BUG REPORT: In-game timer is inaccurate
 

How found: Rigorous play-testing with 3 separate real-life stopwatches that were independently verified to be accurate

Game version: 0.18, though also anecdotally present in 0.17

Setup: Any skirmish settings with more than one player present in the game

Repro rate: Close to 100%

Steps to reproduce: Start a game and have more than one player in it. Both the host and the guests will be affected.

Effects:

The in-game timer (the one that is activated with T and R keys) diverges from the real-world wall clock, i.e. from real time, by up to 20% (up to 12 seconds per minute) in a random direction (either faster or slower). The exact divergence varies over time within the same game, such that the in-game timer can be both slower and faster in the same game at different points in time. More "lag" that typically results from a greater number of players in the lobby typically correlates with greater timer divergence.

Near as I can tell, the in-game timer remains consistent with the in-game absolute clock. However, it is not consistent with the movement of in-game objects such as merchant vessels. This results in gross mis-estimation of target ship speed using the traditional vertical post method if the in-game timer is used to time the movement of the target ship. Conversely, if a real-world stopwatch is used, the estimation of ship speed nearly always comes out accurate and consistent.

Known mitigations:

a) Use a real-world stopwatch, or
b) Have only one player (yourself, the host) in the lobby

Special thanks: Rasputing and Obistonedkenobi who suffered through my obsessive time measurements in multiple games.


TLDR version: DO NOT use the in-game timer. Use a real-life stopwatch (e.g. the one in your phone) until the bug is fixed.

Nice report!


Though, if only one player (as I am playing solo), the time seems to be okay (I have never played multiplayer), but:



* when in the map, the time slows considerably (every second is about 3-4 real seconds if grasping the my memory right).

* Though the physics stills seems to be intact.



I am not sure if the time is slowing down, when in the map, and when there are more than one player.

The timer does not diverge when there's only one player in the lobby, as I pointed out in the report. This fact prevented me from pinpointing the issue for a while as well.

Thanks for this, we will have a look.:Kaleun_Salute:

Thanks for the detailed report. Fixed in 0.18b

Thank you so much! Can confirm the fix is very helpful :)