CAC price & use

And thank you for the post in the feedback thread

 

how true, i did this one day before harvester ran out and made 2million cc. just need to spread the crops around so you dont flood the market. now that harvester has run out a tear runs down my cheek everday. why bp is the harvester so expensive?

in time the price of cac will go back up if enough new players keep joining the game along with veteran players dieing off.

 

Thanks Mir for starting this thread as it makes for a very interesting read. I had not looked at things in quite the way you presented them. Up to now I have only been able to use CAC during an event and have only used PPP one time during the last MM.

I don't see me using PPP regularly for the very reason that the majority of the time extension for CAC would be hours that I would be asleep. I'm curious if you see it as a good idea to use it during MM as I do tend to sleep less and farm more during that short time period. I do think it's a better plan to use multiple buffs before you apply the PPP to give it more value.

Up to now CAC prices in my market were regularly 70-72K and leading up to and during an event they would go up over 100k. That is a large chunk of CC's when you're a new player to spend. The non-event crops I grow during that time are all going into my barn as I do not have huge stocks of anything as of yet. I'll have to think about growing a cash crop instead of trying to replenish stock. In all fairness since I started playing there have been almost non-stop events so it's been really hard to participate in those do FSQ's at the same time and also try to build up stock of anything.

I will admit though I have a tougher time with the market than it seems most of you do so I'm still well off from making that first million.

 

At 45K CCs, it's still profitable to sell CAC -something I haven't been doing, though, since it got below 100K CCs each-, even if you don't disregard the virtual cost of sugar for making it. It should get as low as 38/32K to become a loss maker.

I use CAC almost daily, always coupled with PPP, just because I launch all the appropriate other buffs at the same time. For me, it's definitely the best way to use both it and the rest of the buffs coupled with it. For those having the Cloud House item, PPP is actually gotten at no cost (even though I use roughly 1 PPP/day, my stock has only dropped to 160 from 180 in about 6 months....; negligible). But, if I had to buy it, that's the cost I'd assess, not CAC's: at 18K CCs per piece in my mkt, the extension of buffing it provides is largely compensated by what I get in return, also when I use it with mostly animal pens in all fields... Largely.

The reason why stock of PPPs has dropped so little in such a long period (and I sold some, perhaps 10 or 15 of them) is that, at almost 24 hs when applied over CAC+ZAB, it allows me to fully profit from those buffs effect and bridge that set with other things till the next almost 24 hs set is activated; therefore, I get very close to the 36 hs the Cloud House needs to deliver another PPP. Besides, when doing animals, especially lately -quests/events have brutally pillaged animals of all sorts from my barn in the past few months-, I sometimes don't activate PPP simply because I do animals during the day and launch workshops late at night (in this case, I couple them with PAC), something achievable by coupling VP (and, sometimes, CheeseBall) with the 10 hs of the Easter CR's effect -initially boosted by the 5% of the most recent CR, that lasts just 30 min-.

So, since the Panda's CR will deliver 1 CAC every 48 hs (very good news from my standpoint), I may now eventually from time to time change that and not activate PPP with one CAC+ZAB set. But I know I'll rarely do that because it won't be very efficient for me.

The one thing I think a waste and never do -though I understand it works for others and why- is to eat several CACs and PPP afterwards: it simply doesn't make any sense for my farming style, defined in a large proportion by nFHOs and their wide variety of requirements that make me hop from one crop (or workshop) to the other, all the time; not even during events, because it's then when the waste for me deepens.

In short, CAC should become too cheap (let's say, permanently below 25/30K CCs) to make me change the way I use PPP with it.

 

Gee, and I thought I was doing good to have 2 PPP in my pantry. Must be nice to have a giver item that gives PPP. At 18k per, I can't justify buying them. They are not in my budget.

 

I place three CAC and ZAB with a Pinkie Pie, I think I get about 72 or 78 hours but, now thinking of doing what Mir mentioned and do four or five at a time, Since they are constantly running on my farm. Only I thought I read somewhere way back that the Pinkie Pie will only give a certain extra amount and will not exceed any more extra buff time after so many products used. That's why I stuck with three cacs and zabs.

 

I have ALWAYS used CAC and other buffs the same way! It makes no sense at all to extend a CAC alone as it just runs down as I sleep the PPP away! However, if I am applying CAC anyway along with other, shorter buffs I may use a PPP if I have one. I never buy it on the market though. The 18 hours that a CAC gives are more than enough for a days work down on the farm. Much like @-Mir85- , I use it when I wake up, and if I see it run out I know that it's seriously time to back away from the farm and get some sleep.

