How workers are won

Associations hire workers, who give every member of the association a bonus for 24 hours: faster engines, cheaper station levels, more prestige and more.

• A random worker is put up for auction in the association panel, and a new auction starts every hour.
• There are no auctions during the endgame, nor in the 48 hours before it.
• The highest bid at the end wins; watch out for last-second bids. If your association loses, each player gets their bid back.
• An association can only bid on a worker if it does not already have one of that type, or has had its benefits for less than 24 hours.

Worker slots

• With the headquarters at level 1, the association hires one worker for free; at level 3, up to three.
• At level 1 or 2, an extra worker slot can be opened for 50 gold, once: when that worker expires, the slot needs the right headquarters level or another 50 gold.
• A pre-registered association starts the next round with its headquarters back at level 1, so with a single slot until it is upgraded.

Donations to the headquarters upgrade it: 9 donations of $500,000 from level 1 to 2, then 17 donations of $3,500,000 from level 2 to 3.