Plutocracy News

Hello, seasoned and aspiring plutocrats!

After a long pause, I'm ready—just as promised—to share the details of the upcoming update.
We're now in the final stage before delivering it to you, and just a few days after we finish internal testing, you'll be able to download it.

So, what awaits us in the new update:

[h2]Endless Game Mode[/h2]
First, some good news for those who asked us to extend the game beyond 1947, even at the cost of losing historical accuracy and transitioning into a new era. We’ve worked on it — and now, you’ll have that option. The game will no longer be interrupted, and you’ll be able to continue playing in endless mode if you feel there just aren’t enough years in the timeline. The political system and economy will continue functioning after 1947, though without a historical vector.

[h2]Media[/h2]
And the headline feature of this update is, of course, Media Companies!
A brand-new type of company, which I previously teased.

What are they for?

Well, it’s hard to imagine a true Plutocracy — a world of politicians and big money — without the so-called Fourth Estate. The influence on the minds of readers has always been powerful, and starting from the late 19th century with the rise of mass printing, it reached dangerous levels for anyone standing in the way of media tycoons.

Want to influence election candidates? No problem!
Change public opinion on a law? Go ahead!
Destroy or revive the business reputation of a company? Just pay a visit to your media company’s editorial office!



There’s just one condition — you must own a controlling stake in the media company.

The effectiveness of influence depends on the newspaper’s circulation. The higher the circulation, the broader the reader reach — and the stronger the effect.
Don’t expect a small-town rag with limited copies to make any serious impact.

Also, keep in mind that the influence of a media company is limited to the region where its office is located. To exert influence across other states or the entire country, you’ll have to work hard — consolidating scattered companies into a media empire through familiar tools: trusts, media cartels, mergers, and acquisitions.



While editing an article, you’ll have to decide how and by whom the chosen media target will be influenced. You can opt for a soft approach — with a mild effect and minimal risk for your media company — or go aggressive, which may lead to lawsuits, financial penalties, or reputational damage.

The system also takes into account who you are targeting. Influencing a well-known public figure or a major enterprise will be significantly harder, as they are more likely to respond with a public rebuttal or even spark a scandal.

[h2]Advertising as a New Lever[/h2]
This update also brings changes to the game’s economic model.
To properly integrate the media system, we had to revise how all companies operate economically — making the role of media companies more impactful than just spreading compromising news about competitors or glorifying friendly politicians to boost their reputation and renown.



A key change: all companies will now purchase advertising from media companies instead of investing in R&D. This, in turn, will affect product pricing.
If a company's advertising investment exceeds the sector’s average, its product prices will receive a bonus markup. If it falls behind, prices will be penalized accordingly.

[h2]Integration with Holdings[/h2]
By owning a media company within your holding, you'll gain preferential advertising rates when promoting through your own media assets — effectively reducing your advertising expenses.
This opens up a new layer of strategy in market monopolization — adding another lever of pressure against competitors.



All other changes — including the many bug fixes you’ve reported to us — will be detailed once the update goes live.
We expect that to happen within the next week.

Thank you all for your concern and your dedication to the future of Plutocracy.
We continue working toward everything we’ve set out to deliver for the final version of the game — and your support keeps us inspired!

Stay tuned for more news coming soon!
___
CEO.

[h2]Improvements:[/h2]

• Optimization and general improvement of game performance
  
• In the settings, it is possible to disable animation in the game, for greater performance on computers with a low-power configuration
  
• Changes have been made to the logic of managing subsidiaries to simplify their management.
  
• Now, in order to influence anything in any subsidiary company, you do not necessarily need to be the CEO of this company, and even be the CEO of the parent company.
  

