This probably doesn't warrant its own thread.. i'm new to casher though and after spying other cashers that share my government type I got concerned. I have a lot more tech than the 5 or 6 people I spied. Is it not the goal to max tech as early as possible? Or is it just a risk/reward type situation where the people with lower tech levels are probably less likely to be hit because their military is bigger?

Basically I guess I am asking 2 things:

1) Does the short week have a factor in how much tech to get? Or should I always strive for max tech levels as early as possible (-side note, ill check the wiki but is it 175% for bus/res for non demo/commie?)

2) why does anyone run this boring strat in express?

I agree with you that it is boring - well if you are playing all-X anyway.

In my opinion you are doing well as compared to those you spied. If you are playing all-X what you hope to achieve is to slip by under the radar of the aggressors carrying as little military as you dare.

The main way to achieve this is to hold back on your turns as much as you possibly can. That allows you to stay landthin and also gives you the benefit of being able to buy later on the falling markets (especially the tech market).

As the principle aggressors sit high on the scores list sitting well down the scores list (and out of their sight) is a further benefit

Those remarks are based on just one all-X casher set in Express so should one of the really skilled cashers post take much more notice of them than of me.

I'd say the two things you need to focus on are setting a sensible land target (I think I was too conservative at 10k acres plus Express is longer this set, so maybe go for 15k or even 20k); and secondly de-stocking. I found that the most challenging (and perhaps interesting) part of my set.

Good luck.

It is 180% for non Theo/Demo.

I am not great at Express.

That said, if you are a rep casher and are not at 175% or more tech, you are leaving cash/turn on the table, and a lot of it. The folks you spied may a)be holding turns, waiting for the tech market to drop or b)just not be that good. You are absolutely correct that you want to run as many turns as possible with near max tech (maxing it out may not be worth it due to the asymptotic returns), just like you want to run as many turns as possible at your land goal.

Thanks for the feedback, all-x rep chaser is just too boring.. at least on this server!

its boring everywhere.

if you grab you need to invest on many techs (and some near max (outside main techs) like milstrat to get bigger returns).

Interesting reads!