Time and Event Scheduling

JCiv is an asynchronous (or ``real-time'') game, meaning that players do not take turns. Instead, each player can dynamically assign COMMANDs to her or his UNITs at arbitrary times. Each UNIT then acts on its COMMAND independently until either the COMMAND is completed or the player gives the UNIT a new COMMAND. In the absence of player intervention, the game state will continue to evolve as UNITs carry out their assigned COMMANDs.

To be precise about the timing and evolution of this asynchronous game, it is necessary to distinguish two types of time: