PIZZA TYCOON (Microprose) Tips Guide Taken from the Public Domain Startup ------- On startup it is best to choose Quickstart. This gives you a restaurant to begin with. Usually the restaurant is in a poor area of town and it is best to sell everything in it, before moving elsewhere. Quickstart also gives you some recipes already on the recipe list. Freemode lets you start from scratch and is not usually worthwhile. Mission mode gives you an objective to meet, difficult. The difficulty mode is up to you. Character Choices ----------------- Money is not the key factor in this area, although it helps. High energy and health allow you longer days, which means that you can do a lot more each day. High dexterity improves your chances of success in Mafia missions. High popularity makes it easier and cheaper to make good contracts, and also increases the number of guests to your restaurant. Both Elvis Bailey and Peter Pratt are good all-rounders. Junior Bonnet is good in all departments except for money. Sheik is great for money, but has low dexterity and energy, if you choose him you will regret this choice later in the game. City Choices ------------ Berlin is a good place to start business. It has a great choice of food suppliers, and has plenty of room to have a large citywide chain. Berlin is also central for expansion throughout Europe, though I wouldn't recommend this until you have a steady income of say at least $10,000 a day to cover air fares. Before travelling abroad ensure your restaurants are running smoothly. Where to buy/rent property -------------------------- Only rent property, unless you have huge amounts of money to burn. When renting choose the best location possible, you can always borrow more (or usually). Look for high numbers of potential customers. A large floor size is advisable. Furniture --------- Arranging furniture isn't easy, and it doesn't seem to matter if it's crushed for space in your restaurant. Purely Natural tables are a bargain, and can sit up to six people, contrary to what the manual says. The best chairs we find are from 'Restaurant Furnishings' or 'Small and Sunny'. Flowers/Candles are a good idea and bring people into your restaurant. Vending machines bring in kids, young people and blue collar workers but don't work very well on the others. Follow the manual's advice on where to go to target particular age groups. A good floor is helpful (the more expensive the better), and good ovens are a must (either electrical or exclusive). Watch out for better ovens later in the game. Recipes ------- To make one of the built in recipes just follow the instructions in the cook book which comes with the game. Making your own recipes involves checking the trends in market research, and making sure the 'in' foods go on your pizza. It is also useful to check which age groups you are catering for and which types of pizza they go in for. Don't worry if your pizza sounds disgusting - 'Gooseberry and Gorgonzola' goes down quite well. The judges' verdict is not a lot of use because trends aren't taken account of. Salty - Sardines, Olives & Caviar Sweet - Bananas, and most other fruits Hot - Chillies, Sweetcorn? Fatty - Sardines, Bacon Spicy - Oregano, Ginger, etc. Stock ----- Usually it is best to buy stock of quality 60 to start off with, keeping your costs down. Cooks ----- Look for a high number of pizzas per day, high cooking ability, and high motivation and make sure neither health or trustworthiness, are in the red. Look for Phillipe Cusine, Suzy Slapstick, Lisa Lumpen Waiters ------- Look for a high number of pizzas per day, high serving ability, and high motivation and make sure neither health or trustworthiness, are in the red. Look for Homer Woodstock, Axel Thump Managers -------- These cost a lot so you may want to avoid using them early in the game. The same things are important as above, but particularly Management and Trustworthiness. Make sure the motivation is high. Make sure that your manager goes shopping, and set his/her behaviour towards staff to strict, severe or merciless. Staff in General ---------------- To gain a bonus in pizzas per day and motivation, simply increase the person's wages. The person's motivation will immediately drop if their wages are cut, this must be avoided at all costs. Training is sometimes well worth the money, but can occasionally not work. Always send a person on the highest course available. Contracts --------- These are a great way to make sure you have plenty of stock, always use the same suppliers, and you will eventually get a huge discount 60% or more!!. You can sometimes argue over the contract terms with the supplier, by clicking on the reject button. Mafia ----- Don't shy away from them, and try to avoid them. Work with the Mafia whenever you can but always save your game before attempting anything illegal. Mafia Tips ---------- Phone the Mafia from 'others' on the terminal. The bottom number on the list leads to your arms dealer. Weapons can be bought as ice cream, each flavour corresponding to a different weapon. Later in the game destroying opponents' restaurants can be very effective in giving you a lead in business. The Mafia should offer to protect your restaurants for a nominal fee, this is well worthwhile and if you refuse they may 're-arrange' your restaurant... If you find the right type of restaurant it is possible to cause 70 or 80 thousand dollars worth of damage, early in the game this can defeat a competitor. Chemicals are great because you can stay next to a door, and run as soon as the police show up. Bombs are good because they destroy almost everything. NB when you buy 1 bomb it allows you to place as many as you want in the restaurant. Flamethrowers are hopeless, and take far too long to cause any damage. Bazookas are OK, but can be difficult to aim. Always do missions early in the morning, by setting your alarm clock in the character menu. If your energy or health gets destroyed by this then take a holiday by clicking the 'off' button on the lamp, this is great for revitalising yourself but make sure your contracts are refreshed, and everything is running smoothly before you pack your bags. Another way to make heaps of money is to fly about the world, checking the prices of all the arms dealers. When you find one place which is really cheap, buy loads of weapons, and then sell them back at the most expensive place. You should easily be able to double your money, and this will haul your rating in the underworld up. Enjoy! - o -