Players Invade Cyberpunk

"Negotiations failed on William's side?"

"As expected, those corporate dogs never know when enough is enough."

"What about the equipment then? If we just turn hostile like this, our people might not be able to buy more later, and over time, they might start having issues."

"If we can't buy it, we'll just make it ourselves. After all, aside from the coating, it's nothing special, no high-tech involved. Our technicians are already replicating it, and it'll take no more than two days to get results. By then, who would still care about those corporate goods?"

Qatar, from the Sixth Street Gang's management department, showed quite a disdain for that firm's stuff, seemingly having anticipated the failure of the negotiations long ago.

Lase from the combat department was taken aback,

"I remember Pepper saying the costs would be significantly higher than expected. The things we produce would be sold at no less than thirty thousand each."

"Plus, we can't break through their firewall, we'll have to write a control software system from scratch, can we manage that?"

Profit doesn't just hinge on cost and selling price. Distributors and intermediaries all need money, and Sixth Street Gang can't take their stuff out to sell.

Firstly, if your costs are higher than theirs, you can't engage in a price war with them. Tearing your own financial base presupposes that the plan proposer has enough control in the organization to shoulder the negative impact of company losses with their authority, but a gang with power split three ways doing this?

If you hinder the brothers from making money, then you're no brother of mine.

Secondly, Lin Miao has already registered the patent, and if the Sixth Street Gang copies and sells it, they'd just be sued by the other side. They can't go through public sales platforms or even the black market, since theirs is cheaper and comes with after-sales support, why would anyone buy yours?

Sure, if the gang gets sued, they don't have to show up in court, ignoring any corporate dogs or Night City courts. But if you don't follow rules, Lin Miao can ignore them too. If it's difficult, better not do it, just let you taste what happens to NPCs in games that dare to maliciously encroach on player interests.

So far, Sixth Street Gang still hasn't figured out Lin Miao's background, nor where these mercenaries are popping out from, so it's not convenient to make direct moves.

Hence, the products made are mostly for self-use.

"These are trivial issues, already resolved." Qatar said, lighting up a cigarette with satisfaction. "Isn't it just higher costs? I know a contractor; with their help, we can get cheaper components. As for the control system, what's the big deal, doesn't the Sixth Street Gang have plenty of hackers?"

Lase saw the cigarette in Qatar's hand, his eyelids twitched, and he said sourly, "Huh, the tasks of your management department sure are lucrative, smoking that biotech Milan, give me one."

Milan, formerly Italy's oldest cigarette factory, was later acquired by biotech. Now a pack costs over a hundred euros in Night City.

Qatar, somewhat smug, opened the cigarette box, tossed one over,

"This stuff isn't cheap, I can't afford it. It's a gift from someone."

"Why doesn't anyone give me gifts?"

Qatar gave a half-smile looking at Lase, "Just wait, maybe there'll be a chance in the future."

————

After the 21st-century collapse of companies and AI control, transportation of goods between continents, countries, and regions became increasingly complicated, even sometimes surpassing production costs.

Firstly, with AI submarines cutting off sea routes, folks either took expensive airships or traveled by land via rail transport.

Domestic short-distance rail transport was manageable. National conglomerates could support domestic rail maintenance with their domestic influence and overall profit levels, but once your goods need to cross borders and sell in others' territories, you'll face hefty tariffs.

If it were back in the last century when corporations hadn't overshadowed governments, some regional governments might lower or abolish tariffs to attract investments, cooperate in building railways to ensure logistics, and suppress domestic opposition from similar enterprises.

Now, however, corporations have overshadowed governments. If you want to cross over my territory, we have to first face off. Either wipe me out and complete economic colonization, or let me invest, take shares, and take a slice of railway earnings.

And the exploitation is unusually aggressive; capitalists sometimes go tougher against fellow capitalists than class struggles. After exhausting all energy, you might find that after selling your goods locally, you're left with losses.

Moreover, the longer the railway, the higher the maintenance costs. Trains and tracks themselves might get hijacked or dismantled, and with every issue comes massive asset loss and stock instability.

So, everyone chose another path: building factories on-site, producing using local raw materials because this world has highly concentrated urban populations, lacking neither workers nor living consumption. Thus, industrial zones in cities are exceptionally expansive.

Night City's industrial zone also saw new replacing old, with Watson District handing its industrial crown to Santo Domingo due to pollution, aging, nuclear explosions, etc., albeit without benefitting Santo Domingo's workers.

Due to intense commercial competition here, Santo Domingo's 'metabolism' is swift, aside from major corporate factories, small ones go bankrupt in droves and are renovated or transferred in equal measure.

Recently, Lin Miao, having acquired quite a bit of money, joined this wave, planning to acquire a contractor factory.

He couldn't let players sit on the production line. The fun in assembly line games lies in the setup, watching the production fruition, not piecing parts together yourself. Thus, having an NPC factory from an office help players complete repetitive, dull tasks is necessary.