Timer Sensor

The Timer Sensor is a time-based automation building that outputs a signal on a repeating schedule. It is used whenever a player wants automation to run for a fixed window of time, then pause, then repeat, such as cycling machines, pacing pumps, or alternating power loads.

Its timing is quantized by the game’s update rate: the engine appears to evaluate sensor changes about five times per second, so any interval is rounded to increments of 0.2 seconds. This makes the Timer Sensor suitable for ordinary automation, but not for highly precise sub-second timing. Like other time-based sensors, it becomes increasingly imprecise when set to very large durations, especially in long-running colonies or at high cycle counts.

Practical use cases include:

• turning equipment on and off in a repeating loop
• staggering multiple systems so they do not all activate at once
• creating simple schedules for pumps, doors, or generators without using duplicant labor
• cycling production structures when constant operation is unnecessary

Because the timer is driven by the simulation tick, very long intervals can drift or lose accuracy. This is most noticeable late in the game, when the colony has been running for many cycles and the simulation is under heavier load. For long delays, it is better to use the Timer Sensor only for coarse control rather than exact synchronization.

The Timer Sensor is often paired with other automation components to shape colony behavior around resource production and consumption. For example, it can be used to regulate systems that handle polluted water, such as:

• Water Sieves, which clean Polluted Water into Water using Sand or Regolith
• Fertilizer Synthesizers, which consume Polluted Water, Dirt, and Phosphorite to produce Fertilizer
• farming setups for crops that require Polluted Water, such as Pincha Pepper, Thimble Reed, Bog Bucket, and Arbor Tree
• pumping or storage systems for Polluted Water, since it can emit Polluted Oxygen unless contained properly

Polluted Water itself is often produced as a by-product by lavatories, showers, wash basins, sinks, carbon skimmers, algae terrariums, algae distillers, natural gas generators, petroleum generators, and certain geysers. A timer-controlled system can help move or process that water before it becomes an air-quality issue. In general, the Timer Sensor is a simple but useful tool for turning continuous processes into predictable bursts, provided its timing limits are kept in mind.