So I was reviewing my Dashboard and noticed the Diminishing Returns (xx/yy sectors). What is this I know we pay $600 per refinery but I don’t understand this number and why it takes so much money? 

lol just realized that it’s $50 a refinery and gave away how many I had.

So on the right hand side it shows refineries X # and a cost it equals 50 per refinery.

So I figured it out diminishing returns is the sectors you own vs sectors you are refining thanks to Kadath for the screenshot 

The funniest  thing about the diminishing returns is it's a wealthy country issue.  I never got large enough to expand beyond my heartland to build enough refineries.

So I have no diminishing returns. 

I’m still not convinced I was right but with diminished returns and upkeep I make 334.36 per refinery per cycle 

Thanks for sharing!

I'm netting about $395 per refinery per cycle (after diminishing returns and upkeep). 

That's with 53 refineries. The best grossing $3,275 (38 sectors) and the worst $473 (9 sectors and should probably delete that one if I could easily find it) per cycle.

It could probably be a bit higher if I had a better understanding of optimal placement earlier on...   the cell resource stat seems to play into this as well.

This is from the help section… it helps to read things. 

Past the heartland threshold, each additional sector you own contributes less to your income. This is the primary anti-snowball mechanic — a huge empire is more expensive to govern than a focused one. Smart, concentrated expansion beats mindless sprawl.

And also here from the help menu. 

The Economy mode shows exactly which of your sectors are heartland (auto-processed), covered by a Refinery, or unprocessed (costing upkeep but paying nothing). Use this mode to identify dead weight — territory you own that doesn't pay — and decide where to place your next Refinery.

One day I’ll learn to use the tools I have available to me I swear.

R005T3R_D, sorry, these are actually both inaccurate! I had AI write help from earlier code and plans, and forgot to have it reprocess with all of the changes I made during build.

I'll have it review and compare all the docs with the actual live code.

Okay, all of the help content is now refreshed according to current code!

Not sure if it was intentional but it appears the diminishing returns factor got cut in half some point over the last few cycles from 542 to 271. Which has basically cut the income from refineries in half if I'm understanding it right. 

All for tweaking the anti-snow ball mechanic to strike the right balance but, if intentional, this might be a bit aggressive. Will have to see how it plays out. 

For reference, current income is about 32k-34k per cycle with 2575 sectors and about 60 refineries. 

Fighting on two fronts with two much smaller opponents (Joder at 99 sectors and Hanibel at 324 sectors). 

Back of the napkin, Joder is probably earning about 10k-13k per cycle (when he has a capital) and Hanibel is probably at about 20k-24k per cycle.  

Golden Horde is about 6X their combined size but their combined income is likely about equal to or slightly higher. 

This makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a very large player to defeat multiple engaged smaller players (which may be the intent). :)

Kadath, I actually found a bug in the game where the heartland and diminishing return values had drifted, so players were receiving twice their heartland as sectors that brought in income. It was just far too much of a swath of free money, so those areas should really need refineries.

But, yes, that diminishing returns calculation is now wildly skewed. I added in another factor to ensure that sectors that have coverage from refineries play a much bigger role in offsetting that penalty. A few knobs I can adjust there to help balance the play, so everyone definitely feel free to provide feedback if you think some adjustments should be made!