Welcome to this basic tutorial guide for Cartel Tycoon, designed to help new players navigate the early game efficiently. The game’s built-in tutorials offer some direction, but they can leave players with unanswered questions. This guide will take you step by step through setting up your first operation, managing resources, and optimizing your logistics for a smooth and profitable cartel empire.
Getting Started: Creating Your Empire
Upon launching the game, you’ll be taken to the main screen, where you can start a new game. You’ll begin with a map, your lieutenants, and various buildings that form the foundation of your empire. Your primary goal is to establish an efficient supply chain that produces, transports, and sells illicit goods while maintaining a balance between income and expenses.
Understanding the Interface
- The efficiency tab helps track how well your operations are running.
- The upper left-hand corner provides access to tutorial tips and controls.
- The task list gives you objectives to progress through the game.
If you prefer visual guidance over reading, YouTube tutorials can be helpful in understanding the mechanics more easily.
Establishing a Strong Supply Chain
A well-structured operation starts with three key components: warehouses, farms, and a lab.
- Warehouses: Store and distribute goods.
- Farms: Produce raw materials such as cannabis, coca, and other crops.
- Labs: Convert raw materials into finished products.
To ensure a seamless flow, your farms should be connected to a warehouse, which then distributes products to a lab, and from there, they are sent to the airport for export.
Optimizing Your Logistics
1. Roads and Connections
Your production chain won’t function properly without roads linking each facility.
- Sandy roads are the cheapest and most efficient early-game option.
- Build short and direct routes to minimize transport time.
2. Selling Your Goods: The Airport
In the early game, airports serve as your primary export hub. They accept all types of illicit drugs, allowing you to convert raw products into profit quickly. Once goods are delivered to the airport, they will be shipped, and the revenue will flow into your accounts.
3. Setting Up an Efficient Farm and Lab System
- When constructing farms, check the efficiency map.
- Brighter green areas indicate higher yield for crops like cannabis and coca.
- Place your farms in the most fertile areas to ensure maximum production.
- The default tier 1 farms can be upgraded later via research, but you should select the correct crop type before placing them to avoid wasting resources.
Managing Resources and Money Flow
1. Manually Moving Cash
Early on, lieutenants can manually move dirty money from warehouses to the bank to be laundered. This prevents your operations from stalling due to overflowing dirty money storage.
- Click on your lieutenant.
- Select Deliver and choose a destination (e.g., a bank).
- Regularly transfer cash to prevent warehouse overflows.
2. Automation with Workstations and Residences
Once you’ve built up enough resources, unlock and build a workshop to automate product packaging and distribution. Workstations can convert raw goods into high-value packages like:
- Vegetables
- Coffee beans
- Spices
Similarly, residences act as money laundering hubs, automatically moving dirty money from the airport to the bank, reducing the need for manual cash transfers.
Avoiding Early-Game Mistakes
1. Stockpile $100,000 Before Progressing Too Far
Bribing the police is a key mechanic in Cartel Tycoon. Once law enforcement gets involved, you will need at least $100,000 to pay off bribes. Without enough funds, the police can destroy critical assets like your airport, which can lead to a complete loss and a forced restart.
2. Don’t Overproduce
If your warehouses become overloaded with goods, you will start losing products due to lack of storage space. Keep an eye on:
- The number of farms vs. available warehouse space.
- The capacity of transport vehicles.
Upgrading Your Infrastructure
1. Research & Development
Investing in research allows you to:
- Unlock higher-tier warehouses to expand storage and transport.
- Improve farms and labs for increased efficiency.
- Upgrade transport capacity by unlocking new vehicles.
To access upgrades, navigate to the research menu and start unlocking key facilities like:
- Warehouse Level 2 (provides more trucks for faster deliveries).
- Workshop (automates product packaging for better sales).
- Residence (automates money laundering to free up lieutenants).
2. Expansion Strategies
As you progress, you’ll need to expand into new territories. Early on, you are restricted to a small portion of the map, but expanding south or north provides access to:
- Higher-yield farmland.
- New smuggling routes.
- Additional laundering opportunities.
Final Thoughts: Setting Yourself Up for Success
By following these basic steps, you’ll create a smooth and efficient cartel operation without the trial and error that many new players face.
- Set up warehouses, farms, and a lab early.
- Use airports as your main smuggling route.
- Manually move money until automation is unlocked.
- Expand carefully and save at least $100,000 before progressing too far.
- Optimize production and transport to prevent overflow issues.
As you grow, you’ll unlock more advanced smuggling routes, larger-scale laundering operations, and powerful upgrades to solidify your cartel’s dominance. This guide has provided you with a basic but effective setup to hit the ground running in Cartel Tycoon.
Now get out there and start building your empire!
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