After giving it some thought, I have decided that the free CAC given by the cloud row shouldn't have much, if any at all, effect in the market. Not everyone will manage to get it. Those who do will still use the ONE that they get for their own farm, and still produce more if they use it every day. I don't have the recipe. I "win" it from events, it is gifted, and I have been known to buy some on the market when it gets below 50,000 CCs on my market.

I am seriously rethinking my strategy with my confectioner as I am not addicted to CAC. (Silly thought just came to mind, bear with me....ahem....CAC is whack!) LOLOLOLOL Sorry, couldn't help myself right there. I may focus on purchasing other recipes before this, but I think in the future I still may. As we level higher on the farm and the output needed for FSQs grows along with the TIME necessary for these crops evolves, so should ones use of this consumable.

 

Well, the key to getting the most of CAC extended by a PPP (which also means extending, for me, at least ZAB and EM) is not starting it in the morning, something I carefully try to avoid -but I'm sometimes compelled to-. I try instead to start a CAC+ZAB set, extended by PPP, after noon, at any time good for having something ready for harvesting and then I plant any set of crops to be ready for harvesting before going to bed (1 or several rounds: it depends on what I need to produce and if I have the time to be around as often); I then plant the longer one overnight. That works very well for me.

It's been a long time now since I last started a CAC without starting a ZAB at the same time. That's why, for me, analysis of the effect of extending anything with PPP cannot be limited to one single buff -CAC in this case- but to the whole set of specific buffs the PPP will affect at the same time.

When PPP was introduced in the game -it was around Christmas, in 2013, I think (or maybe 2012)-, in the event that gave the Cloud House as the top prize -along with the recipe, if I recall well-, I said it was a game changer. It's been for me, indeed. I then also said its price in mkt should at least converge to one third that of CAC -which is only happening now-. For a long long time, years, people gave it away, a mad thing to do in my opinion, at way below 10K CCs each; mad, given the massive benefits it provides. I bought loads of it while it was very easy to get for around 4K CCs, even less.

The reason why PPP got so cheap, even though it always has cost at least 50% more to make than CAC, was that too many players having the Cloud House item did not use it frequently enough, either because they stacked several CACs and then extended the whole stack with it (probably then needing 1 or 2 per week, while getting 4 or 5 from the item) or they didn't figure out how to get the most of it. As any seemingly abundant thing, they started to give it away. Till it started to get scarce: now.

Many also used it, while it was as cheap as 4K or so, as a means to level up in Bakery, a very clever strategy if you were buying those given away by others but rather risky if you were just consuming the ones you got from the Cloud House.

One interesting behaviour of PPP is that it extends, for example, 2 CACs, all the set of 2, even if applied when the first one has already expired, something useful for the flexibility it provides (for instance, if you need to adjust your plans). I tried this many times -I discovered this behaviour by chance- and it always works.

Finally, as far as I'm aware of, you can stack as many of the same buff as you wish: PPP extends all of them in one shot.

 

Hi Aluntino I think your strategy is a great one to get the most out of the products Might try it out, but not sure It's for me, like I said, convenience should not be undervalued

DB, you are right that there is a limit, but it is a lot higher than that. Couldn't find a FAQ reference in this forum (I thought I had seen it before so it might just be that I can't find it right now), but it's in the German FAQ. PPP extends a buff with a maximum of 200 hours, which means it extends over 30 CACs

 

Here is a Different Perspective on using PPP on Buffs to Extend Effectiveness by 30%. As I have a Cloud House Pet that gives me a PPP Every 36 Hours.

For Example If I activate 2 X CAC That gives me 36 Hours of +2 Crops Per Harvest and I have Used a PPP Prolong CAC Effectiveness by almost 12 Hours therefore just short of 48 Hours. Within Next 36 Hours I would got back the PPP I used from The Cloud House. I would have CAC still Running for the Next 12 hours.

