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APPENDIX Copyright (C) 2005, Michael D. Jenkins CONTENTS:
APPENDIX A...... INSTALLATION OF PROGRAM APPENDIX B...... COMPANY NAMES AND STOCK SYMBOLS APPENDIX C...... HOW CREDIT RATINGS AND LOAN INTEREST RATES ARE DETERMINED APPENDIX D...... INDUSTRY INFORMATION: (1) List of industries with typical growth rates and industry ID#'s (2) Factors affecting demand growth in each non-financial industry APPENDIX E...... STRATEGY AND TACTICS SUGGESTIONS APPENDIX A: INSTALLATION OF PROGRAM
Accordingly, see the brief instructions for installing the program at STEP THREE in Chapter II (entitled "GETTING STARTED") of this Manual, at page II-1. Also be sure to look for any recent changes in the installation instructions, which will be described briefly in the short "READ.ME" file that comes on every copy of Wall $treet Raider we distribute. See Part III of this manual, "Getting Started," for
instructions on starting a game in the future, after you
have initially installed the program.
APPENDIX B: COMPANY NAMES AND STOCK SYMBOLS When prompted to enter a company's stock symbol in Wall $treet Raider, you may enter either the ticker symbol ("IBM", "GE", etc.) or the company ID #, which can range from #1 to #250. The program will accept either. This edition of the user handbook and strategy manual no longer contains a listing of the names and stock symbols of the 250 companies that make up the Wall $treet Raider investment universe, now that the program contains a convenient lookup function that allows you to instantly look up the stock symbol for a company any time you need to enter it during play. Since we are constantly changing the program and replacing companies when their real world counterparts go out of business or get merged out of existence, we found that our listing in this manual was always out of date within a couple of weeks after each printing, in any case. Wall $treet Raider is our hobby (or addiction, our more
honest friends would say), and it is almost constantly
under revision, as we see things in the financial news
that we find interesting, and which we can devise a way
to recreate in the program in some fashion that will be
realistic and add to the realism and "texture" of the
simulation.
APPENDIX C: HOW CREDIT RATINGS AND LOAN In W$R, a player or company's credit rating and the rate
of interest paid on bank loans are both determined by the
player or company's ratio of debt to net worth. A player
or company whose debt is less than .15 of net worth has
the highest credit rating ("AAA") and pays interest at the
"Prime Rate." Those with lower credit ratings generally
pay rates progressively higher than whatever the current
Prime Rate is. The following table shows the relationship
between debt-to-equity (or debt-to-net worth) ratios of
the borrowers, credit ratings, and rates of interest paid.
DEBT-TO-EQUITY RATIO CREDIT RATING INTEREST RATE PAID .10 or less AAA Prime Rate .10 to .25 AA Prime + 1/2% .25 to .50 A Prime + 1% .50 to 1.0 BBB Prime + 1 1/2% 1.0 to 1.5 BB Prime + 2% 1.5 to 2.0 B Prime + 3% 2.0 to 3.0 CCC Prime + 4% 3.0 to 5.0 CC Prime + 5% Over 5.0 C Prime + 6% Deficit (Corps.) D Prime - 3% APPENDIX D: INDUSTRY INFORMATION:
(1) List of industries, industry ID#'s and typical
growth rates.
INDUSTRY ID NUMBER TYPICAL DEMAND
GROWTH RATE
BANKING 1 NOT APPLICABLE INSURANCE 2 NOT APPLICABLE AUTO MANUFACTURING 3 4% BIOTECHNOLOGY 4 22% HOUSING DEVELOPMENT 5 4% BUILDING MATERIALS 6 4% INTEGRATED OIL CO'S 7 4% OIL SERVICES & EXPLO 8 7% METALS & MINING 9 5% ELECTRONICS 10 20% RAILROAD 11 1% STEEL 12 4% CAPITAL GOODS MFG. 13 10% AEROSPACE 14 6% AGRIBUSINESS 15 2% AIR TRANSPORTATION 16 7% BREWING/DISTILLING 17 4% RETAILING 18 5% TEXTILES 19 -1% CHEMICALS 20 5% PHARMACEUTICALS 21 13% MED. EQUIP/SUPPLIES 22 14% SHIPPING 23 3% COMPUTER 24 18% TRUCKING 25 6% SOFTWARE 26 25% PUBLISHING 27 10% PACKAGED GOODS 28 7% ENTERTAINMENT/BROADCAST 29 8% TELECOMMUNICATIONS 30 17% TOBACCO 31 -1% HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS 32 9% PAPER & FOREST PROD. 33 5% BEVERAGE 34 7% SEMICONDUCTOR 35 20% HOLDING COMPANY 36 NOT APPLICABLE (2) Factors affecting demand growth in each non-financial industry: INDUSTRY FACTORS AFFECTING DEMAND GROWTH
AUTO MANUFACTURING Mainly affected by GDP growth;
adversely affected by high oil
prices.
