So you want to max out your smithore ...

[Keybounce]

This is a strategy for a group of cooperating people to really, really max out smithore value. It will seem strange at first.

1. Control your store buyout.
2. Specialize. One person grows only food to start, one person only energy.
3. Sell food and energy to other players. Arrange the price -- once the store is out, the price each round will drop from whatever price players sell to each other at. Got lots and lots of food/energy? Trading it at 250 per unit? Wow, the store will value it highly.

So you're trading food to the energy person, and energy to the food person. No net change in cash, but rich assets. Sell to the smithore people at rates that give money to food/energy people without bankrupting smithore people.

When you start to run out of cash in the colony, sell at your inflated prices to the store to put money into the colony.

4. The two people who go into smithore to start will generate lots of cash. They sell the initial production to the store -- enough to make sure the store has mules until about round 9. Let the smithore price go up a bit -- the store starts with 18 mules, consumption of about 35 is the target, so when you reach about 35 smithore, sell at the highly inflated price.
* Control your smithore buyout. You want a small initial runup to give the colony enough money to survive until the big runup.

5. Eventually you have enough food and energy to supply the colony for a bit. Sell the stock to the store. Save enough for one round. Now start converting all that food/energy mules to smithore. Start this around turn 5 or 6. Yes, buy from the store. Need cash? Trade something else with a cash-rich player.

The turn before the market manipulation, one person races smithore buy price as high as they can before the timer ends; one person sells one unit at that crazy price.

6. Next turn, everyone should start with 50, or close to it. Everyone should be all, or mostly all smithore. Smithore should be through the roof.

7. Don't bother placing mules that one turn where the new mule price is crazy :-).