Questions about Capacity, Placement and Efficiency

[Hans_Lemurson]

There are a number of pieces of information in CapLab which would be very useful in figuring out how to get the most "Bang for your Buck", but which I did not find readily apparent, nor could I find out any information searching online.

Advertisement Allocation: Do you get better results splitting your advertising budget between two different media centers or applying it all to the #1 in coverage (or perhaps the one with the best per-unit cost?) If a Radio Station has good coverage and price, should you spend all of your marketing dollars there, or does it help to diversify your media presence by spending in the Newspaper and TV station as well even if their prices are high and coverage lower? My tendency has been to have 3 advertising units in a city and spread my efforts among each media type for maximum coverage, but is that actually cost effective?

Store placement: Do you need to space out your stores? If you place two stores next to each other in a high traffic downtown district, will they interfere with each other? All else being equal, will your stores see better demand if they are farther apart, or is distance not a factor? If distance is a factor, then is there a set distace beyond which they will not interfere or is it more of a gradual dropoff?

Store product focus: Will you sell more goods with 4 stores each selling the same 4 goods or dividing it up so that each store sell just one product (assuming no change in the store layouts).

Store layout, max utilization: Can a single Purchasing Unit actually serve more than one Sales Unit? The "utilization" bar seems to suggest that they can (at least at level 1), but I don't feel that the utilization bars are totally accurate given the delays between transferring goods from an almost-full Purchasing unit to an empty Sales Unit. I have experimented a bit with channeling the goods through a central inventory unit in single-product stores which seems to smooth things along, but I haven't run the numbers.

Manufacturing Capacity: What is it?
Is there any way to predict how many goods per month a Factory will be able to produce? Any way to predict the volume of their resource demands? Some products require a lot of raw materials per unit (Blazers eat 15lbs of linen), some products yield a multiplied output (Plastic, Dyestuff) and yet others seem to just be inherently slow to manufacture (Cars). I am assuming each product has a different "Manufacturing Time" per unit (or per recipe) to produce. Is there a known list of these Times or of the Quantity/Month for each item that can be produced? It would be nice to know in advance how much stuff your factory can actually produce.

Sales Unit Capacity: Similar Question
Does each product also have a "weight factor" that determines the amount that a sales unit at full capacity can sell? Is this the same weight factor as the manufacturing cost? Is this the same weight factor used for determining how much can be stored in an inventory unit?

[counting]

This is my speculation based on experiences since Cap 2, and they generally work well for my games. But not guarantee to be entirely accurate though. Welcome to express your own opinions

Advertisement Allocation: Do you get better results splitting your advertising budget between two different media centers or applying it all to the #1 in coverage (or perhaps the one with the best per-unit cost?) If a Radio Station has good coverage and price, should you spend all of your marketing dollars there, or does it help to diversify your media presence by spending in the Newspaper and TV station as well even if their prices are high and coverage lower? My tendency has been to have 3 advertising units in a city and spread my efforts among each media type for maximum coverage, but is that actually cost effective?

I think there is a cap to an advertising agency depending on rating, roughly (rating %) x (population of the city). And CPR will determine how many these potential customers will be expose to. If a station has high rating and low CPR, you can sink quite a lot budget before you reach the cap. If your budget exceed the cap, it's just wasted. So generally in the beginning for low ads budget and low market share, its best to use the most cost efficient one, but later for more saturated market with high budget, it's best to spread budgets to different agencies.

Store placement: Do you need to space out your stores? If you place two stores next to each other in a high traffic downtown district, will they interfere with each other? All else being equal, will your stores see better demand if they are farther apart, or is distance not a factor? If distance is a factor, then is there a set distace beyond which they will not interfere or is it more of a gradual dropoff?

In my own experience in Cap Lab, the only thing matter is the traffic index. The distance between don't affect at all. In fact, right now since close-by stores can boost each other with higher traffic index, it's even better to open them closer together.

Store product focus: Will you sell more goods with 4 stores each selling the same 4 goods or dividing it up so that each store sell just one product (assuming no change in the store layouts).

In principle, I don't think there will be a difference, if all 4 stores have the same traffic index. But since it's almost impossible to be the same in practice, it's best to spread them out and average the risk (if one type goods being snatched by AIs, each store can still make profit from other goods). However if one type of goods has much higher profit margin (and you can be sure to be monopoly), it's obviously better to specialize the highest traffic index store for the best product.

Store layout, max utilization: Can a single Purchasing Unit actually serve more than one Sales Unit? The "utilization" bar seems to suggest that they can (at least at level 1), but I don't feel that the utilization bars are totally accurate given the delays between transferring goods from an almost-full Purchasing unit to an empty Sales Unit. I have experimented a bit with channeling the goods through a central inventory unit in single-product stores which seems to smooth things along, but I haven't run the numbers.

Yes. Actually both at level 9, one purchasing-unit can serve 2 sales-units (if they are all at 100% utilization). The delay doesn't affect much. And inventory-unit has twice the throughput of purchasing-unit, so it's probably why you feel it can "smooth things along". But generally the bottle neck is the sales-unit. (It's why usually the sales unit level up much faster than purchasing if they are not full utilized)

Manufacturing Capacity: What is it?
Is there any way to predict how many goods per month a Factory will be able to produce? Any way to predict the volume of their resource demands? Some products require a lot of raw materials per unit (Blazers eat 15lbs of linen), some products yield a multiplied output (Plastic, Dyestuff) and yet others seem to just be inherently slow to manufacture (Cars). I am assuming each product has a different "Manufacturing Time" per unit (or per recipe) to produce. Is there a known list of these Times or of the Quantity/Month for each item that can be produced? It would be nice to know in advance how much stuff your factory can actually produce.

Yes, the large factory manufacturing unit is twice productive than medium factory, and medium is twice than small one. And each large factory manufacturing unit can serve a retail sales unit when both are 100% utilized. This is true for all products, the unit of count don't matter, since large products like cars although producing fewer per turn, but they scale the same as small products like toothpaste. (manufacture 10/s sells 10/s is the same as 10k/s and sell 10k/s)

Sales Unit Capacity: Similar Question
Does each product also have a "weight factor" that determines the amount that a sales unit at full capacity can sell? Is this the same weight factor as the manufacturing cost? Is this the same weight factor used for determining how much can be stored in an inventory unit?

I think they scale roughly the same with sales and manufacturing when they are at the same level. But they don't scale the same with farms and pastures. Inventory unit can't level up. But the amount of goods temporary stored in sales-unit do increase with level. In fact at high level sales unit (>lvl 5) usually exceed the capacity of inventory unit. Hence you can use factories' high level sales-unit as storage. (a fully stocked inventory unit can support sales up to 1 month I believe, but I am not sure)

[Hans_Lemurson]

Thanks for your answers.

Manufacturing Capacity: What is it?
Is there any way to predict how many goods per month a Factory will be able to produce? Any way to predict the volume of their resource demands? Some products require a lot of raw materials per unit (Blazers eat 15lbs of linen), some products yield a multiplied output (Plastic, Dyestuff) and yet others seem to just be inherently slow to manufacture (Cars). I am assuming each product has a different "Manufacturing Time" per unit (or per recipe) to produce. Is there a known list of these Times or of the Quantity/Month for each item that can be produced? It would be nice to know in advance how much stuff your factory can actually produce.

Yes, the large factory manufacturing unit is twice productive than medium factory, and medium is twice than small one. And each large factory manufacturing unit can serve a retail sales unit when both are 100% utilized. This is true for all products, the unit of count don't matter, since large products like cars although producing fewer per turn, but they scale the same as small products like toothpaste. (manufacture 10/s sells 10/s is the same as 10k/s and sell 10k/s)

Sales Unit Capacity: Similar Question
Does each product also have a "weight factor" that determines the amount that a sales unit at full capacity can sell? Is this the same weight factor as the manufacturing cost? Is this the same weight factor used for determining how much can be stored in an inventory unit?

I think they scale roughly the same with sales and manufacturing when they are at the same level. But they don't scale the same with farms and pastures. Inventory unit can't level up. But the amount of goods temporary stored in sales-unit do increase with level. In fact at high level sales unit (>lvl 5) usually exceed the capacity of inventory unit. Hence you can use factories' high level sales-unit as storage. (a fully stocked inventory unit can support sales up to 1 month I believe, but I am not sure)

What I meant by Manufacturing Capacity was: "How many tubes of toothpaste will a Small Level 1 Manufacturing Unit produce per month?" I've already tested the 1/2/4 capacity ratios for Small/Medium/Large factories, but the manufacturing rates of each product aren't readily available. In theory I could build test factories for every single product in the game, but I'm hoping that there's a simpler way to find out this information. A list somewhere or a tool to decode the game files or something on that order.

