NPC worker contracts buy remaining operating time. Whether that time produces actions depends on worker settings, resources and current restrictions.
A new contract provides eight hours for 200 Donator Points, reduced to 150 with active Donator Status. A top-up adds four hours for 100 points, or 75 with active Status. Top-up requires fewer than four hours remaining. A second live worker of the same type cannot be hired.
| Status | Contract time | Manual activity |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Consumed | Corresponding activity blocked |
| Waiting | Consumed even without useful work | Corresponding activity blocked |
| Manually paused | Frozen | Corresponding activity available |
| Chemist suspended | Frozen and periodically rechecked | Corresponding activity still blocked |
| Expired | No remaining operating time | Worker no longer blocks |
A jailed worker is waiting and continues consuming time. You cannot manually pause it while jailed. Missing resources or a player restriction does not automatically preserve paid time.
Manual pause preserves remaining time and frees the relevant manual activity. Resume when ready to automate again. The Chemist's stop-when-finished setting provides a different automatic suspension flow when work or materials are unavailable, with periodic resumption checks.
Read the pause reason and action statistics before topping up. More time does not fix missing inputs, an unsuitable selection or insufficient resources.
Mechanics checked against executable game code on 18 September 2026.