Interseasonal Info and Strategy

Main points to consider

• 3 members per chest - please don't do more than 1 task in a chest, no matter how easy
• Dump chests with planes/trains when we already have 4/5 underway on the board -especially if precious

• No more than 2 zoo tasks should be on the board at any time
  

• Please check that all 3 tasks in a chest can be completed easily before taking your first task
• Please don't only plump for quick and easy tasks leaving yucky tasks for others to complete
• Tasks in wood/iron chests should be completed quickly or dumped

12 chests appear on the board with 3 tasks per chest. In order to claim your chest reward, all 3 tasks in the chest that you are working on need to be completed. All 3 can be completed by 1, 2 or 3 people.  Depending on the tasks in the chest, it is often better to have 3 people working on a chest.  1 person working on 2 tasks in the same chest will still only get that one chest, just as if they had only completed 1 task in that chest. 




Points to consider

• Only those chests that people want to earn, should have all 3 tasks underway. If we don't want to be rewarded with wood and iron chests, these should be dumped before being taken, or, dumped after completing a fast, easy task to help towards co-op goals.
• Try not to complete more than one task in the gold and precious chests, to allow 2 others to claim those chests and to free up that slot depending on how time consuming a particular task may be.   This means that we cannot reserve tasks either. 
  
• We can dump (abandon) any of our own tasks in a chest, without being penalised. It simply reverts to the initial time given and becomes available for someone else to complete, or we have a 30 minute wait before we are able to take that same task again.  We can, however, work on any other task in the same, or, another chest immediately. If someone has been working on a current task for too long and the timer has already turned red, I'm unclear whether dumping it at this stage will enable someone else to take it with the initial full time given.

• If you fail a task in a chest, the whole chest is then failed, penalising everyone else that was also working on that chest

• When taking wood/iron tasks in chests that are to be dumped, complete them as quickly as possible to free up the cell for another chest, as each cell takes an hour to refresh. Please don't sit on these chests, otherwise it makes more sense to dump them immediately.  We will complete the co-op goals easily.  Completing tasks in wood and iron chests should only take a matter of minutes.
  

Gold and Precious Chests

• Please don't just plump for the easiest task in a chest - ensure that the other 2 tasks can, and will be completed also.  Otherwise you might end up having to complete all 3 tasks by yourself, such as send 6 planes, 11 trains, growing silk, rubber etc. This would block that slot up for a day or more, as we can only work on 1 task at a time, or, we may have to dump that chest

• Once we have completed our 9 chests, we may need to help others  with completing these chests, by taking the tasks that no one else wants or is fed up doing, such as planes, trains and boats.  Zoo also might come under this category.

All those who have completed their chests, should hold back from filling chests unless specifically called to help.   We need to ensure that those still working on tasks get first choice of the remaining tasks and chests. 

eg in this screenshot

• Just take the easy tasks and then once completed, any remaining and worthless tasks can be left and the chest dumped.   This allows us to work on our co-op goals while leaving us open to collect the tasks from the better chests.   If it looks as though we will be awarded wood and iron chests which we don't want, then we should dump the task/chest.  Whoever was working on that chest will receive a notification to say that the chest has been dumped. 
  
• We are awarded the first 9 chests that are completed.   We will be working on Gold and Precious chests.  If anyone wants to work solely on wooden or iron chests that's fine, please say so though in chat and try to work on the hardest task first.  
  

• We have to wait 1 hour for each cell to refresh after completion or dumping of a chest. Therefore, when working on wood and iron chests for dumping pls, only take tasks that will take minutes.  These should not take longer than 15 minutes to complete.
  

Addendum

Wooden and iron chests can be taken or dumped right from the start. Those waiting for tasks can complete the quick easy tasks which are:-

• mining
• HoL
• heli orders

If for any reason you find that you are unable to complete this task within a matter of minutes, please say so in chat. You can then either abandon the task, allowing someone else to do it, or we can dump the chest. It is better to do this rather than wait and wait for these tasks to be completed, as we should be ensuring that the cells refresh as quickly as possible.

Anyone willing to work on wooden and iron tasks, please say so in chat, so that we are aware that you are around and can leave the dumping of chests to you. This means that you would also need to post in chat when you are leaving the game, so again, we are all aware as to whether these chests can be completed or dumped.

Be aware that the majority of chests will have train, plane and zoo tasks. Please check how many chests are already underway with members working on planes and trains, especially zoo. If there are already 4 or 5 people working on planes and trains, do not start on a new chest with planes and trains unless you take those particular tasks yourself. If easy tasks in gold and precious chests have been completed leaving planes and trains for someone else to do, they may well get dumped, if no one else is willing to do them.



The stats sheet don't update in real time, this means that any chests completed in a person's absence will not show until they next logged into the game. Towards the end of the week we are still finding that we are trying to help complete chests for someone who doesn't actually need them, so it would be helpful to show how many chests we have (or are expecting to complete) in our town names. ie I could have 9 in my town name because I've finished 9 tasks in 9 chests, but the stats are still only showing 7.

Those who have completed their 9 chests, should concentrate on quick and easy tasks in the wood and iron chests. Don't worry about completing a quick task in a gold/precious chest where one person might be working on a long task. There is no hurry to complete the fast tasks if someone is going to take hours before they finish, so it is better to leave these quick tasks for those who still need chests.

There is no need to opt in or out. Everyone can do as much or as little as they wish. All we're doing is completing chests to get as many rewards for the co-op as possible. We will reach the co-op goal easily.