Balance
Is a better pickaxe worth its price when most of the trip is walking?
A tool that mines twice as fast does not make a player twice as rich, because walking, carrying and selling take the same time as before. This entry shows how to work out how fast an upgrade pays for itself.
Can players buy and sell in a circle between traders and get rich from nothing?
With many traders and items, a profitable circle is easy to create by accident and hard to spot by eye. This entry shows how to search your price lists for one, including loops of three or more steps, and what a tax does to it.
By how much must I change a number to hit a target time when part of it is fixed?
Halving the time a goal takes does not mean doubling the rate, because walking and waiting do not speed up. This entry shows how to compute the change a knob needs, when the target is out of reach, and what happens with whole numbers.
How much of the evening goes to feeding furnaces and refilling campfires?
Machines that must be refilled are fun until there are six of them and the player is only running laps. This entry shows how to turn the burn times of your machines into the share of play time spent on chores.
Is the gap between rich and poor players about skill, or only about hours played?
Veterans naturally own more than newcomers, so a single inequality figure for all players says little. This entry shows how to compare players who have played about the same time and spot economies that run away.
What was the last thing that happened before players closed the game?
Most sessions end after a common event, so a plain list of last events just repeats what happens most. This entry shows how to compare the last events with how often each kind occurs, to find the moments that really end sessions.
On which day does the world become stronger than the players?
When enemies grow with the days survived, there is a moment when players stop keeping up, and it rarely matches what you planned. This entry shows how to find that moment in your data without being fooled by one bad day.
Which weapon is too strong, which one is a trap, and which one is a hidden gem?
How often a weapon is chosen and how often it wins tell different stories, and only the two together say what to change. This entry sorts every weapon into a clear group, so your AI proposes the right fix instead of nerfing a favourite.