Time travel

Events are typically connected in a very linear shape, from the past to the future. However, as soon as time travel is taken into account the relationship between events and moments in time becomes less linear and multifaceted. In order to properly understand temporal mechanisms the concepts of chronal and achronal must first be understood. The topic of time travel does not deal exclusively with chronoportation. The topic of time travel also envelopes player movement through time and the impact of the time window, as well as the interacting connections.

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 Window.

Metatime and Chronal Time

In Achron there are two types of time which are referred to as Metatime and Chronal Time. They're also often referred to as "Real Time" and "Game Time" respectively. Metatime is time as it flows in the real world while Chronal Time is the time in Achron (i.e. the time perceived by units in the game). They are strongly related to the adjectives Achronal and Chronal.

Units

"Second" or "s" is assumed to be a chronal second, measuring Chronal Time. "Metasecond" or "ms" is assumed to be a metasecond, measuring Metatime.

Other time denominations (like minutes) are also assumed to be chronal, unless a word is prefixed with "meta-" or (for a unit abbreviation) with "m". A metaminute would abbrviate to "mmin" or "metamin". Pick your favorite.

Metatime

Metatime is time as measured (in metaseconds) from the perspective of the players making it an Achronal value, however due to computer lag and other factors one second of time in real life will not always equate to one second of real time. The point in game time where the present is located is a handy cheat of how to define metatime. This system of evaluating metatime has its problems in practice, as the Resequence engine now has the ability to slow down, speed up, or even stop the flow of the line of present. Ignoring the technical factors like lag, metatime reasonably approximates real time.

Chronal Time

Chronal time is time as measured (in seconds) from the perspective of any Chronal object or unit within the game. Chronal time can be measured from any point in metatime across the timeline. Any span of time on the timeline is chronal time. Note that while time on the timeline is chronal, the timeline itself is achronal.

At the start of a normal multiplayer game, the location of the present is considered to be 0:00 chronal time. However, some non-standard games begin with the Time line already set or covered leaving the 0:00 game time as somewhere in the Immutable Past.

Referring to Chronal Time

A given point of time can be referred to in one of two ways: with an absolute time value, or with a present-relative value.

Absolute chronal time (in normal games) starts at 0:00 and increases at the rate of 1 s/ms (chronal second per metasecond). Time can be referred to as the amount of time since the game began (which the game will display on the timeline with the proper settings enabled). For example, the time one minute and thirty-three seconds since the game began is 1:33.

Present-relative time is a number of minutes and seconds the given time is relative to the present, shortened as "T". Time is written as T followed by either a '+' denoting the future or a '-' denoting the past, followed by a number of minutes. If there are seconds, or the speaker wishes to specify an exact minute, the minute value will be followed by a colon ':' and the number of seconds.

T is always the present, although it is sometimes emphasized as T+0 or T+0:00. Time one minute in the future is written T+1 or T+1:00. Time one minute and twelve seconds in the past is written T-1:12.

Referring to Relative Time

When attempting to conjugate verbs to reflect the appropriate tense (suffixes such as -ed or -ing, i.e. "the unit attacked") confusion arises when limited to standard English tenses. To circumvent this a system of compounded metatenses has been introduced. To make up for the appalling gap in English morphology, a future-tense suffix "-hi" has been borrowed from Middle Indic.

Verb Tense and Conjugation

When conjugating a verb, two suffixes are applied to any relative action, with the first referring to the action's metatime tense and the second referring to the action's chronal time tense. Thus, if one were to say "The unit attackinged the building" one would be discussing a unit that is metatime-currently attacking a building some time earlier on the timeline. However, if one were to say "The unit attackeding the building" one would be discussing a unit that, in the metatime past, attacked a building at the "present" of the timeline. Depending on context, the chronal "present" may refer to the marked present T+0:00 on the timeline, but more usually refers to an arbitrary chronal point of time as indicated by the discussion, usually the viewpoint of the player.

Relative Time Frames

To complete the system, the community has agreed to use a "vertical" metaphor of time. Words relating to "up" denote the future, and words relating to "down" denote the past. If something is happeninghi (that is, currently happening in the future of where you are looking) it is considered to be happening "up-time". Similarly, if something is happeninged (happening in the past of your current viewpoint) it is considered to be happening "down-time".

Adjectival Usage

Referring to past and future versions of a unit uses the same "vertical time" metaphor. A past version is a "low" unit, and future version is a "high" unit. A present version can be referred to as a "flat" unit. These words most often appear when discussing Chronoporting, but can also refer to the same unit moving chronally through a span at various point in time along that path.

Levels of complexity

When viewing the topic of time travel, the inter-connections of events and their results can occur at different levels of complexity and consequence.

Strictly Chronal

Bearing very little importance to the topic of time travel, the first level is the most basic and simplest to understand. Just like in reality, events occur in order of past to future. This is a normal progression of time and effect uninfluenced by in-game time travel.

