Tree Farming

[Zaaps1]

You can also look at marginal cost going from one tree to the next:

 

Upgrading from Orange to Curry you pay 230gp for 430 extra XP, so that's about 0.5 gp/xp.

From Curry to Pineapple you pay 9500gp for 1700 extra XP, so that's a marginal cost of 5.6 gp/xp.

From Pineapple to Papaya is about 35000gp difference for 1540XP, so the cost is 22.7gp/xp. Even if you sell 6 papayas, marginal cost is still 26000gp, which is 16.9gp/xp.

 

Is that extra 1540XP per tree when upgrading from pineapple to papaya really worth 17gp/xp to you?

 

Look at the overall.

 

Pineapples are ~3gp/xp, Papaya are 8gp/xp, Palms are 12gp/xp.

 

So upgrading to papaya actually only costs an extra 5gp/xp.

[veziv]

You can also look at marginal cost going from one tree to the next:

 

Upgrading from Orange to Curry you pay 230gp for 430 extra XP, so that's about 0.5 gp/xp.

From Curry to Pineapple you pay 9500gp for 1700 extra XP, so that's a marginal cost of 5.6 gp/xp.

From Pineapple to Papaya is about 35000gp difference for 1540XP, so the cost is 22.7gp/xp. Even if you sell 6 papayas, marginal cost is still 26000gp, which is 16.9gp/xp.

 

Is that extra 1540XP per tree when upgrading from pineapple to papaya really worth 17gp/xp to you?

 

Look at the overall.

 

Pineapples are ~3gp/xp, Papaya are 8gp/xp, Palms are 12gp/xp.

 

So upgrading to papaya actually only costs an extra 5gp/xp.

It's the question of "marginal cost" vs. "extra cost".

 

"Marginal cost" is a term in economics that means "cost for the last unit produced". The reason it's useful to look at the marginal cost, rather than overall cost is that marginal cost is what you are paying for the difference.

 

In the most extreme example, if method A gives you 100XP for 1K gp, and method B gives you 101XP for 2K gp, would you ever choose method B?

 

Going back to our farming example, if the choise was "papaya or nothing", the cost would be 8gp/XP. However, the choise is "papaya, or pineapple and something else". So you have to look at how much you are paying extra for the extra 1540XP from a papaya tree. For example, you might find that upgrading your normal tree gives a better benefit for the same price than upgrading pineapple to papaya.

[Zaaps1]

You can also look at marginal cost going from one tree to the next:

 

Upgrading from Orange to Curry you pay 230gp for 430 extra XP, so that's about 0.5 gp/xp.

From Curry to Pineapple you pay 9500gp for 1700 extra XP, so that's a marginal cost of 5.6 gp/xp.

From Pineapple to Papaya is about 35000gp difference for 1540XP, so the cost is 22.7gp/xp. Even if you sell 6 papayas, marginal cost is still 26000gp, which is 16.9gp/xp.

 

Is that extra 1540XP per tree when upgrading from pineapple to papaya really worth 17gp/xp to you?

 

Look at the overall.

 

Pineapples are ~3gp/xp, Papaya are 8gp/xp, Palms are 12gp/xp.

 

So upgrading to papaya actually only costs an extra 5gp/xp.

It's the question of "marginal cost" vs. "extra cost".

 

"Marginal cost" is a term in economics that means "cost for the last unit produced". The reason it's useful to look at the marginal cost, rather than overall cost is that marginal cost is what you are paying for the difference.

 

In the most extreme example, if method A gives you 100XP for 1K gp, and method B gives you 101XP for 2K gp, would you ever choose method B?

 

Going back to our farming example, if the choise was "papaya or nothing", the cost would be 8gp/XP. However, the choise is "papaya, or pineapple and something else". So you have to look at how much you are paying extra for the extra 1540XP from a papaya tree. For example, you might find that upgrading your normal tree gives a better benefit for the same price than upgrading pineapple to papaya.

 

I'm not saying you're wrong, but it doesn't make total sense to me. But then again, I haven't taken any course in economics yet, so bear with me.

 

Rate of one - Rate of two = Difference in rates, right? If so, then it's an upgrade cost of 5gp/xp.

 

But your calculations make sense as well (as long as the numbers you used are correct, they look fine to me), yet it says that you pay an extra 17gp/xp.

