Join the new world

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Black Market Baby (Mandatory listening)
Day 2246 of the New World
13 January, 2014


by Gnilraps





This is Part 3 of a 10-Part series called How to Succeed in eUSA

Being a successful Citizen necessarily includes making wise decisions regarding your Inventory. There are a few quirks in managing the Sell/Buy system which we will discuss, but first we should have a lengthier discussion of how to think about the items themselves.

There are 6 types of Inventory:

Raw Materials
Finished Goods
Bombs and Rockets
Bazookas and their Parts
Energy Bars
Moving Tickets

Each of these Inventory types have a different set of mechanics that govern their use. First we’ll discuss them.

(But one note first. The Inventory Page ingame divides your inventory into only 4 categories, “Final Products”, “Raw Materials”, “Collectables”, and “Rocket”. I do not find these helpful distinctions for discussing items categorically, so I will be referencing the eRepublik nomenclature but using my list of 6 for categorical commentary.)


Raw Materials (RM)

There are two types of RM that each behave exactly the same ingame. The two types are Food Raw Materials (FRM) and Weapons Raw Materials (WRM).

http://wiki.erepublik.com/images/d/da/Food_Raw_Material.png FRM
http://wiki.erepublik.com/images/d/d3/Weapon_Raw_Material.png WRM

These items have two uses. They are a commodity which can either be manufactured, bought, or sold at market. And they are the raw materials used to produce food and weapons. There is no correlation between RM and the Resource found in each Territory in the game. Those Resources (such as deer, fish, aluminum, saltpeter, etc.) are factors that influence company production and will be discussed in Part 4 of this series.

Regardless of how you got your RM, you should decide what to do with them. Here are the issues:

1 - How much did they cost you? This is a function of either the price you paid for purchase or the wages you paid to a worker. Always know your cost.

2 - Do you need them to make Finished Goods? If so, stockpiling is always wise as it protects you against market price increases as well as market price decreases. If the market increases, you can sell them at profit. If the market decreases you can halt your own production, and replace what you consume each day with more until prices begin to rise again.

3 - Are they taking up too much room in comparison to a more lucrative item? You might just benefit from dumping your supply down if you suddenly need to stock up on something else which is benefitting from a dip in market price. Never fall in love with your inventory. Also, be aware of any taxes which reduce your return per item sold.

*RM cannot be “Donated”.
*RM can often be purchased for fractions of a cent below market price on the Black Market. Be careful. “Cash First” is the general rule, so make sure you trust your seller.
*RM do not expire.
*RM are found in the “Raw Materials” section of your Inventory Page.


Finished Goods

There are 14 types of Finished Goods in 2 families. There are 7 Food types and 7 Weapons types. Each of the 7 types are referred to strictly by their Q level and are almost never referenced by their pictorial type. Thus we don’t refer to a Q2 Weapon as a “rifle”, we just call it a Q2W… or a Q5F(ood). Finished goods can be produced in factories, purchased from the Market, or received by Donation.

Finished Goods have three potential uses. You can use them by consuming food or weapons during fighting, working, training, or moving. You can sell them at market. Or unlike RM, Finished Goods can be Donated to another citizen via his profile page.

Determining the disposition of your Finished Goods is more complex than with RM.

Food should be evaluated based on cost per Energy Unit. The cheapest Food should be consumed. The most expensive should be either sold (if at a profit) or held until either the market provides a profit or the market drops. In the last section of this article I will explain how to have food in your Inventory without consuming it.

Food should also be evaluated based on the amount of available storage it consumes. Q1 may indeed be cheapest to eat, but it might end up costing you too much in Inventory to keep it. If your overstuffed Inventory prevents you from purchasing goods at an extreme discount or if it prevents you from receiving a donation, its cost has just gone up. So remember that Q5 food takes up 1/5 the amount of space as Q1. Due to the cost of manufacturing, Q7 food is rarely a good buy.

Weapons are quite different. There is literally no circumstance in which you should ever be consuming anything other than a Q7W. So we are going to discuss Weapons in two categories: Q7 and Q1-6.

Q7W are for fighting. Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series to understand why. So Q7 weapons have three potential uses. Fight with them.
Sell them.
Donate them.

“Playing the market” on Q7 weapons can be a lucrative endeavor, but you will need a significant bankroll to buy, hold, and sell. So don’t overcommit and get forced to liquidate your Q7W at a loss because you suddenly need the cash for food or moving. Even so, making sure to consider any Taxes which reduce your take from each unit sold, Q7W can be sold at market for profit. As with everything, know your cost.

Donating Q7 weapons is one of the most popular ways players help players. Because they are the only desired weapon in combat, everyone loves to receive a Q7 gift. Just don’t give away what you’ll end up needing to fight.

Fighting with the Q7W is probably why you have them in your inventory. In order to be able to fight with a Q7W, you need to have Q7W in inventory that are NOT for sale.

