Economy of Underworld went through some changes
I’m sure you have noticed something new going on in Underworld lately. Many of you didn’t like the changes big time ;)
What has really happened is that the game now gives the advantage to dealers who interact with one another or move from place to place often. Here is how it works.
Back then, you were able to find a lab, pack yourself full with cheap stuff and then just wait until the demand refreshes in the area and addicts will buy your overpriced sweets. This ‘sit and wait’ strategy doesn’t work anymore.
A selection of commodities available in supply & demand on each tile is changing less often now. Moreover, you won’t find the whole variety of sweets on one tile. Some of them you will have to bring from other areas.
When there’s a lab on the map next to you, your best choices are:
- to buy the stuff and price it fair, so that dealers from other areas would purchase it
- take the produced sweets, move to another tile and find the demand in there
Same thing with demand. With an addict located on your tile, you can either purchase merchandize from the dealers in other places or take a walk to another tile.
Basically, this means dealers must interact with each other and share profit. Moreover, the tile refresh time is enough for the traffickers to negotiate over the price and setup stable supply chains.
Underworld economy statistics reports a huge increase of dealer’s profits for the last three days. Bad times are in the past indeed 
May 19th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I love this new economy! Ive been working with others the past few days and its been working. There are times when I have big demand for waffles/coke and I buy local players supply and mark it up and still manage to move it and vise versa.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Your lucky. People out here in CA are Greedy they don’t understand. I have been trying to get the point across to them and they just never read the messages or just don’t care.
I have seen them sit on 170 waffles for 2+ days and still will not lower them. I seen to always have a demand for waffles where ever I go. Now only if I could get some waffles.
I know I’ll go to IHOP.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
hey andrey i still havent been able to add my freind ELPollo he has an iphone he has a facebook and nothing……. i still want my points
besides that im trying to sell golferguy some speed becuase he needs some and he says he cant buy anything it wont give him the option?? any suggestions? and about my points?
May 19th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
chunk’, here is how bonus points for inviting friends work. You connect with FB and invite a friend. Friend downloads the game and creates a new account (doesn’t work if friend already has an account!). Then he/she has to connect to FB too. Bang, you get the points! Was that your exact case?
What comes to the visibility issue. The thing is, if you see someone in your market screen, this doesn’t mean this person can see you. First, his Trade Area skill can be less than yours. Second, since the offers screen only shows the cheapest offers in the area, maybe your offer is not cheap enough to get to the person’s offers screen.
May 19th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Andrey, what is the enough time the junkies will refresh as you noted in your comment. Can you please put some numbers, is it 2 hrs, 4 hrs, 8 hrs or what?
Just asking as there are cases where you bought police protection for 1 hour or 8 hours, and if refresh takes longer than 8 hours, we feel it is a waste.
Can the interval be set between 3hrs to 5 hrs? What is the current settings right now?
READ ME!!! PLS. PROVIDE FEEDBACK
May 19th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I would like to make a suggestion–
If I have trade area at a higher level than another dealer, I can see them, but they can not see me. You’ve covered this. However, I don’t think it should be one-way.
I should be able to buy and sell in my trade area. Okay, so they can’t travel as far as I can, but if I can travel into their area to buy, I should be able to travel into their area to sell too.
This is even more important now that we have to rely more on other players in order to push our product.
May 19th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Also, it would be nice if there were a mass messaging system, in order to we d every player within my trade area a message. If I’m looking for a specific product, I’d like to be able to “post a bulletin” requesting that product.
May 19th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Wow. I don’t know what happened up there!
…in order to mass message every player…
May 19th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
FUN is BACK!!, the refresh time is ~10 hours now. May differ from tile to tile though. The police protection isn’t waste anyway - you can still make deals safely while you’re protected. How’s that connected with demand & supply switch periods?
May 19th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
TheConfuzed1, we are still going to improve the whole deal ranging system in the future releases, that’s for sure.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I think the new economy is great! It stays true to the game (GPS-enabled) and forces you to sell to other players.
Andrey: I’d be willing to bet that tweaking the game economy takes a lot of thinking and planning. I think it is more complicated than people understand. Good job to you and your team!