 

What accounts for such a huge difference?

[veziv]

...

I'm not saying you're wrong, but it doesn't make total sense to me. But then again, I haven't taken any course in economics yet, so bear with me.

 

Rate of one - Rate of two = Difference in rates, right? If so, then it's an upgrade cost of 5gp/xp.

 

But your calculations make sense as well (as long as the numbers you used are correct, they look fine to me), yet it says that you pay an extra 17gp/xp.

 

What accounts for such a huge difference?

The reason for the difference is that we are looking at different costs. You are looking at the total cost for the entire job. I am looking at the cost of producing the final unit.

 

Instead of farming trees, let's take a more typical example from an economics class:

You own a factory that can produce chairs, and your best supplier cannot meet your demand. So you can get material for the first 100 chairs at the cost of 10$ per chair, but all other materials have to come from the guy who charges 15$ per chair. So if you want to make 200 chairs, your overall cost would be 100 * 10$ + 100 * 15$ = 250$. The marginal cost for each of the last 100 chairs would be 15$ per chair.

 

So if you could only sell your chairs for 15$ each, you'd make no profit on the last 100 chairs.

 

This idea becomes more important in more complicated situations. For example, if you have an option to make tables instead of chairs, it might become more profitable to switch to tables after making the first 100 chairs.

 

This is why you have to always look at the "marginal cost": every chair is produced individually, so you can switch to making something else the moment your best supplier runs out of materials, without having to make all 200 chairs.

 

Similar idea applies to XP for planting trees in Runescape: The extra money you pay for a better tree doesn't pay for the portion of experience you could get from a cheaper tree. It only pays for the portion of experience you are gaining by switching to a more expensive one.

 

EDIT: Note that when comparing two methods marginal rates will be higher than total rates, so if you start evaluating levelling methods using marginal gp/XP rates, be ready to see unexpectedly high numbers until you adjust to the new system.

[Zaaps1]

The reason for the difference is that we are looking at different costs. You are looking at the total cost for the entire job. I am looking at the cost of producing the final unit.

...

 

Ok I think I understand what you're saying.

 

My question now, though, is why analyzing the total costs isn't an effective way at approaching this. I get what you're saying about marginal costs, and I get how it works.

[bedman]

Don't forget that you get 9 pineapples with an ent + 2k on average per seed from scroll of life effect. Combine this with some smart buying/selling, and you can get far lower losses. (I bought papaya seeds for 33k, when they dipped, sold all my papayas before xp weekend at 2.8k each).

I also like the fact I can get 4/5th of the protection during my farming run (from Del Monte) and actually getting an end product that's worth something (papaya) + you are actually happy when scroll of life activates (40k vs 10k)

[Bladewing]

marginal gp/xp of the various trees:

 

oak (with payment) - 1.26

willow (with payent) - 2.12

maple (with payment) - 16.96

yew (no payment) - 22.25

magic (with payment) - 29.60

 

apple (with payment) - 0.62

banana (no payment) - 5.18

orange (with payment) - -5.92

curry (with payment) - 15.57

pineapple (with payment) - 6.96 (8.72 from orange)

papaya (with payment) - 11.41

palm (with payment) - 21.17

 

--

 

okay so how to use this data: starting with oaks and apples, keep "upgrading" your xp by keep moving up your tree on whichever list has the lower marginal gp/xp until you feel you are spending the right amount of money.

 

in increasing costs:

 

apple + oak

apple + willow

orange + willow

curry + willow

pineapple + willow

papaya + willow

papaya + maple

palm + maple

palm + yew

palm + magic

 

if your current combination of tress is not on that list, then you are wasting your money ;)

[manitstinks]

Okay this is not cool. Only 2/10 yew trees survived my 2 tree runs. Either this method is meh or im doing something wrong

[Leyenda]

Just remembering to do the run is the hard part.

Put a sticky-note on your monitor reading 'Do the run'

[Elf Spice]

Okay this is not cool. Only 2/10 yew trees survived my 2 tree runs. Either this method is meh or im doing something wrong

 

Either you forgot the supercompost or are very unlucky. I've had 3/5 yews die before.

[manitstinks]

I guess it's just the luck that I'm lacking. I will continue as I have no other choice w/ my 40 yew saplings.