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What is Opportunity Cost?

The short answer is that which you give up whenever you make any choice.


Most everyone here has already encountered this in ER. Something as simple as which quality of bread to eat is a prime example.

the basic equation: Health / Cost; tells you exactly how much that item of bread is worth.

Q1 Brea😛 2 Health / $0.76 = 2.63 Health/Dollar

Q5 Brea😛 10 Health / $3.54 = 2.82 Health/Dollar

like normal Q5 Bread is more cost efficient.



and in other news Admin say they are adding Baseball Companies to the game, word is they'll use cattle as their RM...

An all too common question you'll hear in ER is which company type is the best to buy.

the real answer is that it depends. Mostly on the market, partially on the future, and partially on you.


For a single worker or GM:

Profit = (Product Value x Quantity Produced) - (Value of 10 Health or Wages) - Value of RM consumed(if needed)

nice and simple equation. You can find all the numbers you need from the marketplace or perusing company employee data.

Please notice the word Value instead of the more common term price. Value relates back to opportunity cost and is based on the market value of these goods instead of what you may be creating yourself.


A simple comparison example using this would be Grain and Oil:

Gus makes 108 Grain selling @ $0.46
Oliver makes 108 Oil selling @ $0.55
both use Q5 Bread @ $3.54 to recover the 10 health lost.

Gus's Profit = 108 x $0.46 - $3.54 = $44.30

Oliver's Profit = 108 x $0.55 - $3.54 = $55.86

and in this case we can see that the Oil company is superior... for now...



If you have one of these just stop reading right now...


Markets, even whole countries can change, and your pride and joy can be caught in the fall out.

The best defense is to stay on top of events.

Keep a general eye on how prices shift from day to day. Check the news and ER forums for word that broader events are about to happen(invasions, game changes).

The only certain preventative measure you can take is to keep the equivalent value of 20 Gold on hand for an emergency license, to guard against getting caught unable to sell after an invasion.

I wouldn't be too concerned about this if you lack the gold. Prolonged invasion isn't too common in ER, just keep the idea to have that much saved at some point in the future.




The YOU Factor!

What is a house worth to you?

the economic answer is similar to the Bread Equation above, but the real answer would depend on how much actual use you would gain from it.

this is what I mean by the YOU Factor.

you have to take a qualitative look at what you do in the game and mold your company creations based on that.

if you like to fight all 300 health you might look to get yourself a decently upgraded bread company and save on VAT. If you don't fight you would be better off simply investing in whatever you feel has the most profit potential.


Closing thoughts and whatever random crap I think of.

I was going to have a longer bit about the YOU Factor until I remembered Admin have about killed product differentiation. Everyone still reading post a comment including the word "Dragons" and I'll send you a free piece of food. As for the general economic state, I'd say we're in a holding pattern right now.

the Stone/House/Ticket industries are where workers are most profitable to employ at the moment leaving the other industries hurting if they try and hire.

For most of us there's nothing much more to do until the upcoming changes roll out. Sell then Create companies as you are able to, if you need to get into another area. I do expect some improvement for bread/grain as workers spend their earnings on food. Generally once the market recovers from a shock prices will level out again.

take care everyone,