May 19th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
hey Andre can you please read post 108 on the previous blog post it’s regarding the 3 main tiles I play on cooparoo state of queensland, eaglefarm state of Queensland and springhill state of victoria not sure why springhill comes up as victoria as victoria is about 3000 kms away any feedback would be great
May 20th, 2009 at 12:18 am
what the hell of a huge profit are you thalking about ? Now its even more difficult to buy an sell shit! What about ppl with ipod touch, Fuck them? You know they cannot connect everywhere they go fuck it i dont care if im rank 18 im not going to play this game anymore you have to feel proud that your game is going downhill enjoy your fucking money
May 20th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Touch = stay in the same tile, sell cheaper to other players.
Stop complaining you can’t play a LOCATION BASED MMO GAME as well as people who have always-on, location enabled devices. At least you have an option.
If the game wasn’t giving an advantage to people who move, why not just make it non-location-aware, web based, no iPhone/ipod client?
May 20th, 2009 at 1:18 am
I totally agree with Born2Kill. Even if we buy a iPhone, we wouldn’t be able to transfer the account.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:19 am
gepeto I move around my city alot and the labs seem to move with me so I’m getting no where fast something does need to be done I’m using iPhone and moving around all day to different tiles some 30 kms apart how can the lab be on multiple tiles at once it’s very gay
May 20th, 2009 at 1:34 am
Holy Shit! This new economy rocks! I had a 4mil day. Rock and roll baby.
May 20th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Im not complaining im just telling u how it is. Even if i travel to different locations and still see the same lab and same junkies just dont make no sense.
May 20th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Now people with iPhones have an advantage over folks with iPods how in the he’ll am I supposed to compete. There ain’t many free wifi access points around!!!!
May 20th, 2009 at 2:30 am
I live the new economy, it’s just like before. When it was on Cydia, before it went down for relaunch in the Appstore. It’s tons more fun communicating with all the dealers. Good Job!
May 20th, 2009 at 3:55 am
I agree with Radiato, this is much better than just sitting at one spot waiting. It’s fun to interact with the dealers. I’ve made 2million in half a day and I helped a lower level seller rank up in a day. This is awesome! Aside from a few glitches I’m satisfied.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:44 am
@BornToKill, I played stationary today and made 1.5M.. You just gotta communicate w other dealers to get a lower supply, so you can sell high. As well as lower your prices for items you don’t have a demand for on your tile. It’s not difficult at all to accomplish this on an itouch. You’ve just gotta let go of stockpiling overpriced product you’re not going to sell.
@Shisno, actually it can. You can contact Andrey and he can transfer your account.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:33 am
I’ve been doing both types of selling–Driving to new tiles, as well as selling to other dealers, at a price that gives them incentive to buy. I had crappy labs today, for the 10 hours I was at work, so I only made $500K. Yesterday was better-Made $2M.
Guess what… I’ve made more money, staying on the same tile!!!
iPod players have nothing to complain about. Just adjust your strategy. You basically have two options–Horde your stash, maintain a high price, and start selling it ten hours later, or cut your profit in half, and make a big sale every fifteen to twenty minutes. Guess which will net you more–Quantity wins every time.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:44 am
@Born2Kill: I’m a Touch user, stuck in 1 location all the time too. Admittedly i struggled at first, and hated the new economy, but now i’m doing better than ever. You only need to hook up with 1 person and your money will grow rapidly.
I’ve made around 3 or 4 levels in less than a week.
It’s still a pain with days like today, with just 1 addict on my tile (cake), but i have plenty of labs to buy from and sell on to other dealers, so the money still rolls in.
What everyone now needs to do (as many have already said) is buy cheap from labs and set your price just a little higher than what you paid for it on items that you have no addicts for on your tile so other dealers buy them.
Smaller profits, but more sales = constant cash flowing.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:35 am
I am a ipod touch user too, and my location dont move with me. I am the 4º in the rank of my country but I dont have other way, I have to leave the game for the new economy.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:02 am
This is fucking stupid. The gps part of it should only be an enhancement or bonus feature not the central factor. This doesn’t just fuck over the iPod users but also a lot of iPhone users. This is a game it’s not supposed to be work. If I wanted to drive around everywhere I’d become a fucking pizza delivery driver.
