Foreword
This guide is about making money.
If you want defense, I got an unstable one called Paper Tiger
HERE
Disclaimer:
Please don't come crying to me saying the guide is an error and you followed it to death.
I did mention i have already ruin many cities...
Intro
After looking at the game structure, I notice instead of going commercial, its better to specialize. (Spec)
Most people i meet try to be self sufficient, they made different cities producing different resources.
It might look good at first, but in the long run, they will lose out in technology.
What good is it when you are flying Cruisers while being attack by Dreadnoughts
Specialize?
What is specialize?
Basically, it means choosing one path,
Metal,
Wood or
Crystal, then devote all resources to it
You can also choose
Food and
Sand, but i will not touch on those...
Example: (
Wood path)
It takes 1+1+3= 5 points to get Lv3 in Lumbering, With Lv3 Lumbering, you can learn Craft
Another 1+1+3= 5 points to get Lv3 in Craft, With Lv3 Craft, you can make Plywood Frames
- Side effect of Craft is you make Wings/Frames cheaper. So you can even profit when selling to Empire.
Now, instead of spending another 10 points to make Missiles, then another 10 points to make Photon Sails,
You simply add those points into Crafting, Lv4 Craft cost 5 point, Lv5 Craft cost 12 points
Now, Frames/Wings become rather cheap to make... profit margin goes up
Why specialize?
The limiting factor to powerful growth is skill points. Since we do not get enough of it, we need to maximize the effect.
By specializing, you focus all your skill points into one area and thus benefit more from it.
The easiest way to see would be resource production. Given your starting base, you have 2 Lake, 2 Farm, 2 Mountain, 2 Woodland.
Which Natural Research should you add to increase productivity? You have 4 different fields, and no matter which one you add,
you will only attain 25% efficiency.
By specializing, you only deal with one type of resource. So whatever research you do, it gives more benefits.
Where to find other resources after I specialize?
One word: Market
What you need, just buy it... Just remember to do your part on supplying.
If you are in an alliance, you can get cheaper resources.
And selling in alliance market usually yield a few silver more then selling to Empire.
What do you need to specialize?
First, you need gold!!! Money is the source of all EBIL <--(No, its not a typo)
If you want to become Lord-High-Bad-Man, you need money
If you want to fight against Lord-High-Bad-Man, you need money.
You can only specialize when you have gold, it will bring you more gold,
But you need a something to start the chain.
How to specialize?
First, pick a path:
Metal,
Wood or
Crystal
Assuming:
1. You picked
Wood, now you need to work only on Wood.
2. Finish the tutorial, and you should have at least 3 cities
3. Have a good amount of gold with you.
- Terraform all your cities into Woodland, you want at least 6 Woodland per city (7 or 8 is better)
- Get Lumbering to Lv3 (5 skill points), It gives you more Wood per hour
- Build Carpenter's Workshop(s) in all cities,
- Once your "Craft" reach Lv2, you can start mass production
- Store Skill Points to level up your "Craft" even more to have even cheaper parts.
Ways to Maximize specializing 
1. Maximize Production ability
Every city can build 3 production facility... All you need to do is build 3 of the type you specialize in.
Example:
- You specialized in Wood
- Build 3 Carpenter's Workshop in every city.
- If you cannot produce enough wood to make all the Workshop run 24/7.
Buy them
Buying materials when it is cheap from the market would reduce profits slightly.
Reduced profits is still profit... As long as there are profits, why not capitalize on it?
Given:
- 1 Plywood Wing sells for 12G
- With Lv5 Craft, 1 Plywood Wing cost 23.22 wood
If you buy Wood at 405S, cost of making Plywood Wing = 23.22 * 405S = 9G 405S
You still make a profit... of around 2.5G per wing produced
If you buy Wood at 500S, cost of making Plywood Wing = 23.22 * 500S = 10G 610S
You still make a profit... but very little... nearly 400S per wing
So as long as you can get cheap resources from the market, just buy them and make them into parts to sell.
Personally, my cut-off would be 500S for metal/wood, 1G for crystals. Any higher, its not worth my time.
2. Heroes
The Hero Attributes we want need Light and Shadow.
Light Attribute - Increase production rate of raw materials. (more materials, more money)
Shadow Attribute - Increase number of parts made daily. (more parts, more money)
3. Defense
No point in making all the gold and have them stolen by someone else.
