Buy competitors

[poweraage]

Can I still buy the competitors in this game? I reasently started the game and doing well ...but the "buy share" in competitors screen are inactive.

[pecet]

AFAIK this button is active after specific peroid of time...

[DeletedUser21]

I tought it was implemented to make it multiplayer-proof. (Hey I like that term... Multiplayer-proof... )

Anyway, it is there to prevent new companies being bought by older companies with money to spare and give the newbies no chance of developing AFAIK.


What I would do is if I want to get rid of my opponents I just start without AI, they mess up my map, and when I would buy them later, I get the crappy layouts, tonnes of roads, the loan they almost always have and the useless airplanes. They are not much of an opponent anyway.

And a hello and welcome to the forums from me for you aswell.

[Willsims]

If I play, I usually leave the AI enabled, as I find the competitors are a useful source of income for the first couple of years, when money is a bit tight. 2 or three of them usually end up buying aircraft to run between small towns, and inevitably end up bankrupt and offered for sale. I buy them for the perrercorn sum, and usually close down the airside operation, netting about £30 - 40k for each aircraft. This is at a time when my own company's debt is maxed out, and I'm desperate for the cash to continue with my own investment and growth.
I rarely buy competitors that run large fleets of buses, as I find them a pain in the a**e to manage, but I will usually buy a rail based competitor, and either "asset strip" or improve the layout, and I usually buy a competitor running trucks, providing that it is not burdened with a lot of buses also, and that the industry supply is suffiicient to replace the trucks with a rail line.

[Stingray]

if you buy a bankrupt opponent you get there loans too if i dont remember wrong?

which imho isnt a good thing.. specially if your economy isnt stable...

[Willsims]

No, if you take over a competitor by buying 100% of the shares in the company, you DO inherit the debt as well. If the company has gone bankrupt you will be offered the chance to purchase it for £1 (or whatever the currency unit that you are using) In this case you get all the assets, BUT the debt is written off, so it can be quite a bargain, if you can make it run profitably, or liquidate the assets yourself. If you do not exercise the purchase option, the AI will eventually close down the company and liquidate it.
A couple of things to check if you are tempted to buy when offered. First, the list of stations that the target company has; there will often be a number that are not being serviced by any vehicle, which will dissappear into your list if you are not aware of them. They can either be re-activated if useful, or removed. The second thing to do is to bring up the world map and filter by company. Check the target's routes, particularly if it has had a strong road bias, as there will usually be an extensive, (and very poorly routed) network of roads. These will add to your property maintenance bill if not sorted. Again they can be improved and reactivated, or simply removed; a "one-off" payment, I know, but better than paying annual maintenance on something you are not using.
All this is in solo play, I have no idea if it is same if one plays online, as I've never yet done so.

[rpa]

Can someone tell me please if you can actually make any money from owning 25,50 or even 75% of a competitor.

My competitor's value is a lot more than mine, but I'm buying their shares. I got 75% but not sure if I get some kind of dividend. If not, I may just buy the company as my profits will rocket. But I do enjoy the competition.

[Doorslammer]

The only way to make money via share ownership of course is to buy at low price and sell when the company is more developed. Or purchase the last share option, it's still a win-win if you bought a good one.

[littlemikey]

Can someone tell me please if you can actually make any money from owning 25,50 or even 75% of a competitor.

My competitor's value is a lot more than mine, but I'm buying their shares. I got 75% but not sure if I get some kind of dividend. If not, I may just buy the company as my profits will rocket. But I do enjoy the competition.

From what I understand, you do not make any dividend by just owning <100% of a company. The only way to make money is to buy the shares when the company is worth nothing, then sell them when the company is worth more

This is something i'd like to see in future tho, it would be nice to be able to own the majority of a company and continuisly make money from them.