Feature Suggestion: Player-Run Investment Firms + a Deeper Stock Market Simulation
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2026 5:10 am
I'd like to suggest a feature that feels like a natural next step for the Banking and Finance DLC: letting players build and run their own Investment Firm as a company type, alongside a meaningfully deeper stock market simulation to support it.
Why this fits
The groundwork is already here. Venture Capitalists (added in 6.6.00) proved that AI-driven capital allocation works well in this engine, and the stock market screen already has an "Investment" filter category for companies whose main business is investing in others — but right now there's no way for the player to actually be one of those companies. There's also real demand for this already on the forum — see "Owning a financial group!", "Expand the Stock Market please," and the Investment Management Firm concept standardplayer proposed in the Venture Capitalists thread (index funds, bond funds, PE, and VC funds under one roof). This suggestion tries to pull those ideas into one coherent feature.
1. Investment Firms as a playable company type — but a lean one
Unlike Retail, Banks, or Insurance, an investment firm's transactions are basically all electronic — nobody needs a branch on Main Street to buy an ETF. So this shouldn't be another branch-per-city grind:
This is the part I think could really set the feature apart. Rather than just picking from preset fund types, players (and AI firms) would actually construct them:
Because investment firms would be moving large pools of capital, their aggregate behavior (fee levels, fund performance, how much money is parked in index funds vs. actively traded) could realistically ripple into the broader economic simulation — liquidity available for IPOs, overall investment climate, even interest rates if Realistic Money Supply is on. That gives the feature real strategic weight rather than being a side minigame, and it gives veteran players who've mastered the manufacturing/retail loop a genuine "become Wall Street" end-game path. It also doesn't need to ship all at once — even the firm structure plus custom fund design would be a huge step, with the deeper stock mechanics following as a later pass.
Curious what other players think, and whether the team has considered this as a follow-up to the Venture Capitalists feature.
Why this fits
The groundwork is already here. Venture Capitalists (added in 6.6.00) proved that AI-driven capital allocation works well in this engine, and the stock market screen already has an "Investment" filter category for companies whose main business is investing in others — but right now there's no way for the player to actually be one of those companies. There's also real demand for this already on the forum — see "Owning a financial group!", "Expand the Stock Market please," and the Investment Management Firm concept standardplayer proposed in the Venture Capitalists thread (index funds, bond funds, PE, and VC funds under one roof). This suggestion tries to pull those ideas into one coherent feature.
1. Investment Firms as a playable company type — but a lean one
Unlike Retail, Banks, or Insurance, an investment firm's transactions are basically all electronic — nobody needs a branch on Main Street to buy an ETF. So this shouldn't be another branch-per-city grind:
- One HQ (maybe a small number of regional offices for a "global reach" bonus) can serve the entire map — differentiates it from every other company type instead of just reskinning Banks/Insurance
- Reputation/rating stat affects investor inflows regardless of physical footprint
- Revenue model: management fee (% of AUM) plus performance fee, not just trading profit
This is the part I think could really set the feature apart. Rather than just picking from preset fund types, players (and AI firms) would actually construct them:
- Build a custom index by choosing constituent stocks and weightings, then list it
- Package that index — or an active strategy — as an ETF, Mutual Fund, or Index Fund
- Set your own expense ratio/management fee and dividend distribution policy per product
- A "broker/manager quality" mechanic where fees interact with actual client returns: low fees plus a skilled manager steadily attract AUM and build reputation over time; jacking up fees boosts firm profit short-term but drags down net investor returns, which can hurt reputation and trigger redemptions — basically the real active-vs-passive fee tension fund managers actually deal with
- Short selling and margin trading, with margin calls, not just long positions
- Options (calls/puts) for hedging and speculation
- Analyst/credit ratings that move sentiment independently of raw fundamentals
- A proper market index (composite of major listed companies) to benchmark fund performance against — there's already a forum thread asking for this
- AI hedge funds/activist investors as competitors: they'd accumulate stakes, occasionally attempt hostile takeovers, and add volatility beyond what "Alternative Stock Sim" currently removes
- Insider trading restrictions (cooldowns/disclosure requirements on founder/executive share sales) so investment firms have real information asymmetry to play against
Because investment firms would be moving large pools of capital, their aggregate behavior (fee levels, fund performance, how much money is parked in index funds vs. actively traded) could realistically ripple into the broader economic simulation — liquidity available for IPOs, overall investment climate, even interest rates if Realistic Money Supply is on. That gives the feature real strategic weight rather than being a side minigame, and it gives veteran players who've mastered the manufacturing/retail loop a genuine "become Wall Street" end-game path. It also doesn't need to ship all at once — even the firm structure plus custom fund design would be a huge step, with the deeper stock mechanics following as a later pass.
Curious what other players think, and whether the team has considered this as a follow-up to the Venture Capitalists feature.