Refer to my Paper Tiger Guide Link above
Milestones 
First Milestone
You first target should be getting to Lv3 in Forge, Craft or Magic Transfer
When you reach Lv3 in the skill, you can start making Missiles, Frames and Sails
These kind of Parts are comparatively more wanted, so the price would be generally higher.
Second Milestone
You second milestone should be becoming self sufficient.
In the beginning, you should exploit your specializing by buying raw materials and making them into parts to sell.
However, there is a problem with this:
- When price of resources are very high, its not worth to buy them anymore.
- This means your factories will not work at full potential, thus losing potential profits.
As your second goal, you should start thinking of no longer buying raw materials.
Using Wood example again:
- Lv2 City, with 6 Woodlands (more is better)
- All Forestry Centers at Lv9
- Lumbering at Lv4, Craft at Lv5
- 3 Carpenter's Workshop at Lv1
With the above, you should produce almost enough materials to make your factories constantly working
Having an Archon in each city can increase profits without tilting the balance too much.
This would also be your aim. You should make several cities like that... I would suggest getting 4 or 5 of them
So focus your skill points into
Domination and
Ambition
Third Milestone
The Third Milestone would be to produce Lv2 Parts.
This is the time where specialized people will shine... explained as follows:
There is a great hurdle before able to produce Lv2 parts
- You need Lv8 of Forge, Craft or Magic Transfer, which cost around 90 skill points
- Specialize people only have to pay for it once, and produce Lv2 parts.
- Normal Commerce people will have to pay for it 3 times, so all their factories can benefit
This also means that less people will be producing these parts, so the market supply would be low.
Low supply + unknown demand = High Possibility for inflation
Lv2 Parts sell to empire for 20% more then Lv1 Parts
You can check it out yourself
- From market, try buying, and move the slider until you reach minimum
- From production window, compare the number of materials needed compared to Lv1 equipment.
Having a higher Empire sale value means overall price is Higher
It also means you can just dump all your production to the Empire and still earn more.
Its like selling every Light-Cannon / Plywood-Frames / Boost-Engines for 14G 400S instead of 12G.
Lv8 production skill is no Joke
Lastly, to make Lv2 parts, you need Lv8 production skills (Forging, Craft or Magic Transfer)
Having Lv8 production skill is no joking matter, it reduces material cost so much, its amusing.
From the stats below, one factory should earn you an extra
1843G 200S daily.
If you fulfill Milestone 2, you should have 5 cities... each with 3 factories... total 15 factories
Grand total of 27,648G daily...
Stats
Different Cost of producing Plywood Wings
Lv0 Craft, 1 Plywood Wing cost 30.00 wood
Craft calculation: Cost without skill * 0.95^(Skill Level)
At Lv3 Craft, 1 Plywood Wing cost 30 * 0.95 * 0.95 * 0.95 = 25.73 wood
At Lv8 Craft, 1 Plywood Wing cost 30 * (8 of these * 0.95) = 19.91 wood
Profit from selling Plywood Wings instead of Selling Wood
Assuming you have enough wood:
1 Carpenter's Workshop makes about 12 Plywood Wings/Hour => 288 Wings/Day
Selling 288 Wings to Empire yields = 288 X 12G = 3456G
(Calculations do not include production speed increment)
At Lv3 Craft
Total wood needed for 288 Wings => 288 * 26 (round up) => 7488 wood
Total Cost of wood in G = 7488 * 400S => 2995G 200S
Total Daily Profit = 3456G - 2995G 200S =
460G 800S
At Lv5 Craft
Total wood needed for 288 Wings => 288 * 24 (round up) => 6912 wood
Total Cost of wood in G = 6912 * 400S => 2764G 800S
Total Daily Profit = 3456G - 2764G 800S =
691G 200S
At Lv8 Craft
Total wood needed for 288 Wings => 288 * 20 (round up) => 5760 wood
Total Cost of wood in G = 5760 * 400S => 2304G
Total Daily Profit = 3456G - 2304G =
1152G
If you produce Lv2 Parts instead:
Total Daily Profit = (3456 * 1.2) = - 2304G =
1843G 200S
That's all at the moment
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Last edited by adelenachew at 6-25-2009 06:56 ]
