Any player utilities?

Well it's a good thing I brought the harbor up, because I'd have been astounded if I logged in to find those at triple the cost! I'm glad it's shortlived. lol

As one of the experts in cafe, I would put in my two cents although the question is directed at Kahla .

For quantities, it seldom runs out in slow although it sometimes does in speed. The quantity available is dependent on the number of active players. For the prices, they are flexible but has been quite stable in slow. In speed, they fluctuate whenever a player bought a lot at a time. So, it is related to the quantity avaible and should not be a problem in slow. The prices are quite agreeable but the problem lies with storage costs. The storage is relatively high compared to other goods in that price range. The less you store, the more money you make. Store more than 20 wu is not recommendable. At the same time, storing less mean you have to be online more frequently to restock.

As for how many, I have heard of players running 9 at the same time. Personally, I would not choose to run that many because you would need extra warehouses to store the harbor goods. The risk of the price dropping in store is also higher when you focus on only one industry. If you have 2 or 3 industries, it is not likely that you would have anymore than 3 cafes.

Concerning how much time I log in... basically 2. That is because I am always logged in (except when I sleep). I would leave this for Kahla because I am not objective . Stress is the same because I am online for so many hours, there isn't much stress involved in purchasing. The advantage of the harbor is that it is stable, unlike the market where you depend on other players.

Cafe has its pros and cons. It could be quite profitable if you use it right. It is the most profitable starting store if everyone has the same ql in every goods. Cafe is also a relatively new industry so there aren't as many players with higher ql. However, you have to know how to set it up right or it could be a disaster. Another problem is that cafe is quite limited in long-term development. There is only one product that is not on RL 0 (as of now... something might be added in the coming rounds...). So, unlike some other industries (say textile or grocery), where you could be using it on RL 30+, chances are you would be knocking down your cafe when (or even before) you reach those levels. The cafes goods vary greatly on profitability as well, so choose wisely.

The cafe was the second shop I put in, so I was running it (along with one other shop) for the last three and a half weeks of the round. The harbor never ran out of supplies during that time when I needed to purchase them. And the costs varied only slightly now and then (+ or - 5 was the max, I believe, but I didn't keep records on that). So that pretty much just illustrates what dktc said.

I had three cafes by the end of the second week, I think, and that's the total I kept to the end. I had no trouble stocking enough supplies in the warehouse to keep the shops filled. It became a little trickier when I started making extra of some products to sell on the market - either I had to buy another warehouse to stock more cocoa beans, or lose a little sleep. I chose to lose a little sleep and take a short nap later.

On average, per WU, one cafe sells the following products that use harbor purhases to produce (and this is without upgrading the shop):
14 coffee
14 tea
14 cocoa
15 white coffee
9 chocolate cake

So that's a total of:
29 coffee beans
14 tea bushes
23 cocoa beans

Since I was running 3 cafes, I was able to stock enough harbor goods to produce 5 WUs worth of products without buying another warehouse.

During the day, I'm generally able to log in every couple hours or so for a few minutes, so I purchased enough harbor goods for 2-4 WUs at a time. That way, I saved some storage costs. At night or when I was going out, I bought 5 WUs worth. If I'd needed (or wanted) to, I could have stretched that longer by buying another warehouse.

I haven't done the math to be able to say with any confidence whether it's a good choice for those who can only log in once or twice a day. Certainly the storage costs would be more of a factor. And of course for someone who can't predict when they'll be able to log in next, they'd need to store more at a time in order to ensure they don't run out. But it worked well for me, even when I was too busy to log in often. Agriculture is similar in that produce that is only harvested once a year makes storage fees and extra warehouses more of a factor.

Zitat

Originally posted by John Smythe
Dktc, if you think this is nonsense, please let me know since I have nothing to lose in one more quick reset at the start. It's all been experiments till now.

Nah, it is your decision. DIY is one of the most commonly recommended industries for new players and there is nothing wrong with toys... so... good luck