The Economist ~ Training grounds vs. companies: What first for new players?
Day 3,800, 04:40
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by Spite313
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Dear all,
Amongst other things, this month I am working in the Ministry of Finance alongside Huey George (just kidding, he does all the work). Our illustrious leader, James the Bold, has asked me if I could write a short article outlining the best investments for new players. As with my previous articles about the “best investment” I have to preface this with the proviso that every player has their own idea about how to spend money. A casual glance at any battle will show you some players feel that spending all of their gold tanking is the best investment they can make, and the truth is it is a legitimate option if that is what gives you the most enjoyment in the game.
To begin with, most of you are probably either skimming to the conclusion or screaming the answer is training grounds at your monitor. That’s because you’re old and bitter and the message that training grounds are the best has been repeated so often it has become mantra. Well, dear reader, let us find out.
Free training grounds (Weights Room)
Firstly let’s talk about the weights room. This is the default training ground all new players start with and provides +5 strength per day. All the training grounds cost the same to upgrade:
Q1-Q2 = 20g
Q2-Q3 = 50g
Q3-Q4 = 100g
However there are frequent offers for 45% off training ground upgrades, which reduces this to:
Q1-Q2 = 11g
Q2-Q3 = 27.5g
Q3-Q4 = 55g
Each upgrade of the Weights Room gives you a further 5 strength per day, and as there are no daily costs in using the training ground, each upgrade can be viewed as an independent investment. This is in contrast to a paid training ground, where the amount of strength you get increases for the same cost. As there is no reduction in cost per strength from using the training ground, each level has its own return on investment.
A Q2 Weights Room costs 11g and produces an additional 3g each month for the player. It pays for itself in 3.6 months (about 108 days)
A Q3 Weights Room costs 27.5g and likewise provides 3g a month and pays for itself in 9.2 months (275 days).
A Q4 Weights Room costs 55g (+3g a month) and pays for itself in 18.3 months (550 days).
If you include the gold from the free, un-upgraded Q1 centre (most people seem to do this) the 93.5g investment for all four training centres does pay off in 234 days. However this seems disingenuous since you don’t pay for this.
The ROI on the three upgrades is 312 days when taken together.
Non-free training centres
There are three other training centres:
Climbing Centre (0.19g per day)
Shooting Range (0.89g per day)
Special Forces Centre (1.79g per day)
From an investment perspective, they are all poor options, though of course if you want to have high strength and make a difference in battle you do need to invest in them at some point.
As the daily cost remains constant whilst the amount of strength increases, upgraded (paid) training grounds are always a better use of money than non-upgraded.
Other than Q4 climbing centres, all paid training grounds are loss making. You can purchase a training contract to reduce the daily cost of training. These cost:
50% off training costs: 25g
90% off training costs: 53g
As you can see from the sheet, even with Q4 training grounds in all three paid centres you still make a 26.05g loss with a 50% contract. If you only use the Climbing centre this is only a 21.85g loss. This is taking into account the 25g cost of buying the contract.
With the 90% contract, training in all four centres, you make a 19.61 gold loss a month. If you include the 12g you get from the free training grounds (unaffected by the contract) it is a 7.61g loss each month, again taking into account the cost of the 53g contract.
Training grounds: conclusions
The Weights Room, fully upgraded, provides 12g a month. It has a return on investment of 312 days for the upgrades.
All other upgrades are ultimately loss making and thus have no return on investment times.
LS Lowry, in honour of our Glorious Leader
Companies
Most new players will only have access to raw materials companies and so we will look at those first. As discussed in a previous article raw materials companies come in five varieties, mostly referred to as Q1-Q5.
Currently the prices of weapons raw material is up, this is making the companies more profitable than usual. At current market prices, and 200% bonuses, this is the ROI of WRM companies:
And FRM
Although they are -much- more risky (due to the volatile and unpredictable markets), Q5 House Raw Material companies do currently make a profit of about 100cc a day. However to man one, you need to be able to pay wages of 2000cc per day, which for most newer players is impossible. The ROI is about 158 days, depending on wage and market prices, which isn’t too bad assuming anyone will buy the HRM from you.
