The Business Game Basics

The business game is really quite simple despite how it looks.  Your basic intentions are to buy as many companies as you possibly can to reunite the companies of the old Claudius Firm.  Now for the menus:

Main Menu

Top Screen

  • See Info- Brings up the See Info menu.

  • Purchase- Allows you to purchase companies that are in the city that you are currently in.

  • Allies- Brings up the list of ally companies.  (Companies that won't attempt to buy your companies)

Bottom Screen

  • Assets/# Rank- Shows the amount of money you have in assets/ Shows your current rank on the ranking table

  • Capital- Shows the current amount of money your company can spend.

  • Allies- Shows the # of allies you currently have

  • Est Earnings- The amount that will be added to your current capital after the round is over

  • Assets in # cities now- Shows how many cities you have assets in.

  • Items- Shows the current number of companies you have.

See Info

Top Screen

  • Assets- Brings up the list of all your assets.

  • Group- The list of the groups you currently have (groups of assets that can all be laid down at once.

  • Skill- Shows the current list of the skills you have. (Smile, Small Present, etc.)

  • Rank Table- Shows the top 20 companies.

  • City Info- Shows the current info of the city you're in.

  • Trade List- Shows all the goods your companies are trading.

Yea, I'll admit that was a very basic explanation.  Now for the screen you'll see during the Business Game.

Basics of the Screen

(Note: This picture was taken early in the game; thus, the skill option is not in the menu yet).  The 2 names of the companies are listed below the coin holders.  Of course, the more coins that are there, the more money that has been placed.  The object is to have more money placed on your contain than your opponent has on theirs.  To do this, you must use Request Cap and Request Group.  Requesting Cap will get money from only one of your companies, while Request Group will gather money from an entire group of them.  Becareful on request money!  If you request too much from a company/group during a round, the company might not have any more cash.  Instead, you'll lose some of your money and the company!  You can also put your own money down from your capital pile during the game.  This should be used wisely because you'll need capital both in the comission of purchasing companies and in using some skills.  You'll also notice the blue and red bars on the screen.  They are not merely decoration as they may first seem.  The blue bar represents your company, and the red bar represents the opposing company.  When you have more money placed down than the opposing company does, then your blue bar will move to the left.  Once the blue bar reaches the other side of the screen, you will have purchased the sceen.  The red bar will move to the right when they have more money than you, and if it reaches the other side, they will have won.

Skills

Skills have a multitude of uses and are occasionally aquired after purchasing a company.  Some skills like Small Present and Entertainment can adjust the bars.  Others like spreading rumors will cause your companies not to trust you which makes it harder to get money from them.  Some can make it easier to get money.  Talk of Justice is the wildcard of the skills.  It can either help or hurt you, depending on how well the company takes it.  The Talk of Justice can even move the bar almost across the screen if it works well!

Groups

Sometimes when you Request Cap from a company, an entire group will come instead of the lone company.  However, there is a limit to the number of groups you can have.  These groups can allow massive amounts of money to be placed down at once instead of having to Request Cap from various assets.  Groups become essential during the later stages of the game.  If you manage to get Librof Blue Sea while purchasing assets in Librof, you should be able to coast through the rest of the game, that is if you purchase every asset in Librof.  (Or until you get the Weapons group ;) ).

Purchasing

Purchasing is the main purpose of the business game.  You are trying to purchase as many companies as possible to accomplish your objectives.  When choosing to purchase a company, you'll enter the purchase screen where you put down the money.  The person with the most money put down wins the company.  After purchasing a company, a rival firm might try to buy one of your companies.  You'll enter the same screen, but you may not call upon that company for capital.  Now you'll have to put down money to keep the company.  The same rules apply to this scenario as with normal purchasing.