Economy planning & discussion

[Anubis]

Sexy Thread Tramp. I like the Movie Theatre and Loft semi guide. I only put in one loft and at the time saved the cash to upgrade straight to level 2 while it was building for obvious reasons. I think I might add a Movie Theatre in as it wont cost much to build and upgrade as i'm saving for an Upscale Club atm but keep getting slowed down a little due to other upgrades.

One building I liked recently is the Barbershop. Leveling it up is cheap, and level 7 nets you pretty much the same income as a level one Flower shop and they cost a whopping 500K.

The Dominican resturant is a must for everyone imo. Fairly cheap to upgrade (look good), fairly fast to make and upgrade and a level 4 nets you a similar income to a level 1 Church. Going from level 3 to 4 for Type B buildings is a good boost right? (compared to the initial 2 upgrades).

Advice I can offer for ppl saving for more expensive buildings (upscale lubs, Condo's, Hotels, Night Clubs etc) is to upgrade the initial type A buildings (if you can bear them) Getting a Level 10 Ice Cream shop takes a long time but costs very very little. I don't mind squeezing in the low foot print Type A's, the Gas stations and Souverneir stores just dont work for me. Aesthetics does come into it to for some ppl like you mentioned Tramp.

[Duke.0]

If i was to buy something with 240 gold from the sale, what should i get?

Here is my current idea:
1 x church 200
2 x smoke shops 30
1 x ice cream shop 8

4 buildings for 238 gold

What ya think? (FYI i'm level 88)

EDIT: Oops! In the excitement of christams and my new itunes gift card i made a mistake....i posted this in this thread instead of a new thread.....sorry!

[Tramp Stamp]

Time period is 6 days this time as I'd like to get this back to Sunday nights. For the third week in a row Syntarias takes the crown by a hefty margin. For the third week in a row I rank fifth.

EDIT: It's interesting how Laundromats have scaled with my income. They have consistently comprised ~40% of my rated income. However, as I am out of upgrades to take, this figure will now sink precipitously. This is the first week where they have contributed less than 40% (39.49%).

Syntarias: $71,894, +71.74%
xclusiv: $118,129, +44.10%
joeycool: $80,273, +39.76%
ShotInTheDark: $85,861, +39.52%
Tramp Stamp: $21,728, +35.07%
stixx: $105,853, +29.02%
rocko: $60,643, +20.22% (five days)
Syn: $14,062, +18.70%
TLoord: $36,211, +14.20%
Jiggles: $36,889, +13.56%
Kaen: $23,519, +13.07%
AppleMacGuy: $183,022, +10.75%
Mickey: $73,146, +6.74%
Barbie Girl: $32,736, +5.83%
Amber: $96,395, +5.60%
duder: $49,701, +4.92%
Dorian: $56,049, +4.57%
qwikster: $58,479, +4.52%
popeye: $51,034, +2.16%

[Duke.0]

@Tramp Stamp
I'm taking your awesome advice and so far so good.
I am leveling my Tattoo shop again, and i just saved up 700k in 18 hours or so and am going to level up a movie theater again.

Just built a Church too and now i'm up to almost 20,000 / hour.
Thanks Tramp!

[xclusiv]

congrats to syn, hey syn could you add me i would like to give your a hood a visit.

[whocareswhatmynameis]

thanks tramp stamp for continually updating our income stats.

i've 2 LM at lvl 6. i could potentially boost my income significantly by upgrading both, but won't since LMs just inflate income without significant practical benefit (unrealistic from my game style to collect more than 5% of the time). i bet the significant boost in some players is related with christmas gold spending. i haven't spent any money on gold in the past week, and so my slow growth. another factor that has hampered my growth is the fact that i am diverting a portion of my income to defense buildings. i am constructing gatling guns (54K a piece, i have ~15 so far). it would be useful if Syn and players at the top of the list give their perspectives.

[duder]

I'm sure it's not surprising (and I swear this isn't just a reiteration of my thread), but I have a couple of thoughts on the economics conversation.

1) For the purpose of conversation, I was wondering if folks would be amenable to inverting the ROI equation to increase / cost (rather than cost / increase which tells you how long until you break even). I think long term it's easier to talk about economic choices in terms of dollars gained for dollars invested.

