A cloud provider is a business: money comes in by the hour, and goes out in many directions. Keeping the balance positive is the only way to last. 📈
¶ 🔄 Where money comes from, where it goes
Two kinds of expenses:
- 🔁 Running costs, every hour: electricity, cooling, the Internet subscription, SLA penalties.
- 🧱 One-off costs: hardware, R&D, repairs.
The hourly income (Overview and Finances pages) is what you earn per hour, excluding purchases and bonuses. That's the number that must stay positive for your company to survive.
¶ 📊 The Finances page
Open it with N. It shows income and expenses over the last 7 or 14 days, their breakdown by category, and a log of every single transaction.
Your balance can go negative: you then can't buy or repair anything until it recovers. Not a good place to be when a server just died. 😬
¶ ⚡ What really costs money
- 🔌 Powered equipment costs electricity all the time — an empty server is pure loss.
- 📈 A loaded server draws more than an idle one, but earns far more: fill your servers before buying new ones.
- ❄️ Every kW of heat costs extra electricity to remove (less with efficient cooling units).
- 🌙 Electricity is cheaper at night.
- 🌍 The Internet subscription has a daily fee plus a price per volume of data exchanged.
See Electricity and Backup Power and Heat and Cooling for the details.
¶ 🏦 Victor's loan (story mode)
In Story Mode, your starting capital is not a gift: it's a loan from Victor, your investor. (A free game has neither Victor nor a loan.)
- 🗓️ Repayments start when you sign your first customer — as long as nothing is billed, nothing is asked.
- 🔁 Victor reviews your account every game week: each time, a fixed share of the loan plus interest on what you still owe. Installments get smaller as you repay.
- 🤖 The installment is collected automatically from your balance. A strip at the top of the Finances page shows what you still owe, the next review date and the installment amount.
If you can't pay at a review, nothing is collected and the installment stays due:
| Missed in a row | Status | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ⚠️ Warning | Victor writes to you: catch up before the next review |
| 2 | 🟠 Grace period | Last chance! |
| 3 | 🔴 Bankruptcy | Game over: load a save or start again |
A paid installment resets the counter.
Relaxed mode (when creating a story-mode game) changes the ending: bankruptcy no longer ends the game, but each missed review while bankrupt costs you reputation.
Always keep enough cash for the next installment. Sign your first customers before spending everything on hardware!