You are now in charge of your own plushie empire! Your job is to oversee every aspect of getting these plushies manufactured, in your store and sold. Your starting cash is 50,000 NPs.
Plushie Tycoon sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Well it is, but to become a successful tycoon and make profit, you must take it slow and think it through. Many players have run out of money simply because they couldn’t control the urge to make just one more batch of krawk plushies, or to make their shops the ultimate-looking store. These things take time, and I’ve been pretty successful in the beta-testing part., let’s hope these tips, can help you master this game when the REAL time comes. It also includes a very helpful paragraph on what most players get stuck on, the workers.
First, you must pay rent on your Store, Warehouse, and Factory. When I first started, I thought I would have to price the plushies myself, so I calculated everything…and in the end, for nothing so don’t bother lol. I suggest you update your Factory to at least Level 2, so you can handle at least three plushie productions.
Then you can select the materials you want to use for your plushies, so click on Purchase Raw Goods. Also note that the prices of these materials change throughout the day, but you can’t do much about that. Yes, customers want good quality, but they don’t want to shell out several hundreds on Nps on some plushies. Make a range of plushies, maybe one or two using the very best materials for the richer kind and a couple average plushies (in my experience, these sell the best), not too expensive, and not too ghetto 😛 In the future, before you purchase your materials, to save time, find out the requirements to make the plushie you want so you don’t have to go back. Go to Start New Job, click on the species, and you can view requirements there. Some may only take one roll of cloth, and some can take up to four rolls.
On the same Factory page, go to Start New Job, and check the materials to start the job. I recommend making only 4-5 batches of plushies. If you want to try and create the whole Neopian world, you will go flat broke!
Now here is the part that most people get stuck on: workers. How many should I hire? How many is enough? Here is the sequence that I usually use: 80 dropouts, 40 graduates, 40 trainees, 40 journeymen, and 5 managers. Why this pattern? My cousin did some research for a couple hours and showed that the personnel performance is at its highest with a manager ratio of 1:40 workers. A workforce of this many people can produce 200-250 plushies an hour! Although it costs 1640 NPs an hour…it actually saves you money. If all you have is 50 journeymen making 20 plushies an hour, you’ll be paying around 500-600 nps, much cheaper, but in the long run it will cost you more. To make 200 plushies with 50 journeymen making 20 an hour will cost you around 5000 NPs, and will also take a lot longer! Stick with the 80, 40, 40, 40, 5 pattern, and your factory will be working more efficiently.
After your plushies are manufactured, they are sent to the next step, the Warehouse. At this point, you can do nothing but wait for the shipments to load. Keep checking back at the top of every hour when Plushie Tycoon updates its data. When it’s done loading, it should say Loaded. Check the box next to it, and click Ship Plushies. There is also a shipping fee, if I’m correct, 278 NPs for every 100 plushies. Some players have been having a hard time with this. Neopets had some kind of bug that didnt allow the Ship Plushies button to show up, but it should be fixed now.
Do not continue making more plushies after some have been shipped, or again, you’ll go broke and lose the game. You should have about 20K or less NPs, if you have made 4-5 productions. There’s still advertisements and shop upgrades to think about! As more and more plushie batches are done, remember to fire an appropriate amount of workers! Even if there’s no work to be done, idle personnel still get paid. Icky, isn’t it?
So now your plushies are shipped and in your store! What next? Well, advertise and make your shop look at least half-decent! The plushies are already priced so don’t worry about that. For upgrading, you don’t have to go all the way. Purchase the lower levels of shop upgrades and advertising. You can go all the way later after you’ve made some profit. Your shop doesnt have to be a stink hole, but make it look decent. IE: Standard Carpet, Gas Lamps, Anti-Theft Tags, Bamboo Shelves, and Deluxe Banners is what I had the first time I played. Go for the lower advertisements too, but since flyers and candies aren’t too expensive, you can purchase the highest levels on those.
The Store, Warehouse, and Factory work from 9-5 PM NST, so it goes rather slow. Control that itchy mouse, don’t go overboard, and you’ll be a tycoon in no time! Well, not exactly no time…but you’ll have the business know-how! – daffelle