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Co-op farm research - is it worth it?

SpljushkaSpljushka Posts: 67
In the co-op farm management research the first available one is for increasing pigs selling price by 20%. Let's do some math.

You will need to hire 3 researchers (first one costed me $46 070, the next one will cost $50 405, and I suppose the third one will be even more expensive). Let's take $50 405 as an average. Then, you need to pay for the research itself. It costs $20 400 in total.

So to complete it 3 co-op members have to pay $57 205 each.

The additional profit you get from one run depends on the pigsty level:
$140 - 1 pigsty level 2
$150 - 1 pigsty level 3
$155 - 1 pigsty level 4
$160 - 1 pigsty level 5

So, just to get back the money you spent on this research, you have to run a level 2 pigsty 409 times. It's better for a pigsty level 5 - just 358 times (with regular feed).

How many times do you run your pigsties per day?

Let's imagine that I have some life and can run it only 4 times per day. With one pigsty it will take me 90-100 days just to get my money back. Only after that I will start getting some real net profit.

Is it really worth it?

I'm playing the game for 9 days now and I reached the 30th level. I still have just one pigsty since I have no idea what I will need on the higher levels. It looks like it is easier and more profitable just to build more stables. So it's only if you have no space left on your farm you can consider doing the co-op projects. Or you need another group of members who will pay for other research and you just get benefits.

All-in-all the co-op projects look like a lot of pain for little/slow profit. But, probably, good for some socializing.
Post edited by Spljushka on

Comments

  • Kat Nip (GB1)Kat Nip (GB1) GB1 Posts: 3,796
    edited 20.04.2013
    For me, I consider my donations to the cooperative to be worth it. It may not get me back huge profits, but it does give me a sense of community and achievement. That's worth more to me than outright profit, but that's my opinion. :)

    Kat. Kittie_by_otomosc.gif
  • FarmerPJW2FarmerPJW2 Posts: 45
    edited 20.04.2013
    I think your analysis is missing something, which is that in order to get the extra pigsty with your $57,000, you have to hire more workers, which entails generating unhappiness; and offsetting unhappiness is extremely expensive: a minimum of $33 per point and since Flowerbeds are very inefficient uses of space, you might in fact need to spend even more. What follows is a detailed calculation (with some hand-waving where I cannot recall the relevant figures). Here, in case you don't want to read a rather dense and dull set of calculations, is the conclusion:

    Co-op research, though not a no-brainer, can in quite regular circumstances be a clear winner against building new production facilities.

    I cannot remember the price of upgrading to a Level 2 Pigsty (are there tables anywhere?) but it might just be possible to build a Level 1 House, offsetting decorations and two Level 2 Pigsties within the budget. If it is, it is surely impossible to build a third, and would mean, in addition to using 84 squares for the Pigsties, using 25 for the House. For the decorations, we can work out some options [1]: with three Flowerbeds, we are talking 48 squares for the decorations and a negligible cost. If you want to use less space, you can get two Vegetable Patches, which very nearly do the job, cover 40 squares, cost $17,000 and would presumably mean you could get only one Pigsty. Two Fountains (32 squares) break the bank.

    For your investment, you would then generate an additional profit per Pigsty of $300 est., [2] which is four times better than the $140 (minimum) from the Co-op, but as you acknowledge it costs a lot of land: guaranteed to require at least one expansion, in fact! And expansions get expensive quickly. [3] So expensive, in fact, that if you are on expansion number 10 for your main farm, then this Co-op research project is a better deal.

    Of course, all these figures depend heavily on things like current running costs, final running costs, size of farm and ability to service the additional Pigsties with food on a continual basis through the Windmill. You'd have to do a proper analysis yourself in your own circumstances. But it's the happiness and the expansions which are driving the sunk costs, so make sure you always take those into account.

    [1] Source.
    [2] Source.
    [3] Source.
  • JKK32JKK32 Posts: 26
    edited 20.04.2013
    If we look at it from a purely Return on Investment perpestive, which is a comparison of capital outlay (farm dollars and gold), adding in operating expenses (upgrades to housing for additional workers and decorations to balance happiness) over a period of time. ROI also takes into account interest rates (which in the case doesn't apply) and the future value of money. I think that possibly we could stretch this last criteria into saying "what else would I rather spend my funds on now.
    Looking at it from this angle, we should also take into account how fast one wants to grow his/her own farm.
    For me though, this is just a game. I enjoy the challenge of the coop. Any real money that I spend on this game is for my entertainment. I don't truly get any tangible return. For me, it's not much different than going to a movie. It is just fun, for me anyway.
  • Gwendolen (US1)Gwendolen (US1) Posts: 1,268
    edited 21.04.2013
    Totally non technical speaking, without doing any numbers, but an investment on for instance healthier pigs, or the new variety of apples is an investment that stáys! Maybe with 1 lvl2 pigsty, you will not get much out of it yet, but I am lvl 63 now and with 3 lvl4 piggies, it is definitely worth it!
  • agueda3agueda3 Posts: 583
    edited 21.04.2013
    I also agree with Gwendolen later in the game it is worth it to get that return on the pigs & also later you'll have a task to have 3 pigsty in your farm anyway!
  • SystemSystem Posts: 106,969
    edited 21.04.2013
    I have never looked if it is worthwhile from a farm dollars point of view. But I have my Big Farm to have fun. And belonging to a co-op is most definitely worth it for me for the extra enjoyment
  • Dana672Dana672 Posts: 49
    edited 21.04.2013
    If you look at it strictly from a numbers perspective, most things, if not all, in the game are not worth it.

    The reason why coops need to do research is not only from the benefit - no matter how long it takes to pay for itself - but also to unite the group and to make the coop more attractive to new members. The members of my coop want to complete research. It gives us a sense of accomplishment. ... and no one wants to belong to a coop that does nothing and offers no benefits.
  • SpljushkaSpljushka Posts: 67
    edited 21.04.2013
    So, I see everyone agrees :0))). Doing farm research is only worthwhile on the higher levels - from a profit point of view. On the earlier levels it's more about team play.

    FarmerPJW, thanks for the links. Yes, I do expect that happiness and expantion cost will become an issue, but still - on the higher levels.

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