Payday

Once every 8 or so minutes, your creatures demand their wage. They will go to a Treasure Room (Dungeon Keeper), or Treasury or the Dungeon Heart (Dungeon Keeper 2) to collect it. If you cannot afford to pay your creatures, they will become unhappy and may leave or defect.

Dungeon Keeper[]

Payday occurs every 10000 turns (at the maximum framerate of 20 fps, that's 8 minutes). In KeeperFX, both this and the framerate can be manually set (the latter up to 60). The Information Panel has a progress bar showing how close it is to the next payday and the total amount due.

Wages by Creature level[]

Each creature type has a base wage at level 1, which increases by 35% of the base value (rounded down) every time they level up:

{
  title: {
    text: 'Percentage of base wage collected'
  },
  tooltip: {
    trigger: 'axis'
  },
  grid: {
    left: '3%',
    right: '4%',
    bottom: '3%',
    containLabel: true
  },
  toolbox: {
    feature: {
      dataView: { show: true, readOnly: true },
      restore: { show: true },
      saveAsImage: { show: true }
    }
  },
  xAxis: {
    name: 'Level',
    type: 'category',
    boundaryGap: false,
    data: ['1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10']
  },
  yAxis: {
    type: 'value'
  },
  series: [
    {
      name: '%',
      type: 'line',
      data: [100, 135, 170, 205, 240, 275, 310, 345, 380, 415]
    }
  ]
}

That is:

$wage(level)=\lfloor basewage(1+0.35(level-1))\rfloor$ .

The values for each creature are:

Creature Type	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Archer	60	81	102	123	144	165	186	207	228	249
Avatar	1200	1620	2040	2460	2880	3300	3720	4140	4560	4980
Barbarian	95	128	161	194	228	261	294	327	361	394
Beetle	18	24	30	36	43	49	55	62	68	74
Bile Demon	98	132	166	200	235	269	303	338	372	406
Dark Mistress	175	236	297	358	420	481	542	603	665	726
Demon Spawn	70	94	119	143	168	192	217	241	266	290
Dragon	350	472	595	717	840	962	1085	1207	1330	1452
Fairy	59	79	100	120	141	162	182	203	224	244
Fly	5	6	8	10	12	13	15	17	19	20
Ghost	30	40	51	61	72	82	93	103	114	124
Giant	43	58	73	88	103	118	133	148	163	178
Horned Reaper	950	1282	1615	1947	2280	2612	2945	3277	3610	3942
Hound	67	90	113	137	160	184	207	231	254	278
Imp	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Knight	540	729	918	1107	1296	1485	1674	1863	2052	2241
Monk	75	101	127	153	180	206	232	258	285	311
Mountain Dwarf	35	47	59	71	84	96	108	120	133	145
Orc	95	128	161	194	228	261	294	327	361	394
Priestess	75	101	127	153	180	206	232	258	285	311
Samurai	195	263	331	399	468	536	604	672	741	809
Skeleton	70	94	119	143	168	192	217	241	266	290
Spider	25	33	42	51	60	68	77	86	95	103
Tentacle	45	60	76	92	108	123	139	155	171	186
Thief	57	76	96	116	136	156	176	196	216	236
Troll	50	67	85	102	120	137	155	172	190	207
Tunneller	50	67	85	102	120	137	155	172	190	207
Vampire	750	1012	1275	1537	1800	2062	2325	2587	2850	3112
Warlock	120	162	204	246	288	330	372	414	456	498
Wizard	125	168	212	256	300	343	387	431	475	518

Gallery[]

Dungeon Keeper 2[]

In Dungeon Keeper 2, the Payday countdown timer is represented by the circle around a money symbol next to the quantity of gold displayed at the top of the GUI. Right after payday, the circle is all gold-colored, then it gradually turns black as the next payday approaches. An impending payday is also indicated by the gold quantity flashing between two numbers: a number in gold, which is the player's current gold total, and a negative number in blue (or in red if you have not enough gold), which is the total quantity of wages the player's creatures will collect on the coming payday.

