WarEra: Workers Without Headaches – Complete NPC Workers Guide (v0.27.3)

# WORKERS WITHOUT HEADACHES
### Everything you wanted to ask about hiring and training NPC workers (v0.27.3)

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❓ **"So what actually changed?"**
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The job market is gone. Your companies now run on **NPC workers** that you pick and hire yourself. Other players can only work for you as **managers**.

🔨 You can still work in your own companies, for 10 energy per click.
⚡ Energy is now the main currency of the economy. It pays for hiring, training and your own work.
👔 If you don't feel like managing workers, the game's developer says **Energy + Production** (working yourself) is still a perfectly viable strategy.

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❓ **"Where do candidates come from?"**
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Every company gets **3 new candidates** every day at **00:00 UTC**.

🤝 Hiring one candidate costs **10 energy**.
🔄 Don't like the offer? You can ask for a new set. The first refresh costs 10 energy, then the price **doubles** every time: 10, 20, 40, 80, 160…
⏳ The hiring window shows a countdown to the next free set.

⚠️ **Five refreshes in one day cost 310 energy**, which is more than a full bar even with the skill maxed out. One, maybe two refreshes a day is plenty.

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❓ **"What can I see before I hire someone?"**
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Since v0.27.3 you see **all their stats and their wage**. Their trait and training potential only show up once you hire them.

Every new worker now has **exactly one trait**. Since v0.27.2, traits that cancel each other out no longer come together (e.g. Loyal and Flight risk, Patriot and Expat, Loner and Mentor).

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❓ **"What do these three numbers mean?"**
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🏭 **Production:** how much the worker makes. Every hour they make **Production ÷ 4** production points, before any bonuses.
🍀 **Luck:** finds toolboxes (**0.1% per point per worked hour**, max 2%) and helps with events (**+4% per point**, +2% on some events).
😊 **Responsibility:** each point gives **+3 happiness**.

On a new worker each stat is between 1 and 4. Training potential is between 3 and 10, and age between 18 and 45.

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❓ **"Who decides the wage?"**
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The worker does, not you. The game first works out what one production point is worth, based on raw material trades on the market over the last 7 days. The hourly wage is then:

**(Production ÷ 4) × value of one point × the worker's expectation**

The expectation is random, between **70% and 130%**.
💸 The more Production you train, the higher the wage they ask for.
😤 The **Greedy** trait asks for 20% more.
🙂 The **Modest** trait asks for 15% less.
📋 Training cards show you the wage change in advance.

🎯 Look for candidates with a **low expectation**. A worker at 70% and one at 130% with the same Production make the same amount, but one costs almost twice as much.

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❓ **"Does age matter?"**
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It does, a lot. Workers age **one year every day**. At **65** they ask to retire. If you keep them, they ask again every 10 days, and every year past 65 makes keeping them 5% harder.

👶 A 19-year-old candidate stays about 46 days before their first retirement request, a 44-year-old only about 21.
🌱 **Early bloomer** (replaced Sprinter in v0.27.3): +6 Production until age 40, then −2 every 10 years, gone at 60.

🎯 Training pays off better on younger workers, because they have more days to earn it back.

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❓ **"How many traits are there, and which ones are known?"**
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The game has **53 traits**. The official patch notes mention these:
🐺 **Loner:** +100% production when working alone
🗣️ **Sociable:** +25% per coworker
😤 **Greedy:** asks for a 20% higher wage
🙂 **Modest:** asks for a 15% lower wage
🏃 **Flight risk:** starts looking for another job already at 50 happiness
⚓ **Anchor:** never quits
🏠 **Homesick:** is fine in their own country's occupied regions
🎯 **Specialist:** since v0.27.3 always matches what your company makes, even when gained through training
🌱 **Early bloomer:** see above

The official notes don't list all 53 traits. You'll meet the rest in the game as your workers get them.

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❓ **"Why is my worker in a bad mood?"**
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Happiness starts at **50**. Every point above 50 gives +1% production, and every point below takes away 1%.

What lowers it:
💰 wage tax: **every 1% of tax costs 1 point**
📦 full storage
💸 unpaid wages
⚔️ a battle in their region: −5

What raises it:
😊 Responsibility: **+3 per point**
👔 a manager: once a day +5 for one worker, for 48 hours

Good news from v0.27.3:
✅ firing someone **no longer lowers** their coworkers' happiness
✅ moving workers between **your own** companies is **free**

⚠️ **Below 30 happiness a worker may quit** any hour, and the unhappier they are, the likelier it is. An Anchor never leaves, and a Flight risk starts looking around already at 50.

Example: your country's tax is 15% and the worker has Responsibility 3. They get +9, tax takes 15, so they sit at 44. That's 6% less production. With Responsibility 5 they'd be at 50 and lose nothing.

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❓ **"How do I train them?"**
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📈 **One draw per day** per worker, for **10 energy**. Each draw uses up 1 point of potential.
🃏 You get 3 cards and pick one: a higher stat, a lower wage, a new or removed trait, or more potential.
👔 More **Management** and **Luck** bring rarer, better cards. Since v0.27.3 Leadership is merged into Management, which now also gives +2% on events per level.
🔍 Cards show "before → after" and how the wage will change. Wild card shows the chance of a bad trait.
🩹 **Rehab** is always a rare card and only removes bad traits.