Q1-6W serve three purposes. They can be sold, Donated, or used in the creation of Rockets.

Notice no mention is made of fighting with Q1-6W. Don’t. Just Don’t.

The same principles apply to selling and donating as with other Finished Goods. But let’s talk about the creation of Rockets.

Depending on the Q level of your Rocket Factory, you will need to carry a stock of Q1-6W in your Inventory and NOT for sale. If you do not have enough Q1-6W to build a rocket, one of the “slots” in the “Rocket” section of your Inventory page will appear greyed out. Either manufacture or purchase some more.

Storing weapons for Rockets (if you so choose) requires you to dedicate a minimum set amount of available storage. Keep this in mind as part of the cost of storage as they may be minimizing your effectiveness to react to other market trends. If you don’t use many rockets, you might as well dedicate less storage space to stockpiling Q1-6. If you use a lot of rockets, stockpiling these weapons protects you against market fluctuations.

Q1-6W which appear in the slots in your Rockets Inventory section are the same units which appear in your Final Products section. In other words, if you have 35 Q1W in your Final Products section and your Rockets section shows that you have 10 Q1W, you still only have 35 Q1W. If you build a rocket, your Final Products section will then show 25 Q1W while your Rockets section will continue to show 10 Q1W.

Keep in mind that any weapons you have in Inventory that are NOT for sale are available on the Battlefield, so don’t use them by mistake. If you run out of Q7W while fighting and don’t notice it, the Battlefield system will automatically change your weapon in use to the next highest available Q weapon. So watch it.

*Food and Weapons do not expire.
*Food and Weapons usually carry higher tax rates than RM so be careful when selling.
*Food and Weapons can often be purchased at significant discounts on the black market. Dealers all insist on cash up front, so know your dealer.
*Food Inventory is needed for energy recovery, so never run out.
*Weapons can appear in your inventory which are partially used. Don’t let this worry you.



Bombs and Rockets

Once Q1-6W have been converted into a Rocket, the Rocket will appear in your Inventory in the Final Products section. Your Rocket will not expire.

You should always keep a Rocket in inventory for two reasons. Each day has a limit on Rocket production. If you stock one, you’ve upped the amount of available Rocket firepower you have that day. If you blew them all off yesterday, then today should be restock day. Don’t blow it off until tomorrow at the soonest. See Part 2 of this series for a discussion on whether or not Rockets are wise for use.

The second reason to keep a Rocket in Inventory is that sometimes a Rocket is awarded for the accomplishment of a mission. If this happens, it will result in the only circumstance by which you may have more than 1 Rocket in Inventory. For the same reason that starting a day with 1 Rocket is wise, starting a day with 2 or 3 Rockets in Inventory is even better.

Bombs are different than Rockets. They cannot be manufactured, they are only awarded.

Bombs come in two varieties, Big Bombs and Little Bombs, each with its own amount of Influence they do in Battle. The Wiki page discusses these nuances in detail.

Bombs will have an expiration date which can be seen by hovering your mouse over them. Don’t ever let Bombs expire. They are free damage that doesn’t even “cost” energy and that don’t increase XP with their use.

*Bombs and Rockets cannot be bought, sold, or donated.
*Bombs and Rockets appear in your Final Products section on your Inventory page.
*Any Bombs or Rockets in your Inventory will appear as a button on the Battlefield page. *Clicking the Battlefield button will bring up a confirmation dialogue. Clicking yes fires the Bomb or Rocket.



Bazookas and their Parts

(Sometimes eRepublik introduces other types of Bazookas such as “Batzookas” at Halloween. From an Inventory perspective, these other types behave the same way Bazookas do, so I will not discuss them at all.

Bazookas are made from Bazooka Parts. So we need to discuss them as two separate item types.

There are 5 types of Bazooka Parts. These Parts can be accumulated by fighting on the Battlefield where they will “drop” randomly. The approximate rate of Bazooka drops is 1 complete Bazooka for approximately every 75 kills. If you are only doing your DO, you will add an additional Bazooka to your inventory roughly every three days.

Bazookas are also awarded for accomplish your MU DO. Occasionally they can be purchased for Gold - a bad investment in my opinion.

Bazooka Parts cannot be bought, sold, or traded (in the eRepublik market) and are ONLY good for making Bazookas. Don’t bother complaining about the unequal amount of one type you have over another. Almost everyone needs Scopes and/or Rockets as these are the most scarce. If you ever decide to purchase Bazooka parts for Gold, these are the only two types to even consider.

Any Part type you are missing will appear greyed out in your Collectables section on your Inventory page. As soon as you have all 5 Parts in Inventory, you can “Build” a Bazooka by clicking the “Assemble All” button. There will now be an indication of the number of finished Bazookas, also in your Collectables section.

