So, you’ve picked up the game but might be having some issues or would like to know how to fast track things a little and looking for some Gas Station Simulator tips already? Here’s a collection of my advice for the game, having spent a fair amount of time on-site and maxed out all the buildings.
The first question you might ask is how to make money in Gas Station Simulator? That’s pretty obvious, but the fastest way is to get a loan, and the biggest earner is repairing cars in the workshop. That said, if you have a lot of variety of stock on your shop floor, there’s potential for that to be a faster way to make money. Though make sure you’re the one on the register. Not that kind of register.
Gas Station Simulator Tips
Press The Big Red Button
The most important Gas Station Simulator tip I can give is pushing the big red button next to the open/close switch at the station’s front. I can’t recall if this was pointed out in the tutorial, but Drago Entertainment has since released an update and mentioned the button once more.
What does it do?
Customers aren’t always right, and for some bizarre reason, they’ll randomly flip their cars over, forcing a neverending tailback and subsequent saved games. But before going back to an earlier state, head to the very front sign for the Dust Bowl, and there’s a big red flashing button with a UFO above. PRESS IT!
Delivery truck stuck? PRESS IT!
There’s no consequence other than a UFO removing all cars and people on-site (including your employees who don’t understand the concept of opening a door. You won’t be marked down on popularity or lose any money, but it’ll give a bit of breathing space to get everyone set up again.
Forget About Dennis
Dennis the pennis is a pain in the arse, but his spraypaint antics aren’t as bad as in Gas Station Simulator Prologue. Sure, it’s ugly having a massive cock painted on the side of your establishment, but it doesn’t affect the customer’s viewpoint. Other than the cosmetic element, his graffitiing the walls can be ignored.
However… make sure to close your warehouse after each delivery as he WILL steal your stock. Even in the late game, he never takes a considerable amount, but it’s frequent. As soon as the delivery driver hops in, wait until the counter shows about 20 as they move away, then shut the door.
You can also ‘switch him off’ in the options (the graffiti part, not the stealing from the warehouse).
Completing Objectives
To level up the station, you need to complete tasks such as filling up tanks, serving on the register, fixing cars in the workshop and getting tips. All of these tasks can be automated by employees, but I’d recommend you start with the tills.
This is the fastest way to get the tips, and you’re more likely to get them than your staff. Once completed, focus on fuelling (fastest objective to complete), then the repair work. In the last challenge, you need to serve 250 customers on the register, and this goes much faster if you have staff doing it while you focus elsewhere.
Upgrade Your Features
Decorations look like for your station, but they aren’t as essential as the feature upgrades. Installing new parking spaces increases the flow of customers, and toilets will fast track popularity as the more customers, the more there is a need for facilities.
The Gas Station Simulator bus stop upgrade is a requirement, but its only function is to bring in an influx of partygoers now and then that boosts your earnings but wreck your joint.
Party People
This is only a tiny tip, but when you hear the beats of the party bus arriving, make sure to fill your shelves with everything you’ve got. These party customers will buy more than anyone else, so an excellent way to earn some dosh.
It’s not so important to serve them yourself, so I recommend keeping an employee on the till and you manually cleaning while they’re in the queue – sweeping and picking up the trash as they continually make a mess while on your premises, which will lower the popularity.
Watch Your Stock
Variety is the spice of life, as it is in retail too. Making sure to buy the relevant helves so you can stock a wide range of goods. It’s not about selling lots of the same product, but the more choice, the more customers will spend.
Start small and purchase all available shelves based on your level, and try to buy one of everything (as long as it’s a green price as they’re cheaper than the red). Keep it frequently stocked, then expand to the larger shelves.
Also, keep an eye on the thought bubbles that appear above a customer’s head as it will show the product they’re after, and there’s usually a pattern as it’s what the other customers want too.
Which To Upgrade First: Workshop or Warehouse?
This is entirely up to you, but they both have their benefits.
The workshop consistently provides the best source of income, pending you buy in goods cheap; you can make a good profit. With the warehouse, this will dictate how much stock you can store, hence the variety.
Both structures can be upgraded up to level 5, as long as you have the money to do so and your station is beefed up. It’s possible to keep the workshop the same for a bit and repair the scratches, wheels and mirrors for a tidy profit, but the final stage allows for two cars to be fixed simultaneously, thus increasing your income.
Fix My Ride
Always try to stock up on car parts when at a profit. It might be worth taking out a loan and buying a dozen tyres as these are the most required parts and give a good return.
