I feel like I'm not investing my limited contribution points efficiently. I don't really need to have workers produce more than one type of grain do I? Would I get more ingredients faster by farming them myself? been hoarding some of my cooking output to eventually put them into imperial cooking packages since that isn't subject to tax.
I've noticed better versions of some food items sell for less than the regular version on the marketplace. Is there a reason for that? It seems to me that fishing has so far made the most money for me in comparison to the time spent processing materials and cooking food. Maybe I've been making the wrong things.
Anyways, I got a level 3 tool workshop up. I'm going to see if I can make money producing fishing rods or something.
It is technically all about efficiency but you don't need to absolutely go all in on it every time. Every little bit helps. I wouldn't worry too much about being the most efficient though because "the most efficient" will likely change every few CP gained as your options also change with that and this'll just drive you up the wall.
For grains, you do need a lot. I tend to go for potato and wheat. I did grab Barley earlier but having 3 items of grain was a bit much on inventory slots especially since this could potentially mean 6 slots (3 different types of flour).
Gathering produce with a sickle will be faster sure but it is also subject to gathering skill and Energy (gathering uses energy). Another option is to have farm materials yourself.
The other method is to use farming. This can be a little heavy on CP and farming can take around 8 hours real time before you can collect. If you wait too long it'll over ripe and you get less. Farming could isn't really hard, it could just be a bit much to fiddle by itself. I recommend checking a quick guide. There is also a quest line that gives you a 1 slot free fence.
Some of the bonus items can't be used in other recipes or imperial packages so they aren't as valuable to others.
For cooking speeds. If you want to invest a bit you can:
- Cooking Clothes upgrade - lowers time on cooking
- Advance Cooking Utensil - Lowers time on cooking (what do you know, you just got a Tool Workshop too!)
- Alchemy Stone of Life
- Food items like Teff Bread I think
- Pearl Shop Canape Cooking Costume
The lowest speed you can get is 1 second. I personally haven't got that low before.
For fishing. It also pays to sell to the imperial fishing trader (Velia, Glish, Splashing Point, Valentia)
Fishing is easily the easiest method to make a quick bit of money. The entry to it is virtually nothing. Though you can also improve it by using better rods and fishing clothes.
In comparison to cooking where you need to reach higher skill and have the right ingredients to cook in bulk... Yeah, it is a much simpler profession. Both have their nuances but cooking can give a big lump sum when done right as well as give you a lot of failed dishes which can be traded for cooking exp, contribution points, beer etc.
Regarding the tool shop I don't think it is a great source of income but people will buy out your cooking utensils incredibly quick. Rods are a little bit slower.
Guides on nodes and workers are pretty good however from my experience I mostly use them for ideas on goals I want. Most of the guides I've read offer good suggestions in terms of efficiency but I often can't really benefit from it until much later since I am not at the same stage in life skills as the person who wrote the guide and so I don't need certain nodes connected or don't need certain resources. Since I'm a sucker for hoarding I keep everything meaning I waste more on storage as well and I'll need to rework stuff for nodes and resources on items I actually need more immediately. So I look at guides, follow a bit then ignore them to make the game work for me, once I've settled in I look at more guides and then tweak my setup a bit for efficiency.
... Maybe a more planned approach is better but uhhh... Not for me I guess.
Good luck!