2) I know the forum is basically polarized on the LM question - I still think it comes down to how often you poke your hood. I'm not saying LMs aren't useful, I'm just not certain that the $10k cost, 60 hour upgrade duration, $100/collection level 9 => 10 LM upgrade is going to increase folks actual collections better than upgrading two pizza parlors to level 6 & two gas stations to level 3. I think that balance & trade off is different for every player based on how often you check your economy. It's just that 60 hours is a very long time to wait for an upgrade early on in your economic development. That being said, I do think level 5 LMs early on (in your first week) works out pretty well, and I would probably buy into getting to level 6 LM early on is a good value.

3) I know I've expressed this before, but I maintain that $/hr is not terribly useful to pursue. I think what you really want to look at is ($/hr) / upgrade duration. This is a return on upgrade time equation (how many dollars increase do you get per amount of time invested). I think the reason the MT and the Loft are so good is because their ROT (that's right... ROT) is so strong. Here is the list of upgrades for non-gold buildings which are available before level 40 with a better return on time than a level 1=>2 loft upgrade with perfect collections:

Deli to level 2
Gas station to level 2, 3
Italian Restaurant to level 2
Laudromat to level 2, 3, 4
All Loft upgrades
MT to level 2, 3, 4, 5
All Nightclub upgrades
Pawn Shop to level 2, 3
Pizza Parlor to level 2, 3
Souvenir Store to level 2
Wholesale Warehouse from level 2 to level 3

Every other upgrade takes longer with respect to increase $/hr before level 40.

P.S. boo on last week, I just started a level 5 loft upgrade that won't finish until Thursday! I spent the past week saving the ~6m to start it.

[Syn]

For the third week in a row Syntarias takes the crown by a hefty margin.

Syntarias: $71,894, +71.74%
Syn: $14,062, +18.70%

Now I was expecting to be near the top this time, due to the Rock Cafe's. But the leader again? I'm happy to see that Need to pay more attention to my camper account though

congrats to syn, hey syn could you add me i would like to give your a hood a visit.

We already are neighbors! Take a look

it would be useful if Syn and players at the top of the list give their perspectives.

Now, I won't lie, gold buildings helped tremendously this last week. The Rock Cafe's gave me a whopping 20k boost in income per hour.

But I would like to add that something is always being upgraded in my hood. Whether it be a big ticket building or a lowly +$55 an hour building. I try my hardest to keep everything equal in level. It really does add up in the end.

The real credit goes to everyone that participates in these discussions. I would be lost without all the helpful advice I get daily from everyone!

[Joe Brown1]

Great guide! I have pursued a strategy with some of both TrampStamp's and Syn's suggestions. I have pumped all of my free cash into my economy for the most part (except what was needed for goals) and also aggressively pursued farming a PVP for A/D. I am currently at an attack ratio of 39:1 and am expanding my mafia as quickly as possible but farming/PVP is keeping my ratio high. Oddly, my Econ planning has hit a snag as all of bldg upgrade times are now at 24hrs + for the most part and new buildings still require a bit of saving so my Econ expansion has slightly slowed.

Aka Joe Brown (my facebook login has quit working and Funzio hasn't fixed it so I had to create a new login)
CC Kaen 909 898 510 lvl63; 148 mafia; A5656/D7298; $21,884/HR

[Tramp Stamp]

For the purpose of conversation, I was wondering if folks would be amenable to inverting the ROI equation to increase / cost (rather than cost / increase which tells you how long until you break even). I think long term it's easier to talk about economic choices in terms of dollars gained for dollars invested.

You're looking for a single number that says everything but I don't think you'll find it. The problem is you're trying to combine fixed, short term cost with, practically, infinite gain over time. The only way out is to set some time parameters, but the master sheets are not the place for this.

I'm just not certain that the $10k cost, 60 hour upgrade duration, $100/collection level 9 => 10 LM upgrade is going to increase folks actual collections better than upgrading two pizza parlors to level 6 & two gas stations to level 3. I think that balance & trade off is different for every player based on how often you check your economy. It's just that 60 hours is a very long time to wait for an upgrade early on in your economic development. That being said, I do think level 5 LMs early on (in your first week) works out pretty well, and I would probably buy into getting to level 6 LM early on is a good value.

