A Business Economics View on EL
This guide will explain the basics for analyzing the cost-effectiveness of producing and harvesting stuff in EL.
Time is money
Yes, it is. In EL you can convert time to money indierectly by harvesting stuff and selling it. One of the most efficient ways to do so is to harvest blue lupines in Portland and selling them at the flower shop. Depending on your harvesting level and maximum load you can make 3600 gc or even more in one hour.
That's why an EL second is worth at least 1 gc
Using the time/money equivalence you can assess any production plan. For example, does it pay off to harvest Cotton and make your own thread?
Time to harvest 150 cotton (harv level 74, with excavator cape): 150 seconds Time to harvest a veg: 1 sec Time to mix 30 thread: 10 sec, result: 28 thread (2 crits) Overall calculation: 161 sec for 28 thread
In the same time, we could have made 161 gcs from flowers to buy 80 thread!
But wait, what about the XP we get?
Experience vs. Money
Many items in EL sell less than the sum of their ingredients. This is because people make them for the XP. So can we express XP in time or money? Yes we can!
But first be aware that there are different types of XP, one for each skill. Some of them are more easy to get, like Att XP, Def XP, Alch XP, Harv XP, others such as Tail XP or Rang XP are very costly.
Note that the following calculations all heavily depend on assumptions of your levels. Therefore, most likely you will have to do a recalculation with your own values.
Fighting XP
This heavily depends on how much XP you can make in one hour and how valuable are the drops vs. your losses on degrades.
For an initial calculation, I assume I make 60 kXP in defense and 30 kXP in attack in one hour and that drops are 1k more worth then degrades.
Then we have:
Time loss: 3600 sec = 3,6 kgc Drops - degrades = 1 kgc
Cost per hour = 2,6 kgc
Att XP = 30 kXP Def XP = 60 kXP
If we split the costs by attack and defense, we arrive at 30kXP/1,3kgc = 23 XP/gc for attack and 46 XP/gc for defense.
Harvesting XP
Assuming Excavator Cloak and harvesting level of 75:
Average harvest time of 1 mullein: 2,2 sec Walk time for reselling 1 mullein: 0,2 sec Reselling in Irsis flower shop: 1 gc
Total cost: 1,4 gc Base XP: 45 XP
32 XP per "gc" in harvesting when doing mullein! The gc value comes from the time loss when harvesting mullein instead of grinding gold via blu lupines. Try other harvests for different results, however in general, besides fighting, harvesting is the most cost-effective task.
Alchemy XP
Magic XP
to be calculated by the ingreds and the time effort to level...
Potioning XP
Summoning XP
Manufacturing XP
Also, the ability to make XP in a particular skill depends what level you are. If you just started with manufacturing, you have to make your XP with fur scarfs, later you can do leather helmets.
1 fox fur + 1 thread = 1 scarf
Market cost of 1 fox fur: 7gc NPC cost of 1 thread: 2gc Mixing time: 1,75 sec = 1,75 gc Selling them (45 sec run for selling 180 fox scarfs): 0,25 gc
Sell price of a scarf (NPC): 10gc
So, assuming no fails, we have 1gc deficit for 12 XP (base experience) - quite good. The problem is that fox furs are not that often offered in the market at high batches.
If we cannot go for fux furs, lets make leather helmets (I assumed a walk from VOTD store to Trik, carrying the ings for 100 helmets):
3 leather + 4 thread = 1 helmet
cost for 3 leather: 14 gc cost for 4 thread: 8 gc time to walk to Trik, mix and sell: 3,2 sec = 3,2 gc included cost for food: 1,8 gc
critical failure rate 5% (at manufacturing level 39)
average revenue (selling to Trik): 19 gc
So we spend 8 gc per helmet for 45 XP (base experience) which makes 5,6 XP/gc. Let's try the manufacturing school in WS instead:
cost for 3 leather: 14 gc cost for 4 thread: 8 gc time to walk to School and mix: 4 sec = 4 gc included cost for food: 1,8 gc
total cost: 27,8 gc
Assuming again a 5% critical failure rate, we get 90*0,95 base experience for 27,8 gc (135*0,95 XP on Day of Schools) which makes 3 XP/gc and 4,5 XP/gc on Day of Schools, respectively.
Crafting XP
Engineering XP
Tailoring XP
Tailoring is most likely the most expensive skill. Following the Guide to Tailoring, you will spend roughly 90 kgc until you reach Level 23 (69 kXP). Thus, we have 0,77 XP/gc. Since the costs account only for ingredients, but not for the time you spend, the actual number is even lower.
Ranging XP
Comprehensive XP calculation roster
| Skill | Task | XP/gc |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Polar bears | 23 |
| Defense | Polar bears | 46 |
| Harvesting | Mullein | 25 |
| Manufacturing | Leather Helmets | 5,6 |
| Tailoring | White fabric, red+orange dye | 0,7 |
1 second of your time accounts for 1 gc