History

Tick

## Tick

A tick is a cycle or unit of time in a game where information is processed. In Stationeers, **the tick happens approximately every 0.5 seconds**.

For example, when a pipe element or a pipe radiator convects, it releases energy, measured in Joules, to the atmosphere during each tick. The values for these convective actions are updated roughly every two seconds.

## Power & tick relationship

In this game, power is measured in Watts, which represents energy per tick, **not per second**. This can be confusing because the game sometimes refers to energy as Watts. For instance, in the [Station Battery](/wiki/station-battery) entry in [Stationpedia](/wiki/stationpedia), energy is expressed as 3 600 000 Watts, which actually means 3 600 000 Joules, representing the maximum charge it can hold. If 3 600 Watts are drawn from the [Station Battery](/wiki/station-battery), it will run out of power in 1,000 seconds or approximately 27 minutes.

### Definition of power in real life

In real life, a Watt (W) is a measurement of energy per second (Joules per second or J/s), which is simpler to understand.
[See Wikipedia](https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(physics))