Money, market, business

Money comes from three places: working, businesses, and selling on the market. Businesses earn even when you are not playing. Factories produce military vehicles rather than money. The market is entirely between players — the game has no shop that buys everything.

Where money comes from

There are three main sources:

• Job — active income. You sit down and play, you are paid at once. Details: Job and wages.
• Business — passive income. You buy once, then come back and collect what has piled up.
• Market — you sell what you produce or find to other players.

On top of those come quest rewards and war spoils.

Businesses

Businesses are the game's calmest source of income. You buy a place, income gathers on it for a while, and you come and press Collect.

How it works:

• You have a limited number of business slots. You fill those slots with any mix of the catalogue's types.
• You cannot open the same type twice in the same city. You can open three tea houses, but they must stand in three different cities.
• Bigger businesses require a higher level. As your level rises the catalogue opens up.
• You can upgrade a business; the higher it goes, the more it earns.

Choosing the city is a real decision. Every city has a natural sector — tea in one, car dealerships in another, energy in a third. If your business's type matches the city's sector you get a noticeable income boost. This is geography; nobody can take it away, not even a lien.

Two things are deducted from what you earn: the tax taken by the party that owns the city, and the licence share you pay when buying or upgrading the business. So when picking a city you must look at both the sector and the tax.

Factories

A factory does not produce money, it produces military vehicles. It is the basic source for anyone who intends to go to war.

• When you build a factory you choose a family: tank, plane, ship or submarine. This choice cannot be changed later, so choose carefully.
• A factory's level decides quality, not quantity. Upgrade it and it turns out a better tier of vehicle — not more vehicles.
• You can build as many factories as you like.
• Every collection also charges an expense. The expense lands at the exact moment the income does.
• The top tier of vehicles does not come off a factory line. Legendary vehicles are obtained only by upgrading with ore. The best a factory can produce is one band below.

Research

A factory can produce only the tiers you have researched. That is why research is the factory's gate.

Every vehicle family has its own research chain, and the chain runs straight: to open the next step you must finish the one before it.

• To start a step you must have reached a certain level.
• Once a step starts, you wait. The wait grows as you advance: the first steps are short, the later ones take serious time.
• The chain is divided into five eras (historical periods). Moving to a new era requires a single lump of gold. You cannot touch an era's steps before opening it.
• Each family's line runs separately; you can research in several families at the same time.
• If you are in a hurry you can shorten the remaining time with gems.

Every node in the research chain is a real vehicle and has its own artwork. So the chain is also a museum of military vehicles.

The market

The market is entirely between players. The game has no shop that buys everything — a thing is worth exactly what another player will pay for it.

There are three markets:

• General Market — everyone sees it. Items for gold.
• Party Market — only your own party sees it.
• Gem Market — you sell gems and receive gold.

When you make a sale a small commission is deducted, and that money leaves the game entirely. This is deliberate: because the market is the game's busiest flow of money, some of that money has to burn there.

Listings of the same product at the same price merge into one row, so the board stays readable. You can manage listings from the market page or from the Market tab on your profile.

Why prices change

Players who do not know this assume the game is quietly punishing them, so let us say it plainly.

In this game earnings grow quickly with level. If a cost stays fixed, in time it means nothing: for a high-level player the cost of founding a party becomes pocket change. And the game becomes unstable that way.

The solution is this: every night the game looks at the average wealth of active players and scales the costs paid in gold accordingly. The numbers grow, but your purchasing power is preserved.

This is not hidden, it is shown to you. In a politics game inflation is the subject matter itself — a silent price rise would smell like a trick; a visible index is part of the game.

Tips

• Do not leave a business slot empty. An empty slot earns nothing; even a small business beats none.
• Match the city's sector. Opening the same business in the right city earns noticeably more than in the wrong one.
• Look at the tax. A business opened in a heavily taxed city is donating part of its earnings to another party.
• Do not pick a factory family at random. The choice is permanent; building a factory for a family you will not use in war is wasted investment.
• Do not rush to sell on the market. With no shop buying, prices swing with what players need; military vehicles are worth more during wars.
• Start research early. The waits grow as you advance; an idle research line is lost time.