Upgrading the Laundromats to level 10 is the roughest part of the process, but they're intended to meaningfully boost economy over 2-4 weeks. Over that time they should be far more productive than upgrades to Gas Stations and Pizza Parlors. By the way, with the outlined plan, those building levels should be at least what you say. It will still take days to max out to the Italian Restaurant.

I know I've expressed this before, but I maintain that $/hr is not terribly useful to pursue. I think what you really want to look at is ($/hr) / upgrade duration.

What's being pursued is not $/hr but a combination of $/hr and ROI. ROI is a stronger figure than build time because it factors lost income and sticker price. Keep in mind that unlike virtually anyone else, you have no Type B buildings to consider, so you're really arguing over Type A vs. Type A, though I basically am, too, at this point. There are a slew of Type B buildings that have short upgrade times and high sticker prices but would look otherwise appealing if you just looked at $/hr gain divided by upgrade time. In the context of Type A vs Type A your approach will work.

[Duke.0]

Now I was expecting to be near the top this time, due to the Rock Cafe's. But the leader again? I'm happy to see that Need to pay more attention to my camper account though

Oh i know what you mean about gold buildings.
I added a Church and 2 x Smoke Shops last night and it increased my income 3,000 dollars / hour. (from 17,000 to 20,000)

Also do people realize that a level 10 basketball court, while it takes up 10 x 10, has as slightly more income in 12 hours then a level 1 loft? At tycoon, my level 10 basketball courts give me $12,376 in 12 hours. I know its size is huge, but its only slightly bigger then the loft (8x8) and its really cheap to upgrade. It fits really well in the left side 10 x 10 areas of the hood.

[Max Power]

Oh i know what you mean about gold buildings.
I added a Church and 2 x Smoke Shops last night and it increased my income 3,000 dollars / hour. (from 17,000 to 20,000)

Also do people realize that a level 10 basketball court, while it takes up 10 x 10, has as slightly more income in 12 hours then a level 1 loft? At tycoon, my level 10 basketball courts give me $12,376 in 12 hours. I know its size is huge, but its only slightly bigger then the loft (8x8) and its really cheap to upgrade. It fits really well in the left side 10 x 10 areas of the hood.

That's great, but the idea with Lofts is to not leave them at level 1. Level 3 lofts collect $72,600 in Tycoon.

[Duke.0]

Wow that's very good for level 3 lofts! I'll work on leveling mine more soon!

[Joeycool]

Still a great thread. Thanks for keeping track for us all Tramp.

Great work on your hood Syn. You are the main man for economy growth!!

I am going to have a poor week next week I think. My next hood upgrade is $5M. And I'm also chasing the upgrade the sports bar to level 10 goal. Which is a stupid, expensive goal that offers no real rewards as far as I know. The upgrade times are astronomical for little reward as far as I can tell!

[Rarelibra]

Time period is 6 days this time as I'd like to get this back to Sunday nights. For the third week in a row Syntarias takes the crown by a hefty margin. For the third week in a row I rank fifth.

EDIT: It's interesting how Laundromats have scaled with my income. They have consistently comprised ~40% of my rated income. However, as I am out of upgrades to take, this figure will now sink precipitously. This is the first week where they have contributed less than 40% (39.49%).

Syntarias: $71,894, +71.74%
xclusiv: $118,129, +44.10%
joeycool: $80,273, +39.76%
ShotInTheDark: $85,861, +39.52%
Tramp Stamp: $21,728, +35.07%
stixx: $105,853, +29.02%
rocko: $60,643, +20.22% (five days)
Syn: $14,062, +18.70%
TLoord: $36,211, +14.20%
Jiggles: $36,889, +13.56%
Kaen: $23,519, +13.07%
AppleMacGuy: $183,022, +10.75%
Mickey: $73,146, +6.74%
Barbie Girl: $32,736, +5.83%
Amber: $96,395, +5.60%
duder: $49,701, +4.92%
Dorian: $56,049, +4.57%
qwikster: $58,479, +4.52%
popeye: $51,034, +2.16%

Whoa... didn't know you were tracking us. LOL. Uhhh, my numbers are going to be wayyyy off this week. Waiting time for upgrading warehouses and building lofts is the pits.