Suppose you see a notification that a customer is at the garage, head there straight away and activate the button that raises the ramps. This locks them in, so to speak so that if you don’t have the parts, you can order from the computer, get them delivered, complete the work without them leaving.
If you don’t put them on the ramp, they’ll get impatient and leave, and based on the income; it’s not worth losing them. You do have a large window to service them, however.
Loan Sharking
This is clearly an exploit that can’t last long, but if you’re struggling, take out a loan at every opportunity. In return, you’ll get $1000 immediately and about 20 minutes to pay it back. Only… you don’t need to pay it back. Towards the end, you only need to pay back $5000 (not accumulated – you need a full $5k to pay back in one go, but there’s no time limit).
When your time is up, the biker grunt will show up, drop your popularity by 100, take some beer and spray paint up to three times inside the building. As with Dennis, this doesn’t affect popularity, so it’s worth getting in debt for once.
Keep An Eye On Fuel
In my opinion, the fuelling sections are the easiest to do, and I’d recommend boosting with the left shift key each time you fill up. The only time you’ll lose your accuracy is when you’re out of fuel.
Fuel can be obtained from the computer, but note your capacity and the cost, as you can only buy in specified units. If you get the notification that fuel is low, order asap. If you have someone working on the pumps and the fuel runs out, they’ll return to their trailer.
Hire As Much As You Can
I settled with five employees in the end, and despite giving them the same allocated role to raise their stats, they don’t get that much better. Ideally, you need to have people stationed on the register, fuel and at least two cleaning.
The recent update reduced the number of footprints left by customers and upped the efficiency of employees cleaning, but I haven’t noticed the difference. Two staff cleaning keeps your popularity improving, as this is where customers are most impatient.
Gas Station Simulator Employees
There are far too many occasions where my staff would get stuck in the warehouse (why they go in there, I don’t know), and as a result, they’d get stuck behind the door and walk on the spot. This could usually be rectified by opening the door from both sides, but you may need to press that big red button…
When on the fuel and register, they’re very reliable, but cleaning is dreadful. They’ll pick up track individually, but I never once saw them empty the bins, and once they’re full and letting out green fumes, your popularity will drop. Once again, two staff cleaning is a good incentive. I never once put anyone on garage duty as I did it myself.
They’re supposed to work around 8 hours and then will return to their trailers. They aren’t automated in shifts, so once they leave their duty, they’ll sit by their trailers until you request them. However, they don’t cost a penny when not working.
Rather than go to their trailers to speak to them and assign roles, you can do everything from the computer. By default, pay them before giving them work – you can pay a premium to improve their performance, but it’s not worth it.
Ideally, you’ll want to put them in the same role to level up their stats, but it might be worth making them all-rounders should another run out of juice and head home. An additional incentive is that you’ll unlock an achievement if you max out all their stats to 10. If that’s your thing.
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!
Rudy is a necessary evil, but fortunately, only a handful of times. You’ll need ‘her’ to clear the dunes on the parking lots before upgrading, but the real use is after sandstorms.
While you can still operate in a sandstorm, it’s best to wait it out then clean up afterwards. New dunes will form, and cars can get stuck. Though you have that big red button, driving Rudy to the spot, you can remove the sand so that the customer can drive off. Just remember to fill up on the gas, and cool her off each time.
Gas Station Simulator Lockpicking
At the start of the game, you’ll be tasked with opening a trunk, but hours later, there’s still no need for it.
Later in the game, The Uncle will set you a goal for lock picking 10 cars in a short (ish) space of time. There are three levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Master, but they really aren’t all that difficult to ace, and you get two lockpicks per attempt (non-refillable).
I’d highly recommend using the keyboard and opt for one direction or another, and each time the lock appears to move more, tap one direction and eventually, you’ll unlock it. With the mouse, it’s less accurate, and the more time there’s resistance, the picks will snap.
Should you fail, a car alarm will go off, but there are no consequences. You can even pick police cars and those waiting to refuel. The side objective has no real benefit, but each successful pick will give a bit of money, but occasionally decorations you can place in your station, such as a full-sized stuffed bear. Who keeps that in their trunk?
Out Of Gas
That’s about it – well, all I can think of. I hope that these tips are helpful for you – perhaps save a bit of time in fart-arsing about. If anything, the biggest Gas Station Simulator tip is that red button. Once I found it, the experience was so much better, and ironically, once I knew there was a reset button, I’ve not needed it since!