And btw drug dealers irl usually don’t haggle on prices. In the real world you’re either a street dealer, a wholesaler or manufacturer. Like drug cartels go around selling dime bags?!
And let’s be real here. Protection is pointless to buy. Unless u r a loser without a life. Perhaps to be a bit more useful u should add 5 minute protection because it could be worth it to someone with not a lot of time to waste and wants to buy a shitload of stuff at once. 5 minutes for 5 points.
I really dislike the direction this is game is going. I’d guess it has more to do with a strain on the servers. But whatever. Someone just needs to make A networked dopewars for the iPhone. Fuck apple in their hipocrisy. Mafia and violence is ok! But fake drug dealing is bad!!! Violence on tv is ok! But god forbid we see a boobie or ass. Fucking puritans. Fuck u england for drivng them out and into the new world! Couldn’t u chase out the party people?! Or is that what austraila is?
May 20th, 2009 at 10:34 am
lol
May 20th, 2009 at 10:53 am
this is lame. I have 169 coke and nobody will buy it
May 20th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Move to a different tile or price them lower.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:58 am
WTF all day yesterday I had no coke labs or anyone selling at a decent price. And I have a coke junkie next to me. Soooo….. I go to a different city/tile (5pm pacific time) to watch a movie and guess what i stock up coke and when I get home 2 and a half hours later (8pm pacific) and the junkie that was next to my house disapears boooioo
Audrey…… Could it be that I had underworld installed on his phone when it was still in cydia ( I sold it to him when I got the 3g iPhone). And he got the message and on facebook and like younsaid he first needed the invite then he needed to install the game .?? Could that have been the prob?? And I purchased a 15 point pack a couple of days ago and i didnt get any points aswell I’ll be glad to email you the sales receipt
May 20th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
CHUNK’, yes, if your friend plays from the phone that was already used to create an account once (even in Cydia), you wouldn’t get points for inviting him. It only works this way because otherwise we couldn’t avoid cheating tricks to get extra points from FB friends.
What comes to the 15 point pack purchase - is there any chance you had a hacked point pack installed previously?
May 20th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
well, my first impression of the “new economy” was pretty negative! sit and wait was easy. but after a while playing this way, I need to say thumbs up - it’s better this way.
some stuff need to be still improved.
- make the game cycle faster
- more actions within the tiles
- more levels !!!
- adjust the manuals for iphone touch users. i think they are not considered to play this game in the same way as the gps players can do.
thanx
tom
ps . i’d like to see some swiss chocolate in the game
May 20th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Man Ipod users should be happy they can even play. Their whole idea was based around a location based game, so you are barking up the wrong tree. I can’t wait to hear how you guys go off when the first turn by turn direction GPS app comes out.
I think the new economy is great. The only thing that needs to been altered is the trade area. It’s just jacked up how I can see 3 people in oregon in one tile, and then two tiles over they are gone. It would be one thing if the screen was full of people, but most the time I only have 2-3 people on my waffles screen, so it’s just messed up and makes it hard to play the new way, and I like the new way (thus the rant :P)
BTW 5 minutes for 5 points? You get an hour for 5 points right now, unless that was sarcasm. For double the points (10) you get 8 freaking hours, so that for me is the logical choice. If you are buying from other people all the time it’s very worth it.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Meant 5 minutes for 1 point. Yeah it is a better deal to do the longer one but it doesn’t always fit a persons need and would be wasteful.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
10 points for insider info!
That’s addictive! I’ll go broke checking that out!
I should be able to move to another tile, and it Instantly send me that tile’s inside info. For 10 points, I should be able to get this service for 6-8 hours.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
[quote]
•to buy the stuff and price it fair, so that dealers from other areas would purchase it
[/quote]
I dont understand why I would be tempted to do that?
Im still buying at a very low price and selling for 2-3 times that price… ALOT of people are still buying at these prices so why would I be encouraged to sell low?
