We’ve seen a lot of people using hats and Coop research and Coop building incorrectly. So we decided to put this guide together to hopefully clear some things up and let you get the most benefit out of using the hats.
First we’ll cover Cooperative Builder and Cooperative Research first since most people have those already, but a lot of people still don’t fully understand them. You can find Coop Build and Research in your Engineer Profession Skill Points tree.
Thanks to the help of ChatGPT and submitting several before and after build times with and without Coop Build, I’ve determined that using a Coop Build is about the same as using a 6-minute speedup or 12-minute speedup, depending on if you have the 10% or 20% buff. Seems like a dud of a Profession Skill at this point. But here’s the real value and proper way to use both of these skills: Use them to START a build or research a tech. Because if you have a build or tech already in progress, it’s like getting 12 minutes off the build time. But if you activate it and then start a new build or tech, the 10% or 20% buff applies to the entire build. See the example below before and after activating the Coop Research skill.
Notice the times above, the buffs reduced the time to research from 4 days 8 hours to 3 days 22 hours. Lots of speedups saved!
The same works for Cooperative Builder skill, and Hats! Which bring us to hats… They are very similar if not identical in most ways.
How to get to the Hats and Apply:
Simply click on your profile, and then your server number (circled)
Then you’ll see a list of positions to apply for. We call them “hats” because when you get in that position, your base gets a little icon over it, and sometimes it’s literally a hat.
Above is a list of hats that are available. Most of these are 5 minute positions, after 5 minutes they expire so you need to make the most out of them while you’re in that position.
Vice President
This position is considered a dud of a position. It gives small buffs on a lot of things, but no good buffs at any particular thing. I would avoid this position because others below give much better buffs when you apply for them individually. Trying to get this buff to knock time off the clock of existing builds, existing research, and existing troop training is the incorrect use of this position. Plus the “appoint officials” capability is dangerous and has been the cause of some drama on the server. So we’re asking people to not hold this position, as it doesn’t really give the benefits that you would think it does. The only time this position is helpful is if you want to build or research something, but you have to do it now and the lines are too long for Secretary of Science or Sectretary of Development and you think the “20% is better than nothing” and go ahead with the lesser buff.
Secretary of Strategy
Pretty self-explanatory, this is a 5-minute position unless no one else is in line. You hold this position until someone else requests it. It’s super useful during buster day but is hard to keep ahold of.
Secretary of Defense
Use this hat during Arms Race Unit Progression to help you train more troops in one shot than you normally would be able to. It doesn’t help with unit cost, just quantity and time. It’s a 5 minute position. Apply, do all of your Arms Race troop training and then it moves on to the next applicant after 5 minutes.
Secretary of Development
This one and Secretary of Science (below) are likely the most used and most useful. This adds a 50% time buff to new builds during the 5 minute period you hold it. It gives very little (let’s go ahead and say “zero”) benefit to holding this position for 5 minutes if you’re not starting a new building while holding it. This does stack with Cooperative Construction skill (explained at the top of the page) and should be combined when using it. It’s identical to Secretary of Science except flipped on Tech and Construction. See a great example of how the buff works below on Secretary of Science.
Secretary of Science
This one gives a 50% speed buff on Tech Research for all Techs started in the 5 minute period you hold the position. This one also gives zero benefit to holding this position for 5 minutes if you’re not starting a new tech research while holding it.
Below is an example of a tech I started while holding the Hat. I paired it up with Coop Research (20%) to give me an even bigger time buff.
Before my default buffs (upgrades, profession skill, etc) the build was 16 days. With my normal buffs it would have been 6 days 13 hours.
Then I applied for the Hat.
And then I set an alarm to be on the game right before my appointment time. Always set an alarm! Right before my time slot I turned on Coop Research. Notice Gaybe Rooth in the hat line right above me. Try to coordinate research times with an ally so you can both benefit from the stacked buffs.
Takes my research time to a little over 4 days 16 hours. (Sorry the time is not exact because my screen shot didn’t capture immediately after. This shot was 1 hour after it started after some allies applied help to it. But you get the idea!)
Secretary of Interior
This one gives you 5 whole minutes of 100% production on resources. 5 minutes seems silly, right? Depends on how you use it. If you’re Engineer Profession you can use a skill called Rapid Production. If you only use this Rapid Production skill while wearing this hat, you get even more resources.
Here is an example of the resources I get from using rapid production.
Then after applying for the Hat I can get more out of it when I take the position.
