Black Hole

The Black Hole is a feature that is unlocked by getting 100 Reality Machines. It speeds up how fast the game runs, on a periodic cycle. The game will run at normal speed for some amount of time, then have a burst of running extremely fast for a short period before going back to normal speed and repeating the cycle.
Increased game speed from Black Holes is much stronger than tickspeed because, unlike tickspeed, it affects everything equally, including things that are only partially affected by tickspeed (eg. Infinity/Time Dimensions), things that are normally completely unaffected (eg. DT/TT generation), and effects which are boosted purely on time spent (eg. idle path IP/EP multipliers).
While most features in the game are boosted by this increased game speed, there are some which remain unaffected. In these cases, it will be specifically mentioned that a given time is stated as real time as opposed to game time. One such example is the set of Perks which automatically completes Eternity Challenges over time. Otherwise, it should be assumed from this point onward that all references to time are for game time. Note that this also includes situations where you may want to have a lower amount of time spent, like the Reality Upgrade "Replicative Rapidity" for example.
You can buy upgrades for the Black Hole by using Reality Machines. There are three upgrades for the Black Hole:
* Interval - How long the Black Hole is inactive between bursts, reduced by 20% per upgrade.
* Power - How much faster the game runs during the temporary speed bursts, increased by 35% per upgrade.
* Duration - How long each speed burst lasts before going back to normal speed, increased by 30% per upgrade.
100 days of game time after unlocking the Black Hole, you unlock the ability to purchase a Reality Upgrade that allows you to have a second Black Hole. The timer on the second Black Hole only advances when the first Black Hole is active. So, for example, if the first Black Hole has a duration of 4 minutes and the second has an interval of 8 minutes, the second Black Hole will only activate once every two cycles of the first Black Hole regardless of how short the first Black Hole's interval is. Note that the timer shown in the in-game header takes account of this and shows the actual time until the second Black Hole activates; in the Black Hole tab, you can see the amount of time with the first Black Hole active needed for the second Black Hole to activate.
When a Black Hole is active at least 99.99% of the time, it becomes permanently active. This is tracked separately for the two Black Holes.
While offline, Black Hole cycles will still advance normally and their active speed boosts will apply fully as if the game were still open. Offline time simulates segments of inactive and active Black Holes with different tick lengths to reduce the negative effects of small tick count during active periods; the entry for "Offline Progress" has been updated with more technical details.
The Black Holes can be paused, completely halting their interval/duration cycle. However, when unpausing them, it will take 5 real-time seconds for them to go from inactive to their maximum boosted speed exponentially. This acceleration time will still advance the cycle as if it were running at full speed; so while pausing gives some more control, it also ultimately results in some boosted time being lost.
Pausing and unpausing affect both Black Holes; they can't be paused or unpaused independently. They can be paused automatically 5 real-time seconds before activation by toggling the relevant setting on the Black Hole tab.
== Upgrades ==
Black Hole 1
Upgrade 	Base Effect	Base Cost (Reality Machines)	Cost Scaling	Cost Scaling (after 1e30)	Cost Scaling (after 1.8e308)
Reduce the Black Hole's inactive time by 20%	1 hour 	15 	x3.5 	+0.35 from existing scale	x3.5 from existing scaling
Make the Black Hole 35% stronger 	180x 	20 	x2 	+0.2 from existing scale 	x2 from existing scaling
Extend the Black Hole's duration by 30% 	10 seconds 	10 	x4 	+0.4 from existing scale 	x4 from existing scaling
Black Hole 2
Upgrade 	Base Effect	Base Cost (Reality Machines)	Cost Scaling	Cost Scaling (after 1e30)	Cost Scaling (after 1.8e308)
Reduce the Black Hole's inactive time by 20%	6 minutes 	15,000 	x3.5 	+0.35 from existing scale	x3.5 from existing scaling
Make the Black Hole 35% stronger 	90x 	20,000 	x2 	+0.2 from existing scale 	x2 from existing scaling
Extend the Black Hole's duration by 30% 	7 seconds 	10,000 	x4 	+0.4 from existing scale 	x4 from existing scaling