I'm considering developing a space opera game, having already done some game design. Technically, though, I'm coming from a business applications background. Hence I don't really know how I should handle time and duration.

Let's state the matter clearly: what if something is bound to happen in 5 hours and on which other events depend.

For example the arrival of some space ship in some system where some defense systems are present, hence a fight would start.

Should I use some kind of scheduler (like Quartz in my java land) to trigger the corresponding event when due (I plan to use events for communication)? Something else?