An ARK Day Lasts 48 Real-World Minutes: Here‘s Everything You Need to Know
My fellow ARK survival experts – whether you‘re a seasoned player or just getting your feet wet in the world of dinosaurs and danger, understanding the flow of time is crucial. In this comprehensive guide from a passionate ARK-head, I‘ll cover everything you need to know about days in ARK: Survival Evolved.
Let‘s kick things off with the key fact:
One full day/night cycle in ARK lasts for 48 minutes of real-world time.
That means for every hour you play ARK, an entire in-game day and night will pass on whatever server you‘re battling on. This has major implications for gathering resources, defending your base, exploring the map, and more.
Throughout this guide, I‘ll break down exactly how ARK‘s accelerated day/night cycle impacts your gameplay strategies. I‘ve played over 2000 hours, so you‘ll also get my pro-tips on how to take advantage of both day and night based on what your current objectives are!
Let‘s get into it…
How Long are Days in ARK vs. Real-Life?
First, a detailed look at how ARK days compare to real-world time increments:
| Real-world Time | ARK Time Passed |
|---|---|
| 1 minute | 28 in-game minutes |
| 24 hours | 48 in-game minutes (1 full day/night cycle) |
| 1 week | 336 in-game minutes (7 in-game days) |
| 1 month | ~87 in-game hours (30 ark days) |
| 1 year | ~5256 in-game hours (365 ark days) |
As you can see, everything moves much faster in the world of ARK. You can experience full days and weeks go by in just an hour or two of real gameplay time.
This compressed timeline keeps the action intense and makes every survival choice more impactful minute-to-minute.
But it can be disorienting at first when it feels like you just logged in, blinked, and suddenly an entire day has passed with night falling!
So making sure you understand the flow of time in ARK is critical. Especially how it affects dino behaviors, enemy attacks, and your own basic needs…
How the Day/Night Cycle Impacts Gameplay
The accelerated day and night cycle make time an essential factor in your survival strategy and tactics:
Managing Needs
Hunger and thirst meters drain much quicker in game. What feels like a short loot run or boss fight can sap your whole food and water supply.
Always be prepared with quick sources of sustenance and hydration based on what stage an in-game day is in. For example, if you log in at night, don‘t head out without packing some Stimberries to beat sleep deprivation!
Dino Effects
Many dinos have special day or night perks, behaviors, and environmental boosts. For example, pack hunting Raptors gain major damage and speed buffs at night, while nocturnal Megalosaurus become near-invincible killing machines after dark.
Learn what your key dinos can and can‘t do depending on the sun cycle so you don‘t get surprised!
PvP Raiding
Human opponents often wait for the stealth and safety of night to launch raids. Counter this by placing exterior auto-turrets set to night mode targeting.
Or if you‘re raiding, utilize grappling hooks, silencers, and other stealthy toys to capitalize on night vision restrictions defenders face.
As you can see, actively tracking the day/night phase opens up many gameplay advantages.
Now let‘s get into manipulating ARK‘s timeline itself…
Controlling Day & Night Cycles
While default official ARK clusters use fixed 48 minute day/night cycles, as an admin or playing modded/custom servers you have options to take control of time itself!
Administration Commands
Utilizing admin cheat commands, you can directly set the time of day. For example:
settimeofday 12:00 – Sets it to 12:00 noon instantly!
Other useful commands include:
freeze time– Locks time passage indefinitelyset daycycle speed– Customizes full cycle duration
So if you run your own server or play local singleplayer, you have full control to configure night and day durations exactly how your tribe wants them!
Key Time Control Mods
On modded servers and clusters, there are also some great mods that allow players to bend time to their will such as:
- Better Dinos – Features an in-game clock for spawning/despawn events and environmental effect control
- Reusable Items – Craft a Sunstone Scepter for on-demand day & night shifting
- Structures Plus – Includes a Temporal Replicator device to shift, pause, and dilate time
The possibilities are endless for customizing your ARK timeline to get the most enjoyable and balanced survival experience!
Base Design for Day vs. Night Defense
Your base layout and defenses need to account for varying visibility and attack conditions based on light level:
Day Defense
Clear firing lines so plant turrets can target invading forces. Use metal spires to provide overhead cover from aerial attacks.
Night Defense
Ring foundations with electrical lights pointed outwards. Place key interior turrets on independent generator circuits immune to sabotage.
Learn more tips in my full guide to Fortifying Your Base for 24/7 Ark Security.
Evolving Day Length Over Early Access Updates
Interestingly, the durations of ARK days and nights have changed over the game‘s Early Access development before official launch:
v253 (Summer 2017)
- Day time: 45 minutes
- Night time: 15 minutes
v299 (Spring 2018)
- Day time: 20 minutes
- Night time: 8 minutes
Current Official (48 minute cycle) – Finalized in late 2018 according to community feedback on playtesting.
There you have it survivors – everything you need to truly master time and taming dinosaurs in ARK: Survival Evolved. Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions on making use of the day and night cycle or manipulating time settings!
