Co-op Level vs Loyalty Points
After you pass level 40, co-op level doesn't unlock any more projects. It becomes purely stature and has no impact on the co-op.
The question becomes do you focus and select projects for something that has no impact and wont help grow your individual farms, or something that has impact and will help the farms inside the co-op?
The answer is focus on something that will help the individual farmers - loyalty points.
Loyalty points can be used for decorations, building materials, library supplies, fertilizer, feed, dog bones and cash.
Summarized math - Averaging level 50-90 farms, loyalty bonus of 3, factors in waste per project. 1 Level 2 Apple - 25300 apples, 628 loyalty points, 1700 co-op points 6 Level 1 Apples - 27000 apples, 2088 loyalty points minimum, 1680 co-op points
The co-op points per apple is reduced by 7.4%, but loyalty points more than triple! Considering those co-op points get you nothing during player tournament, loyalty points make sense.
Then factor in the fact you don't have to dump all of your apples into 1 project, so there is time between projects to sell apples... now you are looking at a 17-27% increase in apple income through market sales.
I think the general rule of thumb is you should always run level 1 projects unless you have a specific reason to run something higher.
The top reasons to run something other than level 1s would be:
competing in tournament (more below)
leveling up a co-op to unlock level locked projects*
unlocking a higher level project (example - running level 3 dairy to unlock level 4 dairy)convenience (to have something running when no-one can start projects) - if you can't keep projects running, or people are holding during player tournament, you are impeding people's ability to play which leads to subtle disengagement, hurting the team in the long run. In this case, you may want to re-evaluate your deputy structure/philosophy.
testing your capabilities - example, how long does it take us to finish a Dairy 4?
*There would still be the debate if exchanging 3 times the loyalty points is worth 5% more points (apples has one of the the worst waste numbers) Think of this as hitting the desired level in 42 days instead of 40 - is 2 days earlier worth 2/3 of your possible loyalty points? That's 12000 loyalty points lost per person in a medium sized co-op generating 500 points per day from projects to hit a target 2 days earlier...
Village Tractor The same concept applies to the village tractor. You are essentially spending $1,000,000 in farm cash per day to run the village tractor for a 4-6% boost in co-op points. When you are not actively competing in a tournament, does more co-op points mean anything or are you just wasting village funds? Would you pay 150,000 village dollars per month to reach a threshold slightly earlier, or could they be better used to extend project time or increase the collection bonus?
If you are not actively competing (player tournament, inching towards entry or your finish is secured - aka guaranteed 2-5th and no chance of 1st), the tractor probably should not be running. This is even more important when a co-op has young farms and donations are harder to collect and have more purchasing power (buying bonus levels below 5, when they are cheap).
Balance
If you are a co-op leader, care needs to be taken not to burn your people out. There is no long term benefit to run an intense schedule during players tournament. Short term bursts of intensity (like 1 week of Dairy 4 every day to unlock Dairy 5) can have a positive affect to focus and rally your team, but should not be the normal.
Burnt out people tend to disengage, play a little less and are prone to resentment which creates tension in the group.
Compete with level 1 projects? The classic example I used to give was: your co-op is sized to do a Dairy 2 in 2 hours 15 mins because you need 2 rounds of cheese.
You can do a Dairy 2 in 2 hours and collect 2850 co-op points, or you could do sets of Dairy 1s spread 2 hours apart giving 2 hours to kill in between... eggs? 5 - Dairy 1 and an egg is 3000 points... Now if you can sneak 2 eggs in, or extra apples from those that can't sync with everyone else between projects? 3880 points.
You start to minimize holding and allow people to dump when they jump on, plus you give more options on when people can use their milk, spreading across time zones and wake up/home from work better.
The problem becomes if people can't egg between dairy projects... now you are down to 2400 points instead of 2850 points.
There is also the concept of product waste, when you only need 50 milk from your 300 finish a project. In reality, wasting 5% (averages) of your product to generate 30% higher points is a wise return. It needs to be sold to a team as a large picture concept and not 250 wasted milk.
The best way to schedule (during tournament) is points per hour. If people can egg or run patty/apples/peaches between Dairy, small projects are more points per hour. If people can't do anything between dairies, larger projects are more points per hour. Your biggest competition is the clock - the clock ticking with nothing happening hurts co-op points.
Highly competitive co-ops run the largest project they can close "instantly" with filler projects (eggs or daily bonus) in between.
Our co-op can't egg while at work, so we run large Dairy through the day and eggs or daily bonus in the evening. It is our best points per hour based on how our group works.
If we ran patties as people got up, we would reduce our highest capable points per hour, so less then 1/3 of the team does patty.
Often, we can egg faster than the daily bonus. Last tourney we figured out that temping eggs instead of temping apples on apple bonus day yielded twice the points and much more dung before orchard weekend. We did eggs. (No one is required to temp, but it is contagious.)
Daily bonus may affect your routine or schedule but just because it is the bonus doesn't mean it is better. The beauty of a global perspective is that Laszlo mentioned while proof reading this, that there may be value in holding product until the daily bonus is known. Western based teams will be less impacted by the daily bonus changing while the team is awake and active.
An important note - doing filler projects between fast projects needs to be a team effort. If it falls on a few people to do those projects all day, you will burn them out.
How co-op's and schedules go together falls on a spectrum On one end, the schedule is built around the co-op. You figure out how the farmers in your co-op work, and then build a schedule to maximize that. If your players have piles of fields, you will run more field projects, etc.
The other end is the co-op built around the schedule. You have a set schedule and farmers need to be capable of following it to fit. This makes recruiting much more difficult because you limit the pool of farmers that fit, but those that do fit, usually thrive.
Generally, co-ops will start with the first and then transition towards the second as they grow.
Also, more competitive co-ops tend towards the second.
Rigid vs Flexible Finally, like most things, the more effort you put into the schedule, the higher the returns. I have seen schedules that run like clock work - projects happen at an exact time, not a minute before or after. If you miss, you hold for next one. Care needs to be taken to make sure you have headroom for people that miss the project or you need someone willing to instantly finish projects to keep the schedule running on time. This method tends to net the highest points possible.
The other technique I have seen (and we use) is a structure or "flow". There is a predictable pattern that the co-op follows and a general time frame that is followed, but exact times are not used. These also need to be handled with care, because it is hard for new members to engage if they don't know the flow. If they don't know that Dairy takes 5 hours, they will be annoyed holding apples for 4 hours when they could have run an additional crop.
(For us, evening Dairy may start at 10 pm, and nobody cares if you put milk in at 10 pm or 2 am. If your milk comes up at 7pm and you stay up till 3am, pick it and get another round in.)
The danger is having no schedule. If people don't know what is going on or what to expect, they disengage. My first co-op had zero structure and we never knew when the leader or 2 deputies would be on or if there would be a project. I hated it and finally went searching when we ran 2 projects in 5 days. My next co-op had group projects at a fixed time everyday. I knew when to log on and what would be happening.
Having no schedule can still be a structure... anyone can start level 1 projects is a structure that people can follow and predict.
The key thing is to have something in place and communicated so people know what to expect and can engage in the co-op.
The real trick is that every co-op is different. You need to know your team and what they are capable of, have a clear vision of what you are trying to accomplish, communicate it well, play smart and focus on things that count.
Happy Farming! Smart
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