Managers and offline income

A manager is how a business keeps working when you are not starting its cycle. Offline income follows from that. It is not a separate bonus you switch on.

These pages follow the rules in game version 1.0.4.

The short version

Hire the manager of every business you want to keep earning while you are away.
A cycle you already started can still finish. A business that was never started, and has no manager, earns nothing.
The fiesta has its own offline rule. It is not the main game.

Three cases

Practical recommendation

Business with a manager

The business runs its cycles on its own, including while the app is closed. This is the case that keeps producing.
A cycle already running, no manager

The cycle you started can finish. The business does not start the next one by itself.
Not started, and no manager

Nothing is in progress. Closing the app earns nothing from that business, and there is no remainder kept for later.

Screenshot of the manager list. One manager can be hired. The others wait until that business is owned. — Screenshot Each row is one business. You pay once, and only after you own it. The hire prices on this screen belong to one save.

How an absence is paid

If the game can confirm the time, a real absence in the main game is paid in full. There is no general eight-hour ceiling on that confirmed time.

If the time is not confirmed yet, the main game first credits a limited provisional amount, up to about eight hours. The rest of the absence is not deleted. After a valid confirmation, that unpaid remainder is settled.

A gap shorter than about half a minute stays quiet. Those seconds are still there for the next settle. If the device clock jumps backwards, the game does not invent the missing time.

Optional detail: how the time is stored

The game keeps its own time record. A trusted server time is what confirms an absence. Until that anchor exists, the credit stays provisional. You do not need this wording to play. Hire managers, then let the game confirm the clock when it can.

The fiesta is separate

The fiesta does not use the main game’s eight-hour provisional purse. While its own clock is unconfirmed, fiesta offline credit stops at 24 hours. Confusing the two will make a long break look like a bug.

Screenshot of the fiesta list, with one festival in progress and another that has not started. — Screenshot The fiesta is its own event. Its offline rule is not the rule of the main game.

What to hire before you leave

Hire the manager of any business you want to keep earning. Staffing at least half the businesses in a town is also part of the proof the next town asks for. Time-warp items in the inventory simulate a stretch of production when you choose to use them. They are not the same thing as closing the app.