Finances: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 00:07, 12 October 2026

Your finances are critical to running and operating your tower.

You can find your budget information in the Budget Summary view, which shows your tower's income, expenses, and its cash flow. Use it to check how much you have spent on different rooms, on construction, and your other expenses like taxes and interest.

You can find additional financial information and manage your loans in the Loans Summary view.

Budget summary

The budget's income and expenses describe the selected period. The top shows your period's income, expenses, and net change.

Recurring income and expenses

Certain income and expenses are billed continuously and generates persistent income. These are listed as 'Projected daily' and continuously change your balance. Rooms that generate rent are recurring income streams. Loan interest, taxes, and maintenance costs are recurring expense streams.

The Projected daily net change describes the current recurring income rate minus recurring expenses and is what you would expect to get by the end of the day. The projected daily net change is also displayed after your account balance:

Funds Available

One-time income and expenses

Other income and expenses are one-time changes. This one-time income includes cash bonuses from projects or special events, and income from visitors interacting with your tower such as paying for parking, checking out of a hotel, or using a vending machine. Other expenses include construction costs, condo evictions (due to low evaluation), or disasters.

Loans

You can take out loans to increase the amount of money available to run your tower or to plan construction.

Maximum loan

The maximum loan limit is the largest of the following amounts, rounded up to the next $200,000:

1.5 × the starting funds selected for the session;
total income over the previous three years;
50% of tower value; or
75% of the map's default starting funds.

The available amount to borrow is the maximum loan limit minus the current outstanding loan.

Taking out a loan should be done when you are expanding your tower. Interest on your loans is determined by your game's difficulty and is set to 5% on normal difficulty.

Tower value

Your total tower value is a metric to gauge how much your tower is worth and is partly used to determine how much you can borrow as a loan. The tower value is calculated by adding up all your tower's floors, rooms, and transport assets:

Floors: the number of constructed floor tiles multiplied by the map's above-ground floor construction cost.
Rooms: each room's construction cost, minus any depreciation. A burned room has no value.
Transport: the transport system's construction cost plus the construction cost of every car it contains.

Upgrades do not add to your tower value. Cash on hand and existing loan debt do not affect your tower value either.

Room depreciation

Rooms may depreciate in value. A room starts at its full construction value, then depreciates linearly over 5 years until it is worth 20% of its original value. Renovations will bring a room's value back to its original amount.

