Does anyone know what the cycle is like on express, if it exists...

For example:

if Cashers did really well the previous reset and Farmers had a really bad reset then next reset Farmers have a good chance of doing well...

or do the bots stop such a prediction from having any value? If bots do have this effect then barring the bots do you know or have an idea of what the cycle would look like?

There are less than 70 legit player controlled countries on this server. The market is unstable as fluff. Good luck predicting it lol.

what fordy said applies to all servers, not just express.

not to the same extent though. i thought we had a talk about you spreading your stupid everywhere.

If you're looking for which govt/strategy are safe to play mFrost, you're going to be safe playing C/indy R/casher H/techer, just about every set.

Stay away from farmer / oiler / mb reseller strategies.

Why not farmer?
Not many techers are selling Agri tech.
You would need aprx 30k land to compete as farmer, since most of your food would sell between $25-$39. (which is roughly what a 15k land casher produces)
Requires delayed playing, which makes achieving 30k land almost impossible.

Why not oiler?
Oil gives one of the greatest returns per acre on EXPRESS when it's at $250+, but, the demand for oil is too low on EXPRESS. One oiler could literally supply the entire server the entire set. That being said, in order for my former statement to be true, you'd have to play Fascist. Which then means you're stuck with playing mostly farmer strat.

Why not reseller?
The two types of units in which resellers make the most $ on, are mostly bought by bots. (Troops/Tanks). And even then, that # is not very high. GDI basically kills the reseller strategy on EXPRESS.

pass the bar already

thanx for the replies...

@ mrford
there has to be some type of rhyme or reason to the markets, when looking at the scores, there is only so much a country produces, and then the markets need to be favorable for the strat to break thru the 20 mil ceiling. Unless there were some major changes in the last couple of years. I think part of that is because players recall their goods to undersell the current market, or to fulfill small standing orders which then drive the prices down. sounds like the bots are reacting the market direction. If they are selling food at $25, then there are huge opportunities for a Demo to cash in.

@ Marshal, I can see it to some extent on the few servers I am playing on. 8K Agri tech is really hurting :p

@ Celphi what you are describing almost sounds like a Techer's paradise, especially if agri tech is not available. What about the Biz/Res techs, are those in short supply also or still stable in the 4500-3500 range? SDI, Indie, and Military are also staples on a server are those being sold at normal levels?

are the bots playing farmer or is there something else going on? The question though is without food how are cashers and techers surviving without paying really high prices. I can understand the rare oiler reset, it never really was a viable strat for consistent top 10 spots.

what I am thinking is more like because techers made a killing, then more players will jump to this strat, commie was really bad so less players will play this strat. More techers would equal lower tech prices, and lower military would equal higher military prices. Cashers and farmers would have a decent reset, with a handful trying to play the curve, but commies would probably rebound, if not this reset then the next one.

are tech starts still viable on the express server?

I've seen sets where bots sell tech/food only and I've seen sets where bots sell military/food only.

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@ Celphi what you are describing almost sounds like a Techer's paradise, especially if agri tech is not available. What about the Biz/Res techs, are those in short supply also or still stable in the 4500-3500 range? SDI, Indie, and Military are also staples on a server are those being sold at normal levels?

Answer:
Bus / Res are the safest bet the entire set. The demand for military tech rises at end of set (but not always the price). Really, the expert to ask about teching is Ebert00 (Deathfromabove).
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are the bots playing farmer or is there something else going on? The question though is without food how are cashers and techers surviving without paying really high prices. I can understand the rare oiler reset, it never really was a viable strat for consistent top 10 spots.

Answer: There's two issues with farmers. Too much of it on market, & bots selling it on market at prices as low as $25. I cant even sell my bushels higher than my PM price the entire set.
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are tech starts still viable on the express server?

Answer: Tech starts work fine. Be warned though: last set was an example of how bots crash markets and there were a shortage of techers. If you goto eestats.com you can sort by govt type,. and help you determine which strategy is more likely to have a shortage or not. Again, it's not a sound proof method. As h20 described, it usually swings one of two ways. Tech prices crash or unit prices crash. So either techer or commie will have an *easier* set.
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thanx h20 and celphi the last cleared it up a bit in my mind.