Big Ambitions Build & Construction

Warehouses and factories are the backbone of every serious Big Ambitions empire. A Warehouse stores and distributes the goods your shops sell; a Factory turns raw materials into products you can sell at a much higher margin. Almost every end-game money strategy runs through one of these two buildings, so understanding how they work is the difference between a handful of small shops and a city-wide operation.

Plan production before you sign the lease

The most common mistake is renting a building before deciding what to make. Factory size should follow your production plan, not the other way around — a single production line (French fries, for example) does not need a large building, while a full clothing line needs a lot of floor space for machines. Players regularly report renting a small warehouse and then regretting it once they need to fit more machines in.

Before committing, check the factory recipe list or the in-game F1 help menu to see which machines each product requires, and match the building size to that list. Machines are expensive, so expect to build your production capacity up gradually rather than buying everything at once.

Choosing the building

Warehouses come in different types that vary in size, vehicle bays, and internal layout — pay close attention to the layout you are getting, because it determines how many machines you can fit and how easily goods can move.

Unlike retail, traffic index does not matter for a warehouse or factory. Customers never walk in, so you can pick a cheap location on the edge of the map without hurting performance. Warehouse buildings are found in the Garment District, Lower Manhattan, and Murray Hill neighbourhoods, roughly a block above the piers. On Voogle Maps you can enable a filter that highlights them with a brown glow.

Once you have rented or purchased the building, remember to start a business and select Factory as the business type — the building stays an empty shell until you do.

Buying factory machines

There is exactly one shop that sells factory machines: the Factory Supply Depot at 57 5th Avenue, Lower Manhattan. On your first visit you must speak to the manager during opening hours; after that you can simply call and order equipment during opening hours instead of hauling boxes to a register yourself.

Confirm each machine's price and output before buying so you do not end up with the wrong equipment or an empty wallet.

Delivery capacity and vehicles

A warehouse's usefulness is capped by how many businesses it can supply. Key mechanics:

• Vehicle bays — H1, H2 and H3 warehouses have one delivery vehicle slot. The I, P and Q series (I1–I3, P1–P3, Q1–Q3) have two. It is strongly advisable to use a two-vehicle warehouse, because it makes adding new businesses and managing deliveries far easier.
• Delivery ceiling — a warehouse can deliver to a maximum of 16 businesses. Reaching that requires two Freight Truck T1 and two Logistic Managers at 100% skill.
• Driver skill — driving a Freight Truck T1 requires a delivery driver with at least 95% skill.

Importing goods

Each import location along the pier stocks different goods, and each Purchasing Agent can only be assigned to one importer at a time, so you may need several agents to cover a full product range. Many products are only available from a single importer, which makes the right agent assignment important.

When you set up an Importer Contract you choose between a one-time delivery (imports the exact amount you enter) and a repeating delivery (treats the number as a target stock level — if you set 500 and hold 200, it orders 300). Repeating orders arrive at midnight on the delivery day. Every importer has a minimum purchase price below which no delivery is made, and your warehouse needs pallet shelves in place to receive goods at all.

Where to go next

• Factory — the full step-by-step on planning production lines, sizing your building, and buying machines.
• Warehouse — storage, vehicle bays, delivery logistics, and the importer availability table showing which goods each importer stocks.

Sources

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2943350108 (Big Ambitions factory guide)
• https://biggerambitions.com/warehouse.php