Hey all, I was bored today and decided to calculate out exactly how valuable crabs pots are under various perks, and the results were somewhat suprising (to me at least). Freshwater Mariner Crayfish - 75g * 1/3 chance = 25g/day Snail - 65g * 1/3 chance = 21.66g/day Periwinkle - 20g * 1/3 chance = 6.66g/day Average Daily Profit 53.33g/day - 5g/day for bait = 48.33g/day Expected Yearly Profit 5412.95g Luremaster Crayfish - 75g * 28% chance = 21g/day Snail - 65g * 13% chance = 8.45g/day Periwinkle - 20g * 21.45% chance = 4.29g/day Average Daily Profit 33.74g/day Expected Yearly Profit 3778.88g Angler Crayfish - 112g * 28% chance - 31.36g Snail - 97g * 13% chance - 12.61g Periwinkle * 30g - 21.45% chance - 6.435 Average Daily Profit 50.40g/day - 5g/day for bait - 45.40g/day Expected Yearly Profit 5084.80g Ocean Mariner Lobster - 120g * 1/7 chance = 17.14g/day Clam - 50g * 1/7 chance = 7.14g/day Crab - 100g * 1/7 chance = 14.29g/day Cockle - 50g * 1/7 chance = 7.14g/day Mussel - 30g * 1/7 chance = 4.29g/day Shrimp - 60g * 1/7 chance = 8.57g/day Oyster - 40g * 1/7 chance = 5.71g/day Average Daily Profit 62.28g/day - 5g/day for bait = 57.28g/day Expected Yearly Profit 6415.36 Luremaster Lobster - 120g * 3.4% chance = 4.08g/day Clam - 50g * 12% chance = 6g/day Crab - 100g * 6.46% chance = 6.46g/day Cockle - 50g * 17.442% = 8.72g/day Mussel - 30g * 14.22443% chance = 4.27g/day Shrimp - 60g * 5.2907% chance = 3.17g/day Oyster - 40g * 3.1744% chance = 1.27g/day Average Daily Profit = 33.97g Expected Yearly Profit = 3804.64g Angler Lobster - 180g * 3.4% chance = 6.12g/day Clam - 75g * 12% chance = 9g/day Crab - 150g * 6.46% chance = 9.69g/day Cockle - 75g * 17.442% chance = 13.08g/day Mussel - 45g * 14.2443% chance = 6.41g/day Shrimp - 90g * 5.2907% chance = 4.76g/day Oyster - 60g * 3.1744% chance = 1.90g/day Average Daily Profit = 50.96g - 5g/day for bait = 45.96 Expected Yearly Profit = 5147.52 TLDR; For maximum profits take Mariner and place in ocean, otherwise take Angler and place wherever you like. Luremaster is a trap and you shouldn't take it unless you actually want trash items for some reason, in which case you should take Angler anyway. Crab pots with mariner are slightly more profitable than Bee Houses when placed in the ocean, but of course have much more involved upkeep requirements. You may still find it worthwhile if space is limited on your farm. Fun Facts Crab pots in freshwater have a roughly 37.5% chance of catching trash w/o mariner, and ocean crab pots have a roughly 38% chance. The longest unbroken string of crab pots I was able to arrange on the Hilltop layout is 91 crab pots long from end to end and produce ~4398.03g/day on average w/mariner.
Trash items are quite valuable, and a good source of refined quartz as well as chances for other valuable goods like cloth and coal. Thanks for doing the math, looks nice.
@ShneekeyTheLost good point on refined quartz, and early on in my games I typically do craft/purchase a few pots for the express purpose of obtaining enough refined quartz to jumpstart my quality sprinkler production. Once I have enough sprinklers though, my traps typically sit there unused for the rest of the game as I have too much else going on. I have a plan to start up a Hilltop farm soon so I can properly get a feel for how much profit recycling trash nets you on average, I figure if I can get full 999 stacks of each trash type I can get some rough % chances of how likely you are to say get cloth instead of torches from the soggy newspaper. This week looks like it will be pretty busy for me, but hopefully I'll get some time this weekend.