Daily Gross Profit

[benbever]

3500 goods (20 gems) can turn into 12726 money with the corporate towers.
For 20 gems you can also buy 10000 money.
Turning goods into money also takes energy clicks. Turning 3500 goods into 12726 money with Corporate Towers uses 32 clicks.
Clicks are also worth money, since you can always use them to get 90 money out of a 30 minute Condo Highrise. 32 clicks is worth 32x90=2880.

So if you have no other buildings just Corporate Towers then buying goods is better.
But if you have 10 condo highrises then you can just buy 10000 money for 20 gems and use 32 clicks to get another 2880 money for a total of 12880. That's more than the 12726 money.

If you have Idea Factories as well and a lot of Glass Towers, then a click is worth 200 money. 32x200=6400. With 10000 at 20 gems that's 16400 for 32 clicks and 20 gems. More than buying goods and using Corporate Towers.

In short, buying money is better than buying goods unless you have almost no buildings. Buying energy is indeed a waste.
You're best off just buying awesome gem-only or expensive buildings though

Have a look at these gem shops:
Haunted Hotel 90goods->380 (220 gems)
Pizza Shop 100goods->430money (160 gems)
Pool Hall 120goods->440 (200 gems)
These are better (but also more expensive) than the Corporate Tower. Especially the Pizza Shop, with a ratio of 4.3.

A lot of Glass Towers is great, they give a solid 210 but can't be clicked very often.
Community buildings are better than they look. they only take 8 hours and can give energy back. The wind farm is the best (only one square) and the Opera and Aquarium are also great (they give 140 and 150.)
After testing I noticed that my wind farms give 2 energy back about 30% of the time. That means a wind farm is worth 2.5 times what it normal gives, or about 275 per click. That's even better than Glass Towers.

[threeway5]

I really enjoy reading your calculations benbever! You have quantified everything I consider in my head when playing the game.

Re: Money returned from Buildings vs. Purchased money from Gems. I only ever collect from buildings which are Sparkling, so you can add 20% to your figures above. (eg. 3500 goods can turn into 15271 money with the Corporate Towers). So my Corporate Towers return 5271 more money from purchased Goods rather than purchased Gems.

I also take your point on the Pizza Shop and Wind Farms (which I have definitely considered for my City). But the reason I don't use these Buildings is simple - Aesthetics.

Although I like to make money in the most efficient way possible with the goal of saving for Wonders, I only choose buildings which contribute to the overall look and feel of my City design. Therefore those other Gem shops and Wind Farms don't make the cut for me.

But still very useful advice for anyone else who may be reading this and want to gain the most efficiency gains possible out of their City!!

[Charsville]

I love Wind Farms and Glass Towers. You can hide Wind Farms behind Glass Towers totally out of view.

[hotbeef]

Dude, you take this game far to seriously

[79MattG]

My question is whether I am reaching a point where I should abandon Industry AND Business as they do not offer the best energy/coin ratio available based on my playing style.

I currently have 126 Glass Towers, 61 Wind Farms, 6 Idea Factories, 2 Skyview Restaurants, 1 Gas Station, and 1 Cineplex.

Glass Tower: 210 coins every 16 hours
Wind Farm: 110 coins every eight hours, 25ish% chance of +2 energy when collecting

So with 30 energy, I could collect 6600 coins from 30 Glass Towers. If the Wind Farm gives 2 bonus energy 25% of the time, with 30 energy I could collect 58 of them for 6380 coins, an average of 212 coins/energy.

Idea Factory: -120 coins = 180 goods every 2 hours OR -210 coins = 280 goods every 8 hours
Skyview Restaurant: -140 goods = 450 coins every 15 minutes
Cineplex: -150 goods = 470 coins every 35 minutes
Gas Station: -130 goods = 410 coins every 45 minutes

So if I spend 720 coins on six 2-hour contracts, it pays 1080 goods that costs me 6 energy to collect. With that I can supply the Skyview Restaurant (best coins/goods ratio) 7.71 times producing 3,471 coins that costs me 7.71 energy to collect. So a net profit of 2,751 coins for 13.71 energy, or 201 coins/energy. Worse than both the Wind Farm and the Glass Towers.

Here's my playing style: I work 8-9 hrs M-F, usually without a chance to play, though sometimes I can burn 30 energy on a break. I sleep 8-9 hrs daily, usually without a chance to play. So I can burn 30-40 energy before work, and 90-150 after work before bed, with a little catch up on some weekends. I've always collected before spending coins and energy on building, but I've found recently that M-F I never finish collecting and am simply amassing coins, and even on a slow weekend I can't spend the coins I've built up through the week.

For now I'm going to keep the industry and businesses because I'm afraid not using the energy on those might tip the scales so that I run out of collection and construction needs with leftover energy on the weekends. But am I nearing a point where I should sell off all my industry and businesses since the homes and community are a more efficient never ending stream of revenue? Or am I missing something?

[ggggdave]

94 glass towers, the haunted mansion, 39 community, 2 wonders = ~$30k per day.. All on a 4x3 city

[elwood99]

Just wondering what are your objectives of playing? Is it to earn the most money or to build the most beautiful city or get all the wonders?

Sometimes the payback period of building these glass tower are quite long. I gave up calculating all these a long time ago. I just build businesses with high ROI of goods and then rely on community buildings and housing to earn the rest. It is just a matter of time i will get those wonders.

[Charsville]

My objective is to have a big beautiful city with all the wonders. The more you earn the more you get. I love the glass tower. It's definitely worth the money. It makes my city beautiful and gives me a lot of coins. I have rows of small ugly community buildings hidden behind larger buildings. I think all large beautiful cities hide wind farms behind glass towers, corporate towers and wonders. I make around 100,000 a day depending on how much time I spend collecting energy. I have a lot of community buildings for extra energy. I have a dozen wind farms you can't see and a dozen soup kitchens hidden behind other buildings.

[psykopod19]

Just wondering what are your objectives of playing? Is it to earn the most money or to build the most beautiful city or get all the wonders?

Sometimes the payback period of building these glass tower are quite long. I gave up calculating all these a long time ago. I just build businesses with high ROI of goods and then rely on community buildings and housing to earn the rest. It is just a matter of time i will get those wonders.

Your objectives are your own. There is no right or wrong in this game. If you want lots of coins, you pack your city with the minimum of roads, lots of postal offices and glass towers. But to my taste, it doesn't make for a beautiful city. I you want to have a beautiful city, you need a road network that makes sense, you need decorations that compliment your buildings. You also need to plan the layout of your city. When my city was big enough, I stored everything I had and started building my city from scratch with distinct neighborhood (Downtown, Industrial, Residential, Beach, ...). Your city should reflect your personality