May 20th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
@bart
Cause not everyone travels around. If you only have waffles in your area, and you can’t sell them for 10+ hours, if you price them low other players can buy them if they have junkies in their area. That way you are moving them for less, but you are still moving them instead of waiting 10 hours.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Yeah 10 point for insider info is too steep for me. I’m not trading 8 hours of protection for insider info. I could have seen it useful at 5 points, but 1 tile for 10 points…that’s robbery.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
The local cartel member said he did not see things changing for the next six hours. Well, my tile just changed in less than 45 mins!!
Now, I have a whole new group of labs and addicts!
I JUST WASTED 10 POINTS ANDREY!
May 20th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
XXZone,
I see.
I guess I must be in quite a fortunate position where I can carry on buying at a low price (im always near atleast 1 lab) and there are always junkies around.
There is ALWAYS ALL Sweets for sale which is good.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
If you travel around you can do that. If you have junkies and labs in the same tile buying and selling the same product, you are indeed fortunate, cause it shouldn’t be doing that.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
xxxzone,
I’m with You!
If the local cartel info was 5 points, I’d do it again.
I’ll just stick to 8 hours of protection.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I like the new setup too but it definitely takes getting used to. The only problem I an having is that I get bad luck with lvl 3 evasion and get busted buying drops a few times in a row so I am lucky if I profit selling lower to other players.
Also, I have had a waffle addict on my tile all morning so I bought the only 20 waffles that were available and the addict has not bought them in almost 5 hours. I guess 5500 is too much for him go buy? So they have been priced at 5000 for the last 30 Min and still won’t sell. Being rank 16 it seems like I can only really make progress with waffles and drops but if I can’t get the junkies to buy anything I just feel stuck.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
@CatDaddy That’s another great point. You are charging 10 points for something that could possibly only last 20 minutes. We don’t know what the refresh time is.
I guess if you are going to use it, you better only do so after you know your area just refreshed. Sorry CatDaddy that sucks.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
One other simple thing I would like to see is getting the info button moved higher up on the screen. Seems like I have to try hitting it 5 times before I get it to open. The first 4 are failed attepts resulting in my price adjustment screen opening.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Yeah, they need to change the way that is done.
I should get a Refund!
___________________________________________________________________________
I’m level 17. Is it true that as I go up in the levels that I will get to have a Lab?
What else is there for the High Ranks? I hope there is something cool to look forward to.
Cheers~
May 20th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
There is nothing for sure yet, but they have talked about it. As far as we know, if you hit level 21 that’s it…you just make money.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Andrey, working with other players only works if there is a way to indicate they are active within the application, there needs to be some type of indication that shows their status… its useless to have six people on my buy/sell screen and none of them check there messages until 10 hours later.
Also there should be a way to have a buddy list for example if player1 is in a different city, and we have made deals before, why aren’t we able to buy and sell from each other using the profile screen?
I understand the new economy but 10 hours is a bit much… because of my location i sit on the edge of two other tiles so when i can’t sell Waffles in my tile, i just go to the corner store, with the game open, up my prices to the max i can sell to junkies, close the game for the next 6 hours so i can max profits… seems like cheating the system but thats the way it is. Sold 170 waffles at 6999 that way.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Well, it seems that for a GPS application, the new economy system is logical. Now, for a casual gamer like me, it seems that the game is a lot less interesting.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I have a 2G iphone, if I am lucky from time to time I will be at a place with free wifi then I can make more money. The game should apply to ipod and iphone(2G) users also, not just 3G. I make money, however I can only make a little at a time. BTW I know of someone (lvl 17) that is still using the UW hacked points, he still has 750 points left. I live near the water and I still think it is funny when I see labs and junkies in the middle of the gulf of mexico swimming around looking for candy.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:56 pm
BTW how and why do some members have images next to thier names? I want an image next to my name!
May 21st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
It’s kind of annoying to me. People in my tile seem to get stuff a lot more and sell stuff at dumb prices. But I seem to be doing the same as before just a little more annoyed with newbies.
