Quick Links
As a sandbox MMO, Black Desert Online allows you to do pretty much anything you can think of. From fighting world bosses to breeding and raising horses, there are endless possibilities. In this guide, we are going to talk about workers. Workers are essentially people that work for you to gather or process different materials. It can be difficult to set up your workers in the world, but we will go over every step. Afterward, you will be on your way to creating a worker empire.
A lot goes into setting up your workers. We are going to cover the basics for your first time dealing with workers. This is not a definitive guide, but it will definitely help get you started.
Choosing A Main Location For Your Workers
Before setting up your workers, you will want to choose a main 'location'. This is where workers sent to gather material will deliver it back to. Items can be transported between cities, but it's helpful to have your items delivered to a place set up for workers.
You can choose pretty much any city on the map. If you plan to expand your worker empire, it shouldn't matter too much. Overall, try to find a bigger city with plenty of rooms to purchase. A good first choice would be Calpheon. This is a capital city with plenty of room for your workers. Since workers will gather and bring back material, make sure that your storage has enough room.
Getting Your First Worker
After deciding what city you will start from, it's time to get yourself some workers. Larger cities and towns will have work supervisors. Here, you will be able to contract workers. Above, you can see work supervisor Lilvayne. Lilvayne is located in the wharf of Calpheon. These work supervisors are located in other major cities as well.
Talk to the work supervisor and contract your first worker. Clicking 'Contract Workers' will bring up a menu with a worker that is available. You can either accept the first worker or move on to the next one. Be careful, as viewing workers takes energy. Try to quickly decide on a worker, rather than burning through your energy. Once you have decided on a worker, hire them.
There are three different types of workers; human, giant, and goblin. Giants work slowly but have a lot of stamina, and goblins work fast with less stamina. Humans are in the middle of this. Additionally, there are different levels of workers. Their level will affect the speed of their work. Sometimes, you will be able to contract higher-level workers, but you can also level them up over time by sending them to work.
Housing For Workers
All of your workers will need a place to stay. Lodging for workers can be found throughout the city. Overall, you can only have as many workers as you have lodging for them. If you do not have enough lodging, then you will not be able to hire a worker.
To buy lodging for your workers, head to the map. Once there, click on a city icon. This will zoom in, showing every available room. Each room will offer different services. For example, some may increase your storage, while others are workshops for various goods. You will need to find a room that is suitable for lodging. Above, you can see the panel for Slum 1-3, 1F. This is small room that will support one worker. Purchasing this room will expand the number of workers you can have by one.
Some room selections allow you to level up the room type. For example, after purchasing a room of worker lodging, you will have the opportunity to upgrade, allowing more workers to stay there.
Investing In Nodes
Now that you have your workers, it's time to invest in nodes. When looking at the map, you should see lines coming from Calpheon, leading to farms and outposts in the surrounding area. These are nodes. Nodes are locations that workers can gather material. For example, to the left of Calpheon, you will see Gabino Farm. Here, you can send workers to get the special sunflower crate.
First, you will need to find a node that you want to invest in. From your starting city, check out the surrounding nodes. Once you see a node that you like, right-click on it to set a path. The path should lead straight to the person who manages the node.
Interact with this person and select 'Node Management'. This will bring up the map, allowing you to invest in the node. Investing takes contribution points, so make sure you have enough. Contribution points can be gained by doing quests and progressing through the story.
Chaining Nodes Together
Each node will be connected to another node. You will see that some nodes do not have any material for workers to gather. These nodes are used to create a chain of nodes. There are nodes spread around the entire map. To reach the nodes far away, you will invest in several nodes that all connect. This will allow your workers to travel between nodes to reach areas that are far away.
By investing in multiple nodes, you will be able to connect cities. For example, Glish, Heidel, and Velia can all be connected with nodes. Glish doesn't have a lot of lodging for workers, but the Southern Cienaga node nearby is a great source of Rough Stone. Send workers from Glish here, as well as workers from Heidel and Velia. You can travel between the cities to gather material, or just send them on a wagon to the desired location.
Overall, you will want to chain together as many nodes as possible to maximize the number of resources that you can gather.
Assigning Workers To Nodes
Once you have the node you want, it's time to send some workers. Click on a node that you have previously invested in. This should pull up a panel with all available workers. Pick the worker you want to work the node and let them get to business. The worker will gather for a set amount of time, and then deliver the material to their city of origin. For example, if you send a worker from Velia all the way to the area around Glish, they will still deliver the material back to Velia.
Over time, your worker's stamina will go down. To replenish their stamina, give them beer. Open the worker panel on the top left corner of the screen (with the pickaxe symbol). Here, you will be able to see all of your workers and their stamina. You can individually give them beer, or give beer to all of them at the same time. You do not have to be nearby. If there is beer in your inventory, then it will go to the workers regardless of your location. Check out this guide on cooking to learn more about brewing beer.
Assigning Workers Within The City
Lastly, let's take a look at assigning workers to areas within a city. Above, we purchased a room for lodging. You may have noticed rooms with workshops, mills, and refineries. These are rooms that you can place workers. Let's use Slum 1-1,1F in Calpheon as an example. This room can either be used for storage, a personal residence, or a mushroom factory. Purchasing this room as a mushroom factory will allow you to create a variety of mushroom crates that can be sold for silver.
To construct these crates, you will need to send your workers to nodes where the material can be gathered. Hovering on a crate will show you the necessary material for crafting. Send your workers into the work to gather the material. Many craftable objects require other crafted items. Black Stone Powder is an important item, which can be made at the refinery. To make it, you will need Rough Stone. This requires setting up workers at a node with Rough Stone and then using another worker to craft it into Black Stone Powder.
This is definitely not a quick process. Creating a quick and efficient node and worker system will take some time. Invest in more nodes, contract more workers, and keep purchasing lodging. Eventually, your worker empire will spread across the map!