Simulate the full economy and...

About this model

Simulate the full economy and progression loop of a "Cell Survivor" game: a Vampire Survivors-style autobattler where the player controls a white blood cell inside the human body, farming viruses and bacteria that spawn endlessly.

MAIN LOOP (model as nodes + connections): 1. Source "VirusSpawner" generates enemies continuously. Spawn rate starts at 1 enemy / 2.5s and increases by +15% every 30 seconds of elapsed time, capped at 1 enemy / 0.4s. 2. Enemies flow into the player's DPS (damage per second). Player DPS starts at 10 and is multiplied by "CombatPower" upgrades. 3. Each enemy killed has: - 70% chance to drop 1 "DNA" (run currency), 20% chance to drop 3 DNA, 10% chance to drop a "Magnet" (pulls all DNA on screen). - 100% chance to grant "XP" equal to enemy max HP / 5. 4. XP accumulates in pool "XP". When XP = next level threshold, level up and reset XP minus threshold. Level threshold = 10 * 1.35^(level-1), rounded. 5. On level up, a converter "LevelUpChoice" offers 3 random upgrades from: - +20% DPS (costs nothing, requires level = 1) - +15% movement speed - +30% DNA magnet radius - +1 AoE chain hit - +40% max HP and heal 50% of missing HP Upgrades are permanent for the run. Rarity: DPS upgrade appears 35% of the time, others 65% split evenly. 6. DRAIN "CellHP": the cell has 100 HP. Enemies that reach the cell deal 5 damage each and die. If HP = 0 the run ends and all run resources are lost. 7. Each run has a 12-minute budget ("EndlessMode" timer). After 10 minutes a Boss spawns every 1 minute. Boss has 100x normal enemy HP, drops 50 DNA and 200 XP. 8. META-ECONOMY (outer loop, persists between runs): - DNA earned during a run is kept 100% after death. - Meta shop "PermanentUpgrades" costs DNA: * +5% base DPS: cost 100 * 1.6^tier, max 10 tiers * +5 starting HP: cost 80 * 1.5^tier, max 10 tiers * +2% DNA drop chance: cost 150 * 1.7^tier, max 5 tiers

CONSTRAINTS: - The player must be able to reach minute 8 on run 1 without upgrades and without dying, assuming average luck. - A skilled player should reach minute 12 (boss waves) after ~5 runs. - No inflation: DNA income should grow at the same pace as upgrade costs, so the meta loop always "feels" like ~20% progress per run.

WHAT TO SIMULATE AND OUTPUT: 1. Time series (per second) of: XP pool, level, player DPS, enemy HP, DNA income rate, kills per minute, HP remaining. 2. The "Power Curve" check: DPS growth vs enemy HP growth over time — find the exact crossover points where the player falls behind and where they pull ahead. 3. Find the OPTIMAL numbers for "perfection": - XP curve and drop rates such that the player levels up every ~45-60 seconds for the entire run (no dead zones, no level-up droughts). - Spawn rate curve that creates a "wave rhythm" (calm → spike) instead of a linear difficulty ramp. - DNA income such that after a 10-minute run the player can afford exactly 1 high-impact meta upgrade per run. 4. Sensitivity analysis: vary enemy HP growth per minute between 8% and 25%; report the range where the survival time is 8-12 minutes (sweet spot). 5. Report the identified bottlenecks (XP droughts, gold sinks, spawn caps) and the corrected values that make the loop perfectly paced.

"Simulate the full economy and..." is a public Machinations diagram shared in the Community by Paolo Calamia, with 66 components.

It was created in August 2026 and last edited in August 2026.

Open the diagram in the Machinations app and press Play to watch the resources move, adjust its values to test how the system responds, or remix it to make an editable copy in My diagrams.