*Bazookas cannot be bought, sold, or traded.
*Bazooka “Boosters” will be used in conjunction with available Bazookas and will appear in your Final Products section.
*You can have Bazooka Boosters and no Bazookas. If that’s the case you can’t use the Boosters.
*Bazooka Parts do not affect your Storage Space.
*Bazookas, Bazooka Parts, and Bazooka Boosters will not expire.



Energy Bars (E😎

There are 3 different kinds of Energy Bars as of this writing. 1xEB, 2xEB, and Winter Treats. I will discuss the Treats separately.

1x and 2xEB provide an immediate increase in your available Energy of 100 and 200 respectively. Consuming an EB does NOT consume Food.

EB are accumulated for accomplishing your MU DO, purchased with Gold, or received as rewards and awards for various milestones. They cannot be otherwise bought or sold on the market, Donated, or manufactured. EB do not expire.

Available Inventory of EB will appear as such in your Final Products section on your Inventory page.

EB are most effectively saved into huge stockpiles, then used all at once in hopes of scoring BH medals. You should have some goal in your mind about how many EB to accumulate before blowing them. At least 100 are often needed to compete for a BH.

Winter Treats are a new addition to the Energy Bar category. They provide 50 energy restored. They are accumulated by accomplish the designated milestone (in the case of the Winter 2013 promotion, they were awarded for every 25 Kills made). Winter Treats (and what I expect will be similar .5x EB’s in the future) are only available during promotional periods.

Winter Treats do expire, but you cannot see the expiration date by hovering over them. You need to either observe the information about expiration from the banner advertising them or else by checking the Latest Updates section of eRepublik.

If you are stockpiling EB and Winter Treats, remember that you will need an amount of Q7 Weapons equal to the total number of hits those EB’s represent. Don’t get caught in a BH contest without enough Food or Q7.



Moving Tickets (MT)

Yep, they’re back after having disappeared from the game for about two years.

MT can be accumulated as prizes when they are offered for hitting certain benchmarks, or by purchase in the Market.

There are 5 Q levels of MT. The only ones worth keeping, in my opinion, are the Q5 MT. You should consider selling the lower Q MT or donating them to your MU.

Because Q5 MT do not reduce your available energy, and because they can be used for any move around the eWorld (at a maximum potential cost of $100), they are worth stocking.

If you paid more than $20 for them, or if you want to get maximum value out of them, consider making some of your MT “unavailable” by following the process mentioned in the last section of this article about how to avoid consuming items in your Inventory.

*MT can be donated.
*MT do not expire.
*MT often have the highest sales taxes, so be VERY careful in selling them.
*Q5MT are worth no less than $100 but can be “redeemed” by using them for much cheaper moves. They can also be bought in the market for less than $100 sometimes.



Sell/Buy Dialogue

At the bottom of your Inventory page is the place where you can interact with the Market. The “Buy; from Marketplace” button is just a link to the ingame Market of whatever country you are currently living in. But the “Sell; post new offer” button is unique. I will walk you through it.

When you click the “Sell” box, the selling dialogue appears.

On this dialogue you use a drop-down menu to select the type of item you wish to sell. Then you enter an amount and a price. Do not let eRepublik suggest a selling price (it will always default to a selling price, but it may not be all you can get from the market so ignore it.) Familiarize yourself with what the market is paying for goods you want to sell. Set a selling price you think will result in sales, but you should avoid selling at a loss. Remember, always know your cost.

Now before you click the “Add on Sale” button, calculate out the tax. You now know how much you will benefit per item. Compare this against your cost (remember, I told you to always know your cost). If you will lose money, don’t sell.

Items that are placed on Sale are NOT available for consumption. This means the quantity available in your Final Products and/or Raw Materials sections will reflect your Inventory excluding any amount you have offered on the market.

This means that if you have items in your Inventory that you neither want to consume nor sell, you can offer them for sale at an outrageously high price. This will remove them from your available inventory so they won’t be consumed, but will not likely result in them being purchased (and at such a high price, if they are purchased then GREAT!)

You can only have one market offer per each Inventory Item type. So if you are selling Q5 food for .31, you cannot post more Q5 food for .32. If you attempt to add an offer for an Item type that is already for sale, it will cause your new offer to be added to the quantity already offered, but all of it will be offered at the new price entered.

You can all but ignore the Market Licence dialogue. If you have one, you already know what to do with it. If you don’t, I seriously doubt you will ever want one. You can sell to the eUSA Market because you are an eUSA Citizen. You can buy from any market in the world by moving there. You can only sell to a foreign market if you have the appropriate license (for 20 Gold each!) and they aren’t worth the cost until you have a significant Storage space.

Managing your Inventory is, in large part, about the only “economy” this game has. Manufacturing and Producing are extremely poor investment strategies except for very long term goals. By long term I mean years. You can make better money juggling inventory and studying the Market.

You’ll learn a bit more about this in Part 4 - Economic Game Mechanics.


You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking