My Factories Never Stopped. But Could They Produce More?

A factory can keep running every day and still not be producing as much as it could.

At this point in the round, one thing was going really well.

My factories were running.

They had supplies.

My warehouse had enough raw materials.

And if something was difficult to produce myself, I could sometimes get it from the market.

So when I checked my company, I wasn't really worried about production stopping anymore.

That used to be one of my biggest concerns.

Now it felt like a problem I had already solved.

But after reaching 25 buildings, I started looking at my company differently.

I couldn't build another factory.

So instead of asking:

“Are my factories running?”

I started asking:

“Are they producing as much as they could?”

Running Wasn't the Same as Optimized

For a long time, I treated a working factory as a successful factory.

Supplies available?

Yes.

Workers assigned?

Yes.

Production moving?

Yes.

Great. Move on.

But Company Value made me look at that differently.

According to the Tycoon Online Wiki, every unit produced by a factory adds 1 iKr to Company Value.

That means production doesn't stop being important just because I can't build anymore.

Actually, it might matter even more now.

If I can't add another factory, the only way to get more production from my buildings is to get more from the factories I already have.

And that's when I started checking something I hadn't paid enough attention to before:

Factory upgrades.

Some of My Factories Could Still Improve

Factory upgrades can improve efficiency, base production, or add an extra worker without building anything new.

Factories in Tycoon Online can be upgraded twice.

The first upgrade becomes available after the factory has produced 1,000 units, and the second after 3,500 units.

By the middle of the round, some of my factories had already been running for a long time.

So instead of looking for another building to add, I started checking what upgrades were available inside the buildings I already owned.

There are three possible types:

Efficiency increase

Base production increase

Extra worker

Not every factory gets the same choices. The available upgrades depend on the factory type.

That made this more interesting than simply pressing “upgrade” everywhere.

I actually had to look at each factory.

One More Worker Can Change a Lot

One extra staff member can turn an already-running factory into a stronger part of the production chain.

The extra-worker upgrade caught my attention first.

Normally, a factory can have three workers.

Some factories can be upgraded to allow a fourth.

Earlier in the round, adding another worker might not have felt urgent.

I was busy building the supply chain itself.

But now?

I already had the buildings.

I already had the supplies.

So adding more production inside an existing factory suddenly felt much more valuable.

The same was true for the other upgrades.

A base-production upgrade increases the production generated by the factory itself, while an efficiency upgrade improves the minimum production generated there.

None of these gave me a new building.

But they could help an old building do more.

And that was exactly what I was looking for.

I Had Been Watching the Wrong Thing

This changed how I checked my factories.

Before, I mostly looked for problems.

Factory stopped?

Fix it.

Supplies running low?

Restock them.

Worker missing?

Check the staff.

But if none of those things was wrong, I assumed there was nothing else to do.

Now I'm starting to think that's the difference between the early round and the middle of the round.

Early on, the problems are obvious.

You need another building.

You need more supplies.

You need more workers.

Later, the company can look completely fine while small improvements are still hiding inside it.

My factories didn't need rescuing.

They needed another look.

Maybe “Everything Is Running” Isn't the Finish Line

When building more is no longer possible, getting more from the same factory becomes the smarter move.

I still think keeping production running continuously is important.

A factory without supplies produces nothing, so keeping my supply chain stable is still the first job.

But now that I've reached 25 buildings, the question doesn't end there.

I can't keep growing by adding more factories.

So I have to look at the ones I already own.

Have they reached their upgrade milestones?

Did I choose the right upgrades?

Could one of them use a fourth worker?

Could another one increase its base production or efficiency?

Those are much smaller decisions than building an entire new production chain.

But there are still 20 days left in the round.

And when every extra unit produced adds to Company Value, small production improvements have plenty of time to add up.

My factories were already working.

Now I want to see how much more I can get out of them.