Explosive Base vs Swiss Army Trap

A very good question posed by a Mouse Hunt Apprentice about purchasing the Explosive Base before the Swiss Army Trap. Should you buy the Exp base first, since it becomes affordable before the Swiss Army? There has been some discussion in the boards, but typically not very conclusive. I assume that at this point, you are already using a Trebuchet/Target (or stone) and have been hunting at the harbour with mixed results.. Here's where my unscientific observation comes in.. If you are active in group hunts and luck is on your side, you could be generating between to 8-10k gold profit at the harbour daily. That's profit after replenishing your used cheese and travel fare to the harbour. If this is how your game is turning out, wait out for the Swiss Army. You are only about a week away from owning this. Use the Swiss/target trap combi thereafter. Marble should be sufficient, with the occasional swap to Swiss cheese. If you are not that active (some of us have offline lives) or your luck needs a wash (lots of red logs in your game) then you might consider getting the Explosive base first. But you must use the Trebuchet to offset the Cheese Effect. Again Marble is sufficient, but you may find yourself swapping up to Swiss Cheese more often as you tend to have more going stale. If luck is totally against you, and you need to sit in the Town/Meadow to recoup some gold, remember to switch back to the Target or Stone base - or else you will have a very high stale rate.