This must be why there are no "rules" shipped with the game - only instructions. We all seem to play the game differently (which I find interesting all by itself). I have two mornings a week that I can give to 'patrols'. The rest of the time I'm at work, coming home from work, sleeping in preparation for work, or going
to work. And in between all this I have to devote some time to my wife (thank goodness the kids are gone!!!).
I took my laptop with me once and tried SH while in the hotel. Disaster! I almost forgot to go to bed. 4 hours sleep is just not enough.
So for me, time compression is a life saver. I don't like 1024 because the game acts funny when I try to do things like move the cursor, crank down the TC, etc. And I only use the 512 when I'm in friendly waters and just don't want to eat up valuable gaming time 'pleasure cruising'.
And real time
all the time is just plain out. I haven't got a spare 5 years lying around.
If I'm really strapped for time, I have an 'experimental' Captain whose only purpose in life (my life anyway) is to go on 'experimental' patrols and try stuff I'd be afraid to try with my REAL Captain. Gutsy, nervy, let's kill 'em all type stuff. If he dies, oh well, I'll just resurect him again next time. It is, after all, a game, and we all obviously play it differently. The idea is to enjoy it, and I ENJOY the HELL out of this game!!!
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As an aside, our computers are on 24/7 in this house. We shut them off when we go on vacation.