In the past, economic activity was theorized by mainly two cards named Armitage Codebusting and Sure Gamble as the basic economy with additionally cards like Stimhack, Bank Job, Easy Mark, Magnum Opus or disguised economy like Modded.
This view ignores the value of recurrent credits (Cyberfeeder, Toolbox), and credit denial tactics (Xanadu, Reina, Running Interference), especially that which cannot be categorized totally like Account Siphon (Neither only credit denial nor pure economy).
The following chart shows us most resources and events and compares costs and net gain and turn 1 economy. Please note that Kati Jones and all click activated cards can be used specifically. Kati needs two credits to get installed and 1 click to activate. I defined 1 click valuable for 1 credit. So Kati pays off later.
Chart 1: Economy resources and events (user selection)
Resources
At the present time runners have access to a broad variety of resources. The most used ones are Kati Jones & Armitage Codebusting which experiences a revival and Liberated Accounts which can cut both ways. Daily Casts is used from time to time and with its net gain of 5 it is a good card. Easy mark on the other hand is discussed due to the 2 credits net gain but delivers crucial burst economy sometimes necessary for other cards.
All of you are experienced runners and you know already about the pro and cons of several cards. You may already have figured out the best way to deal with economy but maybe some comparisons and calculations will be helpful for you too.
Should I play Armitage Codebusting or liberated accounts or both? And what about Magnum Opus? I could click for credits too!
Lets take a look at the following chart:
Chart 2: Click comparison - Liberated Accounts, Armitage Codebusting and Magnum Opus
Do yourself a favor and try to understand the chart before you read further. What does it mean in questions of the most essential resources a runner possesses? Time and credits or better clicks and credits?
I assumed you have enough credits (6) to pay for everything. Liberated and Magnum rips a hole into your pocket Armitage not that much. Now we start clicking for credits and Armitage goes directly into the income area whereas Liberated is still minus 2 credits in terms of in-ex ratio. Magnum takes a break and starts to be profitable after click 3. Liberated pays off after click 2. After the third click it changes immediately. With the third click Liberated generates 12, Armitage only 11 credits in total. With the 4th click already 16 while Armitage needs 2 additional clicks.
Magnum Opus - in theory an endless supply of credits - pays off after click 3 but needs 8 clicks to be comparable to Armitage/ Liberated.
So, one disadvantage of Liberated Accounts is definitely the necessity of being able to pay 6 credits to install it while Armitage is cheaper but pays off later. Nevertheless Liberated provides us with more actions. You have up to 3 more clicks available which you should consider before you play one of those cards.
If you need money fast and you need more than 6 credits choose Liberated > Armitage > Magnum Opus. If you are short on credits try to generate enough credits in less than 2 clicks to play Liberated. If that's not possible play Armitage. Daily Casts is something between. You can't click for it but it pays off after turn 2.
Bank Job is very strong if the corp installs a remote you are able to attack successfully. Hard at work is terrible because it forces you to loose 1 Click. To forfeit an agenda is not something I want to do so Data Dealer is not a card I would play although the net gain is amazing.
Let's take a detailed look at another well used card called Kati Jones:
Kati Jones costs 2 credits and one click / round to load it or take the money.
When is it worth to do so?
Chart 3: Comparison - click economy
If you load Kati for one click you can unload her with the second one causing you to loose 1 credit ( 2 for install, click, click -> 3 credits but you could click 2 x for 1 credit -> -1 credit in total). If you use your fifth click to unload Kati you earn 12 credits (net 10 or only 6 if you subtract the 4 you could use to click for credits). Only after the 6th click (the 6th click to take the money) it draws even with Armitage and after the 5th with Magnum Opus.
You should take at least 9 Credits from Kati, otherwise it would not be worth it:
Chart 4: Kati Jones - click comparison
The first click for Kati is necessary to load her so you won't receive credits immediately. Use Kati for 9 credits if you really need to do so but try to use her as long as possible before taking the credits.
What's better? Easy Mark or Dirty Laundry?
Depends on the situation. Easy Mark provides 3 credits for 0. Dirty Laundry 5 for 2 but saves one click for a run which makes Easy Mark net 2 and Dirty Laundry net 2 + run. If you combine Dirty Laundry with Datasucker and Desperado you can enhance the effect to 3 credits + Token and run.
If you just need 3 (2) credits play Easy Mark and don't waste Dirty Laundry on an Archive run to just get the credits.
Conclusion
At this point you should have a good feeling for all economy cards and the time it is worth playing and using all of them. You can do so with all new cards. Just take a moment to evaluate the card and put the net gain of credits into relation to clicks and situation.
Keep running.
Picture: http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/106/d/9/bankjob__netrunner_by_el_grimlock-d61y95a.jpg
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