[h2]Critical errors:[/h2]

• Crash associated with negative production
  
• Crash after an attempt to create a trust in the coal industry
  
• Crash when closing an application from a gaming session
  
• Other crashes
  
• Fixed a bug where the number of characters grew over time, which led to significant game slowdowns
  

[h2]Other errors:[/h2]

• Error reducing the new share of the owner of the company after the takeover of another company (new shares were issued on the stock exchange during the takeover)
  
• The share release button is blocked after cooldown
  
• The icon for using the pianist agent does not appear or disappear on time
  
• Cannot provoke a strike again after the agent cooldown
  
• Incorrect figures when paying interest on a loan
  
• Inability to borrow from loyal characters due to lack of money of their own
  
• NaN in loans, and stock exchange line in the list of shareholders
  
• The history of repayment of issued loans disappeared from the company’s finances during bank bankruptcy
  
• Minor edits to layout and texts
  
• “Characters who were issued loans and went bankrupt are stuck in the notebook; they cannot be deleted, but “???” is shown instead. “
  

In the next update we plan to add a new type of company - Media. This will significantly expand the ability to control politicians, popularize laws among the population, and provide more tools for targeted influence on the desired characters and companies.
Follow the news!

And as usual, thank you for your support, suggestions and bug reports - thanks to you, we find vulnerabilities faster and improve the game. You inspire our small team!

Hello all plutocrats!

We have added vertical integration to the game.
I'll tell you what it is.

A holding in the game is a supply-related company in which the owner has a controlling stake. Very often in your wishes I came across ideas about greater automation of various processes in the game, be it economics or politics. Therefore, it was decided to ease the role of the company owner and focus on the main thing - creating a competitive advantage in the purchase of raw materials and transport services.



First of all, this is a search for supplier companies with the lowest prices for raw materials.
Let's say you have an oil refinery. Cheap oil from your oil production company, coupled with low transportation tariffs, allows you to get significant savings, which improves the final margin of the refinery, and therefore its competitiveness in the market!

This is what vertically integrated Holdings are created for!

So. Before creating a Holding, buy out at least 1 company.
By default, all companies in the game purchase raw materials and services from third-party companies - i.e. at market prices, based on the average price in the country. You can see this in the Holding tab.



To replace third-party suppliers with your companies, buy a controlling stake in a company that sells its products below the market! The lower the price, the greater the benefit for the Holding Company, obviously.

Important - we have simplified the mechanics of linking companies to the Holding. There is no need to make the supplier company a subsidiary. You can simply buy it for your pocket money, and if it is capable of supplying the type of product you want to your other company, it will do so immediately! Yes, yes, the directors of your companies eat their bread for a reason...

For convenience, we also displayed information about the prices of each company's products in the table of companies, instead of the level of technology.



This saves time searching for a company in states with lower prices for raw materials or services.


Next.
In the Holding window itself, you can set the priority of suppliers and consumers if your Holding has grown and requires more fine-tuning. It can be individual, or it can be automatic - then the company itself will purchase with priority at the minimum price.



This window can also be used for quick navigation between the Holding companies.

The ultimate goal is to purchase raw materials and services from the Holding's supplier companies at the lowest price in the country, simultaneously depriving competitors of cheap raw materials, and sell your final products, for example, kerosene, at the highest price!

For clarity, we have displayed key indicators, including the Holding’s efficiency and total benefits, in a table.

Have a nice game!
Share your thoughts on what could be added or removed - and we will definitely think about it.

As promised in the fall, the next update will add presidential elections and a new type of company to the game - media. But I’ll tell you more about this in the developer diary next time!

Happy holidays to everyone!

[h2]Changelog:[/h2]

[h3]Critical fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed a crash due to an error that occurred when North Dakota and South Dakota joined the United States in 1889.
  

[h3]Other fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the purchase of shares for a company if personal funds were not enough for at least 1 such share.
  
• Fixed a bug where the time start button could be blocked for no reason.
  

Stay tuned, Redwood Team.

[h2]Changelog:[/h2]

[h3]Critical fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed a crash during loading a save due to data inconsistencies in the character search filter.
  
• Fixed a crash during loading a save due to the mistaken removal of a player character from the database.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented certain saves from being loaded from the main menu.
  

We managed to fix most of the crashes related to loading saves. Now, in most cases, old saves will loading without problems. New ones should be completely OK.
So we recommend starting a new game and not using saves made before this version, as we can't guarantee their stability.
We will continue to monitor the situation, and if there will be more problems with loading, we will release another patch.

Stay tuned, Redwood Team.