⚡ Energy math: a worker with potential 10 uses **100 energy** to finish training. Three companies with three workers each need **90 energy a day** just for training.

🎯 Every new Production point raises both output and wage by the same proportion. So pure Production is worth the most on low-expectation workers. On expensive workers, the lower-wage card is often the better pick.

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❓ **"How many workers fit in one company?"**
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As many as your **Break Room** allows:
1️⃣ level 1: **1 worker** (free, every company starts here)
2️⃣ level 2: **2 workers**, for **20 steel**
3️⃣ level 3: **3 workers**, for **80 steel**

A full company needs **100 steel** in total. You can also downgrade it.

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❓ **"I made a mistake. Can I fire them right away?"**
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⏰ **No. A new hire can't be fired for the first 12 hours.**

✅ Firing no longer costs coworkers any happiness.
✅ Moving a worker to another of your companies is free, and you can fire them right after the move.

🎯 Tip: you see the trait and potential as soon as you hire. Hire when you know you'll be back in the game after 12 hours, then decide whether the worker stays, moves to another of your companies or gets fired.

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❓ **"How do wages and taxes work?"**
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💸 Wages are paid **automatically, every hour**.
⚠️ **If your account can't cover the full hour, NOBODY in the company works that hour.**
🏛️ The country takes a **wage tax**, and Congress votes on how high it is. According to the game config, a country's tax can be at most 45%. There's no longer a tax on self-work.
👑 Under **Plutocracy** the country gets ×1.4 from wage and manager taxes, and the extra is paid by the game, not by players.
🕳️ Money paid to workers leaves the game.

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❓ **"Do I need a manager?"**
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A manager is a **player** you pay to run your company. Each company has **one** manager slot.

👔 Every Management point the manager has gives workers **+2% production**, up to **+22%**. It stacks with your own Management, up to **+44%** together.
😊 Once a day the manager gives one worker +5 happiness for 48 hours.
💵 You set the pay per Management point. Since v0.27.1 manager wages are divided by 10, and pay has to stay between 80% and 120% of the average.
⏳ For the first 24 hours, neither side can end the contract.
🔓 The manager job unlocks at level 10.

⚠️ **A manager gets paid even when the company has no workers.** Don't pay a manager for an empty company.

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❓ **"What are tools?"**
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🧰 A tool is equipment for a worker. There are **6 types** (sickles, pickaxes, skillets, hammers, flasks and calipers), and each one works for its own set of goods.

Production bonus by rarity:
⚪ Common: 3–6%
🟢 Uncommon: 7–12%
🔵 Rare: 13–20%
🟣 Epic: 21–30%
🟠 Legendary: 31–45%
🔴 Mythic: 46–65%

📦 You find tools in toolboxes. Odds: Common 35%, Uncommon 37%, Rare 20%, Epic 6.5%, Legendary 1.3%, Mythic 0.2%.
⏳ A tool lasts about **500 worked hours**, and a worn-out one gives nothing.
🚫 Tools and toolboxes **can't be sold or traded**, only dismantled into scrap.

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❓ **"What else affects how much a worker makes?"**
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The base is Production ÷ 4 per hour. On top of that come bonuses from:
👔 your Management and your manager's
😊 happiness
🧰 tools
🔁 specialization: **+1% for every day** on the same good, up to **+20%**
🏠 a company in your country's home region: **+5%**

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❓ **"How do I know if a worker makes me money?"**
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Look at the wage. Wages are based on the average value of a production point on the market, not on what your company makes. By the formula, a worker with no bonuses, at a 100% expectation, whose goods are worth that average, earns what they cost. Profit comes from everything the wage **doesn't see**:
👔 Management
🧰 tools
🔁 specialization
🏠 home region
✨ good traits
💸 low expectation

And what eats your profit:
🏛️ tax, twice over: the tax itself and through happiness
📦 full storage
😞 low Responsibility in a high-tax country

🎯 The game helps you here: since v0.27.3 the profit estimate uses the value of exactly what your company makes. Keep an eye on that number.

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❓ **"How much time does this take?"**
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About ten minutes a day. Here's the checklist:
☐ new candidates checked (one or two refreshes max)
☐ training cards drawn
☐ events handled (you have 36 hours, otherwise the game picks for you)
☐ workers older than 12 hours reviewed: stay, move or go
☐ storage emptied
☐ enough money in the account for wages until you're back
☐ tools checked (a worn-out tool gives nothing)
☐ log in at least every 3 days, or events stop

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❓ **"What should I NOT do?"**
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🚫 Don't log off with an empty account, because the whole company stands still that hour.
🚫 Don't refresh candidates five times, because that costs 310 energy.
🚫 Don't train only Production on expensive workers, because their wage goes up too.
🚫 Don't hire at the last minute expecting a quick firing, because the 12-hour rule applies.
🚫 Don't ignore tax, because 20% tax means −20% production if Responsibility doesn't cover it.
🚫 Don't pay a manager for an empty company, because they get paid even without workers.
🚫 Don't let storage fill up, because your workers' mood drops.
🚫 Don't trust old guides, because Leadership is gone, Sprinter is now Early bloomer, and firing and moving no longer cost happiness.
🚫 Don't leave events hanging, because after 36 hours the game picks for you.

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