Breaking Black

Core concept:

Mechanics:

Each player is only given one turn to start. From then on, only corporate entities in play take turns, in order of creation, with the actions of the turn being governed by that corporation's Majority Shareholder. In case of a tie in shares, the original Majority Shareholder maintains control.

In addition to having its own turns, each corporation has its own money pool, which is tracked by it's Current Net Worth track. When a company spends money on assets, the track does not reduce, as the value of goods and factories purchased remains a calculation in a company's net worth. The only way for a corporation's net value to drop is to make goods purchases, or for a player to sell their stock in it.

If a player sells stock that a corporation does not have the funds to cover, it must liquidate assets at ([1]half?) value to cover costs. If all shares of a corporation are sold, the corporation liquidates all assets, pays out its entire net worth and closes business - removed from the board.

On a turn:

Corporate Actions: From highest production tier to lowest (right to left), a Corporation may in any order:

Purchase new assets with available cash - either factories for converting goods ($5?), Storage warehouses (extra row of spaces for keeping goods on board), or goods available from a previous production tier. (At Tier 1, goods can be uniformly bought for a set price of $1 (represents importing crude oil))
Refine goods (on the left of factories) to current tier goods (place on right of factories)
Set or adjust prices for refined goods (At Tier 5, each good is sold for a set $20 (Playtest needed)) (Theme: The Government has set a price ceiling on oil products) ( [1] If playing with different kinds of goods & factories, different Tier 5 prices)

Shareholder Actions: Once the corporation is finished with its actions, then the Majority Shareholder may:

Buy or sell any available shares of stock ([1] In THAT company?) Price of stock == (amount buying or selling)/10 * (Current Net Worth) rounded down to the nearest 1k. In other words, Each share costs 10% of the company's net worth rounded down. EX. 2 Shares of a company evaluated at $35k is $7k.)
Spin up a new Corporation: The player spends 10k, adds a new corporate board at the end of the turn list (all corporate boards are placed one after the other to form a turn order queue), and takes 5 (?) shares in that corporation. That corporation starts with 10k which it may take actions with when it comes to its turn.

----On players first turns, only the last two actions will be possible. ----

----If a player is not the Majority Shareholder in any corporation, then they are considered to be an Investment Manager. On each turn, once all previous actions are complete, they may take a turn to perform the last two actions if they choose. ---- [1] But only trading stock in the company who's turn just ended. [2] All players starting from the left of the current Majority Shareholder may take shareholder actions involving the company who's turn just ended?

Production tiers:

Crude oil goods can be purchased for $1 ea. Once refined, they can marked as for sale for $0-$5. ($5 max. profit)
Refined goods purchased from a factory at a previous step. Once further refined, they can marked as for sale for $4-$10. ($9 max. profit)
Refined goods purchased from a factory at a previous step. Once further refined, they can marked as for sale for $7-$15. ($11 max. profit)
Refined goods purchased from a factory at a previous step. Once further refined, they can marked as for sale for $11-$20. ($13 max profit)
Refined goods purchased from a factory at a previous step. Once further refined, they can be sold to the public for a set $20 value. ($9 max profit) ([1] maybe out of 25? instead of 20?)

[1] Numbers subject to change based on playtesting

Notes:

The ONLY way for players to make money is to buy and sell stocks in growing companies
The ONLY ways for companies to make money is by investment and refining goods
Money is only introduced to the economy when goods are sold at a profit in tier 5.

Victory: Have the most money after end game share payout

Endgame: When any one corporation's net worth is 100 ([1] 50? needs playtest) End of that turn.

Components:

Paper Bills (1s, 5s, 10s. (divisible by 5))
Corporate entity boards (small, with 2 tracks: current net worth (one column in 10s, one column in 1s to make it easy to keep track) , and stock available [1] 5 total stock [2] 10 total stock), and a place for petty cash to be held

Corporate colored cubes (ea. corporation diff. color)
Corporate colored boards (to be placed in relevant production section and hold factories & goods purchased, and goods for sale w/designated price)
Corporate standees to remind at a glance who's running each company

Production board segments (Numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5)
Goods cubes (representing crude oil, being refined at each step)
Factory representations ([1] upgradable factories? More efficient conversion? 1 upgrades to 2 goods per factory per turn. [2] Different types of goods and factories w/ tech tree; basic crude oil "cracks" into heavy oil, gasoline, light oil, sulfur, etc. Different machines for each one. Each production step requires combinations of different kinds of goods to make the next.)

Inspirations: Container/King Chocolate (Segmented goods development), Container/Greed Inc (Independent corporate entities w/profit motive), Greed Inc/Imperial (stock trading & turn structure)