Nobody keeps a fire alive with one enormous blast of air; it flares, scorches and dies back. Credit budgets die the same way — one premium spree on unproven frames, then nothing left for the finishing that actually makes a set. The bellows on this desk is the house reminder: many small, deliberate puffs beat one big one.
In practice that means the standard still at 6 credits does nearly all the work. It proves the character, builds the series, and absorbs the failures — and failures refund themselves anyway. The premium still at 41 credits is a single strong puff, spent only on the frame that fronts a pack. Edits at 21 and face swaps at 26 are the mid-sized puffs that rescue proven frames. Upscalers, at 61 for images and from 101 for video, are the last breath, reserved for delivery.
Video quotes deserve the same patience, because they are calculated per job by duration and resolution. Read the figure printed before you confirm and ask whether this clip, at this length, earns a long puff or a short one.
A budget spent in short puffs lasts the whole sitting. A budget spent in one blast rarely survives the first hour.