The guy in first making 2 or 3 more plots of smithore isn't going to be buying any more energy all of a sudden when the guys in 2nd and 3rd start buying it and producing less of their own...
He will be forced into producing energy, which shouldn't be a problem, with his huge lead he may even be able to buy a couple more plots at auction. You will be left with a very worthless pile of energy and no motivated buyers. Dead last.
Food and energy are gravy markets maybe once or twice a game, and never on the same scale, smithore is going to be gravy at least 4 times, with the potential for a single player to produce and sell 150+ units.
Even the random breaks reinforce this fact:
Fires increase smithore's value.
Sunspots make energy worthless.
Rain clouds make food worthless.
Pest attacks create a spike in demand, but its too tiny a spike!!!
Insane food mule, same thing; 1 turn food sky rockets with a limited demand.
At the right time, earthquakes hurt smithore profits a lot, but rarely do they happen at the "right" time, often times they actually extend the early smithore rush and create even more money.
Pirate ships just erase wealth.
Although I have to concede that in the current version, you could get 1k per unit of energy and so anything is possible... its also fun to think about... but statistically its impossible for three other someones, with that much money, to be that stupid, for long enough to complete and let you win the game.
