Time window

The time window is the panel at the bottom of the game screen and can be considered to both encompass the UI element and things that it represents. The time window shows a view of the mutable area of time.

Some terms have more relation to other concepts and are therefore contained within other pages (for a full briefing on game terms see also Terminology and Time travel).

Time Rate

The player can control the rate at which they move through time, they are measured in how many seconds you move in game time for every second you move in real time. The options are pause(0s/s), slow-motion(0.5s/s), normal(1s/s) and fast forward(2s/s).

Time Waves

There are three different types of time waves in Achron. They are natural waves, player waves, and the present wave. Natural waves are, by default, set equal distances apart from each other and move forward at a set rate. When a natural wave reaches the end of the time window it is moved back to the beginning of the time window. Player waves exist at the exact point in time that a player is viewing. Each player has a player wave that follows them through time, moving at the same rate and skipping through time as they do. The present wave exists at the present where elapsed game time equals elapsed real time. The function of time waves is to propagate changes and orders through the timeline. As a time wave moves forward, it essentially collects changes in the timeline and updates the timeline with those changes. A time wave will only update the sections of the timeline that it traverses, and this is the same for all types of time waves. When a player views or skips to any point in time, they see what the last time wave to pass there has propagated.

Timewaves are a core element of what makes Achron's ontology special. A time wave is what makes the past affect the future. The timewave is the achronal entity that makes chronal elements propagate along the time window. A timewave has a finite speed. In a standard Achron game there are three varieties of time waves:

• Natural waves constantly sweep through the time window
• Each player's view functions as a time wave, these are known as player waves
• There is also a time wave at the present known as the present wave

There is an option to have each natural wave colored with a unique color. Player waves are automatically represented by their colors.

Present

The present is a special Time Window position. In standard Achron here always resides one Time Wave. Speed of the present controls the flow of events in and out of the time window. The standard relative position to to edges can vary from map to map. Many Victory Conditions refer to present as somehow more significant. Orders given in the present do not cost any chronoenergy. Backspace is by default tied to making the player jump to the present.

Mutable time

Mutable time is the area of time that is still open to change. The entire view of the time window is mutable. As the game progresses, the specific slice of time that is mutable changes while the total amount of mutable time does not.

Immutable time

Immutable time is time that is not on the time window. It is called immutable time because any event that falls off it is no longer able to directly affect the rest of the timeline and is considered unchangable.

Immutable Past Edge

The line that separates mutable and immutable and is located at the left-most point of the timeline. Any events that fall of it can no longer be altered. When a unit's past becomes locked its future might get altered resulting in Permacloning. The line is usually accompanied by a belt of Unplayable past. Near the line there forms frequently an area of time that will not be swept by natural timewaves before the events fall off. The Total defeat win condition performs its final checks in this region. When the present has reached its relative location in the timeline the past edge moves at the same rate as the Present. There is an option in the Level Editor to enable a timewave on the Immutable Past Edge

Unplayable past (UPP)

The unplayable past is considered to be the section of time where players are unable to give orders. It is marked by a semitransparent white overlay. The only way to directly effect the unplayable past is through chronoports which can send units into the area while acting on queued commands.

Chronoports information bar

On the top row of the timeline is chronoport indicators. Light yellow bars represent chronoport arrivals and darker yellowish orange bars represent chronoport departures. When a chronoport is canceled the marks do not disappear together, but take their own waves to get undone.

Under Attack information bar

The second row of the timeline provides information on the amount of damage received represented as a red area graph with the height scaled to fit in its row. Activity that has not been viewed will flash. As the bars changing is the primary channel of gaining information about what your opponent is doing without specifically altering your time position, manipulating this information is a significant part of Achron (see Intelligence warfare). Seeing a big area of red appear on the timeline is the most common way to Future-sight that one has been attacked in the future.

Advanced Timeline UI: When enabled, a player's unit death events will show up on the timeline as white bars behind the damage taken.

Damage Dealt information bar

The third row of the timeline represents the damage dealt by your units. This information is provided via a cyan area graph that which is scaled to fit into the row height.

Units Created information bar

The fourth row of the timeline represents unit and building creation orders. Green bars will signify when build actions are initiated (not when construction is complete and the units are ready to be used).

Advanced Timeline UI: When enabled, the beginning of research event will appear on the timeline as yellow bars.

Resources information bar

The fifth and bottom row represents the total resources available to that player. It is a geometric average of LC, QP, Reserves, and Power and shown as a gray area graph.

Advanced Timeline UI: When enabled, orange bars will appear when RPs close from being under attack. Additionally, purple bars will appear when resource crates become empty while one of your RPs is harvesting from it.

Chronoenergy

Chronoenergy is the Achronal resource of Achron that limits the exploitation of time travel. It is represented as a horizontal blue bar above the timeline. When units are selected in the playable past, a portion of the bar will turn yellow to represent the chronoenergy cost to issue one order to those selected units at that point in time. When chronoenergy is expended, the section of the bar that was yellow will turn black to indicate that your total stores of chronoenergy are smaller. This black section will shrink as your chronoenergy regenerates.