The job market is gone. Companies run on employees you hire from three daily candidates, who produce on their own every hour, cost a wage every hour, and improve through training. Your own skills matter differently: Energy pays for self-work, hiring and training; Management is +2% on every employee and, since the 2026-10-29 patch, also what makes training cards rarer and event odds better; Entrepreneurship and Leadership are gone and their points were refunded. Everyone has one free skill reset with no cooldown and one free company move — use the move to bring companies home (core regions are +5%).

What the 2026-10-29 patch changed

1. 1Candidates show all their stats and the wage
   Only the trait (every candidate has exactly one) and the potential stay hidden until you hire. Read the stats and the wage against the company's €/PP before spending the 10 energy.
2. 2A new hire cannot be fired for 12 h
   Firing no longer costs the coworkers any happiness, so the hire-and-see loop is free again — just not on the same day.
3. 3Transfers between your companies are free
   No −5 happiness for a week and no 24 h firing lock afterwards. Move people to the good worth most per PP; only a Creature of Habit still minds, and specialization starts over on a new good.
4. 4Responsibility is +3 happiness per point, Luck is +4% in events per point
   Both used to do next to nothing; both are now worth a Drill, after Production.
5. 5Wages follow the good's own PP value
   The game prices a wage and a profit estimate on the PP value of what the company makes, not an average of every good. Empress infers the value per company from its own staff.

Build order for a company

1. 1Engine first, to Level 2–3
   The engine makes 24 PP/day per level with no wage behind it. Level 2 costs 20 steel, level 3 costs 40. Cheapest production you will ever buy.
2. 2Hire the first employee (free slot)
   Every company starts with Break Room 1: one slot. Hiring costs 10 energy. An average candidate (2.5 production) makes ~15 PP/day before bonuses.
3. 3Break Room 2 (20 steel), then 3 (80 steel)
   A second and third slot. At most companies 20 steel for an employee's daily net is the fastest payback on the board — the Plan tab prices it against each engine level.
4. 4Engine to Level 4–5
   40–80 steel per level. Keep going while the payback is under about two weeks; the Plan tab shows the days.
5. 5Storage before it fills
   Employees produce into storage. When it is full the output is lost and every employee takes −10 happiness. Level 2 is 10 steel for 400.
6. 6A manager, last
   Another player hired to run the company: +2% per Management point (max +22%) and a daily +5 happiness for one employee. Only worth the hourly pay once the room is full and trained.

Which company to staff first

An employee's output is worth what the company's good is worth per PP, net of inputs — so fill the company with the highest €/PP first. The Employees tab prints that figure on every roster header, next to the PP value the wages there are priced at. Raw materials (iron, grain) are usually the floor; products that need inputs can be worth more or less than their raw material depending on the market that day.

If you do not want to manage employees

The developer's own note: Energy + Production is a viable strategy. Self-work gives Production value PP (30 at level 0, 60 at 10) per 10 energy, and a level-10 Energy bar gives 48 self-works a day. That is a few hundred PP/day with nobody to pay. Engines still run either way.