Rico's Casher
The casher strategy was the first strategy I learned to play. The casher
strategy is widely played and most of the time it's a casher that wins the game.
For those new players who don't know what a casher is let me explain it a
little. A casher is basically a country that only cares about getting the most
money per turn that it can. He then uses this money to buy his military and technology.
The two best governments for the cash strategy are Republic and Democratic. The
buildings utilized in the casher strategy are Enterprise and Residential. The
Republic gives you a 20% PCI bonus while the Democracy gives you a 10%
technology bonus. The math comparing the two governments makes many peoples head
spin.
The important Formulas to cashers are:
„h PCI (Per Capita Income) = (22.52-22.5*Tax Rate) * BusTech *
(1+(2*Entertainment Zones/Land) * Govt Bonus
„h Population = Population = Land * 11.5 * (1 + (2 * Res / Land)) * (1.047 -
TR) * Tech„h Revenue = PCI * Population * Tax Rate
„h Ent/Res Building effect on PCI : Pop Effect = 1 + (2 * Res / Land) &
PCI Effect = 1 + (2 * EZ / Land)
I find that the best tax rate for a casher is 34% but once the bushels market
starts getting high you may want to raise you tax rate up to 36%. But you should
never raise if above 36% when you're a casher. I prefer to buy my food and oil
off the market. Even if bushels are over $7 a bushel it is still more economical
not to build farms. Once you're on your way as a casher I recommend this
building ratio.
45% Enterprise Zones
45% Residential Zones
8% Construction Sites
2% Industrial Complexes (Set production to 100% spies)
Try to keep as much of your money in tech as you can without getting too
landfat. Tech will win or lose you the game. Shoot for max in all areas.
Remember 1 tech point is the same net worth as 1 tank. Once you hit 50,000 acres
you should just start to hit the cash button. You will find that you can make
extraordinary amounts of cash each day. Once you have reached this point you
will want stockpiling so you don't have so much military expense. Stockpiling
will let you get the most NW out of your country. You don't want to try and aim
for the #1 spot at this point because that is where suicider's love to hunt,
plus the expenses will kill you...being ranked near the top will be satisfactory
until endgame.
That is the basics of a casher now I'm going to go into the specifics of each
government.
Democracy
I personally like to see a Democracy casher start the reset as a monarchy to
offset those pesky 3 turn attacks and you really don't get any benefits from a
Democracy government until you get your technologies near max. The 3 turns per
attack really hurt a country that is teching so I suggest staying as monarchy
through your tech phrase. That's one more turn you save for teching and the
faster you have your technologies up the faster you can switch to casher. The
Demo casher is really only used in the Standard games. This is because in a
tourney it takes too long to switch from switching from techer to casher. In the
standard game it has a lot more time to do the switch.
Benefits of going with a Democracy Casher Strategy
Democracy not only is a good casher with Bus and Res tech near max, But if it
has weapons tech near max it would have the second strongest military next to
the Dictator government. You can get some really cheap military off of your
private market with military tech near max as well. Buying food, oil, and some
extra tech off the public market dose not cost as much as it would other
governments because of the 0% Market Commissions bonus it has.
Drawbacks of playing a Democracy Casher Strategy.
The biggest problem I see with people that play a Democracy Casher Strategy is
that they get lazy with getting their tech up. You only get any real benefits if
you have a ton of tech and every time you get land you need more tech. The 3
turns per attack means that you lose a turn to build on your land or get your
BPT up more but it still dose not affect the Democracy government too much once
it has switched to casher since it still losses the same readiness as other
governments. Only a techer should worry about this.
Republican Casher
The Republican Casher is my favorite strategy. I like to do an exploring startup
with A Rep government. Just go all defense for the first week of tourney and
explore a lot, I have sometimes found my self being very fat and a juicy target
when doing this startup because I explore for about 75% of my turns. But nobody
can break me because I'm all defense. Everyday you will find yourself gaining on
the top players who are normally Indy. Once you feel your ready to start
attacking you can do a PS a day. I like this startup because I don't have to
worry about switching anything since I would be cashing from the start.
Other people like to do a Commie Indy startup and then switch to Rep casher.
That's good also if you can manage to switch everything in one day. Always
remember that the switch should be done once you have 100 builds per turn. You
will probably not maintain top rank during this period, and you should not be
worried about it. 90% of your networth is gained in the last month of the game
in standard or last week in tourney.
Benefits of playing a Republican Casher Strategy
+20% Maximum Per Capita Income. What more can I say? The PCI bonus makes Rep the
best casher. You don't even have to have your tech maxed to play this well. You
can have Bus/Res tech at 175% and still pretty much cash more per turn then a
Demo with the same amount of land and tech maxed. The land exploration is good
for those who wish to do the exploring startup. The investment you put into
infrastructure early on will pay off down the road and you will rise through the
ranks later.
Drawbacks of playing a Republican Casher Strategy
The military strength disadvantage really hurts and it tends to discourage some
players from picking Republican. It really hurts more in standard because
everyone can see what government your playing and Republicans get picked on for
this very reason. But in Standard game A if you have a good alliance tag to back
you up you can do very well. In the March 2000 round there were 36 Republican
cashers in the top 100. That's more then any other government.
Dictator Casher
It is true that Dictator is not the best netgainer. In fact it almost sucks for
netgaining. But it is really fun to play. I love picking on Republicans with
this government. I would suggest doing a monarchy tech start with this strategy.
And make sure to build tons of construction sites, your going to need them.
Benefits of playing a Dictator Casher strategy
It kicks butt. The military strength advantage lets you get really fat. Though
having a stronger military doesn't always mean that you're going to get more
land but it dose mean that fewer people would want to attack you. Imagine having
the same military strength then the people who out rank you but your saving in
military expenses. Also some people don't know this but the military you get
from your allies also have a +20% military strength.
Drawbacks of playing a Dictator Casher
The Building Per Turn disadvantages takes it tolls and you really need a lot of
construction sites. Also the Dictator government dose not have any real bonuses
that would make it a great casher. The Rep has the PCI bonus and The Demo has a
tech max bonus. The Dictator would have a hard time keeping up with those
governments in the long run.