MMO Property Calculation
 

Hi Folks,

I am NOT a math genius like many of you and because I feared Dr Silverman's wrath I did not post this in the maths thread instead I post this as a puzzle! :-)

I play an MMO on my iPhone and currently I buy properties based on return on investment.

In the text file attached is the list of properties you can buy. each has a base cost, a fixed income (does not change) and a price increase for each that you buy (5%) each time.

So for example a Magazine stand costs $3,000 to buy the first time and then $$3,150 the next and so on

Once you purchase a property it provides income once an hour (based on the income column which does not change with each purchase). Thus each property you buy gives a decreasing ROI.

Currently I do a simple calculation based on ROI and buy the property with the highest ROI.

Q1) Is this the fastest way to make money in game or should I be following a different path!! Is time a factor?

Where the ROI is equal I choose the cheaper property to purchase as I have manually worked out that this is more efficient and I was wondering

Q2) If I was correct and if there were any formulas that proved this

I would appreciate any insights on the matter as I am trying to build a spreadsheet that will help my fellow players!

[QUOTE=Bundu;188442]Q1) Is this the fastest way to make money in game or should I be following a different path!! Is time a factor?[/QUOTE]

It's pretty close -- that's the way I would do it. But it is possible to do better in some cases.

If an expensive property has only a slightly better ROI than a cheaper one, it's possible that the return you'd get on the cheaper property while waiting on the more expensive one would make up the difference.

[QUOTE=Bundu;188442]I would appreciate any insights on the matter as I am trying to build a spreadsheet that will help my fellow players![/QUOTE]

I would generally go with your formula. It's the best you can do with no knowledge of the player's income.

It all depends on how long you gain income from the property and/or how long you will play the game. Given enough time the property with the highest income will always be the best choice.

Your total income from each property will be: totalincome = time*income - cost
So plotting totalincome as a function of time this will be straight lines with increasing slopes for the bigger properties, given enough time the biggest slope (income) wins.

It will always come down to how much time left of the game:
Say you have 1 magazine stand and $8,000 left and game runs for another 1 week (=168 hours), should you buy another magazine stand for $3,150 or save up $18,500 for a Barber Shop?
Option1: The extra magazine stand will in 1 week give you: 168*125 - 3150 = $17,850
Option2: You need to save for (18500-8000)/125=84h to buy barber shop, so you'll only get income for 84h, so barber shop will give you: 84*325 - 18500 = $8,800

Now if game had run for 2 weeks the figures would be $38,850 and $63,400 so Barber Shop would be the better choice.

Notice these numbers are not your total cash at the end of the game, but just the amount from the new property.

Does MMO stand for "massively multiplayer online" game?

If so, does it work anything like GIMPS?

[QUOTE=CRGreathouse;188457]It's pretty close -- that's the way I would do it. But it is possible to do better in some cases.[/QUOTE]

I am curious how?

[QUOTE=CRGreathouse;188457]I would generally go with your formula. It's the best you can do with no knowledge of the player's income.[/QUOTE]

A player's fixed income is only what they earn from properties. They can earn revenue from doing jobs or fights. Would this affect things?

[QUOTE=davar55;188513]Does MMO stand for "massively multiplayer online" game?
[/QUOTE]

Yep

[QUOTE=davar55;188513]If so, does it work anything like GIMPS?[/QUOTE]

A lot of the calculations are handled server side as all of the players need to be updated. But I suppose in some ways, yes it does as there are thousands of clients all working independently and then submitting results to a central server :-)

[QUOTE=ATH;188463]It all depends on how long you gain income from the property and/or how long you will play the game. Given enough time the property with the highest income will always be the best choice.

Your total income from each property will be: totalincome = time*income - cost
So plotting totalincome as a function of time this will be straight lines with increasing slopes for the bigger properties, given enough time the biggest slope (income) wins.

It will always come down to how much time left of the game:
Say you have 1 magazine stand and $8,000 left and game runs for another 1 week (=168 hours), should you buy another magazine stand for $3,150 or save up $18,500 for a Barber Shop?
Option1: The extra magazine stand will in 1 week give you: 168*125 - 3150 = $17,850
Option2: You need to save for (18500-8000)/125=84h to buy barber shop, so you'll only get income for 84h, so barber shop will give you: 84*325 - 18500 = $8,800

Now if game had run for 2 weeks the figures would be $38,850 and $63,400 so Barber Shop would be the better choice.

Notice these numbers are not your total cash at the end of the game, but just the amount from the new property.[/QUOTE]

time in these games I would say is pretty much infinite as there is no "end" as such. you simply play until you hit the top of a leaderboard or you get bored and quit!

and thanks for all the answers so far!!

[QUOTE=Bundu;188527]I am curious how?[/QUOTE]

I said how in my post! Here's a more concrete example.

Suppose your hourly income (from properties as well as fights, etc. -- the math doesn't care) is 10 units and that you can buy two properties: one costing 1000 and giving an hourly income of 12, and one costing 100 and giving an hourly income of 1. The first one has a higher ROI, so let's say you buy it first and then the other. (Maybe its cost increases enough after one purchase that the cheap one would be better.)

Hour 0: money 0, income 10/hour
Hour 99: money 990, income 10/hour
Hour 100: money 0, income 22/hour
Hour 104: money 88, income 22/hour
Hour 105: money 10, income 23/hour

Let's compare that to the other order.
Hour 0: money 0, income 10/hour
Hour 9: money 90, income 10/hour
Hour 10: money 0, income 11/hour
Hour 100: money 990, income 11/hour
Hour 101: money 1, income 23/hour
Hour 105: money 93, income 23/hour

This happens when the time to buy the more expensive building is large and the difference in ROI is small.

[QUOTE=Bundu;188527]A player's fixed income is only what they earn from properties. They can earn revenue from doing jobs or fights. Would this affect things?[/QUOTE]

Yes, if you're trying to beat the straightforward ROI rule.

If property A has a better ROI than property B and costs the same or less, or if property A costs less and has the same ROI vs. B, then A will always be better.

[QUOTE=CRGreathouse;188541]I said how in my post! Here's a more concrete example.

...snip[/QUOTE]

Lol, I should have read more carefully! DOH!

I will have a look at how I can work this into my sheet this weekend. I obviously need to alter it to take time in as a consideration and have some method for players accounting for "additional" income. I love a good spreadsheet challenge!

interesting.