Why upgrading the Monsarno Research Center first is better.

Brabsel

Alright: Now to the question how far you should upgrade. That totally depends on your style of playing. I think it would be good for everyone to upgrade to lvl 17, but beyond that I am not sure.

A simple rule. The more you tap the further you should upgrade. If you constantly send people on their tasks to earn currencies then you will profit more from the upgrades.
I will not make it detailed because it would be a chore to be honest, I will just try to explain the principle behind it.

Here is the explanation for it:

In this example we will assume we have 30 days in this event, have 2 people earning 5 fertilizers each every 2 hours and have to pay 100+n for each upgrade.

First upgrade would be 100, second 200, third 300 and so on. With each upgrade you would earn one additional fertilizer. So at the start it's 5, then 6 and so on.

Assuming we don't upgrade and do the job 8 times each day we would get a total 2400 fertilizers in the end. Those is also the amount of fertilizers we can spend on crafting.

Now we start upgrading to... let's say level 2. (faster that way)

On the second day, after doing the task 10 times, you would be able to upgrade to lvl 1. From then on you earn 12 per cycle instead of 10. On the fourth day you would be lvl 2. Earning more yet again. From then on you would only keep your fertilizer to craft in the end.

After the 30 days are over, you would have a total amount of 2982 fertilizers to use for crafting. More than without upgrading, which is good.



But what would happen if you upgraded further than lvl 2? For some time it would still be good and then it would be worse. I am not going to properly calculate that because I am lazy but I will give you an example.

Say you upgrade this to lvl 5, it would probably take until the 20th day. So you would earch 11 instead of 5 per task. But you only have 10 days left to save up fertilizer. In the end you would have 1760 fertilizer only. If you stopped upgrading earlier you would have more.


There is one specific point to which you should upgrade. Before that is worse and after that is worse. But that is not the same point for everyone. If you for example played less and only did the task 6 times a day instead of 8, then it would be better for you not to upgrade that much. Instead of 3 it would probably better to stay at 2. If you player more than normal people and did the task 11 times a day, then it would be better to upgrade more.


This was an easy example to explain the theory behind it. Tapped out is pretty much the same but with more variables. You theoretically could calculate exactly how far you should upgrade your research center but I doubt any sane person would do that. I will just go with my gut feeling.

But of course it still stands, upgrading as fast as possible is the best, until you reached your personal reasonable level that you think is good.

casby

if you want the detailed chart of what the payouts are for each upgrade, do as brabsel recommended to me in the act 2 thread

google tsto tapped out wikia click on the result with wikia in the title
click events
click terwilliger event
click building
click Monsarno research

there will be a detailed table with payout info (I'm looking at the upgrade from 16-17 now, I play very often and so will probably upgrade to 17, if I played less frequently I would probably stop at 11 or 13.

Brabsel

I would probably stop at 17 if I didn't play much and am going to stop at 20 or more because I play a lot.

casby

I think the upgrades are continuous (ie post level 20, it just keeps incrementing) I feel like having a fixed stopping point of 17 helps me (which if I wasn't close to I'd stop at 13 probably)although I dislike that the building we upgrade is also the building where all of the thumbs appear

I will look at the 18/19 etc upgrades once I see how fast I can earn fertilizer/ look at the other crafting things

philippama998

Ok, now this is getting longer and more difficult.

I couldnt find the doubling the payouts you are referencing, hence I went to the page you mentioned and did the math according to the table shown there.

Also in LPTs link I cant find a doubling (i believe you ment double from lvl1-6 vs. lvl 11-16.
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/0/10326784.page (SPOILER alert)

Ok, so we assume a perfect game, with perfect timing and 10 characters for each category for 8h (I am not sure where this is going so I develop it whilst I write):

Fertilizers you can collect in 8h:
Lvl 1-6
8h: 9
4h: 5
2h: 3
10*9+10(2*5)+10(4*3)=310

Lvl. 7-10
8h: 14
4h: 8
2h: 5
1h: 3
10(14)+10(2*8 )+10(4*5)+10(3*8 )=740

Lvl. 11-16
8h: 18
4h: 10
2h: 6
1h: 4
10(18 )+10(2*10 )+10(4*6)+10(4*8 )=940


Means in 16 h you can get
Lvl. 1-6 --> 620
Lvl. 7-10 --> 1480
Lvl. 11-16 --> 1880

Farmers market and update to Level 7 costs (acc'g LPT) :
Lvl. 7: 150+300+450+600+750+900= 3150
FM: 15250
Total: 3150+15250 = 18400

18400/1480=12,43 days

Farmers market and update to Level 11 costs (acc'g LPT: )
Lvl. 11: 3150 + 1050+1200+1350+1500=8250
FM: 15250
Total: 8250+15250 = 23500

23500/1880=12,5 days

Conclusion (to my very surprise):
It doesnt make any difference.

Edit:
Uggh. now my formula comes up as smileys

Brabsel

You forgot two things though. First and most important: in the second example you need the same amount of time but you have achieved level 11 already instead of 7.

Second: the event continues after that and doesn't stop with creating the Farmers market, thus you will have more resources the longer it goes on.

