Scores

High Scores are kept separately for each scenario and difficulty. Only top 25 names are displayed. Players can merge their high score lists.

Game Setting

A ‘setting’ is a set of configuration files that provides certain elements to the game. A ‘setting’ may contain land tiles, vehicles, buildings etc.

A ‘setting’ is complete if it contains all data the game needs to run (vehicles, carriers, buildings, road and track, land tile definitions etc). A setting is open if it only contains certain parts (like only buildings or only tiles).

A complete setting is an equivalent of a ‘climate’ in TTD. An open ‘setting’ is more of a vehicle set – like a grf Usset or such.

Weather & Disasters

The map and certain aspects of the game can be randomly modified by external sources. These include natural disasters and influences.

A list (not complete) looks somewhat like this

   * Rain – a beautiful rain – an eye candy
   * Storm – possibility for a lightning to strike a land based object and cause fire (destroying a building or forests)
   * Heavy rain – causing mud slide and small terrain deformations
   * Earthquake – random, major changes of the terrain along a “fault” (the game will locate faults on map generation). Destruction and mayhem ensues
   * Tidal wave – from a certain direction (from map edge) certain shore tiles exposed to that direction are destroyed, sunk or risen.
   * Snow – fresh snow (despite eye candy) will cause the vehicles to lose grip 

Pollution

Pollution is a stat that may slowly build up on certain tiles of the map (industrial zones, industries, rail/road yards, roads, tracks etc). Nobody actually know WTF it is supposed to do in a transport game, but alas it was included in the FRD

Tourist attractions

Tourist attractions are special buildings that appear for no apparent reason and purpose to piss off the DD writer.

Difficulty settings

The player has control over what difficulty the game will be by setting several options that include (incomplete list)

   * amount of water/hills
   * financial aspects (max loan, bond percentages, presence or absence of stock market etc)
   * maximum money to borrow/start
   * local authority “friendliness”
   * certain vehicle performance aspects
   * other