Central Market

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Central Market is the fourth upgrade of Path 3 for the Banana Farm in Bloons TD 6. It greatly increases the amount of money per round by increasing the value of each banana to $70 instead of $20, providing up to $1120 per round (+$140 per Path 1 crosspath). In addition, it increases the income of Merchantmen by 10%, which can stack up to 10 times. Central Market's income bonus does not stack on top of Trade Empire's income bonus but can co-exist.

This upgrade costs $12,750 on Easy, $15,000 on Medium, $16,200 on Hard, and $18,000 on Impoppable.

Description

Overview

The Central Market is a stone building with a large red roof and awning above a set of four stone pillars, each with blue sheets draped between them. On its right is a stack of a few cyan crates, one with a banana logo, and between the pillars and to its left are several wooden crates.

On top of the roof are four multi-colored flags, and from the player's perspective, top-down, left-right, they are light green, blue, pink, and yellow respectively. Behind the blue flag are several palm leaves.

Path 1 crosspathing adds grey and then golden stones surrounding the floor. Path 2 crosspathing turns the banana logo green and adds wooden posts, then turns those posts golden.

Central Market further improves upon income generation by producing even more cash per banana ($70 per banana) and providing a global buff to Merchantmen, giving them +10% additive cash generation per round, up to 10 times at +100%. Central Market's buff is applied before Trade Empire's buffs.

Targeting Priorities

Central Market produces bananas that are each produced in a spawn. Central Market's Merchantmen buff is a tower buff that targets all Merchantmen and their higher upgrades in the whole screen. Like most Banana Farm upgrades, Central Market lacks any real targeting priority.

Costs

Updated as of Version 29.4

Strategy

Summary

Akin to its prior upgrade, the Marketplace, Central Market makes it easy for a player to accumulate money to spend within the round with no input outside the purchase of the base Banana Farm and subsequent upgrades. The primary extra benefit for this upgrade comes from the increased value of each banana.

Consequently, the second perk for the Central Market is its ability to increase Merchantmen (and subsequent fourth and fifth tier upgrades) by a 10% margin. This has the ability to increase the gains of Merchantmen the equivalent of the Trade Agreements without having the Monkey Knowledge allocated to that piece of knowledge, as well as increasing the high profits of Favored Trades and Trade Empire by a considerable amount. This effect also stacks with other Central Markets up to 10 times, allowing for the money-generating properties of the bottom path Buccaneer to become even more potent.

Tips

• The desired crosspath for the Central Market ultimately depends on whether you have the More Valuable Bananas Monkey Knowledge enabled or not. If you are playing with it turned off, then crosspath with the top-path upgrades. If you are playing with it turned on, then crosspath with the mid-path upgrades.
  • 20 groups of $70 bananas from 2-0-4 give $1400 per round, while 16 groups of $87 bananas from 0-2-4 without the "More Valuable Bananas" MK gives $1394 per round. Adding that MK increases 0-2-4 Central Market's income per round to $1456 per round.
• If you can, be sure to deploy as many Merchantmen as possible. If you don't have any available water, you can put down some Portable Lakes to place Merchantmen in, though do be wary of the cost this will have on your Monkey Money and whether it is worth it.
• While Central Market can provide effective income if used with Merchantmen, it is overall the worst Tier 4 Banana Farm on its own. Despite having a better return value than the Banana Research Facility, it produces the lowest income of all the towers, thus making it a poor choice in the long run.
• The 18.0 update made Overclocking this tower much more useful, as Overclock doubles the number individual payments per round, but does not affect end-of-turn payments.

Efficiency

Version 18.0 and later

0-0-4 (no crosspath):

2-0-4 crosspath:

0-2-4 crosspath WITHOUT More Valuable Bananas Monkey Knowledge:

0-2-4 crosspath WITH More Valuable Bananas Monkey Knowledge:

  Comparative to earlier versions of the game, a basic Central Market without crosspathing is overall worse than it used to be, as it produces less overall money. This only further stresses the benefits from crosspathing. Even though the numbers show there to be no difference between a 2-0-4 and 0-2-4 without Monkey Knowledge, it is better to choose the top path upgrades in this scenario as the additional cash will multiply in the long run.

Before Version 17.0

Version History

Balance Changes

Bug Fixes and General Changes

This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

Extra Notes (Version History)

Gallery

An inconsistent +10% income gain for Favored Trades supported by a Trade Empire and Central Market, pre-5.0 fix

Central Market Crosspaths (Top: Path 1, Bottom: Path 2)

+$900 income bonus (pre-18.0)

Favored Trades with two Central Market buffs

Earning a 0-2-4 Central Market Instamonkey

Central Markets producing cash at identical rates within a round

Official artwork

Upgrade portrait for Central Market

Upgrade icon for Central Market

Instamonkey icon for Central Market

Trivia

• Although the Merchantmen buff was buffed in Version 17.0, the description has not yet been changed to mention the maximum stacking of 10 times.
• Central Market shares its name with a high-end grocery chain based in Texas.