Manual/Singleplayer/Time Units/v2.5

Time units represent the time required to perform actions during combat. Every action has a cost, measured in time units, and every character has a pool of time units to spend performing actions during each combat round.

Most actions have a fixed cost in time units. For instance, moving an item out of the backpack always costs 5 time units.^{[Confirmation required]} Movement costs are normally fixed, but are increased for individual soldiers with leg wounds.^{[Confirmation required]}

The number of time units available for each character to spend during a turn depends on that character's speed and encumbrance.^{[Confirmation required]} At the start of each round, each character's pool of time units is reset to its maximum. Unused time units from the previous turn are not carried over. As the turn progresses, every action performed by the character will deduct the corresponding number of time units from the character's pool of time units. That pool may never fall below 0; if the pool doesn't contain enough time units to perform an action, the character will be unable to perform that action until the next round.

To assist the player at managing time units, the user interface allows the player to reserve time units for shooting, reaction fire, and crouching. By reserving time units for one or more of these actions, the player can deplete the rest of the time unit pool with confidence that there will sufficient time units remaining at the end of the turn to execute the action for which time units were reserved.

The time unit pool is represented by the first bar in the center of the soldier status window. The number and the blue bar indicate the number of time units remaining in the pool. The green bar indicates the number of time units reserved.