Corporation Exploitation

Corporation Exploitation

Sometimes it's more important to play by the rules

What is Corporation Exploitation?

Corporation Exploitation is a turn-based Territorial Acquisition which is all about collecting the most resources, but also looking after your empire once you learn to build it up. 

The basic premise of the game revolves around the players' ability to spend their money wisely and buy out resources in industries such as oil, rare gems, grain, rubber and steel according to their point values and the bonus they get from improvements built on the resources. There are both civil and industrial improvements that can influence the game and benefit the player in several different ways. The game is also based on happiness as a simulation of the realistic struggle between industrial expansion and its effect on the people whose lives it influences. 

Though the rules can admittedly take more than a few minutes to read through and fully comprehend, the game mechanics are quite straight forward and work as most territorial acquisition games do, except that players have to be wary of the negative effects of their territory on its people. 

Game Time

1 or more hours (since the game is turn-based, it really depends on how strategic players are, as well as how much time each player takes on their move). 24 turns.

Contents

• 2 8-Sided Die

• 1 10-Sided Dice

• 64 Industry Tile Cards

• Various amounts of money ($500, $100, $50)

• Gems (of different color) representing player-controlled territory

• Gems (of different color) representing industrial and civil improvements

Set up

• To begin, all cards (64 tiles) are shuffled and laid down in an 8x8 grid. 

• Each player is given $1000 of play money.

• The bank is set up with the rest of the money.

• The gems representing each player's territory is handed to the player.

Rules

• Each player has their chance to purchase industrial tiles of their liking based on their funds and strategy. The tiles and associated information is displayed below. 
• 
  

  Name	Cost	Points	Income
  Grain	$200	3	$+100
  Metal	$400	5	$+200
  Rubber	$600	7	$+300
  Oil	$800	10	$+400
  Gems	$1000	15	$+500

• The first purchase must be at the edge of the board.
• A gem representing the player's territory (all gems will be of the same color) must be placed on all the tiles that the player owns.
• The last player to make a purchase over $100 goes first and play moves clockwise from then on. 
• Each turn, a player must:

1. Collect income (based on the worth of their industrial territory).
2. Roll the disease die (2 8-sided die must be rolled). 
3. Purchase Improvements. 
4. Trigger Events.
5. Purchase Territory.
6. Economically Conquer Territory.

• Each tile generates a certain amount of revenue each turn. Happiness will increase or decrease this value by a third. For example, +3 happiness generates 200% revenue, whereas -3 happiness generates no revenue. 
• When the disease die is rolled,  the first dice rolled concerns the rows, while the second dice roll concerns the columns.  The tile corresponding to the combination of both values (ex: 3, 4 = the tile in the 3rd Row, 4th Column) is infected and has its happiness reduced by 2.
• Players may purchase improvements for their listed cost (based on the table below) and place them on the territory of their choice. The effects stated are then applied to the territory and either a civil or industrial improvement gem is placed on the tile. NOTE: Industrial improvements must be purchased in order from top to bottom as outlined on the upper left of the tile. However, civil improvements may be purchased in any order.

•  

  Icon	Name	Cost	Points	Happiness	Income
  	School	$250	1	+1	$-50
  	Sanitation System	$500	2	+2	$-100
  	Hospital	$750	3	+3	$-150
  	Ore/Gem Mine	$200	1	-1	$+100
  	Oil Well	$200	1	-1	$+100
  	Grain/Rubber Farm	$200	1	-1	$+100
  	Refinery	$400	2	-2	$+200
  	Smelter	$400	2	-2	$+200
  	Irrigation System	$400	2	-2	$+200
  	Jewelers Workshop	$400	2	-2	$+200
  	Factory	$600	3	-3	$+300

• Players may purchase events to trigger on an industrial tile of their choosing based on the table below.
• 
  

  Name	Cost	Happiness
  Propaganda	$250	+/- 1
  Industrial Sabotage	$450	-2
  Entertainment Event	$450	+2
  Tax Rebate	$650	+3
  Hire Rebels	$650	-3
  Disease	N/A	-3

• Players may also purchase tiles that are currently unoccupied as long as they are connected (even diagonally) to the rest of their industrial territory.
• Players may attempt to economically conquer territory from another player as long as the tiles are connected to their industrial territory. For this, the two players involved must roll the 10-sided dice. The attacker's negative happiness (based on the adjacent attacking tile) will reduce the number of his roll whereas his positive happiness will reduce the number of the defender's roll. In addition, players can pay to increase their roll by one ($100). The highest roll gets the territory (the defender gets to keep his territory). 
• Players can trade territories to the players' discretion and at the players' will. Whether a direct swap takes place or there is a monetary offering involved, a player may not trade for territories that do not touch their own.
• Strategic alliances are allowed and are to the players' discretion. 
• After 24 turns, players tally up the points for their controlled territories and improvements on territories. This includes each territories individual happiness value added to the territory's value and improvement score. The player with the most points wins the game. 

Game Overview & Creative Process

Corporation Exploitation has the potential to be a game of strategy and clever alliances once you get passed the complexity of the game mechanics. The limited number of turns is helpful in suppressing the time it takes to the play the game although most of the time spent playing the game can be attributed to the understanding of the game rules. 

Beginning a game, every one of four players (or two) pick a corner from where to commence the building of their industrial empire. From here, it's just a matter of strategically balancing out the size of your industry and the happiness of the people it effects. Though triggering effects is a good way of slowing down your competition, it is important to remember that strategic alliances may perhaps be more helpful. There is always the choice as to whether to be kind and merciful or to be ruthless and cunning, much the way most corporations are run in real life. There is always an ultimatum behind every decision made by a corporation and thus there is an ultimatum behind every player who makes a move. It is important to think 3 steps ahead and plan out your approach to increasing your resources and maximizing your happiness factor while doing it. 

The thought for Corporation Exploitation came about when one of our team members, Chris, came across an article from the Globe and Mail concerning the hunt for Africa's resources. This article can be found here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/african-and-mideast-business/africa-next-the-quest-for-africas-riches/article4562456/?service=mobile

Upon reading the article, Chris realized that while most territorial acquisition games may be about corporate takeover, not many games explore the truth in the matter; the fact that a corporation's decisions affect more than just it's employees and shareholders. From here Chris got the idea of creating a territorial acquisition game where the player is held responsible for his corporate actions determined through a happiness meter which can aid the player in building his resources (and, in turn, his income) or which has the potential to destroy the player's income by reducing the amount of revenue generated by tiles with negative happiness on the meter. 

Conclusion

Although the concept for the game may not mimic real time applications of corporate strategy, it is an eyeopener and a statement that has been made in the form of an entertaining board game. Corporation Exploitation is a game that is meant to make players aware of real problems faced by third world countries all over the world and how helpless their people can be in the face of corporate expansion at the hand of money-hungry tycoons with only progression and increased revenue streams on their mind.