May 21st, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I agree with what Richard stated above. This game was fast paced and fun. Now, slow, and I am losing interest in it. Not fun anymore. I didn’t have a problem buying UW points for police protection as I knew I would be buying a lot throughout the day. Now, no buying (or selling) going on, and i have even dropped my prices way down. It was fun while it lasted. I am moving on.
May 21st, 2009 at 6:54 pm
To add a picture:
Launch the game, click on the icon in the bottom left hand corner (man in the hat), click on edit, click on the blank image, and you can select anything from your camera roll.
May 21st, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I wasn’t talking about your profile picture, I said next to their name, some people have pills or cross bones etc. Not in the options….
May 21st, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Go to Cydia and search “emoji”. Or google Emoji if you aren’t jailbroken.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
How does the tile System actually work? and how does it relate to real life?
For example, if I travel 1 mile down the road in real life, will it show me the new people within a 100miles of the actual map?
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:39 pm
@ xxzone I am jailbroken, installed and none of the characters work in UW
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
For a game in which nothing much happens, a fast turnover of goods is necessary to keep players interested. The new economy has significantly slowed down turnover (at least, it has for me). Hence the game is significantly less interesting (for this player anyway).
If a-steroids goal is to sell UW Points then boring players to the point of logging off is going to make achieving that goal more difficult.
May 25th, 2009 at 5:36 am
What’s with the map? Mine has a big X across it, is blurry, I don’t see as much and there are no street names. And there’s some really weird meter on it that makes no sense, like a gadge in the bottom right hand side. I REALLY hope this is a glitch of some kind.
Related to this new change, I kind of like that’s it’s now more map based, but I don’t think the labs should move around so much (like every few days instead) and that the junkies should refresh way more often. That way, not only is it a little more like real life (labs don’t move every 10 hours…), but people can buy and sell what is on their tile, at least, since junkies wanting what you currently have on your map for a lab will be more frequent. People that move would still have an advantage but at least people who don’t move can still make a profit. Not everyone moves around a lot, or has 3G.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Horse shit!!! All horse shit!!
In response to comment #26:
shoe, I love you!
May 27th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Lola, it’s kinds tricky but basically you fort type 2 random letters then insert the emojicon between those two letters, then hit space. After that just delete the letters… Fuck with it and you’ll figure it out!!!
Glad I don’t play this fucking game anymore!!! LOL
May 27th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Anyone down for a UWSD g2g in Hawaii? I got the hookups there!!?!?
May 28th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Got the emoji to work for me !! Thanx dizzle!!
May 28th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
The new economy sucks big time!! Don’t like it!
May 29th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
thanks hun, got it!
June 5th, 2009 at 2:38 am
Hey,anyone got the app free wifi? its free and finds where theres free wifi in yer area. heres what i do, cause i got an ipod touch. i look at the free wifi near me, see a coffeeshop with free wifi, grab a few bucks, and bike there. i does my candy dealing while i drink a root beer. buy at the labs, sell to the candyaddicts. bike home, sell that candy, buy more, repeat. quite fun! thats how to take advantage of the new economy if you got a touch.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
The new economy is bad for me. I live in a rural area and don’t travel around much. I’ve pretty much lost interest in the game as there is never anything to buy any more. I haven’t seen a waffle for under 6500 or a drop for under 2500 for 3 days now. I was playing it a lot and recommending it to all my friends, no more
June 10th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I think the tiles should be smaller because for people that dont have cars and have to walk to change tiles, the distance is ridiculous. at times you have to walk miles. It would also lead to faster profit turnarounds because supply and demand can change faster. I think this would improve the game immensely.
June 14th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Yea smaller tiles would help big time
June 14th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Oh and does any one know if updating to 3.0 will delete our game?? Do we have to start over???
June 15th, 2009 at 11:48 am
La Cura, no, you don’t have to start over. First launched after software update, the game will automatically recognize your device and load up your character details.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:29 pm
hi, I’m having bad luck trying to rank high for the keywords “current version plugin google update”… Pls approve my comment!!
September 12th, 2011 at 5:57 am
Everyone loves your website! Have you got a facebook or myspace or twitter page? I’d really love to get together and speak about certain things. Thanks for all of your work.