The existence of timescale dev commands suggests they took their time engineering it right rather than just slapping in the two easiest lines of code that did the job. People misread the existence of mods, mods prove that something can be done but say nothing about the complexity of doing it properly. Mods *can* just slap in the two easiest lines of code without worrying about the longer term.

Yeah, the pause function is great and I'm really grateful for that.
But i found something even more useful - TIMESCALE.
It is hidden patch - meaning it was not announced with the patch notes and it is not intended to be used for regular gameplay. However, now that i know about it I cannot stop using it.
Timescale is a command you enter in the command line (after you have enabled devcommands) and it allows you to change game speed. I find this super useful for sailing, AFK farming, running long distances, etc.
You can completely freeze the game (same function as pause), slow down the time for easier fights and the most useful part - speed up the game up to 3 times. I just love how good it works to speed up some tiresome parts of the game.
For players who want to know how to use it, read the guide below.
Hit F5 to open command line and type "devcommands" to enable commands. Then type "timescale X" where X represents a number between 0 and 3 (you can enter 100 but from my experience the speed is the same at 3 and at 100). Default value is 1. Any number below 1 will slow down the game speed and any number above 1 will speed it up. 0 will freeze the game including your character.
Its best to use it with command "bind", so you can assign it to numerical keyboard and change the speed of the game easily by pressing one button.
e.g. "bind keypad0 timescale 0", "bind keypad1 timescale 1" etc. Bounded keys will be remembered after you quit the game, but you will have to enable devcommands every time you start the game.

Originally posted by captainamaziiing:

Weird how a fundamental game feature that was conspicuous in its absence makes you feel grateful when it is added a year later. All I felt was 'just let the modders have it already', they made this 'feature' about 3 days after the game was released. It was never hard to do.

I don't think anyone ever thought it was hard to make. Nor was it a dealbreaker for me when it wasn't there. It's still nice to have and I'm sure it's nice to feel appreciated even for mundane stuff.

Just it doesnt work on my dedicated linux server......

Not sure it works on dedicated servers at all

i agree - that pause magic is truly gold
its awesome to get a coffee without the need to make a speedrun to "mr. coffee" then come back an find your viking killed by a troll

Weird how a fundamental game feature that was conspicuous in its absence makes you feel grateful when it is added a year later. All I felt was 'just let the modders have it already', they made this 'feature' about 3 days after the game was released. It was never hard to do.

Praise the pause! It allowed me to eat a creme caramel in safety

You're on a computer, Grapple - lots of ways to have those things pop up an 'omg take a coffee break before you die' interruption!

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Strange... I recall being thankful for having no pause available.
It meant that, should the phone ring or for whatever reason I had to interrupt my play, I could simply log out. And that meant I could take a look at the clock and realise how long a binge session it had been and then have the good sense to call it quits for the day/night ;)

♥♥♥♥ poster trash.

Pause has saved my ass a bunch of times already.

I'm glad the devs added the pause feature for you solo players. ♥

Strange... I recall being thankful for having no pause available.
It meant that, should the phone ring or for whatever reason I had to interrupt my play, I could simply log out. And that meant I could take a look at the clock and realise how long a binge session it had been and then have the good sense to call it quits for the day/night ;)