Time Units
Time Units
Time units or TUs are one of several vital resources available to X-COM Soldiers.
A single game turn is an unspecified amount of time. There has been many arguments as to what duration of time this could be, but no one can agree on a hard figure. Here's one example of a detailed estimate. Maybe it's a minute, maybe it's 5 seconds. In any case, a game turn is merely the duration in which actions are taken by each side.
The Time Unit is a fraction of this time. If a soldier has a maximum of 64 Time Units, then each TU is worth 1/64th of a turn. A soldier with 80 TUs uses 1/80th of the turn for every TU spent. This means that Time Units are synonymous with speed.
Starting Values
New recruits always begin with a value from 50 to 60 time units.
Improvement
TU points are awarded (at end of mission) any time you perform at least one primary action. Just one action is enough - additional ones do not cause more TU points to be awarded.
The possible points earned are dependent on your current TUs. At recruit minimum (50 TUs), an average of 2.2 points are earned. This slopes evenly down to where, at cap minus one (79), an average of 1.0 points are earned (range 0-2).
Maximum Caps
A soldier's TUs caps at 80, but it is possible to 'overflow' the cap by one point on the last combat when you go over the cap. On average, you have a 25% chance of getting capped at 81 instead of 80. Once at 80+, all TU improvements cease.
Older versions of X-COM did not have a cap and stats could reach 255 and then wrap back to 0. This could potentially cripple an otherwise good soldier.
Time Unit Expenditure
Time Units are spent in two ways. In fixed amounts and in percentages.
Fixed Costs
Actions such as walking, turning, moving inventory around, reloading weapons, and using the medkit all cost the same fixed amount of TUs for all soldiers. Soldiers with high TUs benefit the most from fixed TU actions. Scouts benefit from high TUs the most. Dedicated medics and psi troopers can also benefit from high TUs.
Percentage Costs
Actions that cost a percentage, such as firing a gun or priming a grenade, will always take a percentage of the soldier's base Time Units to perform. This means that the soldier's base TUs has no bearing on how many times the action can be performed during any given turn. For example, if a weapon costs 25% to fire, it can only be fired a maximum of 4 times a turn, for every soldier, regardless of his/her amount of TUs. Because of this, it's smart to put low-TU soldiers in long range fire support roles.
Note: Costs are based on the maximum amount of your soldier's TUs, not the current amount. Therefore, percentage costs do not change as you use up TUs (or if you have more TUs than usual, due to going berserk).
Note: Due to integer rounding, some TU values will allow certain weapons to be fired more than usual. For example, a solder firing a heavy plasma with auto-fire (35% TUs) will get 3 rounds at some TU values but not others.
Encumbrance
Encumbrance is the weighing down, or burdening, of a soldier. Any weight over the soldier's strength stat will cause encumbrance. This lowers their available TUs, essentially slowing them down.
Formula: Encumbrance = Strength / Carried Weight* If Encumbrance >= 1 then Available TUs = Base TUs Else Available TUs = INT(Encumbrance x Base TUs)
Example: A low-end Rookie with a base of 50 TUs, 20 strength, and carrying 80 weight units, will have an encumbrance of 25%, leaving him with a meager 12 TUs per turn.
*If Carried Weight = 0, then Carried Weight = 1
Fatal Wounds
Each fatal wound to the left or right leg reduces the soldier's TUs by 10%.
Influences
- Time Units heavily influences a unit's Reactions.
- Closely associated with TUs is the Energy stat.
- A moving unit consumes both TUs and Stamina (Energy) points. How many energy points are consumed depends on the type of terrain the unit is walking on. More difficult terrain consumes more energy and time units. All other actions only consume TUs.
- Energy recovery is calculated by taking your soldier's initial time units (the TUs they had as a new recruit) and dividing this by three. Drop the fraction. This will be the soldier's energy recovery rate throughout the campaign. For more details, see Energy.
Time Unit Walking Usage Tables
It takes 4TUs to cross a tile, unless there is another object upon it that will slow you down:
12TUs: Barn Doors Barn Stairs Hay Bails Urban Doors Broken X-COM Base Hyperwave Decoder Broken UFO Power Supply
10TUs: X-COM Base Stairs Broken Barn Walls
8TUs: All Raised Terrain Dead Forest Tree Lightning Door Lightning Power Supply Mars Craters Mars Rocks Polar Ice Columns UFO Doors Urban Fire Hydrant Urban Phone Booth Urban Post Box Urban Slide-up Door Urban Stairs Urban Trash Can Urban Tyre Urban Watering Can X-COM Base Doors X-COM Craft Ramps X-COM Craft Roofs Broken Alien Entertainment Walls Broken UFO Hulls Broken UFO Operating Table Broken Urban Phone Booth Broken Urban Stairs Broken Urban Street Lamp Base Broken X-COM Base Access Lift Doors Broken X-COM Base Stairs
6TUs: Avenger Door Avenger Ramp* Hollow Tree Stumps Horizontal Forest Logs Jungle Ground Shrubs Urban Shop Floorstock Farm Wheat Field Broken Alien Base Food Tanks Broken Alien Base Garden Walls Broken Internal UFO Walls Broken Urban Fences Broken Urban Furniture Broken Urban Slide-up Door Broken Urban Walls Broken X-COM Base Lamp Broken X-COM Base Walls *Different versions of the same ramp are used to build it.
5TUs: Alien Base Garden Ground Shrubs Urban Garden Bed