18.2 Time Increments

Updated: v2026.01.30

18.2.1 Increment Options

Updated: v2026.01.30

Aurora C# processes game events in discrete time increments. The player chooses the size of each increment, and the game advances by that amount of time with each press of the increment button. Available increments range from extremely short (for tactical combat) to very long (for peacetime development):

Increment	Duration	Primary Use
5 seconds	5s	Active combat, missile tracking
30 seconds	30s	Close-range combat maneuvering
2 minutes	120s	Pre-combat positioning
5 minutes	300s	Tactical movement, intercepts
20 minutes	1200s	Short-range fleet movement
1 hour	3600s	System transit
3 hours	10800s	Inner-system movement
8 hours	28800s	Cross-system transit
1 day	86400s	Fleet transit, construction
5 days	432000s	Routine operations
30 days	2592000s	Peacetime development

18.2.1.1 Automatic Interrupt

Regardless of the chosen increment, the game will interrupt (stop advancing time) when certain events occur:

• Contact detected: A new sensor contact appears (see Section 11.1 Thermal and EM Signatures)
• Missile launch detected: Enemy missiles are detected in flight
• Ship under fire: Any of your ships takes damage
• Fleet arrives at destination: A fleet completes its movement orders
• Construction complete: A production queue item finishes
• Research complete: A technology finishes being researched
• Geological survey complete: A survey team finishes a body
• Gravitational survey complete: A jump point is discovered
• Commander promotion/retirement: Officer status changes
• Fuel shortage: A ship runs critically low on fuel
• Maintenance failure: A component breaks down on a ship

These interrupts ensure you never miss critical events even when using large time increments.

Weapon Recharge Interrupts (C# Aurora):

The interrupt system for active weapons was redesigned in C# Aurora. In VB6, the game would interrupt when weapons were set to fire but lacked valid targets, or when recharging completed regardless of target availability. In C# Aurora:

• Each fire control is evaluated individually for target validity and range
• If a fire control has no valid target in range, there is no interrupt – instead, a single event message per ship is generated
• The increment processes normally without stopping
• You can assign targets to weapons while still out of range without triggering false interrupts
• Once weapons enter firing range, recharge cycle interrupts activate normally
• Example: if weapons have a 40-second cycle time, pressing 2 minutes advances time 40 seconds to the first firing opportunity

This reduces micromanagement by eliminating false interrupts while maintaining tactical feedback through event messages, allowing smoother gameplay flow during approach phases.

18.2.2 Sub-Pulse Processing

Updated: v2026.01.30

18.2.2.1 What Happens Within an Increment

When you advance time by any increment, the game does not simply jump to the end state. Instead, it processes the increment in sub-pulses, with the sub-pulse length depending on the situation:

Standard sub-pulse: 5 seconds during active combat within sensor range \hyperlink{ref-18.2-1}{[1]}. This means a 30-second increment during combat is processed as six 5-second sub-pulses, with movement, weapons fire, and damage resolution occurring at each sub-pulse.

One-Second Sub-Pulses (v2.0.0+): Within each 5-second increment, combat is further subdivided into 1-second sub-pulses \hyperlink{ref-18.2-2}{[2]}. This fundamental change addresses gameplay issues where fast units with relatively short-ranged weapons (such as fighters) could not get into weapon range of a slower ship that can move more than the weapon range in a single 5-second increment.

Key mechanics:

• 5-second increments only pause at their conclusion, not after individual 1-second sub-pulses
• Explosion or energy impact contacts may appear in ship wakes rather than directly on vessels, since point defense and missile impacts occur between movement phases
• This offset positioning of weapon impacts reflects actual timing – weapons fire during sub-pulses while ships complete their full 5-second movement afterward
• A game setting (OneSecondSubPulse) allows players to disable 1-second sub-pulses if performance becomes problematic \hyperlink{ref-18.2-3}{[3]}

The mechanic enables more nuanced tactical movement and counter-movement sequences, particularly benefiting fast combat vessels in close-range engagements.

Movement sub-pulse: For non-combat movement, ships are moved in intervals proportional to the increment size. Fleets in transit update their positions and check for sensor contacts at each sub-pulse boundary.

18.2.2.2 Processing Order Within Each Sub-Pulse

1. Weapon Recharge: All weapons complete their recharge cycles (as of v2.8.0, recharge occurs BEFORE movement)
2. Movement: All ships, missiles, and projectiles move simultaneously
3. Sensor checks: Passive and active sensors evaluate all objects for detection
4. Fire control checks: Weapons assigned to targets evaluate range and readiness
5. Weapons fire: Ready weapons discharge at assigned targets
6. Point defense: PD weapons engage incoming missiles and projectiles
7. Damage resolution: All pending damage is applied
8. Status updates: Fuel consumption, life support, morale, maintenance clocks advance
9. Production: Fractional production progress is accumulated (resolved meaningfully over longer periods)
10. Population: Growth, unrest, and environmental changes are calculated
11. Event generation: Random events, discoveries, and triggers are checked

Weapon Recharge Sequence Change (v2.8.0):

As of v2.8.0, weapon recharge was moved to occur BEFORE the movement phase in the combat sequence. This change has significant tactical implications:

• Prevents dual-use exploitation: Previously, a weapon could fire for point defense during the movement phase, recharge afterward, and then fire again for offensive attacks in the same combat tick. This is no longer possible.
• Affects dual-role weapons: Gauss cannons and other weapons used for both point defense and anti-ship fire must now be allocated to one role per tick, not both.
• PD allocation decisions: Players must decide whether to reserve weapons for point defense or commit them to offensive fire at the start of each tick, rather than getting both uses from a single weapon.

