Here are some tips I’ve collected for this game.
News Tower is a game about running a newspaper, and these tips aim to help you create the greatest newspaper possible.
Useful Tips for Beginners
Setting Up Shop
At the start of the game you will be given an empty building to start your grand paper (unless you started with the tutorial which gives you a pre-furnished building to use). The layout of your tower is key to success in this game.
Starting off you will want 3-4 floors, with typesetting on the bottom floor, assembly on the next floor up, then printing/maintenance, and at the top floor anything else, such as reporter desks and telegraphing desks. The reason for this is to minimise employee travel times inside your tower, since reporters only have to go up one flight of stairs to get the report to the typesetters who only have to do the same to get to assembly.
For the floor(s) that have printing equipment on, try to position them as far from other workplaces as possible and use walls, doors and wallpapers to minimise the noise.
Getting the News
Now that you have a well laid out tower and the repair workers have stopped complaining about the printer noise, you can start to report on the news.
The first step is to find news using a telegraphing station. I recommend 2-3 when starting, but it’s a good idea to increase that number later, as they can be a bottleneck later on. When you have quests from districts or factions for certain stories, try and prioritise those types of news, like sports or politics. On the other hand, don’t be afraid to close communications that either aren’t needed or won’t provide much of a story, as this clears the station for more useful stories.
After that it’s time for the reporters to get out and report on the news. As this is one of the most important jobs in your tower, it’s best to keep the reporters as happy as possible, to prevent the news being sloppily reported. Items are also very useful as they can drastically improve your reporters’ skills and reduce the time needed to report.
Any tips on the ratio of reporters to type setters/assemblers? For those that have made it very far in the game, how many reporters did you end up having and how were you able to make it so them and the typesetters were still close to the printer without being too many floors away?
I find that a good ratio is roughly 1:1 at the start when your reporters are less skilled and take longer to report, but later on 2:3 or even 1:2 reporters to typesetters should suffice.
For the printer I don’t think reporters need to be near the printer so I just keep them at the top floor to keep them out of the way, with typesetters on the bottom and the printer above them and assembly.
– If you have a surplus of articles and in a time-crunch, remove any low-value items that don’t contribute to the overall score of the paper BEFORE Saturday to ensure your most important articles can be completed on time.
– Security should be on the bottom-most floor on the far-sides of the building, this so they can immediately kick-out mafia and quickly remove protesters when necessary
– Manually place lawsuits on your lawyer(s)’ desk so they don’t have to fetch it themselves. Wasting time they should be spend on fighting the lawsuits
This is all I can think of right now, have fun!!!!
– Order paper before you launch current week’s paper, this’ll make the delivery arrive at the start of your week. Now you don’t have to worry about running out of paper throughout and can just focus on reporting and compiling your next publication.
– You can keep the printer room in the dark, add a top row of vents and a bunch of plants on top of the printer to help cool the room, this’ll save you on power. Only maintenance goes in it when it’s broken. (Add acoustic panels in between the modules and you can add acoustic wallpaper once you unlock it).
– Add a water fountain and gumball machine to every floor to minimise the steps employees have to take. This is especially useful for telegraphers, typesetters, assemblers, and reporters. Whom all tend to drink/eat right after their tasks. (2/?)
I just played and absolutely love this game and despite it desperately needing some QoL changes. I hope it continues to become even better.
Here are some more tips:
– ALWAYS pause time when your day starts -> Choose what your telegraphers focus on based on the requirements of your quests and/or districts -> Remove any old news and/or news found in the world -> Choose ads based on what tags you will run that week -> and lastly, when you prepped everything, fast forward whilst the telegraph map is open. Once a lead pops-up you can let go and the game will pause itself. Fast-forward again when you did everything you can do. Do this till you got all the articles you need at the end of the week and repeat!
– Don’t remove stairs when you want to add an elevator. Your employees will be queuing for DAYSSSS. I kept the elevator on the far-left of my building and only added it to floors that absolutely needed it. (1/?)
Great tips!
-The game pauses when you HAVE TO print. I’ve seen people lose out on some articles that would have benefited the print because they don’t use all the time available.
i found placing the bathroom close to the typesetters/assemblers helped since they become very busy and the telegraph/reporters have more downtime to make the walk.
– Always take a quest. It’s usually easy cash.
– Your staff level up the more they do something. This is important for reporters as the higher level they are, the quicker they’ll produce the report. At the beginning of the week, assign a reporter who is low level in a certain tag, they’ll take 1 day or more but you have the time for this and they can level up the skill. Towards mid/the end of the week or for more lucrative reports (silver/gold stamps or breaking news) then use reporters with higher skills so they report faster.
– Ads proposals come to you based off the tags you run on the previous week If you know what tags you’re intending to run the next week then run the same tag in the current week so you get ad interest for that tag next week.
– Adding to the micromanage tip below. Micromanage to avoid putting too much work on one staff member or they’ll lose concentration and produce sloppy work. They need time to take a break and refresh their needs.
– Make sure you spend your loyalty points on items from the map to help increase the stats of your staff
– The module for the 3rd page costs about 16 loyalty points but it’ll be a while before you’re ready to have a 3rd page so don’t worry about buying it too quickly
– Combo. Put at least 2 of the same tag on a page to get the combos and increase the money you make.
– Get the sales desk when you can so you can run ads (unlocks in the Ad Agency after completing Central Park). With 2 pages I always do 5 articles + 1 ad. Make sure the tag of the ad matches the tags you intend to print for a combo bonus.
– The security booth can help protect your office from mafia thugs if they come (they can be chucked out before they can get into the office to break your stuff)
– The resupply utility manager will often move the finished text slug from typesetting to assembly, so ensure that the resupply desk is not far away.
– Micromanage: aside from paper/food, you can also move reports and text slugs around. Do this to balance typesetters/assemblers or to move things along.
Other tips:
– Pause: Whenever something is happening, pause and deal with it. Will optimize the time used. When ever you hear the telegraph, just pause, and make your selections.
– When starting out and for the first couple of editions (before maintenance is introduced), place the printer behind walls without doors. This will keep in heat and noise. Manually stock up on paper in the printer by drag-and-drop. Replace with a door later.
– There is up to 6 stories to get in the first week. Only build one page printer module to begin with. If you by Sunday have managed to get all 6 stories ready, invest in the second page only then. Take a loan if needed for that week (interest is negligible at low amounts).
I have a problem- can’t place the next print page module (I’ve got 2 at the moment). I’ve got enough electricity etc, but it’s “locked”. Any hints?