Another Alternative Example is that if you are Growing Animal Pens and Use Valentine Pots and Cheese Balls. Since these two buffs are so cheap to buy in the Markets. There is no point using PPP with these as the combined cost of Valentine Pots and Cheese Balls is cheaper than the cost of PPP. Therefore When at times I Put out Animal Pens. I put my surplus PPP from Cloud House PPP into my Barn. As I Always use PPP During Events or When i have CAC Running

Some of Us have been Fortunate to Level up the Bakery Quickly using PPP, When PPP was really Cheap to buy in the Markets. Now it had steady gone up in Price. As Aluntino Quiet rightly said as PPP is still very expensive to Craft. I am Sure Many of you would love to have Cloud Row Pet that gives PPP. It is Possible that there might be a cloud row that gives PPP. If this Happens I know for certain that CAC prices will fall further down in The Markets.

I do not sell PPP in the Markets as they are too useful and Valuable to Me. Since they are very Expensive to Craft !!! I hardly use ZAB as The EP on My Main Farm is no longer Essential to Me. But Bahm EP is Essential. So using ZAB Takes Up a Gold Slot I Now use Easter Marmalade and Spring Wreaths and Use PPP with these Buffs. As it Help Me boost ALL The Bahm EP I get from the Shipwreck.

 

Well, for me, coupling 2 CACs with 3 EMs + 3 SprWrs (just to equate them to the 36 hours base buffing time CACs would provide) and extending them with PPP would mean to invest, at my current mkt prices, (2*40+3*45+3*62+1*18 )K CCs = 419K CCs, and that doesn't do: it'd be a waste of resources with loads of buffing effect lost because I cannot "bridge", simply because I have the bad habit of working, eating and sleeping..., daily.

With those many CCs, if I wanted to, I could buy 54 Puff Cakes that would yield 216K EPs when eaten or almost 42 Red Punches that would yield 105K B-EPs and I would largely gain if I chose to do so. Besides, it would mean that, for saving just 18K CCs -if I had to buy that "extra" PPP-, I would spend much much more than that and wouldn't get a real kicking result in return: it doesn't make much sense for my farming style, which, I repeat, requires to jump from crop to crop or workshops/animals all the time to keep stocks in line with the high demand I constantly get from nFHOs and -in the two latter cases, lately- also from quests/events.

By activating such a coupling, the gain in EPs and B-EPs I'd get from trees and givers (the other items in game EM and SprWr affect when doing crops in tree-free land), in my farm, would be less than 10/15K B-EPs/day and less than 45/60K EPs/day when compared with coupling ZAB, CB and EM with CAC when doing crops in my tree-free land (so much so that this is the case even though I permanently dedicate roughly 30% of all non-barren lands to trees, among them, 5 XXL, 3 XL an 1 plain jumbo trees). When doing animals and/or workshops, the gold slots are needed, for me, for the related buffs.

That's why I strongly suggest to carefully assess what's the best for yourself based on the actual configuration of your farm. What's convenient varies a lot depending on that, on what you're doing at a given moment/period, and on what best fits your schedule and works with your will of doing things as easily as possible without complicating yourself too much. Bear in mind it's just a game...

 

I think they mean that the max time inclusive the buffs extra time can run for max 200 hours. I believe I've read it somewhere on Danish forum long ago but I'm not willing to bet on it

 

I have waited to post my thoughts about CAC until now because I wanted to reflect on it a bit longer.

I think it is a basic premise that the time and resources (crops, CC, time) to level up the Confectionery to be able to produce your own CAC is significant. When I began playing, CAC was close to 100k making it completely out of my scope of farming. In time, I did get some from events and some from very kind and generous neighbors/friends. The best suggested product these days is lavender jam( in most cases) to use for trade points. In the days I was buying products to level up, lavender jam was triple the cost it is now. For a long time, I could only buy apple jam or rhubarb jam.

I had waited and worked hard to gain level 4 and had planned on waiting until a 1/2 price sale to buy the recipe. With them so few and far between, impatience won and I bought it at the full price (199 BB) just for a sale to happen less than a week later. I was only upset with myself for not waiting but that investment has proven itself well worth it many times over. CAC is a game changer and one we all strive to achieve-- it enhanced my enjoyment of the game significantly as I was able to do more.

I do understand (and sympathize) with those who are truly distressed over the cloud row offering CAC every 2 days. I do use CAC for events and when I need to crop farm for stocks or feed but my focus for almost a year has been animal husbandry. I do not make it to sell but use it for events and gifts (birthdays, level ups and SOS...) so I do appreciate the problem of someone who used CAC sales as a source of income that is now feeling the CC pinch with lower prices. In my market, CAC has been running 50-60k during events and has now dropped to mid 40s. It is still profitable to sell but admittedly the margin is smaller. I never sold it because I do not have enough sugar stores to make it and EM to use daily.

