Should you make that? WAM edition

Day 5,457, 07:38 • Published in Canada Canada • by Wilhem Klink

Running companies in eRepublik isn't always as straight-forward as it seems. There's a couple of items to keep an eye on and help to figure out whether you should make that (or not).

First disclaimers:
1. I'm writing this as it applies to eCanada. It might have some application to other countries, but I make no claim it does;
2. I've selected prices as "market" because I need to have a reference point. Small changes in "market" may move the needle, but are unlikely to make a big difference.

This article will address Work as Manager (WaM) items (Food & Weapons). I'm hoping to do another for Employee-Only industries (Houses & Air) later.

In WaM industries, the producer has two main costs: Work Tax (1% of the average wage paid to the country the factory is in), and the cost of the raw materials (RM). A producer may buy the RM from the market or may also produce them.

Food

Production of food RM is pointless as one can buy from the market for 0.01cc. One canot produce FRM for less Just go buy it on the market.

Assumptions:
*"High bonus" = 200% bonuses representing a high bonus region
*"Low Bonus" = 100% bonuses representing a region with no bonuses
This has a great impact, A food factory produces 100 units of food at 100% bonuses and 200 units of food at 200%. More than anything this will determine your profitability.
*Work tax is Canada's tax as of this writing 35.64 CAD per WaM. For food production, its the only expense one needs to cover

High Bonus production first


This grid format is one I'll use throughout the article. It shows each quality along the top. Take for example Q1:
We start with the work tax and then add the RM cost to get total costs. We then divide that by the number produced to get a production Cost per Unit. We compare that to the standard "Market Value" to find a profit or loss (marked as (-2.50), for example). The last two lines note how much in CAD a factory costs to create and how long it takes to recoup that cost by selling (or by not having to buy it from the market)

One will note the "total cost" barely moves as the rock-bottom FRM price has little effect.

Food of any level is a money maker, even if just a bit. Q7 makes quite a bit, but it also costs quite a bit to get that factory. Assuming you buy it straight off the market, its 2,094 days to breakeven (that's 5 years & nine months). Grabbing it off the Company Market for 1107 gold (the lowest it can go) cuts that to 1,887 days.

Low Bonus production's next



Q1 food is a money-loser and all other gives just enough profit to get by. The 0.01 FRM really helps.


WEAPONS
Weapon production is a bit trickier. Making your own Weapon Raw Material (WRM) has an impact on profitability, unlike its food cousin. But lets start with buying WRM at market value, which will include VAT as paid by the seller. We skipped this with food as the small amount is irrelevant.

Again, a high bonus goes first



Weapons Q1 to Q3 cost more to produce than the market value. Profit can be had from Q4 - Q7. Days to Breakeven, however is measured in years. Doesn't look good for low bonus producers, does it?



Low bonus extends losses to Q4 and stretches Breakeven even longer. You CAN make money at Q5-Q7, but getting the cash back to pay off the gold investment may take longer than the game servers can run.

Weapon Raw Materials

Unlike Food RM, Weapon Raw Materials remain a play in the market.
Same grid :



Don't produce Weapon Raws with Iron or an Oil Well. Its a waste of cash. Saltpeter mine, bought with cash rather than gold, actually doesn't have that poor of a breakeven time.

How about those working in a low-bonus region? Glad you asked



Looks to not be worth producing at all in low bonus regions unless you've shelled out the 35 gold for a Plantation. Even then, your breakeven rolls around in late summer 2036. You'll still be playing then, right?

Lastly, best case scenario is you produce in a high bonus region both weapons and the needed raw materials. What happens to using your own WRM?



As an added wrinkle, a producer may have some left-over WRM that they can sell, so I've added that as a line item. It takes Q1 weapons from a money-losing venture to making 5CAD per day. But why take 5 units of WRM at a profit of 51.36CAD and turn it into a Q1 and 5CAD profit?

Regardless, on the high end using your own produced WRM really improves the production cost of a Q7 driving it down from 36.63CAD to 16.09. There's a huge gold outlay to get there (since one will need eight Plantations), but net is there.

Employees
Let's say you've decided to expand into employees, leveraging your infrastructure investment to make more. We're going to assume you're not cheating and are hiring off the market at 4,000CAD per day. I'm going to focus on Q7 weapons as evidence exists that Q4-Q6 have a small active market (meaning your items may sit for sale for weeks) and Q1-Q3 just don't have the net available to support a worker.


Well, it looks like Q7 can't support a worker either, doesn't matter which industry its in. Breakeven comes around a wage of 1,100CAD if you're buying on the market, or 1,500CAD if using your own WRM. In Food, breakeven comes at 680CAD wage.

So the take-away from all this
- High bonus food region is profitable for any Q-level
- Q4-Q7 weapons can be made cheaper than the market price in a high-bonus region even when buying WRM
- low bonus regions work for the higher end Q5-Q7
- decent profits in Weapon raw materials with a Rubber Plantation in a high bonus region
- don't bother with WRM in low-bonus regions (or any food RM anywhere)
- employees are not for WaM industries.


Last thing to keep in mind, if you are producing to sell, is the volume in the market. As a test, we listed some items for sale at the lowest prices on the market. Food Q1-Q4 all sold within a day. Q5 sold in two days, Q6 & Q7 never sold in the 4 days we ran the test.

With weapons, sales were sluggish everywhere, although Q1 seemed to move a bit quicker. But then there's no profit to be made there.