Transports currently do not depreciate in value.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Budget''' is the finance view for a tower. It records cash flow, outstanding loans and the tower's asset value. Use it to check how much can still be borrowed and how construction affects the balance sheet.
+Your finances are critical to running and operating your tower.
-== Tower value ==
+You can find your budget information in the '''Budget Summary''' view, which shows your tower's income, expenses, and its cash flow.  Use it to check how much you have spent on different rooms, on construction, and your other expenses like taxes and interest.
-Tower value is the total value of the tower's floor, room and transport assets:
-* '''Floors:''' the number of constructed floor tiles multiplied by the map's above-ground floor construction cost.
+You can find additional financial information and manage your loans in the '''Loans Summary''' view.
-* '''Rooms:''' each room's construction cost. For room types that merge into a wider room, every base-size room instance is counted. A burned room has no value.
-* '''Transport:''' the transport system's construction cost plus the construction cost of every car it contains.
+== Budget summary ==
+[[File:Budget Summary.png|alt=Budget Summary|thumb|332x332px|Budget Summary]]
+The budget's income and expenses describe the selected period. The top shows your period's income, expenses, and net change.
+=== Recurring income and expenses ===
+Certain income and expenses are billed continuously and generates persistent income. These are listed as ''''Projected daily'''<nowiki/>' and continuously change your balance. Rooms that generate rent are recurring income streams. Loan interest, taxes, and maintenance costs are recurring expense streams.
-Elevator upgrades do not currently add to tower value; the valuation uses the original construction costs of the elevator and its cars.
+The '''Projected daily''' net change describes the current recurring income rate minus recurring expenses and is what you would expect to get by the end of the day. The projected daily net change is also displayed after your account balance:
+[[File:Funds Available.png|alt=Funds Available|none|thumb|Funds Available]]
-=== Room depreciation ===
+=== One-time income and expenses ===
-Only rooms depreciate. A room starts at its full construction value, then depreciates in a straight line for five in-game years until it reaches 20% of its original value. It never falls below that 20% floor. Floors and transport assets do not currently depreciate.
+Other income and expenses are one-time changes. This one-time income includes cash bonuses from projects or special events, and income from visitors interacting with your tower such as paying for parking, checking out of a hotel, or using a vending machine. Other expenses include construction costs, condo evictions (due to low evaluation), or disasters.
 == Loans ==
+[[File:Loan Summary.png|alt=Loan Summary|thumb|Loan Summary]]
+You can take out loans to increase the amount of money available to run your tower or to plan construction.
+=== Maximum loan ===
 The maximum loan limit is the largest of the following amounts, rounded '''up''' to the next {{Game Money|cost=100000}}:
@@ Line 21: / Line 30: @@
 * 75% of the map's default starting funds.
-The available amount to borrow is the maximum loan limit minus the current outstanding loan. Cash on hand and existing loan debt do not reduce the tower-value portion of the formula; only the outstanding loan reduces the amount still available to borrow.
+The available amount to borrow is the maximum loan limit minus the current outstanding loan.
-== Cash flow and recurring income ==
+Taking out a loan should be done when you are expanding your tower. Interest on your loans is determined by your game's difficulty and is set to 5% on normal difficulty.
-The budget's income and expenses describe the selected period. '''Projected daily''' describes the current recurring income rate minus recurring expenses. Visitor receipts, one-off sales and grants can improve the period's result without improving that recurring rate. [[Projects]] income requirements use the recurring operating net.
-Borrowing increases cash and debt; repayment reduces both. It is shown separately from the operating result. A positive balance after borrowing does not establish that the tower can cover its ongoing costs.
+=== Tower value ===
+Your total tower value is a metric to gauge how much your tower is worth and is partly used to determine how much you can borrow as a loan. The tower value is calculated by adding up all your tower's floors, rooms, and transport assets:
-The following examples use illustrative '''dollar-display amounts'''. They explain the arithmetic, rather than promise particular rents or visitor numbers.
+* '''Floors:''' the number of constructed floor tiles multiplied by the map's above-ground floor construction cost.
+* '''Rooms:''' each room's construction cost, minus any depreciation. A burned room has no value.
+* '''Transport:''' the transport system's construction cost plus the construction cost of every car it contains.
+Upgrades do not add to your tower value. Cash on hand and existing loan debt do not affect your tower value either.
-=== Profitable operations, falling cash ===
+=== Room depreciation ===
-Suppose the tower starts with $200,000 cash and records the following during one in-game day:
+Rooms may depreciate in value. A room starts at its full construction value, then depreciates linearly over 5 years until it is worth 20% of its original value. Renovations will bring a room's value back to its original amount.
-{| class="wikitable"
-! Item !! Cash change
-|-
-| Recurring room income || +$10,000
-|-
-| Recurring operating expenses || −$7,000
-|-
-| Visitor receipts || +$2,000
-|-
-| New construction || −$100,000
-|-
-| '''Net change before borrowing''' || '''−$95,000'''
-|}
-Recurring net is '''+$3,000/day''', but construction makes cash fall to '''$105,000'''. The build is an immediate bill; its future income may take time to arrive. Leave enough cash for services, power, staffing and vacancies after construction.
-=== A grant can hide a recurring deficit ===
-If recurring income is $6,000/day and recurring expenses are $8,000/day, the tower is losing '''$2,000/day''' from its current recurring operations. A $50,000 one-off grant makes that day's result '''+$48,000''' before other transactions, but the next day's recurring rate is still −$2,000/day. Improve occupancy/income or reduce ongoing costs instead of treating the grant as permanent profit.
-=== Base upkeep is only part of a facility's bill ===
-Unupgraded [[Housekeeping]] costs $400/day in base upkeep plus $500/day for each configured worker. With two workers, that is '''$1,400/day''', before power or other tower-wide costs. Adding another identical room adds construction cost and another recurring bill. First check the existing workers' access to dirty rooms and garbage destinations.
-[[Room comparison]] lists base upkeep separately so staffing and other operating charges are not mistaken for an all-inclusive cost.
+Transports currently do not depreciate in value.
-== Planning an expansion ==
-# Check the current recurring rate and the recent period's actual receipts and expenses.
-# Count the build's immediate cost, including supporting floors, transport and required facilities.
-# Allow time for construction, leasing or hotel bookings; new rooms need not produce income immediately.
-# Keep a reserve for operating costs and disaster response. A [[Projects|project advance]] or loan helps finance construction but is not a substitute for sustainable operation.
-# Recheck power, transport and [[Needs and requirements|services]] as the population grows.
 [[Category:Guides]]

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