Category:Income

Overview
Throughout the majority of games in The Conquerors 3, is a battle for the highest income. The currency is referred to as 'cash'. Cash is used to purchase virtually everything in the game. Without enough cash to provide an army, you stand a much higher chance of defeat.

To generate cash, plants must be placed near a Normal/Super Crystal and any soldier/building of the same team at the time of the construction (a soldier can leave the area after it begins to be constructed). The generation of cash is represented by cash per minute, or more commonly known as CPM or $/M.

Economy Strategies
Refer to the Economy Graph for the graph on which this analysis is made.

The economy is the most important part of the game, allowing players to produce cash to pay for every building and unit in the game. There are 3 types of economy buildings: Power Plants, Nuclear Plants, and Oil Rigs. All players have to make the decision on which to use regularly. But which type of production building should they use? Let's look at the information below.

Power Plants vs. Nuclear Plants
Every type of income production building has a different cost and income generation per minute. Generally, Power Plants are used for quick economic development while Nuclear Plants are used for high cash generation over time. While Power Plants earn back their initial cost after 6 minutes 30 seconds, Nuclear Plants earn back their cost after 8 minutes 40 seconds. Until the 13-minute mark, Power Plants are more profitable than Nuclear Plants. The net profit generated by both Nuclear and Power Plants is equal to 65 cash at 13 minutes. This is important, since after 13 minutes of time, Nuclear Plants start to be more profitable than Power Plants by 5 more dollars per minute after 13 minutes. The 13-minute mark holds true for multiple plants, for example, 5 nuclear plants are as profitable as 5 power plants after 13 minutes of time.

Oil Rigs
Oil Rigs are another production building, although they produce cash from the ocean. The initial cost of an oil rig is almost half that of a Power Plant, making them very profitable. However, there's a catch: Naval Shipyards need to be built to produce them. The added cost of a Naval Shipyard means that equal numbers of Oil Rigs are only more profitable than equal numbers of Power Plants if 3 or more Oil Rigs are built. What does this mean? Well, since Oil Rigs produce the same CPM as Power Plants but cost less relative to them as more Oil Rigs are produced, it is unprofitable to build less than 3 oil rigs if crystals are still available. Of course, this doesn't consider the value of the Naval Shipyard to produce other ships, but it is important to note that building Naval Shipyards simply to produce 2 or less Oil Rigs (like in the map Golf) is less profitable than making other production buildings.

Other Information

 * In most cases, Super Crystals (which produce 2x more cash) should always have Nuclear Plants built upon them. This is because Nuclear Plants' advantage over Power Plants in cash production doubles, and they become more profitable than Power Plants after only 6 minutes 30 seconds.
 * Oil Rigs are always more profitable than Power Plants if they are made from allied shipyards (assuming the player has not made their own shipyard as well)
 * A few Power Plants can be used in the beginning of the round for faster economic development, but Nuclear Plants should be placed when a player is unsure of when the round will end.
 * A Nuclear Plant has the same net production of cash as an Oil Rig at 19 minutes or 155 net cash production, not factoring in the cost of a Naval Shipyard.

Trivia

 * The Nuclear Plant had a price buff in the May 2020 Balance Update.
 * 'Eco' is a commonly used abbreviation for economy, and refers to your CPM (cash per minute) at the bottom right hand corner.
 * Super Crystals were added into The Conquerors 3 as an update in April of 2018.
 * In RyRy's Oil Map one of the Super Crystals is floating.
 * An oil spot can hold eight oil rigs if made tightly together, this is because it is possible to make oil slightly outside the black oil circle but still touching it.
 * The Oil Rig was in The Conquerors 2, The Conquerors Mark 2 and The Conquerors 3!

Power Crystal/Super Crystal
[[File:Crystals.png|thumb|220x220px|



]] A side by side comparison of the Power Crystal (Right) and the Super Crystal (Left)

Normal Crystal is a resource you can build next to gain the normal amount of money.

Power Crystals are where you will be able to build the income buildings except for the Oil Rig, which needs to be built on an Oil Spot. These crystals are located variously throughout all of the maps. They are bright green, with the exception of the Ice Cavern Map, the Blizzard 1 map, as well as the Blizzard 2 map. Super Crystals are the same thing as Power Crystals but they give double the amount of income as Power Crystals, are bigger and have particles swirling around them.

Oil Spot
Oil Spots are found on some maps with water. They look like black spots on the surface and are easily distinguishable. They are similar to power crystals and super crystals on land, as they are a source of steady income. To make use of this, one must bring an oil ship over to it and press "N", which will create an oil rig over the spot (see oil rig).