BIOTECHNOLOGY GDP growth affects somewhat; growth is
usually very rapid and fairly steady,
but eventually tapers off in later years.
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT Affected primarily by number of
housing starts, which are affected
by interest rates (adversely) and
size of GDP. Extremely cyclical.
BUILDING Affected by level of housing starts,
plus increase in capacity in Housing
Development Industry. Very cyclical.
INTEGRATED OIL CO'S Affected by level of oil prices (high
price is favorable) and GDP growth.
OIL SERVICES & EXPLO Affected by expansion or contraction
of capacity (drilling rigs, etc.) in
the Integrated Oil Co.'s Industry.
Tends to be very cyclical.
METALS AND MINING Affected greatly by rate of growth of
GDP. Very cyclical.
ELECTRONICS Affected considerably by changes in
rate of GDP growth; rapid but
cyclical growth pattern, eventually
slowing down.
RAILROADS Affected by changes in rate of GDP
growth. Fairly cyclical, slow-growing.
STEEL Heavily dependent on expansion or
contraction in the Auto Industry, and
significantly affected by GDP changes.
CAPITAL GOODS MFG. Very sensitive to changes in GDP growth
rate. Extremely cyclical.
AEROSPACE Almost entirely dependent upon expansion
or contraction of capacity in the Air
Transportation Industry (airplanes, etc.)
AGRIBUSINESS Affected adversely by high oil prices and
vice versa. Slow growing at first, but
growth rate tends to increase later.
AIR TRANSPORTATION Affected considerably by changes in the
size of GDP; affected adversely by high
oil prices and vice versa. Very cyclical.
BREWING/DISTILLING Largely unaffected by GDP growth or
other economic factors. Slow, steady
growth.
RETAILING Follows GDP growth trends fairly closely.
TEXTILES Declining industry, but still
considerably affected by rate of
GDP growth.
CHEMICALS Affected mainly by GDP growth trends;
somewhat cyclical growth pattern.
PHARMACEUTICALS Rapid, fairly steady growth. Affected
only slightly by economic trends.
MED. EQUIP/SUPPLIES Rapid, fairly steady growth. Affected
somewhat by GDP growth rate.
SHIPPING Affected by changes in GDP growth rate;
affected somewhat adversely by high
oil prices; very cyclical growth.
COMPUTERS Rapid, but uneven growth. Affected
significantly by GDP growth trends.
Rate of growth eventually slows with
maturity.
TRUCKING Affected primarily by levels of
expansion and activity in the Auto
and Agribusiness industries.
SOFTWARE Rapid, fairly steady growth, for a
number of years, then tapering off.
Somewhat affected by GDP growth.
PUBLISHING Relatively steady, fairly fast
growth, only slightly affected by
GDP growth rates.
PACKAGED GOODS Very steady, predictable growth,
faster than GDP.
ENTERTAINMENT/BROADCAST Fairly rapid growth, reasonably
steady. Somewhat affected by GDP
growth.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS Rapid, very steady growth, only
slightly affected by trends in GDP
growth.
TOBACCO No growth; a declining industry, but
dominated by a few big companies,
with little competition, so tends
to be a profitable "cash cow." But
susceptible to cancer lawsuit exposure.
HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS Fairly high rate of growth, very
steady and predictable, almost
independent of the overall economy.
PAPER & FOREST PRODUCTS Modest growth rate, very cyclical
and very dependent on the overall
economy; Tends towards boom or bust.
BEVERAGE Fairly good rate of growth, very
safe and steady; dominated by Coke
and Pepsi, with little price
competition, resulting in normally
high profitability. Almost immune to
economic conditions.
SEMICONDUCTOR Very high (but extremely volatile)
growth industry, populated by
exceptionally competitive,
cannibalistic companies. Greatly
affected by GDP growth rate changes.