Aircraft raw materials are being sold at a loss (still).
Q7 weapons, assuming you buy the raw material and pay 400cc salary, make about 1000cc per day, or 2.2 gold, giving a ROI of about 503 days. It is usually more but WRM costs are currently up by about 75%.
Conclusions
Currently the best investments, purely in terms of ROI, are:
Upgrade Weights Room Q1-Q2 = 108 days
Q5 HRM = 158 days
Upgrade Weights Room Q2-Q3 = 275 days
Q3 WRM = 351 days
Q4 WRM = 369 days
Q5 WRM = 475 days
Q7 Weapons = 503 days
Upgrade Weights Room Q3=Q4 = 550 days
Training and fighting are generally things that use rather than make money, whatever people say. If you want to be a relevant fighter in ground battles, you need to train strength. Therefore comparing it directly to companies is not that useful. However this article shows that even from a financial perspective, upgrading your free training grounds is a good idea.
It also illustrates the reality that many players get a significant part of their income in gold from the game itself, rather than from owning companies or working for others. It would be interesting to find out how many players spend their entire income on training. For those without companies or a lot of battle hero medals, this seems to be the case.
I hope you found this article interesting. If you have any comments, questions or corrections I’d be happy to hear them. I do read all of the comments
Iain
Thank you’s
Thank you again to everyone who endorsed my last article. It turns out political analysis is far more popular than numbers, it breaks my cold little heart.
N0s3
Siddy Tramero
rainy sunday
Feynmann
General Hi Story of Trite
Oblige
hans erik
Alphabethis
MaryamQ
BaKaRaS
Perry Rhodan
Blabla.
Chazp
William Thomas Riker
Nevmjbmti
PilotPhil
Vladb
Heikanu
Shawtyl0w
Hazelh
Sexy Macan
Altinkss
Kravenn
Supernana
Khotko
Trondina II
Aimeisan
Shiloh13
Paul Tyndale
Herr Vootsman
Love of Hua
zRTx
Patanok
El Speverino
Blande
Wingfield
Vettige Swa
Niemand
Baranac1
BastovanSurcinski
Lordsrbin
Mr B....
Nimnul
Jaywalker71
TheJuliusCaesar
Bogi
Old 7
Bulletz4Breakfast
Fhaemita The Apostate
Sterben4kk
Weeping Angel
Jedimindtrick
RF Williams
Stargazer89
Rodney Mckay
silniy udar
CaioMario
Dave Trenga
Prophet009
PPandP
Pierrelesombre
ChristopherEller
Limitless33
Zzzingo
Kxrt
Kamrad Stomper
Matsuuu
Jd Jack Serenade
Thank you all!
Dear all,
Amongst other things, this month I am working in the Ministry of Finance alongside Huey George (just kidding, he does all the work). Our illustrious leader, James the Bold, has asked me if I could write a short article outlining the best investments for new players. As with my previous articles about the “best investment” I have to preface this with the proviso that every player has their own idea about how to spend money. A casual glance at any battle will show you some players feel that spending all of their gold tanking is the best investment they can make, and the truth is it is a legitimate option if that is what gives you the most enjoyment in the game.
To begin with, most of you are probably either skimming to the conclusion or screaming the answer is training grounds at your monitor. That’s because you’re old and bitter and the message that training grounds are the best has been repeated so often it has become mantra. Well, dear reader, let us find out.
Free training grounds (Weights Room)
Firstly let’s talk about the weights room. This is the default training ground all new players start with and provides +5 strength per day. All the training grounds cost the same to upgrade:
Q1-Q2 = 20g
Q2-Q3 = 50g
Q3-Q4 = 100g
However there are frequent offers for 45% off training ground upgrades, which reduces this to:
Q1-Q2 = 11g
Q2-Q3 = 27.5g
Q3-Q4 = 55g
Each upgrade of the Weights Room gives you a further 5 strength per day, and as there are no daily costs in using the training ground, each upgrade can be viewed as an independent investment. This is in contrast to a paid training ground, where the amount of strength you get increases for the same cost. As there is no reduction in cost per strength from using the training ground, each level has its own return on investment.