Edit: I am not sure if the second is clear like that. If more explanation is needed tell me and I shall try to explain it properly

Dotcom180

Brabsel wrote:

You forgot two things though. First and most important: in the second example you need the same amount of time but you have achieved level 11 already instead of 7.

Second: the event continues after that and doesn't stop with creating the Farmers market, thus you will have more resources the longer it goes on.

Word!

philippama998

Brabsel wrote:

You forgot two things though. First and most important: in the second example you need the same amount of time but you have achieved level 11 already instead of 7.

Second: the event continues after that and doesn't stop with creating the Farmers market, thus you will have more resources the longer it goes on.

Edit: I am not sure if the second is clear like that. If more explanation is needed tell me and I shall try to explain it properly

I guess you have a point there:

To get then in the end from Level 7 to 11 you need after that point of having the FM another 5100 fertilizers. With a rate of 1880 a day will take you this an additional 2.8 days.

Anyway: This is not the obvious choice :-)

philippama998

Dotcom180 wrote:

Brabsel wrote:

You forgot two things though. First and most important: in the second example you need the same amount of time but you have achieved level 11 already instead of 7.

Second: the event continues after that and doesn't stop with creating the Farmers market, thus you will have more resources the longer it goes on.

Word!

Powerpoint!

casby

another issue is that as you upgrade you might have a character that used to only be a youngster (ie only had the 8 hour corn task) but then becomes a youngster and a * (so you can choose the 1 hour fertilizer task instead) or a youngster brainiac (corn or dna)basically, the math is complex and different from town to town it depends on how much you play, which characters you have)

my current plan (I'm at Monsarno level 16, planning to upgrade to level 17 and then stopping (I want all characters working which is what the Monsarno 16 upgrade allowed and Monsarno 17 upgrades fertilizer (18= corn upgrade, 19 = dna upgrade, level 20+ who knows?

I think there's a point in everyone's town where upgrading further is not a good idea. (I dislike that this event is so complex and underexplained in game (the upgrade screen should tell me what the higher payout is I shouldn't have to rely on the internet)

izabellatrix

TL;DR

I read your summary at the bottom though. Thanks! It's good to know my initial instinct to upgrade first was right. :P

Ftball2theGroin

Yes, upgrading first is the clear answer. The only reason not to would be if you REALLY want the Farmer's Market and weren't planning on playing enough during Act 2 to save up the fertilizer again for it.

Vs1976

How many upgrade levels are in act 2?

amazonprimechic

I'm glad our extraordinary members are thinking about it and posting the numbers behind the reasons. :thumbup:

I didn't give it any real thought. 1st thing this morning, I just upgraded until my ferts ran out (lvl 17) . :oops:

baxbooch

Vs1976 wrote:

How many upgrade levels are in act 2?

This is what I want to know, and what rewards you get with each level. I only play 3-4 times a day (yeah, only) and I'm not so sure what my best move is. I had about half the fertilizer and over 3/4 of the corn needed when Act 2 dropped. I upgraded to level 12 I think, so now I'm starting over.

I really don't like crafting events, but it seems like they're not going anywhere.

baxbooch

Here it is. Looks like you can upgrade ad infinium. But how far is worth it for the level I play at. Damn.

http://i.imgur.com/G3rDD65.jpg

Brabsel

baxbooch wrote:

Vs1976 wrote:

How many upgrade levels are in act 2?

This is what I want to know, and what rewards you get with each level. I only play 3-4 times a day (yeah, only) and I'm not so sure what my best move is. I had about half the fertilizer and over 3/4 of the corn needed when Act 2 dropped. I upgraded to level 12 I think, so now I'm starting over.

I really don't like crafting events, but it seems like they're not going anywhere.

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/10326784.page

This helps a lot. You can upgrade in Act 2 as far as you want. It's unlimited. But how far makes sense you have to decide for yourself.

Edit: Guess I was a little too late, you found it yourself. My second post in this thread explains how to figure out which upgrade level is good. But I would just go by gut feeling here.

baxbooch

I don't want to decide for myself. I want someone way more into this game to do the math for me.

brickevand408

Best to lvl up to lvl 19? or further or less?

And I think I only Herbicide Squirter Level Up to lvl 3.

miraclemet

I'd say work to make it to Level 16 so you get all the buildings and unlock all of the character tasks.
After that it's a bonus.

With the start of Act 2 I leveled up to 14, and will keep going to 16 once I have more stuff!

casby

baxbooch wrote:

Vs1976 wrote:

How many upgrade levels are in act 2?

This is what I want to know, and what rewards you get with each level. I only play 3-4 times a day (yeah, only) and I'm not so sure what my best move is. I had about half the fertilizer and over 3/4 of the corn needed when Act 2 dropped. I upgraded to level 12 I think, so now I'm starting over.

I really don't like crafting events, but it seems like they're not going anywhere.

Level 13 upgrade gives you more DNA/task. I would see how quickly you are earning fertilizer and then decide. Based on your play style, I would hesitate before going to level 14 (civil servants get a corn task but some of those are already gluttons or pessimists). (I really only want to craft the FM and the gas station, I also hate crafting).

The math is tricky, I play a lot (I was within 20 donuts of the FM before the update dropped