Develop an industry and it grows far bigger than before. Quality has become refinement - a slow climb toward a premium worth many times the ordinary price. And a trusted name now takes real years to build.
Develop a forest, a mine or an oil well to the top and it now produces about fifteen times its starting output - far more than it could before. An undeveloped industry opens exactly as it did. This rewards the industries you build up, not the ground you start on.
Development also takes longer to earn now, so a giant industry is the payoff for years of steady service rather than a quick climb. The two go together: a bigger prize at the top, a longer road to reach it.
Every industry good still carries a quality from zero to a hundred. As it climbs it lifts what the cargo sells for, up to about 25 times the base at the top - and that lift is counted before the market bonus, so it compounds.
The dial on Your Holdings, one to 5, is now the CHANCE its quality ticks up each month. It is not a ceiling. Every setting heads for a hundred; the higher ones reach it sooner. A low setting still climbs, just slowly.
Output eases down as quality rises. It follows the quality reached, not the dial. Turn the dial up and a run keeps its volume until its quality actually rises. A mass line ships everything at ordinary prices; a fully refined line ships about 18 per cent of that, at many times the price.
A brand's awareness no longer runs to full on its own. The first quarter climbs as before. Each quarter after costs more than the last - twice, then four times, then eight - so a name known everywhere needs stacked brand research and talents behind it, not just time.
The seeded companies play this too. One that cannot compete on a cargo will run its own name there for about two years, then give up and sell under the strongest brand instead. A Magnate never hands its name over.
On the Headquarters brand page the Compare tab now filters to the cargoes you choose. The Rivals tab shows the reputation behind each leader. You can set a minimum refinement for one product or for all of them - on the page, or in chat with !quality (now also !refinement), which raises every industry carrying your name to at least that standard.