-----------------------
As the name goes the game is not at all girlie.
Very colorful game, great graphics and easy game-play.
The opponents are very challenging but a good management and planning can get you through.
Once all flowers are researched it becomes a bet boring.
There isn't much of upgrades and this is what makes this game average.
Information :
-------------------
Big Fish Games
Tik Games
Your Uncle Potts has fallen on hard times. His flower business is about to go under and he needs your savvy business sense to save the bulbs. Help your uncle by selling his flowers throughout the city in your flower stands. Advertise and upgrade your business to compete with other flower vendors. Grab their customers and their market share to become a flourishing Flower Stand Tycoon.
- Blooming time management game
- Seasonal items & merchandise
- Upgrade your stands
System Requirements :
------------------------------
OS: Windows XP/Vista
CPU: 1.0 GHz
RAM: 256 MB
DirectX: 8.1
Hard Drive: 37 MB
Visit Big Fish Games
Visit Tik Games
Hints, Strategies :
-------------------------
There are many different facets to master in order to build a successful business in Flower Stand Tycoon. Market share, supply and demand, advertising, and more all affect your business and your ability to expand into new neighborhoods and overtake your competition. Learning how to make them all work together is the key to success!
Getting Started
As you begin the game you will have about a week before any competition appears on the scene. This will give you a chance to get yourself set up and plan ahead. How you start the game can have a tremendous impact on the outcome.
As you look at the map of the city, each neighborhood has its own block. Your goal is to "own" all of those blocks market share, leaving nothing for your competitors. One very helpful fact about these blocks is that any seller (you or your competitors) can only place stands in blocks adjacent to those which they already "own".
For instance, if you have a 6 x 6 area of blocks, your competitors can only place their stands on the outside edges of your area. The blocks you own inside that grid are safe, as long as you maintain ownership of the outer blocks. This can be a great help later on as you struggle to maintain market share and keep your competitors from moving in on your area.
The First Week
- Without any competition to stop you, the first weeks turns must be used to establish ownership of a large area of neighborhoods. Capture the market share in all of the blocks shown in the image below before your competition arrives on the scene.
- To get started, buy 100 of each of the three flower varieties available. Set your research to 3 days. Upgrade your stand only by purchasing the calculator and radio. Set your advertising to $25 for flyers.
- After selling flowers in three neighborhoods, you will unlock the balloons. Buy 50 balloons (and set it to automatically restock). At this point, you'll also unlock the next flower. Buy at least 100 of the new flower and set the flowers to auto-stock as well.
- Check your research tab again. Now that you've researched one new variety, you will need to reset your research spending. Don't forget that later in the game as well. Every time you research a new flower, you have to reset the spending or your competitors will get the new flowers faster and that will give them a definite edge.
- Once you have captured all of the neighborhoods shown in the image above, revisit any of the blocks on the outside of the grid that have a demand higher than 70%. Every time you revisit a neighborhood, your market share will increase. The higher your market share in any given location, the harder it will be for your competitors to take it over.
- With only one stand available for awhile, you will have to pay very close attention to the demand level in the outer blocks of your area. When your first competitor arrives, (J.P. Slug) he will try as hard as he can to capture the blocks at the bottom of your grid. (The large city block especially!) These few blocks have the highest population, which means the highest potential sales. They must be defended at all costs. Once J.P. Is on the scene, revisit these neighborhoods when the demand is over 50% to keep your market share.
- As long as you maintain ownership of the outer blocks of the grid, you don't need to revisit the areas inside that square. If the outer 6 blocks all have a very low demand (50% ad below), work on expanding your area to the south - move in on J.P.'s territory before he can move in on yours.
Expanding your Business
- Now that you have carved out a nice area for yourself and know how to keep it safe from the competition, it's time to expand your business. Upgrades are available for your stand and these can help keep your customers happy (which increases your market share).
- At this point, you can either continue the way you've been going until you have enough money for a second stand, or you can upgrade your first stand and hold off on the second one for awhile. Purchasing the second stand as soon as possible helped me immensely and I strongly recommend it. Keep your costs low, don't buy a lot of upgrades and don't spend too much on advertising and promotions. You will have enough for the second stand pretty quickly.
- Owning a second stand will allow you to protect two areas for each turn. If you get your second stand before your competition does, you can keep them from moving into your areas much easier. Upgrade your stands when you can to keep your market share strong.
Inventory
- At the start of each day you will have to pick which neighborhoods to place your stands in and which flowers you are going to sell there. Click on a neighborhood to see what flower is in demand there and restock accordingly. Upgrading to a larger stand will increase the amount of inventory you can hold.
