How much of what you save actually survives the turn
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Nothing here is tied to one game: any game that lets you carry unspent resources into later turns, but only up to a ceiling, leaks in exactly this shape.
Results
| Everything those turns give you | — |
| What you leave unspent in all | — |
| How much of that is ever carried | — |
| How much of it evaporates | — |
| Turn from which everything left up is lost | — |
| What leaving one point less each turn would save | — |
Turn by turn, and where it goes
| Turn | What the turn gives | Left unspent | Carried | Evaporated | Lost so far |
|---|
The fourth column tells the story, because it is only ever busy at the very start. The carry is a bucket, not a wage: it fills in the first turn or two and from then on it is already full, so every further point you hold back pours straight onto the floor.
That is why leaving a little up every turn is so much worse than it feels. It looks like you are saving something each turn, when in truth you saved it once, a long time ago, and have been throwing away the same amount ever since without the game ever telling you.
It also means holding back more buys you nothing at all once the bucket is full: leaving up twice as much carries exactly the same amount and simply doubles what is thrown away. And the amount that was carried is only worth anything if you actually get to spend it, on the part of your deck that can spend it, which is the one thing this page cannot check for you.
I leave two unspent every turn and carry up to three. How much am I saving?
Three, once, and then nothing ever again. Over ten turns that is nineteen left unspent, three carried and sixteen thrown away, because the carry is a bucket you fill rather than a wage you draw.
It fills on the second turn here. From the third onwards, every point you hold back pours straight onto the floor without the game ever mentioning it.
Then does holding back more help?
Not at all, once the bucket is full. Leaving one, two, three or four unspent all carry exactly the same three; the only thing that changes is how much is thrown away.
Which is the useful way to read the table: the last column is the only one that moves.
| Left unspent each turn | Carried in total | Thrown away |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 2 | 3 | 16 |
| 3 | 3 | 24 |
| 4 | 3 | 31 |
So what is the practical rule?
Spend down to the carry once, and after that treat every unspent point as lost, because it is. Holding a little back feels like saving and is arithmetically identical to discarding.
The one thing that genuinely changes the total is spending one point less per turn, and the page prices that directly.
Does the page assume the carried amount gets used?
It assumes nothing about that, which is why it reports what is carried rather than what is gained. Carried resources that you never get to spend, or that only part of your deck can spend, are waste of a second kind.
Read the carried figure as a ceiling on what the carry can ever be worth to you, not as a gain.
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