Wages by Creature level[]

Each creature type has a base wage at level 1, then it increases as follows:

{
  title: {
    text: 'Percentage of base wage collected'
  },
  tooltip: {
    trigger: 'axis'
  },
  grid: {
    left: '3%',
    right: '4%',
    bottom: '3%',
    containLabel: true
  },
  toolbox: {
    feature: {
      dataView: { show: true, readOnly: true },
      restore: { show: true },
      saveAsImage: { show: true }
    }
  },
  xAxis: {
    name: 'Level',
    type: 'category',
    boundaryGap: false,
    data: ['1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10']
  },
  yAxis: {
    type: 'value'
  },
  series: [
    {
      name: '%',
      type: 'line',
      data: [100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 130, 140, 150, 180, 250]
    }
  ]
}

The pay increases by a varying quantity based on level: it increases by 5% of the base wage for each level between 2 and 5, by 10% from level 6 to 8, by 30% at level 9 and 70% at level 10 (rounded down), i.e. for level 2 or above:

$wage(level)=\lfloor wage(level-1)+factor(level)\rfloor$ ,

where

$factor(level)= \begin{cases} 0.05, \quad2 \leq level \leq 5 \\ 0.1, \quad 6 \leq level \leq 8 \\ 0.3, \quad level = 9\\ 0.7, \quad level=10 \end{cases}$ .

The values for each creature are:

Creature Type	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Bile Demon	600	630	660	690	720	780	840	900	1080	1500
Black Knight	750	787	825	862	900	975	1050	1125	1350	1875
Dark Angel	750	787	825	862	900	975	1050	1125	1350	1875
Dark Elf	600	630	660	690	720	780	840	900	1080	1500
Dwarf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Elven Archer	600	630	660	690	720	780	840	900	1080	1500
Fairy	600	630	660	690	720	780	840	900	1080	1500
Firefly	300	315	330	345	360	390	420	450	540	750
Giant	500	525	550	575	600	650	700	750	900	1250
Goblin	500	525	550	575	600	650	700	750	900	1250
Guard	600	630	660	690	720	780	840	900	1080	1500
Knight	750	787	825	862	900	975	1050	1125	1350	1875
Maiden	750	787	825	862	900	975	1050	1125	1350	1875
Mistress	600	630	660	690	720	780	840	900	1080	1500
Monk	300	315	330	345	360	390	420	450	540	750
Rogue	650	682	715	747	780	845	910	975	1170	1625
Royal Guard	750	787	825	862	900	975	1050	1125	1350	1875
Salamander	500	525	550	575	600	650	700	750	900	1250
Skeleton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Thief	750	787	825	862	900	975	1050	1125	1350	1875
Troll	500	525	550	575	600	650	700	750	900	1250
Vampire	750	787	825	862	900	975	1050	1125	1350	1875
Warlock	600	630	660	690	720	780	840	900	1080	1500
Wizard	750	787	825	862	900	975	1050	1125	1350	1875

Notes:[]