A Q2 Weights Room costs 11g and produces an additional 3g each month for the player. It pays for itself in 3.6 months (about 108 days)
A Q3 Weights Room costs 27.5g and likewise provides 3g a month and pays for itself in 9.2 months (275 days).
A Q4 Weights Room costs 55g (+3g a month) and pays for itself in 18.3 months (550 days).
If you include the gold from the free, un-upgraded Q1 centre (most people seem to do this) the 93.5g investment for all four training centres does pay off in 234 days. However this seems disingenuous since you don’t pay for this.
The ROI on the three upgrades is 312 days when taken together.
Non-free training centres
There are three other training centres:
Climbing Centre (0.19g per day)
Shooting Range (0.89g per day)
Special Forces Centre (1.79g per day)
From an investment perspective, they are all poor options, though of course if you want to have high strength and make a difference in battle you do need to invest in them at some point.
As the daily cost remains constant whilst the amount of strength increases, upgraded (paid) training grounds are always a better use of money than non-upgraded.
Other than Q4 climbing centres, all paid training grounds are loss making. You can purchase a training contract to reduce the daily cost of training. These cost:
50% off training costs: 25g
90% off training costs: 53g
As you can see from the sheet, even with Q4 training grounds in all three paid centres you still make a 26.05g loss with a 50% contract. If you only use the Climbing centre this is only a 21.85g loss. This is taking into account the 25g cost of buying the contract.
With the 90% contract, training in all four centres, you make a 19.61 gold loss a month. If you include the 12g you get from the free training grounds (unaffected by the contract) it is a 7.61g loss each month, again taking into account the cost of the 53g contract.
Training grounds: conclusions
The Weights Room, fully upgraded, provides 12g a month. It has a return on investment of 312 days for the upgrades.
All other upgrades are ultimately loss making and thus have no return on investment times.
LS Lowry, in honour of our Glorious Leader
Companies
Most new players will only have access to raw materials companies and so we will look at those first. As discussed in a previous article raw materials companies come in five varieties, mostly referred to as Q1-Q5.
Currently the prices of weapons raw material is up, this is making the companies more profitable than usual. At current market prices, and 200% bonuses, this is the ROI of WRM companies:
And FRM
Although they are -much- more risky (due to the volatile and unpredictable markets), Q5 House Raw Material companies do currently make a profit of about 100cc a day. However to man one, you need to be able to pay wages of 2000cc per day, which for most newer players is impossible. The ROI is about 158 days, depending on wage and market prices, which isn’t too bad assuming anyone will buy the HRM from you.
Aircraft raw materials are being sold at a loss (still).
Q7 weapons, assuming you buy the raw material and pay 400cc salary, make about 1000cc per day, or 2.2 gold, giving a ROI of about 503 days. It is usually more but WRM costs are currently up by about 75%.
Conclusions
Currently the best investments, purely in terms of ROI, are:
Upgrade Weights Room Q1-Q2 = 108 days
Q5 HRM = 158 days
Upgrade Weights Room Q2-Q3 = 275 days
Q3 WRM = 351 days
Q4 WRM = 369 days
Q5 WRM = 475 days
Q7 Weapons = 503 days
Upgrade Weights Room Q3=Q4 = 550 days
Training and fighting are generally things that use rather than make money, whatever people say. If you want to be a relevant fighter in ground battles, you need to train strength. Therefore comparing it directly to companies is not that useful. However this article shows that even from a financial perspective, upgrading your free training grounds is a good idea.
It also illustrates the reality that many players get a significant part of their income in gold from the game itself, rather than from owning companies or working for others. It would be interesting to find out how many players spend their entire income on training. For those without companies or a lot of battle hero medals, this seems to be the case.
