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In order to map out the demand for the various types of raw materials, I have compiled a record of the amount of gold spent building raw materials companies all over the world. I have only included companies in high resource regions since I suspect companies in medium resource regions are not a significant contributor to the raw materials industry. This data doesn't directly indicate how much raw material is actually being produced, but I believe it does give a good indication of how much can be produced and I infer that the two aren't too far apart.
Below is graph I came up with. The value of the raw materials companies is given in kG or thousands of gold. Well over one million gold has been spent in Primera e-Sim building raw materials companies in high resource regions. To roughly match the way resources are mapped in e-Sim's maps, Iron regions are represented in orange and yellow, grain in pink and red, diamonds in shades of purple, and the minor resources in shades of blue and green.
As you can see, in e-Sim, iron is king! Grain and Diamond are also significant industries; but oil, stone, and wood are incredibly small industries. There are 14 iron regions, 11 grain, 12 diamond, 7 oil, 4 stone, and 6 wood (this data was compiled before the addition of Cambodia. As you can see by the number of regions allotted to each kind of resource, the admin appear to be trying to not only spread the resources evenly over the world but also to give more regions to resources that are in higher demand. It would make the game more balanced if the minor resources could be given more importance.
I think two very simple changes could be made to moving tickets to increase the demand of oil. Right now the base cost of oil is 4, that is, it takes 4 units of oil and 4 manufacturing labor units to produce one Q1 ticket. Because of how important moving is for soldiers, I don't think fewer tickets would be sold if the cost of tickets was increased. If the base was changed to 10, that would increase the cost of Q1 tickets consumed by 150% without decreasing use much at all since it would still be a very small amount of money compared to the amount a soldier spends on food, gifts, and especially weapons. Another change I think is the effect on the health of traveler. If Q1 tickets sapped 100 health, Q2 50, and Q3 cost no health; and then if Q4 actually gave you 50 health and Q5 gave 100 health, I think sales of high quality tickets might even increase, especially for gold buyers and super-soldiers funded by wealthy governments. Q4 and Q5 tickets would give these deep-pocketed soldiers a way to do as much damage as they could afford and still help the player economy buy buying tickets costing 40 or 50 industrial units each! The economy might even be able to handle a base of 20 for tickets.
I haven't come up with any simple idea for how the stone and wood industries could be improved. The biggest problem with these two resources is that estates and houses are not consumed like other goods. Once a house or estate enters the game, it never leaves and needs to be replaced. The admin actually experimented with the idea of houses randomly burning to the ground and needing to be replaced but I think player reaction was too negative for them to decide to implement it. I wondered if making players 'build' their house in a specific region and then only allow them to get the house benefit if they were in that region at day change would work. This might be especially effective if players were also allowed to build houses in as many regions as they wanted. Also if a player had built, say a Q2 house and wanted a Q5 instead, they would build the Q5 over the Q2, destroying the Q2.
The other issue with wood and stone is that because of how hospitals affect soldiers health, they are almost never used. And I haven't figured out why countries rarely build Q5 defense systems, even in very strategic regions.
I had wondered if something like highways could be built for a region using stone and/or wood, which would increase productivity by a small percentage and would gradually decay. So maybe a Q5 highway could be built in say, Silesia, which would increase productivity by 5%. Then every 30 days, the highway would downgrade one level. So 30 days after installation, the highway would become Q4 and only give 4% increase to productivity. That way no highway would last more than five months and countries would be allowed to replace the downgraded highway with a higher quality one at any time. Since each region would only have one highway at most, the highway might cost as much as 10 or 20 times what a defense system costs to build.
I also thought about introducing new types of weapons into the game, perhaps cheap wooden clubs or expensive explosives made from stone?
So what should you do until the admin either add fifty iron regions or find a way to make the other resources more desirable? Invest in iron! If you don't have much money, Q1 weapons companies are a very good way to get in the business since the large volume of use means the price doesn't move much and it's always easy to sell if you're willing to compete aggressively with your price. Iron production can be more lucrative but you really need a Q5 company to be competitive since raw materials companies increase significantly in efficiency as they are upgraded. And what if you're a politician or a general? Guard your iron regions above all others or go take one no matter what it costs you!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my statistics and my ideas. If you did, feel free to vote this article and share it with your friends!
