I did re-confirm my testing results; That if the start year in the EXE is not the same as the one in your campaign Time file, Dates will indeed be out of sync. I attached the screenshots, please note that my years were kind of going fast and I was three years late snipping the Auction screenshot. You can download the jpg and check the time stamps, they are legit.
All ships list were the same, and all years have been compensated for by adding 10 years to the YFA's because my mod starts in 2253. I also made sure I saved my changes in the EXE.
I went with 2263 (Time tab "Date Introduced") in the Exe, and 2253 in the Campaign Time.Gf file. I started in the late era and initially, I was seeing ships with a YFA of 2285 and I should not have seen any ships past 2278. Then in 2279 a ship popped up and showed a YFA of 2289. The ship attached in the screenshot became available in 2281 with a YFA of 2291. As expected, it confirms a 10-year shift forward does exist.
When my Starting dates are the same, then there is no time shift. I tested this both before and after this test, and only changed the date introduced tab, while ensuring it was saved all 3 times.
Hypothesis; The Main game clock (MGC) from EXE
always starts at the same date, this is set in the Exe with the Time tab "Date Introduced", regardless of what is set in the Time.gf. You just can't see that (MGC) time running in the game, it is in the background. This also proves that the (MGC) time in the EXE is the one used for the ships list and fighter list (as the label suggests) for both skirmish and campaign modes. Furthermore, even though you can see the time flow within the campaign. I believe the Time.gf just provides a cosmetic overlay for the campaign. This is the most logical explanation, as to why there is a time shift present if they are not the same, that I can present.
You were correct about the Skirmish years, they do not affect the campaign and cannot cause a time shift.
Maybe trying dates of 2300 would work better for you, I am completely miffed as to why your testing did not show a time shift as mine has. Maybe there is a valid date range?
My Assest.gf was set to this
Name = "Assets"
[Paths]
Maps = ".\MetaAssets\"
Scripts = ".\Assets\Scripts\"
Campaigns = ".\Assets\Scripts\Campaigns\"
[Files]
ShipSpecs = ".\MetaAssets\shiplist.txt"
FighterSpecs = ".\MetaAssets\ftrlist.txt"
CurMap = ".\MetaAssets\MiddleMap.mvm"
Thank you, Tar, for the explanation on the cloaking. One last question on that; Does the +5 mean that is +5 columns on the damage chart or +5K added to range?
I also had no luck finding any campaign debugging codes on this forum. Just Volley info and Mission script stuff.
I wanted to also ask if this game has a cache file. I believe everything is loaded into memory at the start of the game.