Loosing Instead Of Gaining Cash

[SharkD]

Not sure this is a bug, but at the beginning of the month my cash went from 12 million to 150 thousand, despite receiving an "Excellent" rating from every country and an increase in funds of 700 thousand. What am I missing here?

[Talon81]

Well, this may or may not be the problem, but your "increase in funds" is an increase in what your funding countries are giving you every month. This is based on your score and has nothing to do with your monetary standing at the moment.

 

First off, the increase actually doesnt take effect till next month. Secondly, just because they increase their funding, doesnt mean you arent over-spending what they are giving you. In other words, say they are giving you 8 million a month. Lets say your monthly expenses (bases, craft, and personnell are counted, not purchases) are 12 million a month. You will lose 3 million on the 1st. If you have 200 scientists and 100 engineers, that is 8.5 million right there (remember, their salaries are half of their purchase price in the buy screen. You only pay the full price for the first month). So you can see where, running multiple bases, it will quickly become more expensive than what the countries are offering you.

 

Perhaps that is the problem... do you have a lot of scientists/soldiers/engineers/craft that you rent?

[[NKF]]

Overspending on base modules and having lots of hired staff and leased ships really do pile up. It is often best to take a more gradual expansion approach at the start of the game rather than to expand right away.

 

Also have you done a lot of renovations to your base involving demolishing lots of modules and not reusing the space? See, used base slots cost money to maintain, and this isn't mentioned anyone where in the summaries but will reflect in your bank balance. For most players, it's not that noticeable. However if you've done some major renovations, like moving the entire two hangars to the top of the starter base (as an example), you'll not only continue paying for the two hangars, but also for 8 unused dirt blocks.

These hidden costs if you'll excuse the pun, will run you into the ground.

 

Along those lines, have you at any time used the Clark Wehyer suite of X-COM editors to move any of the modules around? From recollection, it automatically sets all dirt modules to used.

 

- NKF