Friday, November 30, 2012

Token Exchange

For most of you this doesn't really matter, but for those of you seeking a new guild, there is another consideration to hold.

The lower level guilds have cheaper token exchanges, that is less cash buys more tokens.

At higher guild levels, if your personal TR isn't high enough to keep up, this can be prohibitive, particularly if you are trying to fulfill the Daily Task of Token Exchange x 8.

Therefore, I advocate that if you are lower level or have a smaller income, join a smaller guild for now and progress to a bigger one once you've increased your income! Or take the challenge and try to build up the smaller guild! Either way,

Have fun,
ST

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Joint Promotions and Their Benefits

Joint Promotions allow two guild members to help advertise each others' products (or at least that's how I imagine it). This benefits both by an increase in perks, which if you remember, helps increase the speed of which you sell your goods.

Starting a JP begins by selecting a shop, hitting the Joint Promotion (JP) button and selecting the people you want to buddy up with. One of the nice things to note is that your shop can only JP with two other shops! As such, offering to JP with one guild member costs 10 000 cash, offering to JP with two guild members costs 20 000  cash, and each subsequent one is free! Therefore, it is useful to just offer JPs with all the available shops on the list.
















The average perk increase is 50%. Now if you pay with gold, this increases the perk to 80%. Is it worth it? Let's do some math.

Say your TR is 170 million. You roughly know your average perk works out to be around 800% (without JP). Normally you account for the different ARPD for different shops but because you'll be aiming to JP all your shops, you don't need to. Therefore, the estimate for how much JP affects your TR is given as (very roughly):

TR / TPerk * JPBonus/100 * No. of JP = 170 m / 900% multiplied by 50% x 2 = 9.5 x 2 = 18.9 million

If gold is used, this is (roughly) increased to:

TR / TPerk * JPBonus/100 = 170 m / 900% multiplied by 80% x 2 = 15.1 x 2 million = 30 million

For myself, at 50 shops, this 11 million increase in TR for 12 hours costs 300 gold. Not worth it in my opinion but that depends on how deep your pockets run and how close you are to the next level!

Have fun,
ST

Monday, November 26, 2012

Joint Promotions

Given that some of us are paying customers, I think we should be able to expect some response to our requests.

I want to initiate a petition for Hui Liu to put in place an 'accept all Joint Promotions' button.

Watch this space :)

ST

The Barrier

At a certain point in time, you will hit 'The Barrier'. This is when your shops sell so fast that you're re-stocking every 30 minutes or so! This happens early on when your shops have tiny capacities and you can only stock 10k goods.

The solution to this is the Just In Time skill, acquired when you reach the Roadshow phase. This lets you expand your Capacity or SFR as its known. My little piddly 10k shop now stocks 37k items. Whew!

Note, however, that it is okay to run empty! As long as you turn a profit each day.

Have fun,
ST

Formula and Datapoints

My apologies.

The formula I released last time is incorrect. As it stands now I cannot give a reasonably accurate formula. That initial formula worked for 15 footprint shops, that is 3 x 5 only. It doesn't work for 5 x 6, nor does it work for some other unknown variable.

I am certain you could work out your own formula if you collected enough data.

As it stands right now, my own formula for 5 x 6 shops is estimated by:

119.88 x Inventory x Employees / (Total Perks x Demo)

I could not extend it to Kate Media's shops;

If you could send me your data points, I will be happy to try and work out a general formula,
I will upload my own data at some point;

The things that I think are particularly pertinent are:

(Assuming 100% GPCD and max employees) Shop footprint, Floors, Inventory, Perk, Demo and JIT level.

Whether CEO level, company level, or CHC affect SFR is unknown (to me at least). It would be useful if you included that in your data!

The reason for trying to work out a formula are two fold - it can help you plan your sourcing cycles by estimating the time to run down for any broad increases in floors/size of the shops (i.e. you expand all your shops by 1 floor); the second use would be to plan ahead to see how much of an increase in TR you could gain by selling smaller shops and opening larger ones.

Have fun,
ST

Friday, November 23, 2012

Why, hello there!