- Generally, purchasing 300 of the flower that is in demand as well as 200 for the current trendy flower is a safe bet. However, if you don't have other flowers, customers could get angry and your share rating will decrease. It's important to have at least some of everything at all times.
- Keep an eye on your merchandise items and any seasonal items as well. The better variety you can offer your customers, the better rating you will get. Check the reports at the end of each day to see what you sold and what the customer reactions were. Make adjustments to inventory or prices if necessary.
- If you have your inventory set to automatically restock, make sure you check it every day to ensure that you have enough of the demand and trend flowers in stock. Each neighborhood is different and will require daily adjustments to your inventory.
Research
- New flowers attract customers and make them happy. It's important to keep an eye on how much you are spending for research. Getting the newest flowers first can really give you a competitive edge in the market, but overspending on research can set you back dramatically.
- You'll need to find the balance between spending enough and not overspending. A good plan is to take your average daily income and spend about 25% of that on research. If you find that your competitors are getting new flowers faster than you are, increase your spending. Remember that this spending does not help your income at all and spending levels must be reset every time you research a new flower.
Lost Sales
- Are you losing a lot of sales each day? There are several factors that can determine the amount of lost sales that you can adjust as necessary.
- First, the selling price of your flowers can be adjusted in your inventory screen. A good rule of thumb is to keep your flowers priced about twice the amount they cost. For instance, if you are paying $2.00 for a flower, pricing it at $4.00 for sale will generally keep your customers happy. Overpriced flowers can decrease your sales as well as your market share.
- Next, people may be leaving your stand without buying anything because the wait time is too long. If this is happening, upgrade your stand - especially the Sales and Service area. Get a cash register or cashier. Also consider buying a radio or other music item. This will keep customers happier in line.
- Last, people may leave if you don't have the flower that they want in stock. To avoid this, try to buy at least 50 of every flower each day, more if you can afford it. At the same time, don't overbuy flowers as you will end up wasting a lot of money. Check the reports at the end of each day to see what you sold and how many flowers were wasted. Make adjustments as you go. Always ensure that you have plenty of the trend and local demand flowers in stock.
Overtake the Competition
- This is one of the trickiest aspects of the game. In order to win, you must overtake all of the neighborhoods in the city and drive out your competitors. You have to find the right balance between expanding quickly and shrinking in your corner like a wallflower. This is where the "adjacent blocks" trick comes in handy.
- As none of your competitors can place stands in your areas that they do not own a block adjacent to, this limits the amount of blocks you have to worry about. You'll need all three stands in order to gain total control of the city, so buy the third one as soon as possible.
- Begin by cornering J.P. Slug (purple). Try to surround one purple block with two of your stands and place the third on the purple block. If successful, you'll take over market share in that area and then can expand further. Don't forget to keep an eye on your own blocks, as other competitors can move in and take over while you're not paying attention.
- Generally, using one round to revisit your own blocks and then the next round to overtake competitors blocks is a good plan. The competitors will generally not move into an area if the demand is less than 50%, so keeping your neighborhoods happy and demand low is a strategic key.
- In order to drive a competitor out of business, it's not enough to simply remove all of their blocks from the board. You also need to surround their warehouse and prevent them from placing any stands on the board. You'll have to repeat this several times until they have run out of money (even if the demand in those surrounding blocks is 10%). You can't allow the competitor to place a single stand, or they'll begin to grow again.
- If you've waited until very late in the game to do this, it can be disastrous as the competition could have a very large bankroll and you'll have to spend many days with your stands surrounding their warehouse, while the other competitors move in on your areas.
Final Tips
- Be patient. Don't grow too big, too fast. If you spread yourself too thin, you won't be able to maintain a high market share and it will be easier for your competitors to overtake your neighborhoods. Build up slowly, but aggressively. Whenever your neighborhoods all have a low demand rating, take over a block or two of your competition.
- Advertise a lot! As much as you can afford! This will increase your sales, giving you more cash to work with and also have a significant impact on your market share as long as you keep the customers happy.
- Don't overspend on research. It's great to get the new flowers first, but you can easily sink your business by overspending.
- Don't forget the merchandise but don't opt for more merchandise instead of flowers. Buy flowers first, then fill up any extra space with balloons and other items.
- Keep your prices reasonable. Even though some of the new flowers will appear with a price tag of $20, does not mean you should sell them for that. Set your prices to double the cost of the flower and you shouldn't have any cost issues with your customers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment