Starting a newspaper empire in News Tower can feel overwhelming, especially if you skip the tutorial and jump straight into the simulation. This News Tower Beginner Guide is designed to give you a smooth, reliable early-game path without forcing you through the introduction. Instead of long explanations or complicated min-max strategies, you’ll get a simple, practical structure to follow through your first 12 weeks.
You’ll learn how to set up your tower, manage your staff, prioritize the right stories, and unlock the city buildings that matter most. The goal is to help you stabilize your money, grow your influence, and avoid the early pitfalls that slow new players down—all while keeping things easy to understand and enjoyable to play.
If you want to build a strong foundation, unlock key upgrades quickly, and keep your newsroom running efficiently from day one, this guide will walk you through the entire process step by step.
1. Big Picture: What You’re Aiming For
In the first 10–12 weeks you want to:
- Get a basic, working tower layout.
- Keep your staff fed and your machines running.
- Complete district quests to earn Influence.
- Use that Influence to unlock key buildings and modules:
- Mafia (for bonus Influence).
- Police Station (Security Booth).
- Industry City Harbour (Page Module 3).
- Radio Tower, Courthouse, Coney Island, etc.
If you follow this plan, you’ll unlock everything you need to grow without hitting a wall.
2. Beginner Tips
These are habits that make the game much easier:
Pause often.
Hit the spacebar whenever:
-
- A new event pops up.
- You arrive back at your tower.
- You unlock a district or get a new quest.
Pausing gives you time to decorate, assign stories, or buy items without losing hours of the day.
Influence > Money (early on).
Money is important, but Influence unlocks:
-
- New buildings on the map.
- New desks and modules for your tower.
In the early game, always prioritize quests and choices that give Influence.
Get the Security Booth early.
The Security Booth helps deal with:
-
- Mobsters.
- Protesters.
Both can slow your progress by days. As soon as you unlock it, buy at least two.
Work on Page Modules early.
More pages = more ad space + more stories per edition.
Aim for:
-
- Page 3 module as a priority.
- Page 4 module once you’re comfortable and have Influence.
Buy paper and food at the start of each week.
Do it early so you do not run out:
-
- Max paper at the beginning (usually $600 early on).
- Enough food to last the week.
Don’t panic about loans.
Taking two $1,000 loans early:
-
- Gives you room to build floors and desks.
- Only costs $40 per week in fees per loan, which is manageable.
Sections marked “work in progress” in original guides are normal.
The game evolves and so do strategies. This guide focuses on what consistently works.
3. Starting Setup
Here’s a simple tower layout that works well without the tutorial.
Step 1: Buy Floors and Loans
- Buy the first 2 floors.
- Take two $1,000 loans:
- Click the money display in the top right.
- Don’t worry too much. This is affordable early on.
You’ll add more floors later, but this is enough to start.
Step 2: Floor 1 – Core Production
Place:
- 1x Storage Container
- 1x Water Cooler
- 1x Typesetter Desk
- 1x Assembler Desk
- 1x Toilet
This floor handles basic needs and the final steps of story production.
Step 3: Floor 2 – Reporters and Telegraphers
Place:
- 2x Telegraphing Stations
- 3x Reporting Desks
- 1x Washing Station
- 1x Workbench
This floor is where you:
- Discover stories (Telegraphers).
- Assign reporters.
- Do some utility work (cleaning, repairs).
Step 4: Floor 3 – Printing Floor
Place:
- 1x Sweeping Station
- 1x Printer Input Module
- 2x Printer Page Modules
- 1x Printer Output Module
Important detail:
- Do not get Page Module 2 until you regularly see at least 3 extra stories stacked up.
- Leave some space between Printer Modules:
- Makes it easier to control comfort.
- You will likely dedicate more floors to printers as you expand.
Step 5: Supplies and Comfort
Now:
- Order maximum paper you can (around $600).
- Fill the Toilet and Telegraphers with ~50 each.
- Put the rest in the Printer Input Module.
- Order minimum food and:
- Fill the Water Cooler.
- Store overflow in the Storage Rack.
Then:
- Add lights and trash bins.
- Press
3to enter comfort view and decorate to keep stress low.
For the first few weeks, you can manually resupply machines.
You don’t need a dedicated resupply worker yet.
4. How Stories and Quests Work (Core Mechanics)
You’ll spend a lot of time on the globe/map screen, assigning stories. Here’s how to handle that smoothly.
Story Flow
Each story goes through:
- Reporter
- Typesetter
- Assembler
If any of these runs too late and the story finishes after Sunday:
- It becomes “old news.”
- You can still print it, but:
- It pays less.
- Readers may penalize you.
Early game, it can take up to 3 days to fully process a story. So you need to be careful when you accept new ones late in the week.
Icons and Combos
Each story has icons representing its type (crime, politics, tragic, etc.):
- The more icons a story has, the more money it can generate.
- Matching up to 3 icons of the same type (a combo) gives bonus income.
- District quests ask for specific icon types; you should focus on those.
Telegraph Priority
On the Globe screen:
- Above the globe are six small icons.
- These control which story types your telegraphers prioritize.
When:
- The light under an icon is red → not prioritized.
- The light is green → prioritized.