Firstly I would like to apologize for not having written anything in the last two weeks! It has been a busy time! This absenteeism stems from my improper time budgeting - that is playing Biz Tycoon before study! As I mentioned before, Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents P*ss Poor Performance. I should listen to my own advice...

At any rate, I am back! There are so many things to talk about, but they'll trickle through as usual.

Have fun,
ST

Monday, November 12, 2012

Quota!

A quick note,

Losing in PvE does not reduce your quota at time of writing.

Handy tip: When you get the Daily Quest of 3 x PvE, enter an arena you expect to lose. You'll get the Daily Quest and still be able to help out guild members later.

Have fun,
ST

Corrected Formula

As I reached the Roadshow phase, I got access to the skill Just-In-Time. This allows me to stockpile more goods. However, it invalidated the formula I just posted. I have a new approximation which includes JIT.

122.644 * Capacity * Inventory

---------------------------------

Employees * Demo * TPerk * 60 (seconds/min) * TJIT


where TPerk is Perk / 100 + 1, eg. 800 % Perk, TPerk = 9.00
where TJIT = 100 / (JIT bonus + 100), eg. 100/350

As a worked example, I'll take my Jewelry store.

122.644 * 36979 * 16569 * 100
----------------------------------
15 * 3602 * 9.8867 * 60 * 350

= 669.87 minutes
= 11.16 hours = 11 hours 10 mins which approximates 11:09:58 given by the game.

Have fun,
ST

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Lucky Star images!

Found in the game files under Lucky Star! Some might find this interesting.



Just some of the images, no sig different ones.
LuckyStar.strings show:
"Playing Lucky Star costs 100 000 Cash each time. If the points are greater than the last time, you can get the higher reward.";
"50% of the Cash players use to play Lucky Star will be put into the Jackpot, the upper limit of Jackpot is 2 billion."

There appears to be four levels of winning - Grand, First, Second, Consolation (80%, 15%, 5% and 50k Cash respectively). I couldn't locate where they would insert this however, but yes, very interesting.

Have fun,
ST

*all images copyright Hui Liu, Biz Tycoon HD

Friday, November 9, 2012

Be Smart

Remember that in Biz Tycoon HD and life, the glory goes to the winners. And winners get where they get by working day in day out, rain or shine, always hustling for that extra edge.

But anyone can work hard without achieving much. So to be the best you can be, you have to plan ahead.

That is,

Prior Planning and Preparation Prevent P*** Poor Performance.

Have fun, ST

ARPD, CoGS and NPAT

I want to point out something.

The table I posted earlier is convenient, but one can use it to calculate further. That is calculate the profits derived from each unit of goods sold.

All you have to do is subtract CoGs off the ARPD.

For example:

Shop CoGS ARPD 
Name CoGs% ARPD B Profit
Liquor 58 42 17.64
Ice Cream 61 44 17.16
Supermarket 64 46 16.56
Cinema 67 48 15.84
Bookstore 70 50 15
Bedding 73 52 14.04
Infant 76 54 12.96
AV 79 56 11.76
Perfumes 82 58 10.44
Health Care 58 42 17.64
Cafe 61 44 17.16
Department 64 46 16.56
Spa 67 48 15.84
Musical 70 50 15
Building 73 52 14.04
Shoe 76 54 12.96
Computers 79 56 11.76
Antique 82 58 10.44
Drug 58 42 17.64
Ethnic 61 44 17.16
Auto Service 64 46 16.56
Bar 67 48 15.84
Sporting 70 50 15
Furniture 73 52 14.04
Clothing 76 54 12.96
Wireless 79 56 11.76
Jewelry 82 58 10.44
Convenience 58 42 17.64
Italian 61 44 17.16
Cosmetics 64 46 16.56
Karaoke 67 48 15.84
Toys 70 50 15
Electric 73 52 14.04
Leather 76 54 12.96
Electronics 79 56 11.76
Watch 82 58 10.44
Sport Cars 65 58 20.3
Hotspring 65 58 20.3
Sculpture 65 58 20.3
Marine Science 65 58 20.3
Arts and Crafts 65 58 20.3
Window Dr 65 58 20.3

Useful isn't it. The gap also widens with each level of Pricing Skill.

