When I first played BTD5, I always used the 4-2 Banana Research Facility. However, I wanted to know whether the banana farm or the banana bank was more efficient to buy. I’ve never used the banks in a real game, since I’ve always heard that they weren’t as good. However, I decided to test this out for myself.
BTD5 Banana Farm
In BTD5, there were two sides of the Banana Farm. For simplicity sake, I’ll use medium difficulty prices. Here is my data that I collected from my experiments.
The price for a 0-0 banana farm in BTD5 is $1000. Since the banana farm makes 4 bananas each round, each banana giving $20, the 0-0 farm makes $80/round, making paying itself off in $1000/$80, or 12.5 rounds.
The 1-0 (more bananas) banana farm creates 6 bananas per round, totaling to $120. Since this upgrade costs $300, that means that the farm would pay itself off in $1300/$120, or 10.83 rounds.
The 2-0 (banana plantation) banana farm creates 13 bananas per round, totaling to $260. This upgrade costs $1400, which means that it pays itself off in $2700/$260, or 10.38 rounds.
The 3-0 (banana republic) banana farm creates 25 bananas per round, totaling to $500. This upgrade costs $3200, which means it pays itself off in $5900/$500, or 11.8 rounds.
The 4-0 (banana research facility) banana farm creates 10 boxes of banana crates, which are $200 each, meaning that it generates $2000 per round. Since this upgrade costs $14000 to purchase, this means that it will pay itself off in $19900/$2000, or 9.95 rounds.
The 4-2 banana farm makes $3000/round, since the valuable bananas upgrade increases the money output of the farm by 50%. Since the x-1 upgrade costs $500 and the x-2 upgrade costs $4000, this means that the 4-2 banana farm pays itself off in $24400/$3000, which is 8.13 rounds. This is by far the most efficient banana farm.
Note that selling towers are weird. Towers are worth one dollar less than 80% of their cost to purchase. That means that selling a $1000 0-0 banana farm would earn you $799.
This means that breaking even would require you to earn $201, which would take 2.51 rounds to break even. The 4-2 bank only requires 1.63 rounds to break even, and 1.46 rounds to break even with a monkey village.
BTD5 Banana Banks
The 1-x and the 2-x upgrades actually help out the banana banks, in case you didn’t know.
The 1-3 upgrade will increase the round generation by $40 (+2 bananas). The 2-x upgrade increases output by $140 (+7 bananas, which, combined with 1-x upgrade totals to $180 and +9 bananas). Apparently, the x-2 upgrade valuable bananas is negated.
The banana bank (0-3) generates $450 over the course of the round, and adds an 10% interest at the end of the round. This means that it the 0-3 bank generates $495 ($450+$45)on the first round, the 1-3 bank generates $539 ($490+$49) at the end of the first round, and the 2-3 bank has $693 ($630+$63) at the end of its first round. If you collect the money before the round ends, you don’t get the interest bonus at the end of the round. Also, the money from interest is always rounded down. At the end of the second round, a 1-3 bank would have $1,131.9 inside of it. However, in the game, it’s rounded down at the end of each round. This means that $1,131 is used in the next calculation, and the .9 dollars is lost, and thus the bank is less efficient than it could be.
Money in Third Tier Banks at the end of each round (after interest)
| Round | 0-3 Bank | 1-3 Bank | 2-3 Bank |
| 1 | $495 | $539 | $693 |
| 2 | $1,039 | $1,087 | $1,257 |
| 3 | $1,637 | $1,690 | $1,877 |
| 4 | $2,295 | $2,354 | $2,559 |
| 5 | $3,019 | $3,084 | $3,309 |
| 6 | $3,815 | $3,887 | $4,134 |
| 7 | $4,691 | $4,770 | $5,000 |
| 8 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
The x-4 banks will increase the earnings to $1,000/round, with 20% interest. They are able to pay themselves off in just under 7 rounds while the banana producing farms can pay themselves off in just over 8 rounds without any monkey villages. This means that the bank is more efficient for money generation. However, note that the bank does not give you any money until you collect it. Overall, banks will give more money, but at a later time.
Money in Fourth Tier Banks at the end of each round (after interest)
| Round | 0-4 Bank | 1-4 Bank | 2-4 Bank |
| 1 | $1,200 | $1,248 | $1,416 |
| 2 | $2,640 | $2,745 | $3,115 |
| 3 | $4,368 | $4,542 | $5,154 |
| 4 | $6,441 | $6,698 | $7,600 |
| 5 | $8,929 | $9,285 | $10,536 |
| 6 | $11,914 | $12,390 | $14,059 |
| 7 | $15,496 | $16,116 | $18,286 |
| 8 | $19,795 | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| 9 | $20,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 |
Suppose you’re 5 rounds into the bank. The 2-4 bank hasn’t given you any money, since it’s still inside the bank, but the 4-2 factory would given you $15,000, since it makes $3,000/round.
However, on the 7th round, the 2-4 bank will have earned you $20,000 and the 4-2 factory will have gotten you $21,000. The factory has earned you more money, and has also given it to you earlier. However, the 2-4 bank only costs $15,900 to buy whereas the 4-2 factory costs you $24,400 to buy. That’s a pretty steep price difference.
Therefore, the bank is more efficient. However, another thing to consider is that you have to actually pay attention to the round counter and collect your money from the banks every 7 rounds. Furthermore, banks and factories take up the same amount of space. Since the 2-4 bank fills up after 8 rounds, it makes $20,000/8 = $2,500/round. If you collected after 7 rounds instead, it would make $18,286/7 = $2,612/round. In comparison, the 4-2 factory makes $3,000/round.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the bank is more efficient, but requires paying attention to the round numbers. In addition, factories give you a steady source of income per round, while banks give large bursts of cash every few rounds. This steady source of income the factories provide can allow you to build up more farms, whereas the bank doesn’t allow you to build up other farms while the interest is accumulating. Banks are more cost-efficient, but the factories are more space-efficient.
You’re a hero. Thank you for saving my time!