V 1.0
Assuming you’re not playing a game where bankruptcy is fatal, then this unique financial condition is really quite refreshing. In fact, many major railroad companies went bankrupt several times, emerging stronger than before. Bankruptcy is a tool the government provides, and it should be used accordingly. There are some important things to remember about bankruptcy.
· It’s not the end of the game.
· You only have to stay in for a year. But you can stay in for up to three years.
· All your debt is erased. All of it. Even if you had $2 billion in debt, it’s all gone. How cool is that?
· While you are bankrupt, you cannot
o Accumulate yearly prestige awards.
o Take out loans.
o Make offers on shortlines.
o Bid at auctions.
· However, even while bankrupt, you can
o Manage your existing network – buy/upgrade trains, upgrade signals, increase tracking, hire managers, etc.
o Use influence to exact revenge against the very people who forced you into bankruptcy in the first place.
I’m sure there’s no need for me to explain how to get to the point that you need to go bankrupt. Once you do that on your own, there are two ways to enter bankruptcy.
· Of your own free will. You see it approaching, and voluntarily file bankruptcy.
o If you voluntarily declare bankruptcy when you have loans outstanding, the banks will come in and try to sell off some tracks in hopes of collecting on some of that debt.
§ The banks will stop selling your tracks if nobody buys one, if they’ve made back their money, or if they’ve sold three of your tracks.
§ The banks tend to start with tracks under construction, then isolated tracks, then poorly performing branch lines – there are times when getting rid of these tracks will actually help you.
o On the plus side, for having sound judgment and honest business dealings, you take a much smaller prestige hit than if you go in…
· Kicking and screaming. You know it’s coming, and you don’t do a thing.
o You get to keep your tracks, the banks won’t come in and sell anything.
o This is, however, a poor PR move, and you’ll lose a lot of prestige in the process.
Why on Earth would you ever volunteer to go bankrupt? Timing and prestige are closely intertwined on this issue. There is no way to know precisely how much prestige you will lose when you declare bankruptcy. At best, you can have a relative guess.
· You lose less prestige if you go bankrupt during a depression or recession than you do during a normal economy, and you lose more during a boom.
· You lose more prestige if you have a lot of prestige, and especially if you are in first place.
· The more debt you have, the more prestige you will lose.
If you time your voluntary bankruptcy right, you can hit a depression and a time where you’re not in the lead anyway. This will minimize the amount of prestige you lose, especially considering that being forced into bankruptcy is at least double the prestige penalty.
There are times, however, when you just can’t afford the bank coming in and selling off tracks – when you are competing for a Trans-Continental line, for instance.
Remembering that going bankrupt voluntarily means the banks come in and sell off tracks, take a look at your network and see if selling off three of your tracks might bring you back into profitability. You don’t keep the proceeds if the bank sells your track, so you might as well try to sell on your own if you think you have a shot.
Deciding which to choose comes down to whether or not you value prestige or tracks at that particular moment.
Did you have a massive loan come due that you weren’t paying attention to? Ten years can fly by a lot faster than you might think. Silly you!