Few Questions about RT3 in General?

[TheBonobo4]

Some of these questions I think I know the answers to, but I just need clarifying or explaining as I'm not 100 percent sure.

1. Firstly, whilst I'm 99% sure the economy is random, is there ANY way to create/predict an economic boom, end of boom, depression, recession, etc? I'm fairly sure the answer is no, and I'm of course just talking normally and not in scenarios that start in a Depression or have a fixed Depression or crash etc in a particular year.

2. How exactly do Dividends work? They're not shown in the Income Statement in the ledger, are they paid by the company at all, and if so when? At the start of the year, at the end, constantly? As I understand it, say there are 100,000 outstanding shares in my company, at $1 dividend a share, then each person receives $1 per share in personal cash, so the company pays out $100K in dividends, but I don't know when this is, or how, since it doesn't seem to affect profits.

3. Not sure how this worked or why, but I recently finished my first run through on Medium of OilCan's MoPac map, getting Gold. One of the goals requires $200M in PNW. I did this, and one thing that helped since my personal cash and Purchasing power were so high (from owning 99% of the stock in my own company, around 3M shares at game end at around $50 a share, plus $50M or so in cash and Purchasing Power), was to pause the game at the start of each year, issue stock twice, (paying out around $10M in dividends as well), then with the game still paused, buy out all the new shares, which somehow raised the overall share price and my number of shares, to improve my PNW. Is there a name for this strategy or a reason why it worked? The share price did drop a bit after resuming gameplay but even after a year the price was still higher than it was before (though this may be due to dividends and that I was making $10M+ profit).

If I think of another question, I'll post it here.

[Gumboots]

1/ You can usually assume it will follow a smooth transition from up to down and back again, but it sometimes throws in random changes just to keep you on your toes. So it's sorta predictable sometimes, but never entirely predictable.

2/ They are paid four times per year, every three months. I assume they are part of the overhead.

3/ Issuing stock improves the company's balance sheet, because it has more cash behind it. Buying stock raises stock price (because the market thinks it is in demand) and if you buy all new stock that is issued, then you will own a higher percentage of the total stock, so on both counts your PNW should rise providing you don't issue so much stock that the price collapses.

[RulerofRails]

#1 In RTII there were some factors like laying a lot of track just before a possible change that seemed to stave off economic decline, so I wouldn't say never (this game was made by some of the same people). But even that was unreliable. Here we have greater risks, and potential for much worse ROI. Nobody suggested that it will work in this game. I doubt it does, but even if it did, I'm pretty sure it's best to minimize risk and go for highest returns. I never thought it worth the attempt.


#2. Part of Overhead? That's a new one on me. Will keep an eye if I see some evidence down the road.

My current understanding is that dividends are simply withdrawals from your company cash. The negative on your company is less book value, but typical phase of game for heavy use (when expansion is winding down) means there is limited downside.

Dividends withdrawals occur at the end of March, June, September, and December. But the end of year check for sufficient cash and the corresponding component of year-end share price adjustment is locked in from the START of December, so as to prevent some exploits.


#3 I tend to never issue stock, except occasionally in the first year. So, that's not my area of experience. I would be more wary of doing it in poorer economic times. I could theorize that it's worthwhile if it allows you to raise dividend higher, but there is a point when the game wont let you raise them anymore. So in effect you are balancing stock issues (-) with dividend effect (+). After you can't raise dividends any more, I don't see too much point in having more CBV in your company, I would tend to do the opposite at that point, sell personal stock and get the company to buy it back. But as I said, I don't fool with that, if it's working for you reliably go for it.

[undertoad]

2. How exactly do Dividends work? They're not shown in the Income Statement in the ledger, are they paid by the company at all, and if so when? At the start of the year, at the end, constantly? As I understand it, say there are 100,000 outstanding shares in my company, at $1 dividend a share, then each person receives $1 per share in personal cash, so the company pays out $100K in dividends, but I don't know when this is, or how, since it doesn't seem to affect profits.

I'm pretty sure that dividends are paid quarterly. Like RulerOfRails said: at the end of March, June, September and December.

If you've ever been in the position of trying to save up for something, you'll have had the unpleasant experience of seeing your cash grow, and grow and grow... almost to e.g. $1,500 so that you can build that Lumber Mill. Then you hit one of these quarter ends, and suddenly a big part of your cash disappears. Worth knowing, especially if you're trying to avoid running out of cash and going negative (leading to the directors suspending the dividend, and affecting the improvement in your credit rating).

I'm not sure exactly what's included in these quarterly deductions. Maintenance, fuel, overhead, dividends? It's definitely not industry costs (labour), as that gets deducted before the industry feeds its profits into your company's account.

[Gumboots]

I'm not sure exactly what's included in these quarterly deductions. Maintenance, fuel, overhead, dividends?

Yes, and also interest on bonds.