Skeletons and Dwarves need no pay.
Monks and Fireflies are really cheap.
Knights & Black Knights, Dark Angels, Royal Guards, Vampires; and for some reason Maidens, Thieves, and Wizards, are really expensive.
If you set your Casino to take money instead of giving it out, as your creatures understandably and expectedly lose their supposed actual pay on gambling, they tend to suffer a mood decrease stupidly because "[they haven't] been paid".
Elite Creatures collect half again as much wages as normal creatures do, with the exception of the highest pay grade (Black Knight, Dark Angel, and Vampire) whose base wages are 1075 rather than the 1125 one would expect.
A player can lock certain creatures inside a specific room with a manufactured door, or make them stranded in a room secluded by lava by selling the bridge, where he wants them to do a specific task, like Researching or Manufacturing which will ensure that they'll prioritize work over going Collecting Wages but if the player then later manually doesn't place them into/near an accessible Treasury after reaching an acceptable milestone in their task the manipulated creatures will suffer a mood decrease. Although later they may be appeased with/fixing their sub-optimal mood too, and even manually paid by hand. (This same task can be done also limiting Hatchery access.)
Creatures placed inside a Combat Pit have no needs beside health as a game mechanic, although some may get bored if they can't actually fight just roam inside, and some might get bugged and get locked in an infinite eating cycle or some other glitches.
Creatures placed inside a Prison have no needs either, but most tend to eventually get lowered moods by the special reason: Being Imprisoned. (The Vampire might not showcase this tendency.) If they are inside a Prison for a long time, you may succeed in making them skip one payday and only release them for the next one, or the one after that. You will need to heal them manually to make sure they survive.
As a seemingly intentional game element, (maybe about half of the player's) Mistresses tend to trap themselves in the Torture Chamber and accidentally skip multiple paydays for huge periods of time without any repercussions whatsoever to anyone. Thereby accidentally making themselves surprisingly cost effective. Unless they are ordered to Drink/Gamble, Guard, Pray, (if so then place them in a Lair or a Treasury to reset their job), or placed inside a Prison or Combat Pit, of course. This trick can be manually done in some instances, to all your Mistresses, for indefinite amount of times, always worth experimenting with to check if you can, because it makes them super cost effective to own them, and maybe only them while you'll only miss out on Research and Manufacturing capabilities. If collecting Mistresses due to their cost effective nature it might also be a good idea to not build any other room which may attract different creatures until you get your Portal limit's worth of them, and only then build other rooms so you can make sure only Mistresses arrive.
A particularly devilishly crafty Keeper can make expensive creatures rebel by slapping them a lot after placing them stranded on a piece of secluded land or Stone Bridge surrounded by or above lava respectively - because being or becoming enemies, or just heroes, (once yours they can only rebel, or made to do so, to become heroes, under the right unfavorable circumstances), they need no pay - and reclaim them when needed either by sending stronger creatures after it or casting enough damaging spells on it then conversion to repatriate them. (Lava and Stone Bridges are available together from Aftermath - Snapdragon and onward.) This method obviously doesn't work with, nor is it needed with, Skeletons. Also impossible with Vampires.
When wanting to get rid of a creature for economic reasons, there are several ways. Throwing them into the Portal is wasteful. Other methods are more beneficial. A Keeper may starve them in a Prison (unless a Vampire) which refunds their wages up to the meager maximum amount of gold held, or they can be used as Temple sacrifices. Together with forced slap rebelling, all of these methods free up one portal-max-creature slot. As you cannot un-claim a Portal, focus on attracting cheap units on poor levels.
Creatures in combat do not need pay (or food, or sleep or healing if unharmed). You can keep ranged capable non-lava-traverse creatures constantly engaging a stranded enemy above (with a Stone Bridge) or surrounded by lava for extended periods of time to skip a few paydays. Some creatures get a ranged attack at level 1, some at level 4, some at level 8. (There are some level 9 and 10 ranged attacks but they are given to creatures which already have one before those levels.) Some highlights are: Vampires do no damage with their ranged attack between level 4 and 8, Maidens can attack from level 4 and do comfortably little damage even after level 8.
The Call to Arms spell when active, even though it makes all creatures initially want to go to it, if after their initial urge you put them in rooms doing tasks, they'll single-mindedly do selected task without needing pay (foor, or sleep). May it be training, manufacturing, or researching. Therefore you can just choose to spend 7000-10000 mana to skip all paydays (meals, sleeptimes, mood degradations) for an indefinite amount of time. The usage of the Training Room itself will still cost as much money as it normally does but at least they'll finish sooner for what it's worth and the player can still place creatures in a Combat Pit at any time for further training. Hint/Reminder: You might need to place them twice due to some programming complication. Theoretically you can use the Combat Pit to train them from level 1 to 8 for free, albeit much slower and way less easy. If you don't want some of your creatures reaching the Call to Arms flag you can lock them in inside an inescapable room with a locked door you have previously manufactured and that still won't make them unhappy, and later angry, not getting their needs met - in this case, money.