... which actually means it is indeed real-time. All real-time games work on this concept. It's not turn based unless it actually has turns that dictate what are the limits of your actions, and possibly if the enemy can move at the same time.
Tiavals is right. Think of combat time as pages of a book that sits between you and your opponent.
-Turn based combat systems are like a book full of blank pages. You are free to write whatever you wish on your page, after which you push the book across to your opponent who writes on the opposite page (upside down relative to you). Pages are flipped as needed and you and your opponent alternate until combat is over. Who gets the first turn is determined at the start.
-Simultaneous turn based works the same way. The only difference is that you write on your respective pages at the same time and a new page is turned only by mutual agreement.
-Continuous turn based has a few changes. Instead of blank pages the book now has boxes for you to write it. Both of you write at the same time, but now there is limited space so you have to be strategic about what you fill the box with. There is a third person with a stopwatch who does nothing but flip to new pages of the book at regular intervals, even if you have not finished writing.
With continuous turned based systems there is always some form of payment system. Turns happen at regular intervals and each player is credited with time that he can spend to move his units each turn. Fallout tactics handles this by crediting every entity with 1 action point every 4 seconds or so which spent to fire weapons and perform other actions. Movement is free and takes place in real time. It sounds like Elemental will have something like this only the player is able to pause. Not sure how that would work out in multiplayert automatic battles just doesn't sound right.
