Commands that fail generally take zero time. For instance, if
study is issued for a skill which the location does not offer, it
will fail immediately, and take zero time. The failed study
order will not take a week, and it will not count toward the diminishing
study returns for the month.
Production commands fail immediately if none of their input resources
are available. For instance, recruit in a location with no
peasants will immediately fail, taking zero time. However, resources
may sometimes become depleted while the command is being executed. In
such cases, the command may fail even after it has spent some time
executing.
Note: Recently the GM has begun to think that orders should not fail instantly, but should require their stated time regardless of whether the end result will be successful or not. This is in response to several abuses which are possible by relying on the fact that some orders will fail instantly to perform tests and conditional programming in order sets. Orders still in general will fail in zero time, but some of the advanced skill uses now require the stated time, regardless of whether they will succeed in the end.