This is my second express round so...is food always this expensive? Why? Maybe i should go farmer next set...

Free market is free, thus is crazy and unpredictable. Food being strong two sets in a row typically means a crappy farm set is on the horizon.

Im assuming you are basing that on the fact that since its so high now it means many people would like to farm next set thus crashing the market?

Yes, the masses are terrible at predicting what strat is going to have the best market conditions in a given set. Generally, just don't play whatever was most obviously "good" in the last set.

Or, say fluff all that, I am too good to be weighed down by market conditions, I do what I want. Then, get mega landfat and win.

FYI this rebound effect (kind of like the plexiglass principle) happens on every server. It was much less pronounced when there were thousands of countries on primary and alliance.

thank you for your response, i look forward to your future posting so i can learn much more and win big like you. :)

Lol I haven't won big in a while, I don't get enough into the maths and little tricks these days (also haven't played a ton lately), I used to win tourney rounds with some regularity and have placed at least top ten in every server except FFA.

I would assume only top clans make it top in FFA :O. I use play on there to test things for fun.

vic is right, the market on a server this small fluctuates wildly from set to set, although there are some parallels. you are also correct in the reasoning behind a strong market trend correcting itself with over-prospecting by players.

food always spikes when people are stocking, the level of that spike is what fluctuates.

so would making my own food make sense? or am i just force to buy the overprice ones like at whole foods market?

you would have to do the math, but generally just holding turns and setting standing orders is the answer. food would have to be really high for a hybrid to be worth it

yeah that make sense, but its tempting

what i do get is this: why dont the farmers always make it high? Since they can just sell it on their pm. I mean sure they can sell it for 36 and make more then 29 but isn't keeping the status quo at 45+ more important?

I mean they can always stock it if they get impatience and wait it out, the rest of us non-farmers can't do that really :O
Im missing something very hard...

Well they want to keep their land and take yours just like everyone else, so they need military too. Gotta sell.

45-50 bushels isnt even that high.... theres been sets where foods 70-100 all set. Id say this is just another average set, expect bushels to be back down to 37-43 with 24 hours left as players drop stock and hold cash instead, Also fluctuates due to players slow playing and running more turns on the weekend. More demand higher prices, not rocket science.

Yeah its easy to understand once im told, its just the wiki does not have that great of info and the search tool for the forum isn't that swell :/
thank you for your answer