The Different Qualities of Food: Price Differences?

Day 1,292, 20:01 • Published in USA Switzerland • by Kishvier

There has always been a case of differing prices in eRepublik, whether you look at the different qualities of food, or the differences between raw material costs. All of these changes are easily explained, and many of them do not make economic sense, without taking in the psychology of the players.



Lets take a look at the prices of different qualities (Q's) of food, and break down the price/health ratio of each quality. According to the market this evening, the current levels are:

Q1 | $0.55/Each | $0.275/Health
Q2 | $0.64/Each | $0.160/Health
Q3 | $1.00/Each | $0.167/Health
Q4 | $1.38/Each | $0.173/Health
Q5 | $1.74/Each | $0.174/Health

This means that per health, Q2 Food is the cheapest, so if you are looking to buy food today, buy Q2 to get the best 'bang' for your buck.



The reason this occurs, is partly due to players being stuck in older versions of the game. For instance, very old players, back in V1, only had to eat one Q1 Food everyday to maintain their health. Hospitals dominated the battlefield, and this causes some players to be more likely to buy Q1 Food in bulk, instead of a few higher quality foods. Furthermore, in younger versions of this game, the efficiency of creating higher quality food was non-existent. It was much less efficient to produce higher quality food because it took so much more materials for really no more production, as opposed to lower quality food, and so Q1 was rightfully the cheapest kind of food to buy, and many more players suffer from this idea today, buying low quality food because of a belief in them being cheaper.



Another reason why this occurs is the basic set-up of the market. You can only look at one quality of food at a time on the market, meaning that the folks who are in more of a hurry, or are more impatient, do not check all the fields of the market, and calculate the best price for them. This leads the different qualities of food to separate into different spheres of cost, despite the fact that the qualities have so much in common. This is another major reason why we have such price changes in the current market itself, between Q1 and Q2 Food today, Q2 Food cost 58% of Q1 Food in Cost/Health. This is mildly ridiculous, but this is how the economy works on here, a product of uneducated, and sometimes lazy buyers.

My advice? Be a smart buyer, check out all the qualities of food when you go to purchase, and calculate out which is the best price for you. This will save you a lot of money in the long run, I promise you this.

Anyways, thats enough for tonight. Stay tuned for more stuff in the weeks to come, my last day of school is Monday, meaning more activity during the week.

An American Author,

-Kishi