07-04-2014, 01:50 AM
I've been thinking about the buyout mechanism and it's dismal failure rate a bit of late so I thought I'd start a thread to offer some suggestions for balancing it and possibly to start discussion on if other people agree that's it's too hard.
So, since the buyout/share mechanics were adjusted I think they've been made too hard. It's just annoying to offer a max buyout bid to a company for 12 consecutive months (that has lost value consistently for even longer) only to have them be bought out buy an opponent. Now, I realize this happens in real life but since the changes I've only ever managed to buy out 2 companies, and I've tried well over 20 times (20 companies, not 20 offers) over a number of different games.
I think the answer isn't simply to make it easier. I think rather there should be a series of tweeks here and there that introduce some variety and encourage some tactics.
My suggestions are:
(Note: where I say harder I mean less likely to accept an offer, and easier I mean more likely to accept an offer. All numbers are just examples as I have no idea what the actual numbers at the back end of the system are currently)
1) Game difficulty has an effect - 1% harder (than currently) for Hard, 2% easier for Normal, 5% easier for Easy.
2) Double what the current maximum bid is but with diminishing returns - Offering 50% more than the current max increases the chance of acceptance by 8%, offering 100% more than the current max increases chance of acceptance by 10%.
3) Owning shares in a company you are trying to buy out increases the change of accepting a buyout offer - each 1% you own adds a cumulative 0.0001% bonus to the chance of accepting an offer every month.
Plus, some other related ideas:
1) Whenever a company that another company has shares in goes bankrupt, all companies that have shares should be offered the chance to make a buyout bid. Starting with the company with the most shares and calculating offers as normal but adding the value of the shares you own to the total bid for determining the % chance of acceptance. (I realise something similar has been suggested before)
2) When another company makes a bid to buy out a company you have shares in that would be successful (and possibly on hard mode, have the same thing happen when players buyout as well). You should get the opportunity to make a counter offer. You're not told what their offer is but if your offer (+ the shares you own) is higher than their offer (+the shares they own) then you get the buyout instead.
3) Randomly, have companies that are losing value (consecutively for at least 6 months) invite offers for buyouts (give the player a notification? Or just a story in the news paper?). For the next six months, the chance of a bid being accepted by this company are doubled.
So, since the buyout/share mechanics were adjusted I think they've been made too hard. It's just annoying to offer a max buyout bid to a company for 12 consecutive months (that has lost value consistently for even longer) only to have them be bought out buy an opponent. Now, I realize this happens in real life but since the changes I've only ever managed to buy out 2 companies, and I've tried well over 20 times (20 companies, not 20 offers) over a number of different games.
I think the answer isn't simply to make it easier. I think rather there should be a series of tweeks here and there that introduce some variety and encourage some tactics.
My suggestions are:
(Note: where I say harder I mean less likely to accept an offer, and easier I mean more likely to accept an offer. All numbers are just examples as I have no idea what the actual numbers at the back end of the system are currently)
1) Game difficulty has an effect - 1% harder (than currently) for Hard, 2% easier for Normal, 5% easier for Easy.
2) Double what the current maximum bid is but with diminishing returns - Offering 50% more than the current max increases the chance of acceptance by 8%, offering 100% more than the current max increases chance of acceptance by 10%.
3) Owning shares in a company you are trying to buy out increases the change of accepting a buyout offer - each 1% you own adds a cumulative 0.0001% bonus to the chance of accepting an offer every month.
Plus, some other related ideas:
1) Whenever a company that another company has shares in goes bankrupt, all companies that have shares should be offered the chance to make a buyout bid. Starting with the company with the most shares and calculating offers as normal but adding the value of the shares you own to the total bid for determining the % chance of acceptance. (I realise something similar has been suggested before)
2) When another company makes a bid to buy out a company you have shares in that would be successful (and possibly on hard mode, have the same thing happen when players buyout as well). You should get the opportunity to make a counter offer. You're not told what their offer is but if your offer (+ the shares you own) is higher than their offer (+the shares they own) then you get the buyout instead.
3) Randomly, have companies that are losing value (consecutively for at least 6 months) invite offers for buyouts (give the player a notification? Or just a story in the news paper?). For the next six months, the chance of a bid being accepted by this company are doubled.