Universal Time

[Kroc]

Keeping track of passing time will be important for expanding the possibilities of missions. Some kind of "universe time" will be needed to give the current date/time in the universe, and track additional time such as time played, timed missions and other possibilities.

To what extent this "universe time" mimics real time and its format (Y/M/D/h/m/s) or some arbitrary format I leave to when I get to implementing the feature.

One possibility is that the time would only increase in meaningful amounts when using hyperspace (due to time-dilation), effectively making distance travelled the bigger effector of time-based factors.

Time-dilation could increase logarithmically / exponentially based on single-jump distance; ergo lots of small jumps may be "faster" than a couple of big jumps. This would balance out risk/reward factors by making several system hops the "fastest" route, but at the cost of more risk (more systems to pass through) and more real-time taken, vs. a big jump that would require less risk & real-time spent for lower rewards.

• Certain trade goods could have an expiry age (e.g. food), where more money is netted for quick deliveries
• Radioactives will eventually go inert, possibly turning them into something more, or less, valuable depending on where you sell them