Railroad Tycoon II Robber Baron @ Express World

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The basic strategy developed entirely by Wilson W. Prayitno at mercury@cbn.net.id (the notes are mine, though) The procedure to be followed can be split into different steps:

1. Set up a company with $100K of your own money and as much as possible of investor money. Try to make as much profit with it as possible. Copy the way the AI sets up a company - run several trains between 2 cities to carry as much passangers and mail as possible. The logic is if the company makes money stock prices go up. If the stock rises, so does your purchasing power. Use it to obtain more stock of your company.

(Note from the Robber Baron: With this strategy it would be a waste of money to build sanding towers or repair yards, let alone watering towers - better save the money for what comes next. We'll wreck this company anyway, so best do it thoroughly.)

2. Set your dividend as high as possible. By the next year, your stock price should be above the $100 mark. During this time, always buy as much shares as possible of your company.

(Note: The dividend can be raised to its highest level once you have made maximum profit. Therefor, if you aren't allowed to raise the dividend, try again later.)

3. In December of the second year, issue as much bonds as possible and use them to buy back shares. One important point to remember is that as you buy back shares, your purchasing power goes up yet again. Don't forget to get some for yourself before the year is over. By the end of this year, your shares should have split.

(Note: If you still have some (company) money left, use it for what is described in the next note.. (I just love notes!!))

4. In January of the third year, pause the game (or, if in a multiplayer game, sell asap) and start selling and destroying the company (as explained here). You would end up with $500K- $1,200K (if you are good) of cash.

(Note: Alternatively, if the company still has some money you could buy back more shares but don't buy any yourself. The share price should rise and one the company is too poor to buy any more shares, you can sell all with some more profit)

5. Set up another company with $400K of your own money and $4,000K of investor's. Make this company profitable too, so that you can get a lot of dividend. Use the money left to buy other companies' shares. Aim to get majority in companies rather than own a bit here and there. Don't be afraid to buy on margin.

(Note: Another option is to make this company your "raileater" - very useful if you have some idiots who already own the majority of shares and are therefor immune to our stock manipulations and takeovers. A detailed discussion of what a "raileater" does can be found here.) 6. During recession, attempt to merge. Pretty soon you'll wipe out all other competitors.

How to ruin your own company
By Chris "Robber Baron" Mueller, Webmaster

After sucking the company dry with buying back shares, issuing bonds like hell and building a totally unsatisfactory infrastructure, we could leave and take care of our new company which was financed mainly by the old one. But we are not finished here, we were not evil enough. True Robber Barons not only use companies, they destroy them once they served their purpose. Therefor, we retire the one or two trains we built, and remove every station and every railroad that is owned by the company.(Yes, that is precicely what I expect every competent Robber Baron to do!) In the unlikely event that the company still has some money left, spend it on something extremely useless. (i.e. Build and bulldozer some stations). As one of the last things we do to make sure the company stays down (so that not even a genius in train operation can save it) we isse new stock to the public, which means that it will be impossibe to obtain more money this way for more than a year. The money the company gained by this action should be wasted as described above. We can now resign as chairman and start to place as much "short sells"as possible on this poor company which we know has three problems:

1. There is interest to pay for the bonds we issued, usually around $ 50,000 - $ 100,000 or even more (the more, the better for us) 2. The company has no income and 3. It won't be able to issue bonds to start building new railroads because it's rating is somewhere between "D" and "F" It follows that this company will never be able to rise again and eventually, will go into bankruptcy. Too bad. What a pity. It hurts to know that many other stockholders were ruined because they jumped on the train at the wrong time and failed to leave it in time. Maybe you have already kicked out one of your enemies....

Raileater - ruining other companies by Chris "Robber Baron" MuellerYou have just founded a big company with lots of money and you want to get even more? Here is something for you, the bane of all peaceful railbuilders - the Robber Baron's raileater.

