v50 Steam/Premium information for editors
  • v50 information can now be added to pages in the main namespace. v0.47 information can still be found in the DF2014 namespace. See here for more details on the new versioning policy.
  • Use this page to report any issues related to the migration.
This notice may be cached—the current version can be found here.

Editing v0.31:Time

Jump to navigation Jump to search

Warning: You are not logged in.
Your IP address will be recorded in this page's edit history.

You are editing a page for an older version of Dwarf Fortress ("Main" is the current version, not "v0.31"). Please make sure you intend to do this. If you are here by mistake, see the current page instead.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.

Latest revision Your text
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{av}}{{Quality|Exceptional}}
 
{{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 is 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 ==
 
== 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." A time unit is roughly equivalent to 1.2 minutes.
  
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.
+
The average dwarf (presumably one with 1000 speed, though this needs verification) takes 10 time units to make any sort of move, delayed mechanical actions (like raising a bridge or floodgate) take 100 time units.  
  
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.
+
There are 1200 time units in a day, 28 days in a month, and 336 days in a year.
  
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]].
+
A year contains 403200 time units.
  
 
== Syndromes ==
 
== 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 ==
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 Grodur value is generally set to 300 or 500, which is actually 30000 or 50000. 1 growdur = 100 time units.
  
== Hives ==
+
== Fortress Mode ==
[[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.
+
Time passes more quickly in Fortress Mode, specifically, seven times more quickly. It takes an average dwarf 70 time units (or 8.4 minutes!) to take a single step in Fortress Mode. Be advised that syndromes will set in much more quickly, and it is important to have hospital services on hand and ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.
  
== Eggs ==
+
Or, you know, not. They're just dwarves, after all, and there's always another wave of migrants ready to take their place. Armok giveth, and Armok taketh away.
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}}
 

Please note that all contributions to Dwarf Fortress Wiki are considered to be released under the GFDL & MIT (see Dwarf Fortress Wiki:Copyrights for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel Editing help (opens in new window)