The 1 (large)manufacturing unit = 1 sales unit is a good rule of thumb, I will keep that in mind. How does this scale for things like Convenience Stores vs. Supermarkets or Discount Megastores? Do you know if it's a 1/2/4 capacity ratio as well for 2x2/3x3/4x4 stores like it is for factories?

[counting]

Thanks for your answers.
What I meant by Manufacturing Capacity was: "How many tubes of toothpaste will a Small Level 1 Manufacturing Unit produce per month?" I've already tested the 1/2/4 capacity ratios for Small/Medium/Large factories, but the manufacturing rates of each product aren't readily available. In theory I could build test factories for every single product in the game, but I'm hoping that there's a simpler way to find out this information. A list somewhere or a tool to decode the game files or something on that order.

The 1 (large)manufacturing unit = 1 sales unit is a good rule of thumb, I will keep that in mind. How does this scale for things like Convenience Stores vs. Supermarkets or Discount Megastores? Do you know if it's a 1/2/4 capacity ratio as well for 2x2/3x3/4x4 stores like it is for factories?

Back in the day, some players would try to "crack" Cap II using certain memory and hex editor, and we have gathered quite some data. I can still find these files, but they are mostly in Chinese. (if you can read Chinese, here is a search result). But most data is based on Cap II, there isn't much for Cap lab.

There are base numbers for "manufacturing capacity" like cars is 8, motorcycle 16, perfume 4000, etc. And manufacture capacity from level 1 to level 9 as 100% 125% 175% 200% 250% 300% 375% 437% 500%. I can't remember them all, but you can verify them by observing the manufacturing process tab inside a factory and see there is a progress bar and progress to these base numbers (per turn about a day or 2, not per month). However as I said before, as far as we know, each product seems to be equal at the ratio between production and retail, so the exact quantity of each product is irrelevant.

As for 2x2/3x3/4x4 retail stores.The sales department in the factory is twice as efficient as retail stores when they are at the same level regardless which kind of store. However they do differ with their initial traffic index thus affect the actual demand. I personally believe that there is no actually difference in their max capacity, but only how fast you reach them (and ofc the type of products they can sell). In the end they all have the same total sales, but a large store get you there in months, but small one may take years. Although mostly I only use specialized store, since I can mostly find space for 2x2 in 30 AIs setup with 200%+ difficulty. (And I like them with 50+ traffic index)

[Hans_Lemurson]

I just realized that I need to clarify that when I've been asking about "Capacity" what I meant was throughput capacity. The internal storage capacity of a sales unit is almost entirely irrelevant for profitability. Thanks for answering though!

[counting]

I just realized that I need to clarify that when I've been asking about "Capacity" what I meant was throughput capacity. The internal storage capacity of a sales unit is almost entirely irrelevant for profitability. Thanks for answering though!

Actually there is more than "throughput". Think about it like physics, there are velocity and acceleration. Likewise, there are selling velocity(throughput), and acceleration(changing of utilization/demand) to a certain sales-unit. But also a maximum throughput that can be called "capacity".

For example. let's say you have a 2x2 convenient store with level 1 sales-unit sells 1600 eggs per day at 20% utilization. So the current throughput is 1600/day, and an acceleration of increase average utilization 0.1% per day with a demand/supply factor of 1. And this sales-unit "could" have a max capacity of throughput at 8000/day. Hence it takes 800 days before it can reach this cap.

However, if you have a 3x3 supermarket with level 1 sales-unit also starts with 1600/day at 20%, with the same max capacity 8000/day. But now due to it been larger and higher demand/supply factor of 10, it may have an acceleration of average utilization of 1% per day. Hence it will only take 80 days to reach the cap. (If you train up the sales-unit, the max capacity increased, but not the demand/supply factor which is mostly defined by the traffic index, price and quality)

This is quite important, since current throughput only tells you how much you could earn at this moment, but in the long run when you reach the max capacity, current throughput will be limited by the cap whether it's 2x2/3x3/4x4 (However larger store units do have a higher initial "storage capacity" though, it may help you with fluctuation, but not throughput).