So, you have just build a new track. Perhaps someone already owns more than 50% of the shares of his company and he is racing to the top. This in turn means that he is trying to get ahead of us- naturally, we won't try to build a larger network than he has, because this is too time intensive and is too expensive for us. We have enough money to get some other companies and increase our railway network. The owner won't neccessarily be happy that we take his company over, but "wealth is power and power is wealth", and we don't want to be friends with people but become rich. In order to do that you need a majority of the shares, which shouldn't be a problem since the company in question will hardly be worth more than your purchasing power. Remember that the more shares you get of the other company, the more money you'll get at the merger. Now, merge the raileater with the company, for the highest price per share possible - because this'll make you rich enough to get into the black numbers - and this way you don't have to be afraid of a recession or something.
Good. Now, you have a decent company. Two things are open to you: Suck the company dry just as in the beginning or use it till everyone is beaten. I prefer the latter, because it hurts the others more....
We can repeat the above procedure until there are only companies left whose owners have the majority of shares. Then we have a problem: We can't take over any more companies (my guess is that you can take over one to three companies, depending on how well the others are doing and how many others there are).
Ok, our railroad generates a lot of money (through the aquired companies) but we can't do anything to hurt the others. That's what you think. In reality, a real Robber Baron would also accept losses for his company in order to ruin another railway. So what do we do? Suppose there is a major city connected to a rival railroad, which happens to be close to our railway network - we'll build a track there. Ah, I know what you're saying "but he'll get money through my trains entering his network and his station!" - did I say ANYTHING about building the track into his station or using his network??? No, we'll build our own station there, and then we'll draw off everything in this city. We run trains between this station with as much freight being picked up there as possible. You needn't carry anything there, just make sure there is nothing his trains can pick up. Now you're saying "but he still survives!". Of course he does. We are not finished here. We can build our tracks to every part of his empire, build a station everywhere where he builds one - and thus crush his income. It will hurt our company, no doubt about this. But remember that his company cannot endure as much as ours can. We have a bigger rail network and better income, and we don't have someone transporting our passengers out to someone else's station. Remember that you shouldn't posess any shares of this poor company.
Maybe when he is going down he'll try to let you take over. Don't do it. After all, what would it be good for? That would only get him some more money. Noooooo, that's far too easy. Perhaps you can even place a few short sells on the company once you are convinced that it is crumbling, which will make the stocks fall like an iron horse.

Much more could be said about the raileater, but I thing your own creativity can serve you better. Always consider the following maxims:

1. The others are "friendly" railbuilders that just want to be left alone. Therfor, disturb them where you can. Connect to stations before he does.

2. Your company is the biggest of all. If done with skill you can hurt the others more than the others hurt your company.

3. Be always open for things that no-one expects you to do. Audacity is the best way to beat your enemies. (After all, business is like war, and all measures are allowed to attain triumph). Stocks - and the wonderful things that can be done with them
by Chris "Robber Baron" Mueller Plain and simple: The stock market is there for you, the Robber Baron. It's paradise. You can earn money without actually doing something. You can ruin companies without laying a single track. However, there are also some harzards, and the one who wants to play the stock market should have a decent understading of the basic principles. Let's first focus on stocks: Prices rise when the company earns a lot of money, and the less stock there is available, the higher the price. A company which pays high dividend will also see its stocks rise to the top. However, if the company is loosing money, the stock prices will fall. The prices also depend on the current economic situation: During Recession, you can get them for next to nothing, while during Boom times you can get overconfident because you can buy so much stock on margin. Here is the first trap for the unwary: Buying stocks like hell is advisable at the beginning, but you should aim seriously to reduce your personal dept as much as possible, because you'll go down to hell if a recession starts and catches you off guard. Once your purchasing power is negative, you are done for. If, on the other hand, you have positive money during recessions, you can get shares so very cheap that one might start to laugh. If you are in a multiplayer game, during Recession you can take a look at other player's finances and if one is dangerously low on purchasing power, do a lot of short sells on his major companies- this will make the stock prices fall and in turn reduce his purchasing power to below zero which will be his ruin. The downside is that you'll loose some money in this operation. But you kicked a competitior out of the game in a very elegant way, and that's worth the price. Another stock manipulation that is possible is the following: Sell all shares of your company and stop all trains. This will make the company go into the red numbers and at the end of the year, the stocks will fall like lead. This is your chance to get much stock for a bargain. This tactic has it's drawbacks, because once you don't posess the majority of shares, anyone with enough stocks can assume command of the company or merge with it. But from my experience, if you don't have any Robber Barons as enemies but just these megalomanic "big-railnetwork" - builders, there isn't a problem as they neglect the stock market. Good, now what can we do if someone has more stocks of our company than we like him to? One option is to make the company go to hell. (see "Ruining your company" for details) - which might make the foreign stockholder angry, but then, he might forget to sell his shares in time. The other, long-term option is to use stock watering measures. Issue more stock every year, and immediately buy it. This will reduce his share in your company slowly but gradually.

There are infinite way of manipulating and using the stock market for your advantage, so do it! Suggestions are welcome!

