Is there a good recommended progression path for the game if I want to attempt without cheats (female protagonist)? It seems to me there are so many different options for you that it can be very easy to sink into a "too much overhead not enough profit" trap.
I wrote a very long reply before I noticed your using a female character. I'm including that below since most of it is applicable once you get a studio running with around 15 girls.
I just tried playing as female and wow, you are really caught in a catch-22 with the popularity penalty. Only thing I can see to do is put up with the popularity penalty until you can get a studio running with some boys hired. I suggest concentrating on getting as many scenes published as you can early, even with the popularity penalty. You need fans to hire more girls and the only way to get more fans is to publish more scenes. Except for the popularity penalty early, I think what I wrote will still apply to female character since I stop shooting scenes with my male character once I get a studio running.
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One method I use ( and I'm experimenting with different variants) is to hire only girls with Big Tits/Small Tits AND Teen/Milf (e.g. small tits milf, they have to have one of each). This sets you up to easily support 5 websites (Big Tits, Small tits, Milf, Teen and the most common racial [usually White]) when you get enough girls, and websites are where the real money is at.
A strong component of your income (including how many girls you can hire) is the number of fans you have, which is driven by the number of scenes you upload to the net. So early on, I concentrate on getting scenes uploaded, even to the point of firing girls and hiring new ones so I'm not waiting on their popularity penalty cooldown (this only needs to be done early on when the number of girls you have is less than 15 or so).
I usually make my big purchases on Tuesday, so I have the rest of the week to make money so I have enough to pay the bills Monday night. If in doubt, I wait a week.
I try to get a studio running fairly early so I'm freed up to level my attributes, but don't worry about fully upgrading it for a while. At the start just a director and level 2 or 3 equipment is fine. I suggest getting the level 10 director to start out, since you should be able to pay the 1500 salary (may be able to get a level 10 director a bit cheaper, but I know I an get one with 1500).
I find the biggest decision early on is whether to keep shooting scenes myself if I have the girls available in addition to the studio or to go level up my attributes. I haven't found a clear cut answer, but in order to hire the best girls, you do have to get your attributes leveled up, and I usually switch over to that once I have a studio running. If your playing as a female, I'd go for the attributes because of the popularity penalty.
I like to put the girls skill points into Crowd Favorite, again, fans control income and how many girls you can hire.
I always hire level 10 PA's for about 2100 salary, since lower level ones spend their time texting on their phones and make stuff up to cover for not doing their job.
I start my first website when I can comfortably publish a scene a day from my studio and I save up the 3 scenes I need for the website by shooting those myself (If you play as a female, you may not be able to shoot these scenes yourself). Depending on the quality of the girls I have (a bit more on this later), I can set the starting subscription rate at at least 11 dollars a week and I start with an advertising budget of 1000 a day. I know the 1000 a day seems like a lot at this point, but you will easily make it back and I keep raising it by about 10% a day (i.e. 1100 the 2nd day, 1200 the third day, etc) everyday after till it reaches the limit of 5000 a day.
By now it gets into a hiring grind (I don't use the personnel agency, I hire at the bar) and investing in the sports car when you can lets you screen girls every 15 minutes, a huge help if your being picky about who you hire. Also, now is when I will fully upgrade my studio and staff it with level 10 personnel. I open up a 2nd studio when I have the girls and the money to support it, and open my 2nd website. At this point it is rinse and repeat.
I'm experimenting with different hiring strategies from 'Hiring only the best girls I can afford' to 'Average or better' to 'Only the cheapest'
I just finished the game with 'Lowbid Lou', who only hired girls costing 150 or less for a scene and only hired level 1 people for the studio, his reasoning is to keep recurring costs to a minimum. The one exemption to this rule was to hire level 10 PA's, since again, the lower level ones are not to be trusted since they make shit up.
He ended at day 141, with 559,794 fans and 100 girls , the most expensive one costing 427 per scene and the cheapest 71 per scene and the most a scene made was $6461. He had 5 active studios and 5 websites. I upload a new scene to a website when it's happiness gets below 70-60%, usually works out to be a new one every 6 days. The websites were making $272,030 to $163,834 per week for a total of
$1,099,798 PER WEEK. This is why I say the real money is in the websites.
I end playing a character when he has gotten everything at the store (including the boat), has 9 fully upgraded and staffed (level 10) studios, and completely upgraded everything he can. i.e. there nothing left to spend money on.
Like I said I'm trying other strategies to see which will get to the end quicker, but I know that you can hire the least attractive, least talented and most out of shape girls and make over a million a week in less than 150 days.
I hope at least some of this helped. The best advice I an think of is: wait a week if your unsure if you can afford any type of upgrade or major purchase and concentrate on getting fans early.
Good luck!
