I discontinued this experiment over a month ago. However, I have realized that I need to keep talking about this in order to help players realize that there is earning potential in Land.
This article is for the hundreds of players with 1 active plot and the many more who have yet to test the waters and experience firsthand this fascinating ecosystem.
This also applicable to those who have more than one plot who are still hesitant to acquire more.
I hope I am able to inspire and empower more of you. And to those who own at least 5 plots, enjoy the bonus rewards while playing Ranked Battles! Just don't forget that there is earning opportunity, too, in activating your land plots and making sure there are in operation.
Looking Back: Beginning The Land Journey
We're going to take another look at our Canyon in Region 81, Dorthan Dell. If you remember, we bought this plot using the land earnings accumulated that week.
The price at the time was $14. It came with a Building-in-a-Box package but the plot hasn't been cleared yet. We had to build our worksite before the Quarry becomes availably for operation.
You can find that article HERE for reference.
Shortly after building our Quarry (we used Time Crystals to speed up the process), we assigned a single land worker just for the purposes of our experiment.
Enough DEC was also needed to be staked to ensure optimal performance from the staked land worker. Stockpiled Grain was also required for the worker to consume when we are ready to harvest.
We bought our initial stockpile using DEC for the first harvest. For the second harvest, we utilized the first two options below:
- Swap previously harvested Stone for DEC
- Buy Grain with DEC
- Send Grain directly from a different Region
We did not try the third option since our assumption was that this is the only land plot we have.
This can be done hourly if you want to but weekly is my preference, just right before the worksite hits 100% capacity. A feeding-harvesting system has been established.
Who says you need a Grain Producing plot in order to start with land?
When we ended our experiment (see HERE for reference), we were left with around 1,730 Stone.
I left it running for another week before I pulled the plug and netted a grand total of 2,219 Stone.
This will be our new starting point as we restart this experiment. I also sent the remaining Grain to a different region.
The Time Is Now: Land Experiment Reboot
Before we discuss what I am doing differently this time around, let us first go over the Efficiency Ratios of our previous setup.
We had a Common, Natural Canyon with a Quarry as the worksite. We staked a max GF Venari Heatsmith, therefore requiring 10,000 DEC for optimum performance.
We also harvest 4.4 Stone/hr. Deducting taxes, we net 3.96 Stone/hr.
20 Grain/hr was also consumed before we were able to complete our regular harvest.
In today's prices (June 3rd), 20 Grain = 1.253 Stone.
Our net earnings per hour is 2.707 Stone/hr which is equivalent to 0.38 DEC/hr.
See numbers below. Please keep in mind that these are results from rough math. I couldn't utilize Beaker's tool to isolate just this land plot out of all the other plots in my account.
| DEC/hr | DEC/day | BASE PP | Staked DEC |
| 0.38 | 9.12 | 2,000 | 10,000 |
With these numbers, and since we are assuming we only have a single plot, our ratios would be:
| LPE = Land Plot Efficiency | LCE = Land Card Efficiency | LDE = Land DEC Efficiency |
| (Total DEC Equivalent generated/hr) / (Number of active Plots) | (Total PP employed) / (Total DEC Equivalent generated/hr) | (total_dec_stake_in_use) / (DEC/hr*24) |
| 0.38 | 5,263.158 | 1,096.49 |
Obviously we can improve our ratios if we wanted to. This can be done by staking more and/or higher PP workers on the plot.
Just be mindful of the additional DEC requirements when modifying your land plot setup.
Mr. Flameblade, you are hired! Welcome to the team!
Venari Heatsmith now works in a different region. With this, our Quarry welcomes Grum Flameblade as our new Stoner! He is a 1 BCX GF Card that provides 2,500 BASE PP. A bit higher than his predecessor, a max level GF Common, who only had 2,000 PP.
Grum can collect 5.5 Stone/hr before taxes. We get 4.95 Stone/hr as net yield.
He also needs to eat more, considering his larger frame. 25 Grain/hr is what we will pay him.
There are no labor laws in Praetoria...
Following the same math as above, we need to acquire 25 Grain for 1.57 Stone.
Our net earnings per hour will then be 3.38 Stone/hr which is equivalent to 0.48DEC/hr. Slightly more than when we had Venari Heatsmith as our lone laborer.
The numbers below are based on the current setup. Again, please bear in mind that I did rough math with these numbers. Isolating just this land plot out of all the other plots in my account couldn't be done using the online tool previously mentioned.
| DEC/hr | DEC/day | BASE PP | Staked DEC |
| 0.48 | 11.52 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
With these numbers, and since we are assuming we only have a single plot, our ratios would be:
| LPE = Land Plot Efficiency | LCE = Land Card Efficiency | LDE = Land DEC Efficiency |
| (Total DEC Equivalent generated/hr) / (Number of active Plots) | (Total PP employed) / (Total DEC Equivalent generated/hr) | (total_dec_stake_in_use) / (DEC/hr*24) |
| 0.48 | 5,208.33 | 217.014 |
Though the LPE ratio could still use some improvement, you can't deny that this new setup is more efficient than the original one.