Simple incursion

Working very similarly to strictly chronal time travel, however, minor changes are made to time. Orders may be changed in meta-time, altering the chronal event progression, but it remains a chronal progression of events until chronally disruptive event occurs (meaning, until more such events are added to the game, a chronoport). A chronoport is also a simple incursion. A unit travels from one point of time to another, but is still causally bound to the chain of events. Specifically, if the unit is prevented from performing the chronoport departure (either because the order was cancelled or the unit was killed) the chronoport arrival never happens, and the unit does not appear at the destination time.

Inter-achronal

More complex, the interacting achronal events and objects can create a complex and fragile timeline. This includes objects and metatime structures such as paradoxes, the unplayable past, the Immutable Past (see Terminology), thetime window, and/or chronoenergy.

Timeline

The term timeline more-or-less refers to a course of events from beginning to end. The time window in Achron typically displays a view of the timeline as it stands, with time waves possibly carrying alternate versions. Most of the time a timeline will make intuitive sense, however as soon as chronoportation is introduced the timeline may start showing inconsistencies and seemingly incorrect events.

Propagation

Changes to the timeline must be propagated in order to take place. A time wave is considered a propagator, and will move forward, changing the timeline. If events were not propagated by time waves, the time line would not change or fluctuate and the only events of consequence on the timeline would be those occurring at the present.

Alternate timelines

Time waves that bring forward changes to the timeline are considered to be carrying forward alternate timelines or alternate versions of the timeline. Even the slightest change is considered an alternate timeline, as its consequences can potentially cause massive butterfly effects.

Iterations

Whenever a time wave passes over an event or a section of the timeline, this event is called an iteration. The concept of iteration is intricately linked to the concept of propagation. In usage, the term is typically confined to changes to the timeline so far as they concern specific events. If a player were to attack another player's base, the first iteration of the event would be the first time this event is propagated, the second iteration would usually come when the other player responds or if either player changes the course of events.

Chronoportation

Typically, a chronal entity will travel through time by moving forward at a set rate, however there are ways of travelling through time at non-linear rates, such as chronoportation. When a unit chronoports very little about it changes between its arrival and departure. However, on arrival, a chronoported unit will be given a new ID number, meaning that it will not follow the same commands as its previous self. A TSSed unit cannot chronoport.

Chronoclones

Any time there are two of the same unit at any point in time, the version which departed the chronoport is considered a chronoclone. Chronoclones are a direct result of chronoportation and can be very useful.

Paradoxes

Chronoportation may also result in a paradox. Within Achron, a paradox is defined as an event that causes the timeline to fluctuate between two or more states unless interrupted. For example, if in one iteration the opponent destroys a players base, but in the second iteration the player saves their base with units sent from the base's future, the timeline will fluctuate between the base-destroyed and base-saved states. This is an example of a bootstrap paradox, the more useful cousin of the grandfather paradox.

Chrono-surfing

Temporal ghosts can be kept alive temporarily by continuously chronoporting away from a time wave that is propagating their destruction. This involves monitoring time waves and consuming plenty of chronoenergy, but does not permanently consume Q-plasma or deal any permanent damage. Temporal ghosts primarily serve to distract the enemy.

Chrono-surfing may also be used to keep paradox ghosts alive long enough to affect the alternate state of a paradox and ensure a positive outcome for both paradox-states.

Chrono-surfing involves clever manipulation of the topology of the time line structure and selective propagation to protect a chronal event or entity from being completely undone. Chrono-surfing involves a unique mix between both achronal and chronal events, resulting in an achronal entity leaving no permanent mark to the chronal history but still being bound by chronal locality. Anything that relies on chrono-surfing is constantly in danger of being undone.

Game engine

Buffer

Every 30 ticks, the game engine saves a state of the current point in time for use when players jump through time. When a player jump through time, they will either snap-to a nearby player wave (within approximately two seconds, and if the two are moving at the same rates), or to the closest buffer point in the past. Using SET_PLAYER_TIME functions in a similar way to a player manually jumping through time.

Chronoportation

Chronoportation is executed in multiple stages. A unit's Objective is set to 48 when a unit is attempting to chronoport, even if it is unable to chronoport, and will change to 49 on the last tick of departure. On a unit's arrival it's objective will remain 49 until the point it finishes arriving. A unit's ObjectiveParameters value will equal the target time for chronoportation (in ticks), for both the arrival and departure periods. To detect a unit's departure time after it has chronoported, TimeCameFrom can be used. The Action numbers for departure and arrival are 60 and 63 respectively. A forced unit action 37 calls the primitive chronoport action.

When a unit chronoports, its Name property remains the same, but its ID # will differ. This means that a chronoported unit will not follow the same orders as its original self.