Time

Overview

Time is a game mechanic that drives many core functionalities in the game. Time controls the day/night cycle, the growing of crops and replenishment of renewable resources, the decay of perishable items, lifecycles of sapiens and passage of the seasons to name a few.

Time Units

1 game year is divided into 4 seasons, each of which has a duration of 2 game days. So 1 game Year is 8 game days. A game day without game speed acceleration is 48 real-time minutes, with 1 game hour equaling 2 minutes. These values should be used as a reference only. In reality, the player is able to speed up the game and the game itself will speed through the night once all sapiens are asleep. This will fast forward through real-time minutes, making a full day cycle rarely 48 minutes exactly.

Unit	Real Minutes	Real Hours
Game Hour	2	0.03
Game Day	48	0.8
Game Season	96	1.6
Game Year	384	6.4

The Day/Night Cycle

Day light is important for Sapiens to be able to complete tasks.

The Day/Night Cycle is a simulation close to that of the real world as the game at its heart is a planet renderer. The duration of daytime is not consistent, with winter days being very short and summer days very long, as well as being affected by where on the globe your tribe is. This is most noticeable near the poles, where summer day times are extremely long and winter nights are extremely long as well.

Light is important to the productivity of a tribe of Sapiens. If there is insufficient light many tasks will not be performed by Sapiens until there is light again, and darkness also has a negative status effect on a Sapien's mood. Lighting for areas where tasks are commonly completed can be augmented with Torches, which provide additional light and sapiens will continue to work into the evening.

Time Control Widget

The Time Control Widget

The Time Control Widget is shown in the top left hand corner of the screen in game. It contains various information about time of day as well as game speed controls and local temperature.

The Sundial on the Time Control Widget is the functional clock in the game. The passage of time is denoted by the traversal of the Time of Day Marker around the circle. Ignoring game speed changes, there are 48 real-time minutes in a game day so it would take 48 minutes for a complete traversal. In practice a game day doesn't take this long. The Bedtime Marker on the sundial is the point at which all Sapiens will try to sleep, and if they are all successful the game will Ultra Speed to sunrise (this needs to be taken into account when trying to figure out how long in real time certain items will store, etc). As mentioned earlier there is no definitive sunrise and sunset time as many factors come in to play, however a general rule of thumb is sunrise is somewhere around 6am and sunset is around 6pm.

The Time Control Widget also has buttons to control the speed of the game (see Game Speed), as well as the Local temperature. Please note this is not a seasonal temperature - this is the temperature in the position that the player is currently located.

Game Speed

The game currently has 5 speeds defined. 3 of the speeds are accessible from the Time Control Widget, Utra Speed is used by the game to bypass night time, and slow motion is mapped to a hotkey.

Game Speed	Speed Multiplier	Notes
Pause	0	Stops the game completely in time.
Play	1.0	The normal speed of the game.
Fast	3.0	Fast game speed invokable by the player.
Ultra	64.0	Speed used to skip the night when sapiens are sleeping.
Slow Motion	0.1	Can be invoked using Ctrl+9

Seasons

Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, lasting 2 in-game days each.

Drying Time

Some objects require time to dry to become usable. The following table outlines the drying time for these types of resources. Times are listed in real time, so are affected by Game Speed changes.

Resource	Drying Time (Real Time)
Wet Hay	2 minutes
Wet Flax	4 minutes
Unfired Urn (Wet)	4 minutes
Unfired Bowl (Wet)	4 minutes
Unfired Brick (Wet)	4 minutes
Unfired Tile (Wet)	4 minutes

Decay Time

Items stored indoors will have a duration of 4 times the value of the decay time of the item.

Decay of Perishable Resources

Item	Decay Time (Outside)	Decay Time (Inside)
Aloe Leaf	2 Game Days	1 Game Year
Alpaca Carcass	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Alpaca Meat	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Alpaca Meat (Cooked)	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Apple	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Aspen Seed	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Bamboo Seed	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Banana	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Beetroot (Cooked)	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Beetroot	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Beetroot Seed	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Birch Seed	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Bread Dough	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Chicken Carcass	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Chicken Meat (Cooked)	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Chicken Meat (Raw)	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Coconut	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Echinacea Flower	2 Game Days	1 Game Year
Elderberries	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Flatbread	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Flax (Dryed)	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Flour	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Flax Seeds	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Garlic	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Ginger Root	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Gooseberry	2 Game Days	1 Game Year
Hay	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Large Aspen Seed	32 Game Days	16 Game Years
Large Pine Cone	32 Game Days	16 Game Years
Mammoth Carcass	8 Game Days	4 Game Years*
Mammoth Meat	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Mammoth Meat (Cooked)	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Marigold Flower	2 Game Days	1 Game Year
Orange	2 Game Days	1 Game Year
Peach	2 Game Days	1 Game Year
Pine Cone	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Poppy Flower	2 Game Days	1 Game Year
Pumpkin	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Pumpkin (Cooked)	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Raspberry	2 Game Days	1 Game Year
Sunflower Seeds	8 Game Days	4 Game Years
Turmeric Root	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Wheat	4 Game Days	2 Game Years
Willow Seed	8 Game Days	4 Game Years

Notes

• Please note only usable items are identified in the table. All rotten items will fully decay and disappear within 1 game day.
• While mammoth carcasses cannot be moved, you can technically build a shelter over them.

Container-based Decay

Some items can only exist in containers. Containers fired in a Kiln extend the shelf life of these resources.

Resource	Unfired Container	Inside Unfired Container	Fired Container	Inside Fired Container
Injury Medicine	2 Game Days	8 Game Days	1 Game Year	4 Game Years
Burn Medicine	2 Game Days	8 Game Days	1 Game Year	4 Game Years
Food Poisoning Medicine	2 Game Days	8 Game Days	1 Game Year	4 Game Years
Virus Medicine	2 Game Days	8 Game Days	1 Game Year	4 Game Years
Hulled Wheat	4 Game Days	16 Game Days	2 Game Years	8 Game Years
Flour	4 Game Days	16 Game Days	2 Game Years	8 Game Years

Storage Area Longevity Estimates

When looking at items in a Storage Area, an estimate is given as to how long the items will last. The below table shows the ranges for how these estimates are communicated by the game. Values in the Time Span column are in-game.

Time Span	Time Span Range	Max Real Time
Very Soon	0-6 Game Hours	12 Minutes
Few Hours	6-36 Game Hours	72 Minutes
Few Days	1.5 Game Days - 8 Game Days	6.5 Hours
Next Year	8 Game Days - 16 Game Days	12.8 Hours
Few Years	2 Game Years - 100 Game Years	640 Hours

Progression of Growth

Most flora replenishes after 3 days.

Trivia

• Each world has a Year Speed value associated with the server. The value set in the current version of the game (0.3.5) is 0.0000434027777777.
• The length of the year is equal to 1/(Year Speed). Using the default value this works out to approximately 23040 seconds.