darkSpyro

I have ermit... I may be missing something here, but he seems pointless. I cannot earn enough energy to run sanctuaries twice in one day... I have 43 energy fields earning 68000ish in 7 hrs. Or 204000 a day. It costs 120000 to run the sanctuaries so I can't get two full runs before I run out of energy and i could achieve the exact same before ermit, run them once the morning and at night...

He may be worth it if you are able to run other crops assuming you are able to check the games more often during the day. Also, have you maxed out on topiaries? You can get up to 40 of them, which gives you an extra 4000 energy every four hours. There are also a few other decorations that produce energy Finally you sometimes get energy bonuses from throwing stones in the well and from houses.
That may not be enough to run all sanctuaries 3 times a day, but it may allow to run some depending how often you can check your game during the day.

Have they lowered the cap on Sheep Topiaries? I maxed out at 100, not 40. I agree they are great investments. There isn't much else to spend your kudos on, they give energy, and they give a bonus to adjacent buildings.

An energy shortage is the standard state shortly after purchasing Ermit, so don't get frustrated. Ol' Mac doubles energy, so will quickly solve that problem. I couldn't afford him when I needed him, so instead got Arbo at 50% off and that, combined with a few radiant energy fields now means I have more energy than I can spend. Arbo only really works though if you can collect and plant crops multiple times during the day. If you have to plant one crop, head to work for the day, and collect when you get home, you really need Ol' Mac.

Also, don't forget that shrines add daily bonuses to crops (as well as other things), so maxing out your shrines is always a good idea.

My bad, the cap is indeed at 100 topiaries, not 40. So even more energy

How do the shrines work with crops? I get stones and gold from mine and +5%xp from adjacent buildings. Do you need to place them near fields?

Ermit is worth it, IF you can feed the sanctuaries. Buy Ol' Mac if you can - he doubles your energy production.

It's even cheaper to use the molekin market with him, 200.000 energy is cheaper than 500.000 gold if you have Ol'Mac.

After this, you'll only need Arbo, and you can produce 5-600.000+ energy a day

I don't even use my topiaries since I have all three of them. It's not worth the time.

I definitely find Ermit to be worth it; he allows me to run on a 5 hour cycle. I also have Arbo and Flynn, so I have Domedelions and Dark Water Cove on 5 hour timers as well. I haven't had any issues with energy, even before I got Ol' Mac. But I don't run my sanctuaries with 3 characters each. I use the sanctuaries as gold producers, so I only put a single SWAP Force character in each (I also have Gorm and Tuk).