Centock
A centock is a timing term used in classic Galactic Empire 3.2e messages and documentation. Classic mine help calls it "approx 5 seconds," but the distributed game schedules the relevant ship-state pass every six seconds (TICKTIME = 6). It is not a universal unit for every game timer.
Where classic uses the term
| Location | What the count describes |
|---|---|
HELP MINE and the printed game manual |
The argument to MINE time, from 1 through 50 centocks. Their example, MINE 10, sets a ten-tick fuse.
|
Mine-launch message (MINE3) |
The chosen fuse length: "Detonation in ... centocks!" The global mine timer is decremented once per ship-state pass and detonates when it reaches zero. |
Maintenance-start message (MAINT5) |
An estimated count of repair passes derived from the ship's structural damage. It is printed after a successful paid MAINT command.
|
REPORT SYS maintenance line (REP18A) |
The ship's current repair value while maintenance is active, displayed as "Maintenance status - ... Centocks."
|
These are all uses of the word in the distributed 3.2e help, manual, and message text. Other timers, including movement updates, combat-exit restrictions, NPC behavior, and planetary production, are not called centocks there.
What the counts actually mean
The six-second warrtia() callback runs both checkmines() and repairship(). A mine's fuse loses one tick each time this callback runs. MINE 10 therefore means about 60 seconds from ten scheduled passes, not the roughly 50 seconds suggested by the classic help. The exact wall-clock delay also depends on when the command falls relative to the next pass. Mine proximity checks and warnings have their own conditions; they do not redefine the fuse unit.
Paid maintenance initializes repair from structural damage and recalculates it as damage falls by three points per pass. The displayed centock count is thus a rough maintenance estimate/status, not an independent clock counting elapsed five-second intervals. Classic repairs several systems together when the structural work completes. The privileged SYS MAINT path also prints the MAINT5 text, but fails to provide its required numeric argument; any "centock" value shown by that particular path is undefined, not a valid estimate. See Maintenance command and Sys command.
ge-next terminology
Centock is no longer used in current ge-next game messages or help. Mine launches report both the selected number of ticks and its nominal duration in seconds (ticks multiplied by the six-second update interval). Maintenance-start and REPORT SYS messages report an estimated time in seconds. Older ge-next release notes may mention "centocks" when describing the change from classic terminology, but that is historical documentation, not a current player-facing unit.
See also
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