I hope you found this article interesting. If you have any comments, questions or corrections I’d be happy to hear them. I do read all of the comments
🙂
Iain
Thank you’s
Thank you again to everyone who endorsed my last article. It turns out political analysis is far more popular than numbers, it breaks my cold little heart.
N0s3
Siddy Tramero
rainy sunday
Feynmann
General Hi Story of Trite
Oblige
hans erik
Alphabethis
MaryamQ
BaKaRaS
Perry Rhodan
Blabla.
Chazp
William Thomas Riker
Nevmjbmti
PilotPhil
Vladb
Heikanu
Shawtyl0w
Hazelh
Sexy Macan
Altinkss
Kravenn
Supernana
Khotko
Trondina II
Aimeisan
Shiloh13
Paul Tyndale
Herr Vootsman
Love of Hua
zRTx
Patanok
El Speverino
Blande
Wingfield
Vettige Swa
Niemand
Baranac1
BastovanSurcinski
Lordsrbin
Mr B....
Nimnul
Jaywalker71
TheJuliusCaesar
Bogi
Old 7
Bulletz4Breakfast
Fhaemita The Apostate
Sterben4kk
Weeping Angel
Jedimindtrick
RF Williams
Stargazer89
Rodney Mckay
silniy udar
CaioMario
Dave Trenga
Prophet009
PPandP
Pierrelesombre
ChristopherEller
Limitless33
Zzzingo
Kxrt
Kamrad Stomper
Matsuuu
Jd Jack Serenade
Thank you all!
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Comments
Први!
Good article, thanks! 🙂
nice analysis yet you missed something out in terms of training grounds
at level 201 the training is free
so
if a player wants to tank in air battles in a few months 6-7 months that is he will get to 201 level hence the training grounds will NO LONGER REQUIRE GOLD
I know it is long term however you did go as far as estimating profits like 2 years later so you need to consider this one too
example of new player that will soon reach level 201 is here
https://www.erepublik.com/en/citizen/profile/9302337
he did not upgrade training fro start though however in a month or 2 he will have free training
Sure, but you only get 1xp per hit and that's 875k hits to get to level 200. If you're doing that in 7 months you're spending RL money anyway. Plus once you get past L70 you'll be in d4 with almost no strength, so there's actually no point training anyway as you'll always be weak.
yes I agree you spend rl money however there is a number of new players tat choose to do so and they also read articles since they are very active
yes you will not become a tank at div4 however with 90 strength increase per day for free you will get your money back + you anyways spent in ground battles every Tuesday just to get to max regeneration in an epic
True, if you go for a purely air route you get effectively free gold for strength training. But to get to Level 200 you will either take many years, or you will spend so much gold that questions of income are kind of irrelevant.
Good analysis. However I think it is better to invest in Q5 FRM than in Q3 or Q4. That is because when you dissolve your company you will get more money back from Q5 than Q3 or Q4 and in the long run you will save a lot of energy and food.
besides the one I posted I know at least 2 other new players in Greece following this route and I am sure there are others out of Greece
I liked your article and yes the addition I am suggesting it is not for people who do not put rl money in the game but for those who do
they do need to know they should actually upgrade training grounds rather than ignore it
further more in the same way that other d4 players play on div1 (maverick) they also play there since they buy the maverick pack for sure so the 90 strength increase per day is not insignificant there either
this player for instance is well on the way of becoming an air tank and he first logged in the end of January without prior knowledge of the game. I had advised him just a few days ago to upgrade training grounds no matter he fights very little in the ground at the moment
https://www.erepublik.com/en/citizen/profile/9328454
If you're a tank you're not going to be worried about a few gold a month, but I agree if you're rich enough to go spend thousands of euros on erepublik then you might benefit spending a couple hundred more to upgrade your training grounds.
Why would you publish an article when I'm busy taking a nap? ;___;
VOTE
well done article
Voted! Greetings!