Forum:Federal States/Time Zones

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Based on some ongoing conversations and previous forum thread regarding FSA time zones, I'd like to offer up the following five options for discussion. Based on OGF's general consensus on time zones, WUT+0 is located between 0° and 15°E, WUT+1 is located between 15°E and 30°E, etc. Following the lines of longitude rigidly would result in the FSA spanning from WUT+8 (120°-135°E) to WUT+10 (150-165°E). However, given the narrow sliver of the nation that would actually be in +8 and since time zones tend to skew to the west (since western skew allows for "longer" days with later sunrises and later sunsets), it's reasonable to assume the farthest west time zone in the continental FSA to be +9.

The following map displays the five options I'm proposing; narrative of the options follow.

Orange: Two Zones

The entire FSA would be divided into two time zones. As drawn, the only state split would be Alormen, through the mountainous panhandle which is relatively unpopulated. The Alormen Valley, an important shipping corridor dotted with cities along both banks of the river, would remain in a single time zone. (This is maintained for all options.) This plan would split the West Lakes and East Lakes into different time zones.

All other options have three time zones, introducing a +9:30 zone in the center of the country.

Blue: Three Zones, "Transcontinental"

The "Max 30" plan would put a majority of the country in the +9:30 zone, except the extreme northwest (Cosperica, Atascadera, and most of Tauhon in +9) and the East Coast (+10). This may be historically justified by the FSA railroads, as this plan allows both historic transcontinental railroad corridors (Massodeya City-Puerto Eloisa and Lake City-Wahanta) to each be in a single time zone.

Green: Three Zones, "Eastern Influence"

The "Eastern Influence" option would expand on the "Transcontinental" plan by expanding the +10 zone further west to bring Massodeya City, Madawan, the Great Canal, etc. into the same time zone as the East Coast.

Purple: Three Zones, "Western Influence"

The "Western Influence" option builds on the "Eastern Influence" plan by likewise expanding the +9 time zone to encompass the entire West Coast, including all of Clamash.

Brown: Three Zones, "Alormen Valley"

The "Alormen Valley" option is a variation of the "Transcontinental" and "Western Influence" plans, where the time zone lines are drawn using both sets of mountains to minimize disruptions to individual states and urban areas.

Discussion

Interested in everyone's thoughts. If we can't come to consensus on this through forum discussions, we can add a final proposal to the next omnibus ballot in August. -TheMayor (talk) 20:59, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

I'm fine with anything that doesn't involve :30 offset time zones. It seems like a practical pain, especially since other countries in the same latitude won't use it, and it seems like something that would popularly be perceived as needless specific and weird (even if it might make some sense). Either orange or another proposal with +8 (which seems to be marked as +1 on the map? - maybe I've misunderstood), +10, and +9 zones feels like it makes the most sense to me. --Lithium-Ion (talk) 21:43, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

I prefer the Orange Two Zone System, it looks realistic, simple and avoids the 30 minute split. To me including a half hour into the scheme adds complexity for little benefit. If Orange is the option people go with I'm happy with dividing north-east Alormen between the two zones. Ruadh (talk) 07:50, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Personally, I have less of a problem with the +9:30 zone, given the economic regions that are present. I think a society that opted to use this instead of just hours is equally plausible, given that every city would have had its own local time until standardization. The Alormen River and its main tributaries are effectively in a zone together, as would the southwest, northwest, and east coast. To me, that's the main advantage of a three-zone system. Plus, it allows even less disjunction between zones on a commercial level. My personal preference is for the blue division based on this. (I could see an instance where Clamash splits so that Wahanta is in +9 and its interior is +9:30, but that would be up to Glauber to flex as he sees fit.) I see no connection between the east coast and anything west of the mountains from an economic or social standpoint. Massodeya City is just as much "over beyond the mountains" as anything else west of them. >

That said, I understand the two-zone division and would be able to work with it. If we go with it, I prefer the awkward alignment of using the green boundary if Toadwart is okay with splitting his state. That preserves the majority of the Alormen Valley with the southwest and northwest. Should we use orange, Mennowa is put in an interesting situation that it invariably would not like from an in-universe perspective (think nearly annual Indiana time-zone fights in the state assembly) because it is far more tied west than east. This isn't to say that I'm against it, but it adds another dynamic to the state would almost assuredly cause me to split it between the +9 and +10 so that Des Nonnes is in +9 and Minneuka is in +10. I'd have to think about it. — Alessa _(talk) 14:02, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Yeah, the Alormen River valley in my opinion makes any two-zone solution tricky given domestic travel patterns and commercial regions. While not elegant, I think the +9:30 zone alleviates most of these issues and avoids splitting any existing cohesive regions. -TheMayor (talk) 14:37, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Another plus point for the green line is that it uses the international border with Randalia for much of it's length.Ruadh (talk) 18:36, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

I will agree with Ruadh and also Alessa here, i like the two zones, i think FSA can manage with those two. From a Sierra perspective the orange line is fine since it avoids the problems of dividing the time zone at the Alormen issue but also the green line would be fine to divide east and west. Plus it makes sense if a few of the states between the Massodeyan (east) mountains and the Alormen associate more with the west than the east. Brunanter (talk) 03:00, 28 April 2022 (UTC)