Here's the data I used to make the graph:
Iron
214kG Silesia, Poland
165kG Pacific Coast USA
69kG Latgalia, Latvia
62kG Sumatra, Indonesia
59kG Pelopennese, Greece
56kG Tuscany, Italy
44kG NW Frontier, Pakistan
40kG Northern Brazil
39kG Coastal Plain, Israel
32kG Vestlandet, Norway
16kG Penghu, Taiwan
13kG Shannon, Ireland
3kG Northern Honshu, Japan
3kG East Thailand
815kG total
Grain
32kG W Russia
26kG W Transdanubia Hungary
23kG Canada East Coast
20kG Styria Carinthia Slovenia
20kG Pelagonia Republic of Macedonia
17kG Central Ukraine
16kG Eastern Visayas, Philipines
14kG Friesland-Flevoland,Netherlands
12kG Bengal Coast, India
7kG Central Estonia
3kG NW Peru
190kG Total
Diamonds
41kG Samogitia, Lithuania
28kG N Bosnia
23kG C Croatia
21kG Azores, ortugal
17kG NE England, UK
11kG Oulu, Finland
9.1kG Central Switzerland
8.1kG Jeolla, South Korea
7.5kG South Australia
5.8kG Yucatan, Mexico
5.5kG Barisal, Bangladesh
1.2kG North Central Coast, Vietnam
178.2 kG total
Oil
11 kG Marmara, Turkey
9.9 kG Crisana Banat, Romania
9.5 kG NW China
7.9 kG Saxony, Germany
4.3 kG Pahang, Malaysia
2.2 kG Mahilou, Belarus
1.48 kG Tarapaca, Chile
46 kG total
Stone
14kG Rhone Alpes, France
10kG Gotaland, Sweden
870 G Andino, Colombia
830 G Plovdiv, Bulgaria
25 kG total
Wood
6.9 kG S Serbia
5.9kG Castille Leon, Spain
3.2kG Patagonia, Argentina
4.3 kG N Iran
880 G Antwerpen-Limburg, Belgium
700 G Pardubice-Vysocina, Czech Republic
21.88kG total
Grand total about 1.276 million gold!
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About the game:
USA as a world power? In E-Sim it is possible!
In E-Sim we have a huge, living world, which is a mirror copy of the Earth. Well, maybe not completely mirrored, because the balance of power in this virtual world looks a bit different than in real life. In E-Sim, USA does not have to be a world superpower, It can be efficiently managed as a much smaller country that has entrepreneurial citizens that support it's foundation. Everything depends on the players themselves and how they decide to shape the political map of the game.
Work for the good of your country and see it rise to an empire.
Activities in this game are divided into several modules. First is the economy as a citizen in a country of your choice you must work to earn money, which you will get to spend for example, on food or purchase of weapons which are critical for your progress as a fighter. You will work in either private companies which are owned by players or government companies which are owned by the state. After progressing in the game you will finally get the opportunity to set up your own business and hire other players. If it prospers, we can even change it into a joint-stock company and enter the stock market and get even more money in this way.
In E-Sim, international wars are nothing out of the ordinary.
Become an influential politician.
The second module is a politics. Just like in real life politics in E-Sim are an extremely powerful tool that can be used for your own purposes. From time to time there are elections in the game in which you will not only vote, but also have the ability to run for the head of the party you're in. You can also apply for congress, where once elected you will be given the right to vote on laws proposed by your fellow congress members or your president and propose laws yourself. Voting on laws is important for your country as it can shape the lives of those around you. You can also try to become the head of a given party, and even take part in presidential elections and decide on the shape of the foreign policy of a given state (for example, who to declare war on). Career in politics is obviously not easy and in order to succeed in it, you have to have a good plan and compete for the votes of voters.
You can go bankrupt or become a rich man while playing the stock market.
The international war.
The last and probably the most important module is military. In E-Sim, countries are constantly fighting each other for control over territories which in return grant them access to more valuable raw materials. For this purpose, they form alliances, they fight international wars, but they also have to deal with, for example, uprisings in conquered countries or civil wars, which may explode on their territory. You can also take part in these clashes, although you are also given the opportunity to lead a life as a pacifist who focuses on other activities in the game (for example, running a successful newspaper or selling products).
At the auction you can sell or buy your dream inventory.
E-Sim is a unique browser game. It's creators ensured realistic representation of the mechanisms present in the real world and gave all power to the players who shape the image of the virtual Earth according to their own. So come and join them and help your country achieve its full potential.
Invest, produce and sell - be an entrepreneur in E-Sim.
Take part in numerous events for the E-Sim community.