[Hans_Lemurson]

What I'd really like to know though is the actual raw numbers on WHAT the throughput is for Manufacturing, Purchasing and Sales units. A rule of thumb I've developed for the profitability of my firms in moderately competitive environments (no price war) is "Break even at 50% capacity", but in order to know what to price my goods at to achieve this, I need to know the throughput.

[counting]

I don't think it's feasible to pre-calculate all the numbers to get you exactly 50%. And product demands differ from product to product, and they will change over time quite quickly.

My personal estimation is always based on population for consumption, not financial balance. You will get enough profit when you have more than 50% of market share in every city when there are no competitions anyway. And the numbers are different from product to product when it comes to market share, and cost. Different products have different manufacturing requirements and different level of processing steps. Financially speaking they are not equal by design. (And certainly I will never go into a business that can just break-even )

Personally I just go with that a city of fully situated market around 2 million population will need one fully utilized level-1 2-manufacture-units end-product large factory to supply it. So to get 50% market a large (4 million) city need 1 large factory, medium (2 million) need 1 medium, and small (1 million) need 1 small. Easy to remember and easy to deploy, and when they level up, they can slowly increased level by training to cover the rest 50% market. (Although you will end up with excessive production after level 5)

[Hans_Lemurson]

I don't think it's feasible to pre-calculate all the numbers to get you exactly 50%. And product demands differ from product to product, and they will change over time quite quickly.

It's actually quite feasible if you know the output capacity. Factories have fixed costs associated with them; a small factory in the optimized 2-input production layout costs 71 labor to maintain (6L from 3 Purchasing, 8L from 2 Sales, 32L from 4 Manufacturing, and a 25L equivalent overhead cost). If you're in a city with a Real Wage of 70.00 then the factory will cost you 20*70.00*71 = $99,400 each month to run. If the factory can produce 40,000 units per month, then you need to make a profit of $2.50 per unit in order to break even at full capacity, or $5.00 per unit to break even at 50% capacity.

This tells you the minimum price you can afford to sell your goods at in the event of heavy competition and is the sort of information I like to have on hand. Moreover, making sure that all of my factories are operating at around even means that I can more easily see and control my corporation's revenue at Retail and plan my brand and pricing strategies accordingly.

...But all of this requires knowing the throughput values of all of my Firms. This is the information I'm really after here.

My personal estimation is always based on population for consumption, not financial balance. You will get enough profit when you have more than 50% of market share in every city when there are no competitions anyway. And the numbers are different from product to product when it comes to market share, and cost. Different products have different manufacturing requirements and different level of processing steps. Financially speaking they are not equal by design. (And certainly I will never go into a business that can just break-even )

Personally I just go with that a city of fully situated market around 2 million population will need one fully utilized level-1 2-manufacture-units end-product large factory to supply it. So to get 50% market a large (4 million) city need 1 large factory, medium (2 million) need 1 medium, and small (1 million) need 1 small. Easy to remember and easy to deploy, and when they level up, they can slowly increased level by training to cover the rest 50% market. (Although you will end up with excessive production after level 5)

Those are good rules of thumb, I will keep those in mind. Does it work out mostly the same way for each product? Shampoo is produced at 3x the rate as Toothpaste, but is the market size also 3x as large?

[counting]

The budget pre-calculation (or just simply financial plan) is a suggestion we have proposed for sometime . It's fairly obvious that this kind of calculation shouldn't be left for players, computers are meant for these. But I guess we still need to wait.

Back to the topic. What I meant not feasible isn't about cost though, but rather revenue. How much a store could sold change very frequently, and utilization level on average 25% is more or less theoretical. In reality it looks like daily fluctuation of 100% 86% 0% 12% 23% 75% ..., so in order to get a general sense, I always try going overboard with excessive demand and maxing out utilization, hence capacity could be reached fairly quickly (throughput at certain moment is not something very important IMO, and why I set my goal with market share rather than actual sells unit).

I don't actually know how much difference in capacity between special stores and general stores. From experience, I am fairly certain they differ wildly. Like usually I need 3 times the car retails for cars than motorcycles. And three times for meat products than things like beverages. They already differ within product class, let alone different classes. (Not to mention if there are competitors, they will change even more rapidly)

Like in real life, business plans and financial evaluation could only help you so much. After you go into business, just pay attention to actual financial reports (balance sheets, income statements, cash statements, stock and repositories level, etc). It's very easy to analysis whether you actually make a profit or not. (There are always overhead and unexpected expenses somewhere when you get your hands dirty )