APPENDIX E: STRATEGY AND TACTICS (1) STRATEGIC GOALS. In general, your strategic goals in W$R should include the following: Take the high ground. Seek to obtain control of the strongest company in an industry, in terms of large market share, solid credit rating, and high rate of return on its business assets as compared to other companies in its industry. Try to obtain control without paying a stock price significantly higher than the company's net worth per share, which will tend to limit your downside risk. Monopolize. Attempt to reduce competition in your company's industry, by taking control of other large, fast-growing or highly profitable competitors. Then use the "GROW" command to reduce their capacity growth rates. But beware of possible antitrust suits that might be brought against your companies by opponents if you control too much of an industry's capacity. Price-fixing, like other forms of fraud, is always an inherently dicey proposition. Get a bank. Attempt to gain control of a key bank, one that either lends to you or your main company, or to other players (or their main companies). You may be able to leverage your control of one bank into control of several banks, which can put you in a very strong position by freezing your opponents' lines of credit. Often you can get control of a bank by taking control of a company that already controls it, or by getting control of an insurer, since insurance companies will usually have ample funds and borrowing power with which to mount a bank takeover. Turn around slow growers. As investments, look for slow-growing companies in fast-growing or highly profitable industries to take over. Once you have control, up the company's growth rate (if it is earning a good return on its investment in business assets). After a while, its P/E ratio (and stock price) should go up unless earnings decline, as the market tends to recognize the company's faster growth rate. Stay liquid. Always try to keep a substantial amount of cash (cash equivalents, such as CDs) on hand, for your companies and for yourself, even if you have to borrow a bit more, unless you have absolute (51%) control of the lender, since you never know when another player might take over the bank you thought you had a large line of credit from, leaving you stuck without either cash or credit. (2) SNEAKY TACTICS. There are all kinds of possibilities for doing sneaky, tricky things in Wall Street Raider, as on the real Wall Street. A few of the better ones include the following: Dump a competitor's stock. If an opponent engages in a takeover battle with you and winds up taking control of a company you have stock in, take a look at the stock's price when it becomes your turn. If you believe it's somewhat overpriced, dump your shares on the market--you'll drive down the value of your opponent's holdings dramatically, perhaps even inducing a margin call. It's a great way to inflict pain, for the truly ruthless. Unloading stock. If you own a chain of companies, use companies at the bottom of the chain (in which your ultimate percentage of ownership is much diluted) as dumping grounds for stocks you wish to sell. You can have such a subsidiary company buy stock from you without your depressing the market price, as would happen if you had to dump your shares on the open market. Manipulate the stock price. Or, use such bottom-level subsidiaries to buy stock of your parent company, in order to run up the price to discourage hostile takeovers, or before the parent company uses its stock to do a merger, or makes a "Public Offering." Or before you get ready to sell the garbage at an inflated price. Hostile takeovers. If you control a company that is grossly overpriced, in your opinion, in light of changing economic or industry conditions, do everything you can (see ideas above) to pump its stock price up a bit more, then do a merger of it into your opponent's main company if possible, so your opponent will be stuck with owning a piece of this soon-to-be loser. Then dump your shares on the market, before your hapless opponent has a chance to sell his or hers. That way, you will (or so you hope) have gotten out of the turkey near the top and will have left it, sitting like a brick, in your competitor's lap. Use unfair tactics. "Cheat Mode" allows you to do some mean, rotten things to your opponents, not to mention the various ethical choices that you will be presented with from time to time, if you control one or more corporations. Even if you don't, you can use the features on the Cheat Submenu to stomp an opponent who is temporarily down, to make sure he or she doesn't survive. These unkindly tactics include getting control of the other player's lending bank and using the "CALL" command to call in part of his or her loan at a time when doing so will force a distress sale of stocks or bonds.; or using a large, wealthy corporation that can afford to pay a lot of legal fees, to file a nuisance lawsuit, using the "LAWS" command, in order to cripple or bankrupt a small company owned by your opponent; or, even less charitably, start a rumor campaign about a company controlled by your opponent, to drive down its stock price and sometimes hurt its business profitability as well. However, be careful when using the "RUMR" command, since two can play the false rumor game, and your opponent is likely to respond in kind. Similarly, if you file a harassing lawsuit, there is always a chance of getting countersued successfully for instigating a "frivolous" lawsuit, so there are risks in using such dirty tactics. Of course, if your nasty tactics succeed in bankrupting your opponent before he or she gets a chance to retaliate, then there's no problem, is there? It's a dog-eat-dog financial world, and the winners write the history books.... Hey! No one ever said you had to be nice to succeed on
Wall Street, did they....? After all, there is no code of
honor among the Money Runners. There's only the Golden
Rule -- "He Who has the Gold, Makes the Rules" -- and let
the devil take the hindmost....Enjoy...!
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Copyright © 2005 Ronin Software
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