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''[[Dungeon Crawl]]'' is a turn-based game. Every '''action''' your character takes progresses the '''turn counter''' forward by one, and the game is paused between each of your actions. However, you can quickly observe that character and monster behavior can't simply be measured in raw turns.

Every character action has an associated '''delay''', measured in '''aut''' ('''a'''rbitrary '''u'''nits of '''t'''ime). Your delay determines how much time passes during a given turn for monsters to take their own actions. Monsters that do not act during a turn are still accumulating time for their next action.

The standard time required for a single turn is 10 auts, or one [[decaAut]]. The time that actions actually take is dependent on what type of action, but other factors like [[haste]], [[slow]], or weapon [[skill]] may change them. Most [[species]] and [[monster]]s move at 1 decaAut, and it is the normal time it takes to consume an item. Keep in mind that some monsters are significantly faster (or slower) than this speed.

==Players get their turn before monsters==
The player will always finish a full action before monsters have their turn. For example, if it takes 2.0 decaAut to swing a weapon, then you spend the full 2.0 turns first, and then monsters have the full 2.0 decaAut to retaliate. (If you kill a monster with your weapon swing, then that monster will not get a chance to move.)

This is particularly important when [[teleport]]ing. After moving, if a [[scroll of teleport]] is activated, you will teleport after your action, but before monsters get to move, resulting in monsters in your new destination getting a chance to act. The same applies to other sorts of teleport, including [[sourceless malevolence]]. This could theoretically lead to [[instant death]] if especially unlucky.

=="Delay" vs "Speed"==
*"Delay" is the time taken per action; higher numbers are slower.
*"Speed", which is used for monster stats, is a measure of time; higher numbers are faster. A 100% speed monster takes 1 decaAut to move. A 50% speed monster takes 100%/50% = 2 decaAut, while a 200% speed monster takes 100%/200% = 0.5 decaAut to move.

The game doesn't track time past single aut. Monsters with a decimal delay will be rounded up or down in a weighted fashion. A monster with a calculated 0.54 decaAut (5.4 aut) delay has a 40% chance to take 5 aut and a 60% chance to take 6 aut for their action. The same rounding applies to any other non-granular delay, such as your own [[weapon speed]].

==History==
*In [[0.31]], [[energy randomisation]] was reintroduced but only applies when you move away from an enemy.
*Prior to [[0.29]], all hostile monsters were subject to [[energy randomisation]]. If they were moving, they had a 33% to gain and 33% to lose 1 aut of time.

[[Category:Game mechanics]]

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