CaveCrafterGuide 02 · Profit Loss
Compare ways to supply the same factory
A product can have a positive result when you manufacture its intermediates and a negative result when you buy all its immediate inputs. Profit Loss makes that difference visible using your production parameters.
Buying base resources: producing from the base
This is the first view and the default option in Profit Loss. It expands the recipe down to the catalog's base resources and adds the power used throughout the chain. Levels and mastery of upstream factories also influence the cost.
Profit Cycle shows the profit corresponding to one cycle of the final factory. Base-resource quantities and costs use that same reference output. Sell Price, however, is the selling value of one unit of the token.
The comparison uses proportional quantities for upstream stages. It is useful for evaluating the chain's cost, but it is not a plan of whole batches with surplus sales. Use Simulation for that different question.
Hypothetical example: selling 10 units in one cycle
If the final output is 10 units and Sell Price is 3 COIN, the cycle revenue is 30 COIN. If base resources and power throughout the chain add up to 14 COIN, Profit Cycle will be 16 COIN.
Do not subtract 14 from 3: the first value covers the cycle, while the second is the price of just one token.
Buying inputs: purchasing what goes into the recipe
In this view, the factory's immediate inputs are bought. The calculation does not manufacture each of them from the base: it adds their effective quantities multiplied by purchase prices, then includes the final factory's power.
The first columns let you compare Token, Profit Day and Profit Cycle. Token and Profit Day remain fixed during horizontal scrolling; Inputs, Level and Mastery are at the end of the table. In the base-resources view, the fixed columns are Token and Profit Cycle.
When you hover over profit values, check the explanation of cycles and daily playing time. It helps you spot when two factories have similar profit per cycle but very different durations.
Profit Cycle and Profit Day
Profit Cycle answers: “What is the result of running this factory once?”. Profit Day answers: “What is the result proportional to my daily playing time, keeping these parameters?”.
You can configure the hours in your day in the header with the Change button, or in Settings. An 8-hour day and a 3-hour cycle produce an estimate of 2.67 equivalent cycles, without rounding down to 2.
Hypothetical example: why the most profitable cycle does not always win
Factory A makes a profit of 12 COIN in a 4-hour cycle. Factory B makes a profit of 8 COIN in a 2-hour cycle. Over an 8-hour day, A estimates 24 COIN and B estimates 32 COIN.
Profit per cycle favors A; the result proportional to time favors B. This comparison still assumes that cycles can be maintained and that the prices considered remain valid.
A speed boost increases the equivalent cycles that fit into the period, but does not by itself change the output, inputs or power of a single run. See the daily-time formulas.
A comparison you can reproduce
- Set levels and mastery for your intended scenario. Use My factories to represent your setup, or the level modes to explore another assumption.
- Enter the power price per 100,000 units. At zero, power cost is ignored in the comparison.
- Select your actual boosts and daily playing time. Do not compare a boosted factory with another estimate without noticing the different assumption.
- Compare purchase modes. Buying base resources involves manufacturing intermediates. Buying inputs uses the market for immediate materials.
- Open Production Line to investigate the branches where costs are concentrated and try a combination of production and purchasing.