So, we can make flying, corkscrew Tesla coils?
I mean, you can. I don't see why you would.
Alright! First things first: All of this will be added to the second post in a spoiler under the infosheet.
How to make money (and delicious SCIENCE!) in 2025
Every turn, which covers a timespan of approximately 2 months (smaller timespans will be covered by mini-updates as necessary), you, the players, will be presented with a series of options for your choosing, which affect your company, your mission, and your reputation. As well as, of course, your pocketbook.
Making Money
Money is represented in points of Wealth, acquired through the successful completion of contracts. Some contracts will deliver money up-front to cover costs between start and completion, while others will pay only on completion. Government contracts tend to lean towards the former type; commercial, the latter. There are also private contracts, offered you by single, wealthy individuals, which can go either way.
Each point of Wealth represents 1 million dollars, USD. You start with 50.0 points of Wealth.
Spending Money
Your choices within the turn will have costs: Building new facilities, new factories, hiring more people, launches, the works. Some choices you can make will reduce your running costs: i.e., using 3D printers to print parts in-house to spec, rather than out-sourcing. Some choices you can make will increase your running costs: i.e., hiring more people to man the facility you just built. At the start of the game, you have a per-turn running cost of .2 Wealth, representing payroll and payments on your facilities.
Research
Research is done via d100+bonus rolls for the topic at-hand. A lot of research will require more than one roll; it will not usually be possible to completely research a new topic or subject within the scope of a single turn. Thus it is to your benefit to plan ahead. Completed research does offer you powerful benefits to offset how long it takes.
Facilities
At the start of the game you start with a Tier I facility: which is, basically, an office for your engineers and scientists to work in with a little room for more people, with a converted warehouse next door with your manufacturing crew and their equipment. Each tier of facility can support a certain number of workers, scientists and engineers. As you upgrade your facility, you gain access to larger workforce sizes, and the possibility to have multiple teams to work on several projects concurrently, or focus down on one vital project.
Reputation
Your reputation is a measure of your success: at the start of the game, your Reputation is 0. Nobody knows you for good or bad. You increase your Reputation by successfully meeting certain milestones (which are hidden, but, given the nature of the game and what we're doing, I think you can guess them), as well as completing Contracts. Your reputation will decrease if you fail to complete a contract, or some disaster occurs with your product or people involved. Higher Reputation yields more and more lucrative contracts for your company; lower reputation yields fewer and stingier.
Disasters
Every now and again, either as a result of your choices or due to some niggle of the GM's evil mind, you might be faced with a Disaster. Disasters come in many forms; what they are is not important. You'll know them when you see them. How you, the players, react to them affects how they affect your Reputation and Wealth, and sometimes other things as well. Handled well, you can turn a disaster into an advantage. Handled badly, a Disaster can spell doom for your company.
Winning the Game
There is no real set condition for victory; however, the game will be considered won if your character reaches retirement age, with the company still existing and making money. There are a couple of other, hidden win conditions that I may elaborate on later when I have fleshed them out sufficiently.
Losing the Game
You will lose the game if your company goes bankrupt, or goes so far into the negative Reputation-wise that you cannot gain new contracts, which leads to scenario 1.