This change makes weapon allocation more strategic, requiring deliberate choices about defensive vs. offensive priorities rather than allowing weapons to serve both roles simultaneously.

18.2.2.3 Missile Flight and Sub-Pulses

Missiles are tracked individually within sub-pulses. A missile with a speed of 32,000 km/s travels 160,000 km per 5-second sub-pulse \hyperlink{ref-18.2-4}{[4]}. If a missile will reach its target within the current sub-pulse, the game calculates exact interception timing and resolves point defense fire at the appropriate moment.

Multi-stage missiles separate into submunitions at the correct range, with each submunition then tracked independently.

18.2.2.4 Fleet Movement and Orders

During larger increments, fleets process their order queues:

• A fleet moving to a waypoint will arrive mid-increment if the distance allows, then begin its next order
• Conditional orders (e.g., “refuel at colony, then continue patrol”) are evaluated and executed within the increment
• Multiple waypoint orders can complete within a single large increment

18.2.3 When to Use Each Increment

Updated: v2026.01.30

18.2.3.1 5 Seconds

Use during active missile combat or when you need frame-by-frame control:

• Missiles are inbound and you need to adjust PD assignments
• Micromanaging beam weapon targets during close engagements
• Ships are on collision courses and you need to adjust headings
• AMM volleys are in flight and you want to observe interception results

18.2.3.2 30 Seconds to 5 Minutes

Use during pre-combat and maneuvering phases:

• Closing with an enemy fleet but not yet in weapons range
• Positioning ships for an ambush at a jump point
• Managing multiple engagements in the same system
• Watching missile salvos cross large distances

18.2.3.3 20 Minutes to 3 Hours

Use for routine in-system operations:

• Surveying teams moving between bodies
• Freighters shuttling between colonies in the same system
• Fleet moving from orbit to a jump point within the system
• Fuel harvesters moving to gas giant orbits

18.2.3.4 8 Hours to 1 Day

Use for inter-system transit and moderate peacetime:

• Fleets transiting multiple jump points on established routes
• Waiting for a construction project that completes in a few days
• Colony ships traveling to nearby systems
• Survey fleets working through a system’s bodies

18.2.3.5 5 Days to 30 Days

Use during extended peacetime development:

• Building up a colony’s industrial base
• Waiting for research projects to complete
• Growing population on established worlds
• No known threats in sensor range

18.2.3.6 Practical Tips

Don’t use 30-day increments if you have active exploration ships. They may blunder into hostile territory and be destroyed before you can react. Use 1-day or 5-day increments when ships are in unexplored space.

Drop to 5-second increments the instant combat starts. The game will interrupt on first contact, but if you manually order an engagement, switch to 5-second increments before weapons fire begins.

Use the Events window to check what happened during large increments. After a 30-day advance, review the events log for anything that might need attention.

Consider fleet speed when choosing increments. If your fastest fleet moves 5,000 km/s and needs to cross 1 billion km, that takes roughly 200,000 seconds (about 2.3 days). Using 1-day increments will give you a check-in before arrival. Using 5-day increments will skip past the arrival, which is fine if there is no expected threat.

During ground combat (see Section 13.3 Ground Combat), use 5-minute to 1-hour increments. Ground combat resolves in discrete phases, and you may want to adjust bombardment orders or landing priorities between phases.

Related Sections

• Section 9.5 Orders – Fleet movement orders and waypoint completion within increments
• Section 11.1 Thermal and EM Signatures – Sensor contacts triggering automatic interrupts
• Section 12.1 Fire Controls – Combat sub-pulse resolution during 5-second increments
• Section 13.3 Ground Combat – Ground combat phased resolution and increment choices
• Section 14.1 Fuel – Fuel consumption and maintenance clock advancement during increments

References

\hypertarget{ref-18.2-1}{[1]}. Aurora C# standard 5-second combat sub-pulse – AuroraWiki, “Combat Overview” (aurorawiki2.pentarch.org)

\hypertarget{ref-18.2-2}{[2]}. Aurora C# game database (AuroraDB.db v2.7.1) – FCT_Game: OneSecondSubPulse field (INTEGER, default=1, enabled) confirms 1-second sub-pulse support. Version attribution to v2.0.0 is (unverified — #837 – requires live testing to confirm version attribution).

\hypertarget{ref-18.2-3}{[3]}. Aurora C# game database (AuroraDB.db v2.7.1) – FCT_Game: OneSecondSubPulse (INTEGER, default=1) is a toggle for enabling/disabling 1-second sub-pulses

\hypertarget{ref-18.2-4}{[4]}. Mathematical verification: 32,000 km/s x 5 seconds = 160,000 km. Confirmed correct.