As far as the cloud row goes, the CAC awarded every 2 days will give players the flexibility to possibly change their playing style. Some may grow crops more and all will have improved odds of completing events and quests. It also means that I can farm CAC crops less and work on other farming goals. I know that when I was working on two crop intensive quests (No Rest and Garden Expo)that progress was slow because of having to stop growing those crops in order to grow crops for CAC. For me, the row removes some worry about crafting a desirable product. It will not be enough for players who do not have the ability to make CAC to use it daily without supplementing from the market. There are also many experienced players who do not craft it but would rather buy it in the market. There are also a lot of players who have not reached level 40 to be able to open the jam factory, who have the shop open but not level 4 and those who will not buy the recipe as they use their BB for other uses. I have a lovely neighbor who does not have the CAC recipe but has been around ages. Her strategy is to make the honey banana jam to sell and then buy CAC since no real money is spent on the game.

Again, I am truly sorry that many of you are upset with CAC being given with the row but for me, it is a nice feature of the row and will only enhance my enjoyment of the game. Since I have been here, there have been many 'cash cows' that are now not a good source of income. We have seen that with the addition of production trees. There are still farmers out there willing to grow what I am not (many products) and for that I am thankful. For example, I am doing some chicken farming today as chickens are still selling well and so is manure and I have the ability to be at the computer frequently today. I am milling goose feed right now but ran low on chicken feed (hungry little birds). Rather than interrupt the goose feed, I trotted to the market and bought it...probably made by someone with CAC and oat bread...if it keeps me from having to harvest every 10 min to build it up myself and make it...I would gladly send that farmer my CAC from the row...My point is that the end craft item (CAC in this case) is just the vehicle to rework your strategy to find other ways to make good CC....I know you are all bright farmers and will find the fit that is best for you...Best of luck to you and Happy Farming!

 

I'm a stacker - 5 at a time with ZAB/EM and then PPP to extend. I always start my run in the evening. Now I don't do this for any clever reason other than it stops me from forgetting the CAC during events!

 

Ups really bad memory glad I didn't bet anyone...

Had to check it out.... ate 10 CAC and a PPP



Sorry for my earlier post 32

 

Thanks for checking I tried to find a clearer statement, but didn't manage too.

 

Hard call here...I don't see the benefit as good with 10 CAC's and a Pinki Pie?? I see better benefits with three or four CAC's

 

I adore this new CR and the CAC it gives!! ......exactly for the reasons pnp so eloquently pointed out!!! Yeah!!! no more constant gathering of hazelnuts, onions & carrots! Before that, with PJ...it was always growing or buying pumpkins!!! I feel like the pressure to be buying or producing the ingredients for CAC has been relieved a bit!
I'm with TC here...forgetfulness and being in a rush to harvest & replant.....so I usually stack 5 CACs with whatever buffs would be relevant for events or breeding etc. and of course CB and plop a PPP for extended time!

 

Now, I just know I will be a low rank farmer when all of the posts in this thread make since to me, as of now it will take days of re reading just to get all the value from the knowledge shared here.

Thank-you one and all.

A lot here explains the use of PPP and CAC that I didn't know, I too feel for the ones that see it as a bad thing that now every 2 days I can get one free, who are we kidding just put I get one at all.
And that really is the way you should see it too, I can't be the only one that never used it as I just could not afford it only gifts from great farmers gave me the chance to use it as they gave it to me.

But did you ever stop to think of this?
The geese were the 1st event that I was able to make half my CC back as to what I spent on the stalls, and yes, because one of them great farmers I know sent me a CAC and I was able to go for broke making wheat and other crops beforehand. <would have made more but too chicken to risk the market race any deeper>

Now, my point, I got money I never would have made before, making it a open way to me to buy other things, like a CAC see now I can afford to buy one <well in time in theory as I still have too much to buy still to new but in time> Now because a new way of money for me has been made, I can look to spend so I can make even more CC by crop growing.

It will be a long time before I get to level 4 jams, so I will need CAC between what my row gives me, and I will be buying as I am growing as a farmer.

It may not be a makers market anymore, but new business has been made, and new customers have been made, I will be buying soon as I can start to make money now.

 

I found the OA to Pinkie pie pie