If you take it one step further, you can subtract off the 10% sales tax, leaving you with Net Profit After Tax (also known as NPAT in business). I'll leave you to do that.

Have fun,
ST

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Tricky Trade

The Daily Quest can often take the shape of "Complete 2x International Trade".

Unfortunately, this can be a roadblock in getting all five Daily Quests simply because the minimum time for an International Trade is 1 hour.

To shorten this, I often plan to have an international trade arrive just around the refresh mark. For me, this means my ship arrives at its destination around 1800h. Even if it arrived earlier and I pay a late sales tax, this strategy lets me finish this Daily Quest quicker than otherwise possible.

Have fun, ST

Go Hard or Go Home

Don't forget that friendship is a two-way street.

Trim your friendship list every so often.



















I usually get rid of people who haven't showed up for 5 to > 7 days.

"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for." Bob Marley

Have fun, ST

Monday, November 5, 2012

Token Spoken

There may be a time when you PvE with your guild members but have to do other things after your individual win.

When the guild wins the PvE, your Token count may often not be updated. To correct this, close your app and login again - this should show an updated Token count.

Have fun, ST

The Law of Diminishing Returns

I think Hui Liu mentions this in the FAQ.

The Law of Diminishing Returns, also known as the Law of Marginal Utility, means that the benefit (Y) of doing something (X) decreases with additions.

That is, for example,

X * function = Y
2X * function = 2Y
3X * function = 3Y
4X * function = 3.75Y
5X * function = 4.5Y
6X * function = 5Y

This can be graphed by














That is, the more you put out, the less you get back.

From my calculations, it may take over a million tokens to increase the Pricing skill by one level around the Pricing Level 45 mark.

Have fun, ST

*images from Wikipedia.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Be Specific





Great advice.

Don't ask, how can I make my TR go up. Ask with conditions, for example, given I have 7 x 5 star shops, 5x3x5floors, avg Perk ard 500% in Dis C, how can I improve my receivables?

It can seem pedantic but it helps! The person asking will have to think about where he/she can improve, while the person being asked can give adviced tailored to your situation.

This is true in Biz Tycoon and in life.

Have fun, ST

PvE

PvE is a technical term for Player versus Environment. It essentially means you (the player) against an AI (the environment).

In Biz Tycoon HD, PvE is available to members of guilds. It is run in terms of maps of 5 headquarters.


In each of these 'headquarters', there are 9 AI. You, as the player, can challenge one of them by clicking on their face.











Your ability to win against this AI is given by the metric 'Biz Sense'. This can be found circled in red in the first picture.

Biz sense is related to 'company level, CEO skills and cars.'

Before entering the competition, there are some important stats given in the right column, circled in green. Talent gives you a guideline for how much Biz Sense is required to win. This can vary up and down by a bit (not sure exactly how much). For example, in the picture, the minimum Biz Sense would be 210. Required gives you the number of Wins you need to claim the Prize (Token). Guild Fund tells you how much is paid to your guild on winning.


The higher up you go, the bigger the prizes.

Quota tells you how many times you can Win in the 24 hour window.

Finally, the Token prizes gets paid to each contestant (even if they lost) when the guild wins. The Guild Fund gets paid to the guild once. Therefore, it makes sense to coordinate with your guild members. For example, Darksoil Voicecom, requires 5 winners with a minimum of 425 Biz Sense. If you had,

Player A Biz Sense 455
Player B Biz Sense 480
Player C Biz Sense 490
Player D Biz Sense 600
Player E Biz Sense 800
Player F Biz Sense 190
Player G Biz Sense 255
Player H Biz Sense 300

Obviously, players A to E could easily win Darksoil Voicecom. However, it will be worth organizing it like this:

Player A - B - C - D then Player F - G - H, then lastly Player E to grab the win.

In this manner, Player F, G and H also get 45 tokens each, which they otherwise would not have been able to gain. The only detractor is that if they had won at a lower league, they would have contributed cash to the guild. In my mind however, this is insufficient to warrant them earning lower tokens.

Have fun, ST