It gets interesting once you see that hypno drones are something that you can save up for and buy. You're an AI, so the ability to influence the humans around you is useful.

You'll need somewhat more than 30 paperclips to get the full story.

So, the first thing happens at 31? 500?

I don't know. I'm at 16,285 and stuff is happening. If you optimize your price and invest in auto clippers it shouldn't take too long to really get rolling.

If the available inventory is bouncing off of 0 your price is too low, if it's growing, it's too high, so you (as an AI) are learning about market clearing price right now. Later, you'll learn other things.

50 or 100

The first interesting thing happens when you have $5 of available funds. (Specifically, autoclippers become available to purchase.)

When precisely you hit that point depends on how well you are managing the price to balance ensuring that your unsold inventory is getting purchased reasonably quickly against getting a reasonable amount of money per unit sold, but it will probably be less than a minute.

Thank you. May give it another look after work.