Editing v0.31:Time

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Time in Dwarf Fortress can be a somewhat complicated subject, but learning the ins and outs of the system is essential for modders and can be of great use to players, as time tracks everything from [[syndrome|syndromes]] to crop growth.


== Breakdown ==
Time is measured in unnamed units, which are often colloquially referred to as "Time Units." Time units are equal to different lengths of day, depending on the mode.

In fortress mode, a time unit is equal to 1.2 In-game minutes. There are 1200 time units in a day, 28 days in a month, and 336 days in a year. A year in fortress contains 403200 time units. In adventurer mode, a time unit is exactly 1 In-game second. Thus, adventurer mode is 72 times slower than fortress mode.
The conversion between Time units and seconds in Fortress mode, it's not precise, but it's been calculated that a time unit is about 0.01s(with an average of 100 fps), so a day in the game is equal to about 12s, a month to about 340s (5.7 mins) and a year to about 4032s (67.2 mins).

The average human (with 1000 agility attribute) takes 10 time units, regardless of mode, to move one square. The average dwarf (with 900 agility) takes around 11. {{L|trap|Menacing spikes}} take 40 time units to raise/lower. Other delayed mechanical actions (like {{L|bridge}}s, {{L|floodgate}}s, and resetting {{L|pressure plate}}s) take 100 time units each.

== Syndromes ==
[[Syndrome|Syndromes]] use time units. A syndrome that lists its effect as starting at "5" means that for all but the [[Elf|fastest characters]], you will begin feeling the effects as soon as you take a step. "50" means 50 time units (or about five steps), and "500" reliably suggests that you'll be able to stagger all the way back to the hospital before your [[Giant desert scorpion|brain pours out of your ears]].

== Plants ==
Plants use a tag called GROWDUR. The GROWDUR value is generally set to 300 or 500, which is actually 30000 T.U. or 50000 T.U. 1 growdur = 100 time units.

== Fortress Mode and Adventurer Mode ==
Days pass more quickly in Fortress Mode than Adventurer Mode, specifically, 72 times more quickly. It takes an average dwarf around 13.2 minutes to take a single step in Fortress Mode. In Adventurer Mode, the same dwarf would only take 11 seconds.
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 {{av}}{{Quality|Exceptional}}
-Time in Dwarf Fortress can be a somewhat complicated subject, but learning the ins and outs of the system is essential for modders and can be of great use to players, as time tracks everything from [[syndrome]]s to crop growth.
+Time in Dwarf Fortress can be a somewhat complicated subject, but learning the ins and outs of the system is essential for modders and can be of great use to players, as time tracks everything from [[syndrome|syndromes]] to crop growth.
 == Breakdown ==
-Time is measured in unnamed units, which are commonly referred to as "time units" or "ticks."  Time units are equal to different lengths of time, depending on the game mode.
+Time is measured in unnamed units, which are often colloquially referred to as "Time Units." Time units are equal to different lengths of day, depending on the mode.
-In fortress mode, there are 1200 time units in a day; in adventurer mode, there are 86400 time units in a day.  Thus, a dwarf in adventure mode is capable of moving, fighting, and interacting 72 times as fast as a dwarf in fortress mode assuming the same statistics.  Assuming 24 hours per day, 60 minutes per hour, and 60 seconds per minute, this means that a time unit lasts 1 second in adventurer mode and 1.2 minutes in fortress mode.  Regardless of mode, there are 28 days in a month and 12 months in a year.
+In fortress mode, a time unit is equal to 1.2 In-game minutes. There are 1200 time units in a day, 28 days in a month, and 336 days in a year. A year in fortress contains 403200 time units. In adventurer mode, a time unit is exactly 1 In-game second. Thus, adventurer mode is 72 times slower than fortress mode.
+The conversion between Time units and seconds in Fortress mode, it's not precise, but it's been calculated that a time unit is about 0.01s(with an average of 100 fps), so a day in the game is equal to about 12s, a month to about 340s (5.7 mins) and a year to about 4032s (67.2 mins).
-In fortress mode, there are 403200 time units every year.  At 100 fps, it would take just over an hour in real-time to play through one year.
+The average human (with 1000 agility attribute) takes 10 time units, regardless of mode, to move one square. The average dwarf (with 900 agility) takes around 11. {{L|trap|Menacing spikes}} take 40 time units to raise/lower. Other delayed mechanical actions (like {{L|bridge}}s, {{L|floodgate}}s, and resetting {{L|pressure plate}}s) take 100 time units each.
-The amount of time it takes a creature to move, fight, or interact is directly proportional to its [[speed]] and inversely proportional to its [[agility]] and its [[strength]].  All creatures with default speed, regardless of their strength or agility, take between 5 and 16 time units per orthogonal tile traveled. Diagonal tile travel times are 362/256 times that amount, so they take between 8 and 23 time units for creatures with default speed. Median dwarves take approximately 10.5 time units and 14.9 time units to travel orthogonally or diagonally respectively.  Triggered devices can be affected by delays of up to 100 time units; see [[lever]].
 == Syndromes ==
-[[Syndrome]]s use time units. A syndrome that lists its effect as starting at "5" means that for all but the [[Elf|fastest characters]], you will begin feeling the effects as soon as you take a step. "50" means 50 time units (or about five steps), and "500" reliably suggests that you'll be able to stagger all the way back to the hospital before your [[Giant desert scorpion|brain pours out of your ears]].
+[[Syndrome|Syndromes]] use time units. A syndrome that lists its effect as starting at "5" means that for all but the [[Elf|fastest characters]], you will begin feeling the effects as soon as you take a step. "50" means 50 time units (or about five steps), and "500" reliably suggests that you'll be able to stagger all the way back to the hospital before your [[Giant desert scorpion|brain pours out of your ears]].
 == Plants ==
-Plants use a tag called GROWDUR. The GROWDUR value is generally set to 300 or 500, which is actually 30000 time units or 50000 time units.  One growdur is equal to 100 time units.
+Plants use a tag called GROWDUR. The GROWDUR value is generally set to 300 or 500, which is actually 30000 T.U. or 50000 T.U. 1 growdur = 100 time units.
-== Hives ==
-[[Vermin]] in [[hive]]s which produce items  (namely [[bee]]s which produce [[honey]]) have the HIVE_PRODUCT [[creature token]], whose second parameter is the number of time units it takes for a hive to produce the product.
-== Eggs ==
-The [[Creature token|EGG_SIZE]] creature token determines how long eggs will take to hatch.
-== Lifespan and Development ==
-See [[Age]].
-== Clocks ==
-Based on the fact that [[pressure plate]]s take 100 steps to reset, some people have built various time-keeping devices to do various things around the fort, like flooding a trap once a month, or just for fun.
-{{Category|Physics}}
+== Fortress Mode and Adventurer Mode ==
+Days pass more quickly in Fortress Mode than Adventurer Mode, specifically, 72 times more quickly. It takes an average dwarf around 13.2 minutes to take a single step in Fortress Mode. In Adventurer Mode, the same dwarf would only take 11 seconds.