It has been 48 hours since I was kidnapped into this game (please help me https://app.warera.io/article/6ad21eb078354656eb2c3750).
Over the past two days, I've been learning the basic game mechanics, particularly the economy, since I was apparently brought here to become a legitimate cash cow.
I've read several tutorials, tips, and tricks from various players. Among all the topics I've come across, one has caught my attention more than the others: how to optimize skill combinations.
Why this particular topic?
Because it was also the subject of my undergraduate thesis when I was studying Informatics Engineering (Computer Science).
So, let me put some of the knowledge I acquired during my university years to use. For once, my degree might actually be useful for something other than overthinking a browser game.
The problem here is an optimization problem, specifically combinatorial optimization.
In simple terms, we need to find the best combination of skills based on the total Skill Points (SP) available.
Let's break it down:
Cost: Skill Points. We receive 4 SP for every level gained.
Decision variables: Entrepreneurship, Energy, and Production.
Constraint: The total SP spent across all three skills cannot exceed the available SP.
Objective function: Evaluate how good a particular skill allocation is based on its production value.
In other words, we have a limited budget and three variables to allocate it to. The goal is to find the combination that produces the best result.
Sounds familiar? It is essentially a resource allocation problem, except the resources are SP and the investor is a sleep-deprived cash cow.
Based on the tutorials and advice I've read from experienced players, there seem to be two common approaches.
Some players prioritize Energy, followed by Production, with Entrepreneurship coming last.
Others prioritize Production over Energy, while still placing Entrepreneurship at the bottom of the list.
The details differ, but the general idea seems to be the same: Entrepreneurship is usually the last priority.
Naturally, this made me curious.
What if we prioritized Entrepreneurship instead?
Unfortunately, I can't simply test every possible combination on my own account. The free skill reset is limited to just two uses, so experimenting carelessly would be a rather expensive way to satisfy my curiosity.
Thankfully, I have access to a very patient research assistant: Uncle GPT.
Initially, I wanted to use a more advanced algorithm to find the optimal solution. However, I honestly couldn't remember which algorithms would be most suitable, and my free GPT account wasn't exactly ideal for a lengthy technical discussion.
So, I went with the brute-force approach.
Well, technically, I asked Uncle GPT to write the code for a brute-force search algorithm.
Why solve a problem manually when you can ask an AI to do the tedious part for you?
Since I only considered three variables, without company limits or management skills, I decided to calculate the possible allocations up to level 42.
Why level 42?
Because, under the skill progression rules I used, level 42 provides enough SP to maximize all three skills to level 10.
This gives me a manageable scope for comparing the different combinations without introducing additional variables.
And now, for the results.
At the time of writing this article, I am level 10.
Let's compare three different approaches at this level.
Option A: Prioritize Energy
Energy: Level 6
Production: Level 5
Base production: 22.5 per hour
Daily base production: 540
Option B: Prioritize Production
Entrepreneurship: Level 4
Production: Level 7
Base production: 15.5 per hour
Daily base production: 372
Option C: Prioritize Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship: Level 7
Production: Level 4
Base production: 14.3 per hour
Daily base production: 343.2
The results are quite clear.
At level 10, the Energy-focused allocation produces considerably more than either of the other two options.
Even when prioritizing Production over Energy, Option B still performs better than the Entrepreneurship-focused approach. Option C produces the lowest output of the three.
This becomes even more relevant when current salaries are significantly higher than the revenue you could generate by selling your base production on the market, excluding bonuses.
In such circumstances, prioritizing Energy may offer a better economic return than investing heavily in Entrepreneurship.
Of course, this conclusion depends on the current economic conditions and the assumptions used in the calculation. Still, the difference is substantial enough to make me reconsider the advice I've been reading.
Naturally, I became curious about the other levels.
Perhaps Energy only wins at level 10. Maybe Entrepreneurship becomes more competitive later.
So, I checked the results from level 1 through level 42.
Under the assumptions and parameters used in my calculations, the best allocation at every level continued to favor Energy.
In other words, if the objective is to maximize the production value defined in my model, prioritizing Energy appears to be the better approach throughout the entire progression.
At least, that's what the numbers say.
And as we all know, numbers are very convincing until reality introduces a variable you forgot to include.
This led me to another question.
Is maximizing one skill actually the best option, or could distributing SP across multiple skills produce better results?
Let's return to level 10.
Surprisingly, the highest production value in my calculation came from this combination:
Entrepreneurship: Level 2
Energy: Level 5
Production: Level 6
This combination performs better than simply maximizing Energy under the conditions used in the model.
So, perhaps the best strategy isn't always about pushing one skill as high as possible. Sometimes, a balanced allocation can deliver better results.
However, there is another problem.
At level 11, the best combination changes to:
Entrepreneurship: Level 1
Energy: Level 5
Production: Level 7
This means the optimal allocation at level 10 is not necessarily the best allocation to follow as you progress to level 11.
A combination that works perfectly at one level may become suboptimal just one level later.
Which raises an important question: should we optimize for our current level, or should we plan our skill progression around future levels?
Honestly, I don't have one.
I'm just a legitimate cash cow newbie who was born into this economy two days ago. It would be rather ambitious to pretend I already understand everything.
The calculations provide some useful insights, but they don't automatically translate into the best practical strategy.
My model focuses on production value under specific assumptions. It doesn't account for every possible economic factor, and the optimal result may change depending on salaries, market prices, bonuses, company limits, and other mechanics.
For now, I think the first step is to decide what I actually want to achieve.
I see two possible directions.
Option A: Focus on earning cash.
If I want to maximize my cash income, I should establish a target based on my current skill allocation and economic conditions.
There may be no need to reset my skills immediately. Instead, I can work with what I already have and determine which strategy offers the best return.
After all, spending valuable resources just to correct a decision I made two days into the game doesn't sound particularly economical.
Option B: Focus on producing goods.
If I want to focus on production rather than selling my labor for cash, I can follow an allocation based on Entrepreneurship and Production value.
That means prioritizing Production and Entrepreneurship, alongside company limits, to maximize my daily output.
The goal would be to build production capacity rather than simply maximize the immediate return from my own labor.
Neither option is necessarily superior in every situation. It depends on what I want to achieve and how the economy rewards each approach.
And that, I suppose, is the actual decision I need to make before spending any more SP.
For now, my next task is to decide whether I want to be a cash-generating employee or a production-focused entrepreneur.
Both paths have their own advantages, and I still have plenty to learn before making a confident decision.
At least I've managed to turn my first 48 hours of captivity into a small research project.
If anyone has experience with skill optimization, economic strategies, or a better way to approach this problem, I'd appreciate your input.
After all, I'm still a legitimate cash cow, and a more efficient cow is presumably a more valuable cow.
Please help me optimize my skills. The economy won't milk itself.