Needs: health, sleep, hygiene and bladder

Being a star is tiring. Four meters, each from 0 to 100, sit next to your star stats and run down on your own game clock.

The four needs

Health

Drops slowly on its own and faster when you're short on sleep. Fights cost health too. At zero you collapse, spend twelve game hours in hospital and come home to a bill that depends on your grade: $500 at D, up to $50,000 at S. Eating in the kitchen at home brings it back.

Sleep

Every hour awake costs sleep. At zero you pass out wherever you are and wake up at home six game hours later, missing whatever was on your calendar. Lie down in your bed to sleep properly: your character climbs in and drifts off. If you've bought a better bed and set it out, that's the one you'll use. Abroad, you'll wake up in your hotel or your home in that city.

Hygiene

Drops as you work and party. A shower at home fills it. Low hygiene doesn't stop you doing anything, but people notice: the chance of an opportunity coming your way after an action goes down.

Bladder

The simplest one. Use the toilet at home before it runs out, because an accident sends your hygiene through the floor.

Topping up

At home, pins on the bed, the kitchen, the toilet and the shower show where to go. Each takes some game time, so a sleep before a big night is time you aren't earning. Bigger homes don't make needs drain slower, but they're nicer places to spend it.

While you're away

Needs are saved when you leave the game. When you come back, they run down for at most two game hours of the time you were away, so closing the game for a day won't leave you collapsed on the floor.

Tip: a good habit is to go home, shower, eat and sleep before you start a long session of gigs. Opportunities depend partly on hygiene, and a pass-out halfway through a booking counts as missing it.