Time
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Time in RimWorld is split into two related systems - real time, that is the time experienced by the player, and in-game time, that is time that passes in the gameworld of the colony and experienced by the pawns themselves.
Real time
Time in RimWorld passes as a series of ticks. On normal game speed, there are 60 such ticks to a real second; there are always 2,500 ticks to one in-game hour. The play speed controls add multipliers to both of these numbers.
| In-Game Time | Ticks | Real Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.44 Min | 60 | 1s | |
| 1 Hour | 60 Min | 2,500 | ~42s |
| 1 Day | 24 Hours | 60,000 | 16m 40s |
| 1 Quadrum | 15 Days | 900,000 | 4h 10m |
| 1 Year | 4 Quadrums | 3,600,000 | 16h 40m |
| Technical details for modders | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ticks | Game Time | |
| 1 tick | 1 tick | 1/60th second |
| 1 rare tick | 250 ticks | 4.16 seconds |
| 1 long tick | 2000 ticks | 33.33 seconds |
In-game time
 | This section is a stub. You can help RimWorld Wiki by expanding it. Reason: Exploration of Temperature/Season link and Light/Season link. |
The year is divided into 4 quadrums* of 15 days each. Quadrums are the same everywhere, while seasons are different in different places
Time on the rimworld proceeds largely as one would expect except for three primary differences. Years only last 60 days, years are separated into 4 15-day "quadrums" instead of months, and the year is seasonal - that is, last season ends at the same time as the year. Note that times given in-game will use this system - thus if something "spoils in 1 year", you have 60 in-game days, not 365.
Like terrestrial seasons, the temperature changes with progression of the quadrums and the temperature effects depend on the latitude. When it is "Summer" in the Northern Hemisphere, it is "Winter" in the Southern, and vice versa, while areas near the equator remain temperate year-round.
Each quadrums is given a name that is a portmanteau of the terrestrial months of the season that quadrum is equivalent to, rather than named for months in the same period of the year. Thus, Aprimay is a portmanteau of April and May, but is the start of the year and relates to Spring in the North, but Fall in the South. Mouse-hovering over the in-game date in the lower right-hand corner will list what "local seasons" each quadrum represents for the settlement currently viewed.
The names of these 4 quadrums are:
| Name | Northern Season | Southern Season | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aprimay | Spring | Fall | 1 to 15 |
| Jugust | Summer | Winter | 16 to 30 |
| Septober | Fall | Spring | 31 to 45 |
| Decembary | Winter | Summer | 46 to 60 |
The game starts in the year 5500, and by default begins in Aprimay[Fact Check] though this may be changed in World Generation.
Time of day
Days in RimWorld last 24 hours, or 60,000 ticks (16.67 mins). The in-game clock is in 24-hour format, with the hours displayed in military time from 0h to 23h. The time has a few effects on gameplay:
- Time determines the level of light outdoors.
- Plants can only grow from 6h to 19:12
- Night owls consider it "Day" from 11h to 18h, and "Night" from 23h to 6h.
Daylight length is also tied to the season and latitude - the day will be will be independent of the season at the equator but get longer in the Summer and shorter in the Winter the further north or south you go. Exact details of the relationship between season, latitude and day length are currently unknown.
The hour of the day is relative to the location on the World map. If it's noon (1200) at your home base, it will still be late morning (1100/11 AM) a bit to the west, and already early afternoon (1300/1 PM) a bit to the east, as "time zones" are in our world. Time of day is modeled on the planet view; local time of day corresponds to how the sunlight hits the planet.
Version history
- 0.0.254B - Abolished cycles - dates are measured in days only.
- 0.10.785 - Day length extended from 24,000 to 30,000 ticks. Days per month reduced from 12 to 10.
- 0.13.1135 - Days are now twice as long as before, with years being half as many days i.e. years are exactly as long as before in actual play time, just divided into a smaller number of longer days. The year is now split into seasons instead of months.
- 0.17.1546 - As season names could no longer be consistently applied to the entire globe, necessitating that they be named as month-like "quadrums."