Strategy:
- Check your current quests.
- Turn on priority for the icon types your quests ask for.
- This increases the odds of getting useful stories.
Timing Tips
Early in the game:
- Avoid assigning new stories to reporters from Thursday to Sunday:
- They might not finish in time.
- Later, when your staff levels up and gets faster, you can safely assign stories later in the week.
5. Week-by-Week Roadmap (Weeks 1–12)
You don’t have to follow this exactly, but it’s a strong beginner path.
Week 1 – Just Start Working
Goal: Learn the flow and complete what the game gives you.
- Stay in your starter district.
- Do whatever missions appear.
- Get used to:
- Pausing.
- Assigning stories.
- Watching story timers.
Week 2 – Williamsburg
Goal: Unlock Mafia.
- Go to Williamsburg.
- Complete the district quests.
- This unlocks the Mafia once done.
- Expect a small Influence boost from completion.
Week 3 – Long Island City (Start + Mafia Quest 1)
Goal: Begin Long Island City and the first Mafia quest.
- Travel to Long Island City.
- Accept the first Mafia quest (The Shrouded Prelude).
- Prioritize story icons needed for:
- The district quests.
- The Mafia quest.
Important:
- Mafia, Mayor, High Society style quests:
- Usually can be done only once (success or fail).
- Focus on them when they appear because they give good Influence.
- Don’t print stories that break Mafia conditions (e.g., politics when they say not to), even if they show in main quests. It’s often better to delay or drop certain stories.
If you cannot finish all Long Island City quests this week, that’s fine. You often need multiple weeks per district.
Week 4 – Long Island City (Second Attempt)
Goal: Clean up remaining quests.
- Stay in Long Island City again.
- Chase remaining district quests you missed.
- Do not worry about decorating or spending much money this week besides:
- Paper.
- Food.
If you still miss one quest by a day, it happens. You may need a third attempt.
Week 5 – Long Island City (Third Attempt + Resupply Desk)
Goal: Finish Long Island City and unlock resupply.
- Third run in Long Island City should finally complete all tasks.
- You’ll unlock the resupply desk and worker:
- This automates loading machines so you don’t need to do it all by hand.
At this point, Long Island City should be fully complete.
Week 6 – Central Park
Goal: Unlock key city buildings.
- Go to Central Park.
- Complete quests to unlock:
- Empire State Building / Mayor
- Ad Agency
- University
These unlock more missions and future upgrades.
Week 7 – East New York (Mafia Quest 2 + Police Station)
Goal: Start Mafia quest 2 and unlock Police Station.
- Travel to East New York.
- Do Mafia mission 2 (Classified).
- Completing it unlocks the Police Station.
As soon as Police Station is unlocked:
- Obtain Security Booth access.
- Buy two Security Booths for your tower.
- These counter mobsters and protesters.
Week 8 – Flatbush (Mafia Quest 3 + Page Module 3)
Goal: Unlock Page 3 module.
- Go to Flatbush.
- Complete Mafia mission 3 (Time to start playing ball – Sports).
- This unlocks Industry City Harbour, which gives access to Page Module 3.
Also:
- Buy 2x Security Booths if you haven’t already.
- Focus on completing all district quests on time.
- You should now have enough Influence for Page 3 Module.
Week 9 – Tomkinsville (Radio Tower + Page 3)
Goal: Install Page 3 and unlock Radio Tower.
- Go to Tomkinsville.
- Immediately pause and:
- Purchase and place the Page 3 Module.
- Buy paper as usual (around $600).
- Complete quests to unlock the Radio Tower:
- Gives access to more telegraphers later.
With Page 3 installed, you can print more stories and earn more money weekly.
Week 10 – Astoria (First Run)
Goal: Begin Astoria and push for more buffs.
- Travel to Astoria.
- Pause as soon as you return to your tower.
- Set telegraphers to prioritize quest story types.
- Nice tip:
- After finishing district quests and needing a Mayor or Mafia character to print, try prioritizing all story types temporarily.
- This can increase the chance of their story appearing.
This week, you might:
- Buy more paper.
- Skip food if your stock is still high.
- Unlock and place buffs such as:
- Big globe for telegraphers.
- Purchase a 4th floor and move printers up if you want more space.
You might not finish Astoria in one try. That’s normal.
Week 11 – Astoria (Second Run)
Goal: Finish Astoria and unlock Courthouse.
- Stay in Astoria again.
- Set story priorities to finish remaining quests.
- You can add:
- Extra Typesetter desks.
- Extra Assembler desks.
- Another reporter desk.
- More decor and reorganizing as needed.
Completing Astoria unlocks the Courthouse, which gives access to the Lawyer Desk.
Week 12 – Gravesend (Coney Island)
Goal: Unlock buffs for utility workers.
- Go to Gravesend.
- This unlocks Coney Island, which buffs your utility workers.
- Pause at the start:
- Buy paper.
- Buy Lawyer desk and place it.
- Decorate if you like.
- You can also:
- Start repaying your loans as your money stabilizes.
By the end of Gravesend:
Coney Island is unlocked.
You should have enough Influence to get first-level upgrades for all your utility workers.
Go ahead and activate them; they’re very helpful.