Stocks - and the wonderful things that can be done with them
by Chris "Robber Baron" Mueller Plain and simple: The stock market is there for you, the Robber Baron. It's paradise. You can earn money without actually doing something. You can ruin companies without laying a single track. However, there are also some harzards, and the one who wants to play the stock market should have a decent understading of the basic principles. Let's first focus on stocks: Prices rise when the company earns a lot of money, and the less stock there is available, the higher the price. A company which pays high dividend will also see its stocks rise to the top. However, if the company is loosing money, the stock prices will fall. The prices also depend on the current economic situation: During Recession, you can get them for next to nothing, while during Boom times you can get overconfident because you can buy so much stock on margin. Here is the first trap for the unwary: Buying stocks like hell is advisable at the beginning, but you should aim seriously to reduce your personal dept as much as possible, because you'll go down to hell if a recession starts and catches you off guard. Once your purchasing power is negative, you are done for. If, on the other hand, you have positive money during recessions, you can get shares so very cheap that one might start to laugh. If you are in a multiplayer game, during Recession you can take a look at other player's finances and if one is dangerously low on purchasing power, do a lot of short sells on his major companies- this will make the stock prices fall and in turn reduce his purchasing power to below zero which will be his ruin. The downside is that you'll loose some money in this operation. But you kicked a competitior out of the game in a very elegant way, and that's worth the price. Another stock manipulation that is possible is the following: Sell all shares of your company and stop all trains. This will make the company go into the red numbers and at the end of the year, the stocks will fall like lead. This is your chance to get much stock for a bargain. This tactic has it's drawbacks, because once you don't posess the majority of shares, anyone with enough stocks can assume command of the company or merge with it. But from my experience, if you don't have any Robber Barons as enemies but just these megalomanic "big-railnetwork" - builders, there isn't a problem as they neglect the stock market. Good, now what can we do if someone has more stocks of our company than we like him to? One option is to make the company go to hell. (see "Ruining your company" for details) - which might make the foreign stockholder angry, but then, he might forget to sell his shares in time. The other, long-term option is to use stock watering measures. Issue more stock every year, and immediately buy it. This will reduce his share in your company slowly but gradually.

There are infinite way of manipulating and using the stock market for your advantage, so do it! Suggestions are welcome!

What I have found to be successful is simply to set the other company's revenue numbers at +20% (Note: This is automatic if you choose the difficulty level "experienced" - as every competent Robber Baron should) and then own only the other companies until I take control of one or more of them, then merge them and pocket the cash.

If the company is one I want ultimately to own, I start another company with my $1Million and "the market's" $3Million or so and buy out the company I want. (Note: The previous owner might not approve of the takeover, but then, what can he do?)
I hardly ever actually run the railroad. I let the shareholders' committee do that. I will upgrade to add hotels and restaurants and such to maximize revenues -- again on a
road I want to own.

(Notes are from the Robber Baron)
Comments from the Robber Baron: Ah, how delightful - earn money without actually doing anything! The true way of Robber Barons! Let the others do the hard work, you will get all the cash - unfortunately, this strategy doesn't hurt the other players, which is why I would welcome any suggestion as to how to use the strategy displayed here while destroying the enemies (which is everyone else).

(Note from the Robber Baron: Since there is much more that you can do with short sells than told in the other sections, here is something for all of those who want to be cruel to the end; in other words, for all who want to be Robber Barons.)

First, in that first month of the 3rd year when you loot and destroy your original company (see "How to ruin your company"), turn right around and SHORT-SELL all the stock of it you can. A sucker is born every minute, since the company can never recover, the stock only goes in one direction. After about 1.5 years it hits a extremely low flatline for a while before bankruptcy. Unload (buy back) those shares 2-3 K per month (stop buying soon as it rises and wait for it to fallback next month to maximize your gains) till they are gone (or rather you have fullfilled your short sell orders). Shares you sold high just got bought for pennies on the dollar, you will practically double the take from the looting of the railroad you just did.

Number two is briefed upon as to making stock prices fall like bricks. The idea is to short sell all you can of a players company forcing them to sell off stock bought on margin (for less than they paid). Judge carefully whether you canbring their purchasing power below zero selling half the available market shares, you can't sell them all unfortunately and if you don't force him to sell you are going to take a hit for around 1-2K per share when you are forced to buy it back at a minimum. You want to force the player to sell immediately. If you force him to sell, now he brings the price down further in a fire sale. You buy back right after and since it is cheaper you actually make a few K's in the process of stripping the overextended player of their stock.

(Yet another note from the Robber Baron: I would like to hear if someone has encountered another Robber Baron in a multiplayer game and what a battle between two Robber Barons looks like!)