Passive Income is earned with Inns over the course of six (6) hours. The Inn levels are Basic, Advanced, Grand and Masterful. Each level earns more than the one below it. The Basic Inn is unlocked when you have built one each of Basic Farm and Basic Keep. Advanced, Grand and Masterful Inns are unlocked with Carpentry Schools.

You are not limited to one building of each level of Inns. In lower levels, it can be beneficial to have more than one Inn based on the resources you have and which resources are needed to build the Inn.

Although Inns are not required to achieve a New Game+ Level, without them it becomes increasingly difficult to pay for workers, especially as workers become more skilled and require higher pay. Additionally, Whole Cities are not available until a Basic Inn has been built on a completed level. Certain ig achievements are not available without Inns, specifically ones for building all of level 1, 2 or 3 buildings on a level. Consider your playing style to decide if building Inns is the way you wish to play.

Inns are only built with builder workers using coins. You will need to produce coins through active income, ig achievements and LU bonuses to afford to build Inns. You will learn about these in the next section of this guide.

Inn income is cumulative. All Inns have earned their full potential income in six (6) hours and need to be emptied so they will earn more money. Once the Inn is full, it will not make any more coins until it is emptied. The more Inns you build, the more income you make. Inn income is not lost through progress reset, so all Inns you build will make coins thoughout your game.

Coins accumulate at a steady pace so there is no penalty for withdrawing them before the Inn is full.

To increase Inn income, build more Inns and build Advanced whole cities on completed NG+ levels.

Advanced whole cities add bonus mine clicks, Inn coins and sheep. Like Inns, you can build more whole cities as resources allow. Advanced whole cities only produce a percentage of your total Inn coin income. The more Inn income you have, the higher the bonus will be from the Advanced whole city.

If you sell your lower level cities, you do not lose the income from your Inns or the boost from the Advanced whole cities you have built.

Active Income is earned by ships trading resources for coins, in-game achievements and level up bonuses.

Once your ships have discovered a few cities, check to see where you will sell your goods. Choose goods you can easily replace or ones where you have a surplus. The exchange rate is different based on city type (basic, stone, tech or fancy) because they each have different needs.

The exchange rate you prefer will guide you as to which city to choose. Since exchange rates decrease by one-half (1/2) after each trade, the following tips will help you get the most money for your trade.

Ship Size
Using the largest ship to carry the maximum goods will earn the most coins per trade. The Carrack carries the most trade goods without the need to spend coins, coal or oil. Filling it to its maximum means the most profit per trade. Upgrading the ship to its highest level will make the ship travel farther faster as well as carry more goods.

City Type
Fancy cities do not pay as much for base materials (lumber, stone, clay, coal, wool) as they do for refined goods and rare materials (oil, cloth, gold, marble). Basic cities do not buy refined goods or rare materials. Stone and tech cities buy all goods at a higher rate than basic cities but a lower rate than fancy cities.

City Stones
When a city has lowered its exchange rate below what you are willing to accept, you may use a city stone to change the trade agreement (if present) and the exchange rate. Basic cities have the fewest options and change the least. Stone and tech cities have the most options and will change the most. Fancy cities only buy limited goods, but they will change the exchange rate significantly. You can use city stones to shop for exchange rates.

When setting your threshold for low exchange rates, bear in mind the lowest exchange rate for an ig achievement is 1:3. If you are using sailors to expedite your sailing time, you will need to deduct their payroll from your expected income to determine if the trade is equitable.

*See In-Game Achievements for more on city stones and game play style.

Certain ig achievements will give coins as a reward. Businessman gives coins for the number of workers you employ. Trade achievements for selling goods at a minimum exchange rate of 1:4 (one resource for four coins) and for selling stone at a minimum of 1:3 (one stone for three coins) reward you with coins on top of your sales. Refining achievements offer coins awards for refining gold into coins. Daily awards of coins are availble for using stones and building buildings.

City stones are available as awards for ig achievements, specifically on achievements which are for discovering cities, sailing specific distances and using stones. They are also available through casinos, regular clicking (mines, ships, building), by forging gems stones in the stones menu (see picture to left) and level up bonuses (discussed below).

In the lowest section of the LU screen, you are given the choice of bonuses you wish to receive. Often, coins are a choice here. Choosing coins is the straightforward approach to increasing the funds you have available, but it may not be the best for your game play style.

Mines
If you choose a gold mine, you will receive the experience from mining the gold and the materials from the mine. Using the Treasury to refine the gold (with coal or oil) to coins nets you more XP and coins. It also offers you the opportunity to refine only the coins you need. You are also gaining ground for the ig achievement for refining coins.

If you choose another kind of mine, you can create a surplus of materials which you can sell to cities for coins.

Excess Materials
Choosing free materials (often less than materials offered in a mine) is a quick way to increase resources available to trade to cities for coins.

Max Lumber Increase
Lumber is a renewable resource with a limit on the amount you can hold. Choosing to increase you max lumber will give you a constant source of income because basic cities always need lumber. Caution: Basic cities do not offer the best exchange rates. When you are in need of coins, selling lumber is always a choice.

As your workers are leveled up, more workers are assigned to each team. You can assign ten (10) teams to each job (building, mining, refining) and different teams per ship (i.e. five teams per Galley). The higher the level of your workers, the more expensive it is to assign teams.

To find out how much payroll you are spending on any assignment, click on the worker icon in the upper left of the screen. The banner (shown above) will show you how many workers per team, how many coins each team requires per second and the total work the team does per second.


The easiest way to control payroll is to click. The Automation Finger (available through ig achievement and for purchase under "More Gems" in the stone menu) will help you click more. The finger does not work any more after you leave a screen where you have it active (the green check mark displayed).

You need to calculate whether you are making or losing income. Check your total coins per second in the resource screen.


Compare your income to the total payroll you are spending.

In these two images, you will see income is 3,800 +e43, and payroll is 6,254 +e43. This example is losing money by spending 2,454 +e43 more coins on payroll than the Inns are producing. The excess coins are being spent from the bank of 2,107 +e54.

Power stones save payroll by making the workers (and your clicks from the finger and holding the mouse button down) produce more work per second. Common power stones make workers produce three times (3X) for thirty seconds, Rare at five times (5X) for one minute and Majestic at ten times (10X) for three minutes. Use power stones to create Inns faster and cheaper. Payroll is based on time, not output.

When you are away from the game, workers will make progress and XP, but only if you have the coins to pay them. Be sure you are not overspending and depleting any coins you have banked.

While you are actively playing, gather coins from your Inn as needed. Before you close your game, collect all coins from the Inn to cover your offline expenses.

BEWARE: Time stones use your coins the same way being offline does. If you do not have enough coins to cover payroll for the duration of the time stone, your workers will quit working.

Here are some tried and true ways to stay in the black.

• Collect coins just before you leave the game.
  
• Collect coins as you play, even before the Inn is full.
  
• Choose Cities based on the highest exchange rate.
  
• Use City Stones to get the most for your goods.
  
• Keep income higher than payroll.
  
• Click and use Power Stones to save payroll.

Happy gaming!