terren race

Where did you get 120 as the RM? There must be a base 100 before the 20% is added for the Terrans (or any other race for that matter). If your RM is 120 then 46.2 / 120 = .385. That doesn`t make any sense. If you meant to say 46.2 / 1.2 = 38.5 that doesn`t make any sense either. In fact dividing there at all doesn`t make any sense. Worse 250% makes no sense either as the Planet Bonus in the equation as you have put it down. Your numbers make no sense at all. I`m sure you got your numbers from somewhere. I have no problem with the rm being 120 or the PB being 250 instead of a percent but dividing 46.2 at the end of the equation makes no sense at all. Redo repost and lets start all over.

Nope scratch that 46.2/ rm would NOT yield an undefined number. it`s still a weird sum. 46.2 / 20% equals 9.24. Is that the sum you meant to say Vendeen?

Thx Vendeen, i was suspicious that the equations for food production were different from commercial output. At a glance however I`ve noticed that your sum for production on a U.fertile of 46.2 / RM would yield an undefined number for the Terrans. You were probably referring to the sum of (1+ [race modifer / 100]) for your RM. I`m sure your base equations are correct so it looks like the Ag Terrans potential for making money is far superior to that of the Commercial Terrans. I can still see a few draw backs to an Ag Terran vs a Commercial Terran but I am not sure that it would outweigh the money making potential of the Ag. Terran. I`ll review the numbers and provide additional commentary. More to follow.

The income for food is the following equation:
[(agriculture infrastructure) * [ 1 + (research lvl / 10) ] * (1 + [race modifier / 100])] * (1 + Planet Bonus/100)

Meaning lvl 100 food production with 1 infra on a fertile is:
[(1) * [ 1 + (100 / 10) ] * (1 + [ 120 / 100 ])] * (1 + 250 / 100) or
(1+10)*(1+.2)*(1+2.5) = (11)(1.2)(3.5) = 46.2 food/RM per turn

Commercial is computed as such:
(commerical infrastructure) x [ 5 + (research lvl/2)] x (1 + [race modifier / 100])

100 infra in commercial would yield:
(1)*(5+(100/2))*(1+0/100) = 5+50 = 55

Using your "cost" formula,
Comm/food & RM produced

Even with food prices of 1:
we get: 55 credits/(46.2 food) - 46.2 RM = -45.01

Which means you will always make more money from agriculture, regardless of the state of the market. The only drawback is that fertiles are needed for a massive income boost (The 3.5x at the end of the formula).

Just as future reference, any time Stephen says +xxx%, the way to calc the overall change is (1+xxx/100). Oh, and try not to go above 7 housing, even with the bonus. 7 has been proved to be the optimal number over and over again. I can provide proof, but you should really just trust me. (1.8% income increase vs 0 infra, no other number goes as high as 1.8% other than 7.)

or do like me and combo. have a couple nice u larges for comm so you can winnow for ferts. keep the ferts and have you a couple nice c1s for flexibility.

20 comm lvls and rest on ag. lvl 10 housing (incl 2 free lvls from missions) to make land use more efficient.

my income is based on comm, and ore right now but i will soon be expanding into ag

A note on my Ag calculations. If the lvl`s put into Ag. compound (as in compound interest) then an Ag. Terran on a U.Fertile planet is vastly superior to a Commercial Terran. I`ve noticed the commercial lvls progress in a linear function yielding .5 credits per lvl. I therefore calculated the Ag lvl bonus in a linear function based on observed food production of 10 pop. on a U.fertile with a 10 lvl Ag bonus.

Now lets look at the other side of the coin. With the same 100 lvls to invest you put everything into Ag research. On your home planet this means 120% bonus to Ag and on a U.Fertile the bonus is 370%. I`ll assume you plunder all planets NOT a U.Fertile (except for the three outside junk planets) leaving exploration cost`s low to winnow for Fertiles. If my calculations are correct this means 1 pop. on your U.Fertiles will yield 11.1 food per turn. Your home planet will produce 3.6 food per pop. If food prices are 5 credits per unit then profit (from the fertiles) is 55.5 credits plus 11.1 for the raw material (as previously calculated below) for a total profit (minus population needs of .1food per pop and ignoring the home planet) of 66.045 credits per turn. If you put everything into commercial (as opposed to mixing them as below) then the yield for commercial would be 55 credits - food costs. Obviously food production is better than commercial if food costs 5 credits or above per unit. As of this posting however, food costs are 2 or 3 credits per unit. This would yield (at best) 33 credits and change per pop.. Obviously if food prices stay below 5 credits per unit then commercial is the best bet. in an all or nothing scenario ag verses commercial the salient facts are cost of production and the costs of food in the market. Rule of thumb, If food is above 5 Ag is best, below 5 Commercial is best. A combination of Ag and Commercial will yield a steady income and safety from food price fluctuations. Combo`s also have the added perk of flexibility to profit from fluctuations in the food market. In a combo how much you devote to ag will determine your risk and reward.

What is important in this question is the cost of production. For example: Say you have 100 lvls to invest however you like and you have put 90 lvls into commercial and 10 into Ag. 1 pop on a U.fertile with 10 ag lvls yields 8.4 food per turn. 1 pop at 90 lvls into commercial on the same planet yields 50 credits per turn. This means that the cost to produce 1 food is 5.95 credits (50 / 8.4 = 5.95). Every 1 food produces 1 raw material as well. If raw material is 1 credit per (the min amount) then the cost of producing 1 food is therefore 4.95 credits. When the food market goes below 5 credits per unit you can switch your fertiles to commercial production. Ore costs 10,000 credits so your farmers now merchants will have to work 200 turns to return to profitability. If you think the food market is going to stay under 5 credits per unit for longer than a few days then switch. Switch back if you think it`s going to stay over. In this scenario you can easily go for self sufficiency and a surplus and forget the food market all together. When the market is over 5 sell, when below hoard until prices go up. Be advised in this scenerio only grow food on the fertiles and put all the other planets into commercial production.

For terran, I suggest you go commercial. Agri terrans are dependant on the market. Market value for food fluctuates violently.

As terran, you can go agri or commercial. Wise to stick with one or the other. Commercial will give you an per turn income, meaning you`ll make positive income without having to rely on the market. Agriculture means you`ll make positive food, which you sell on the market for money. Currently, i`d have to say go commercial with food prices, depending on server.

The best one would be commercial because you don`t have to relly on the market as much as a agr terran