Looking Ahead: The Millstone And Further Land Optimization
Once we reach almost 100% worksite capacity, we will begin harvesting procedures.
I am forecasting we will need about 4,200 Grain ready for consumption before our next harvest (approximately 7 days).
Assuming the exchange rates for resource-to-resource swap don't fluctuate much, we should expect to spend around 260 Stone to obtain the Grain we need.
If we decide to sell all our Stone now, with today's exchange rates, we would get around 312 DEC.
Land Plot Efficiency (LPE) Improvements
Land Plot Efficiency (LPE) = (Total DEC Equivalent generated/hr)/ (Number of active Plots)
Improving our LPE Ratio is easy.
Generate more DEC from resources either by staking higher PP workers or add boosts to the plots using titles, totems, and Runi.
Land Card Efficiency (LCE) Improvements
Land Card Efficiency (LCE) = (Total PP employed)/ (Total DEC Equivalent generated/hr)
I have mentioned before that I'm not as concerned with this metric as the LPE and the LDE.
The LCE will vary a lot depending on the workers you employ and boosts you will use.
Land DEC Efficiency (LDE) Improvements
Land DEC Efficiency (LDE) = (total_dec_stake_in_use)/(DEC/hr*24)
This is the fun one.
We want this to be as low as possible. In order to do that, we need to either:
- Lower the DEC Staking requirement in the region; or
- Increase the DEC generated per 24 hours
For example, per my previous POST:
In case I want to further improve my LDE, here's what I can do. See samples below. Both are Rare, Natural Bogs in my home Region 50, Ia'telda. Both plots have max level workers,
I can:
Replace the max level RF Venari Wavesmiths with max level GF Chaos Legion Commons (Death or Water for terrain preference bonus) like Pelacor Decievers. It will require the same amount of staked DEC (10,000 for max level units) but will have more Production Points meaning more net resources available for swapping to DEC. More hourly DEC earned = higher denominator = lower ratio.
Replace the max level RF Venari Wavesmiths with lower level cards that can match the same production points (i.e. 23 BCX Rare Beta units). Lower DEC staking requirements will be needed due to the proportion of the staked card's BCX to the total BCX of its max level version. Lower DEC staked = lower numerator = lower ratio. Can also use fewer cards as long as the target PP per plot is met.
Sample comparison HERE.
The same stuff applies to our Quarry.
If you were the owner of this single plot, what would you do?
Grain-Producing Plots
What if we had a Grain plot instead?
See my sample spreadsheet calculations below. Let's assume we have a comparable plot - a Common Lake with a single BCX GF Legendary.
The hypothetical grain plot will generate 24.5 Grain/hr after food consumption and taxes.
This equates to 0.20 DEC/hr.
But didn't we get 0.48 DEC/hr AFTER converting some Stone for Grain in the computation earlier?
Yes, we did. 4.95 Stone/hr is the calculated net Stone received after taxes, but we still need to account for the cost of Grain. Based on an earlier computation:
...we need to acquire 25 Grain for 1.57 Stone.
Our net earnings per hour will then be 3.38 Stone/hr which is equivalent to 0.48DEC/hr.
More than double the amount of DEC we get if we had the hypothetical Grain plot instead.
Would you still rather have that higher priced Grain plot in today's prices? Are you still not convinced you can play the land game even without owning Grain plots?
One Final Math
I have seen other players compute for their ROI. Well, let's do ourselves some rough calculations, then.
For a $14 plot we have already purchased (14,000 DEC at peg), spending 5,000 DEC for a Power Core, and staking 2,500 DEC to ensure maximum production from our 1 BCX GF Legendary Worker, we get a total of 21,500 DEC as our initial investment on a single land plot.
From earlier calculations, we can assume our earnings from swapping Stone is 0.48 DEC/hr * 24 hrs * 365 days = 4,204.8 DEC.
We have 2 options regarding the worker:
- Purchase 1 BCX at 25,000 DEC; or
- Rent 1 BCX at 2.352 DEC per day which equates to 858.48 DEC per year.
The second option is what I am currently using for our experiment. Great rental fee.
Option 1: Purchase Worker
ROI = Net Profit / Initial Investment = 4,204.8 / (21,500 + 25,000)
ROI = 9.04%
Option 2: Rent Worker
ROI = Net Profit / Initial Investment = (4,204.8 - 858.48) / (21,500)
ROI = 15.56%
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this article. I hope I was able to provide valuable information and impart some ideas that can help you decide your next steps. I have grown my Splinterlands assets over the years and I plan to keep on building!
Whether you prefer the exhilaration of playing battles, the calmness and idleness of building your digital real estate, or just the fun of collecting these fancy images of collectible cards, I am hopeful that you enjoy your time here in Praetoria!
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, please let me know! Let's all learn and grow together and set each other up for success! VoNak! Together We Thrive, Kapamilya!
Interested in Splinterlands? Feel free to use my Referral Code and I can help you get started. You can also find me on X or message me on Discord.
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