The reason why 4 seconds need for reliable transaction submission

[AlexTheMenace]

Hello, y'all.

I'm reading the doc about 'reliable transaction submission' (https://xrpl.org/reliable-transaction-submission.html) and wonder why I need 4s to wait.

1. How is the '4s' calculated?

2. Can't it be shorter?

Thanks in advance.

[Hero_Member]

It's the time the consensus needs to determine all transactions that are included in this ledger. (and added to the XRPL) When the ledger is closed, all transactions are final. 3-4 seconds is already fast compared to other crypto, but I guess it can be faster.

there are some websites that show the average ledger closing times, so you can monitor them there.

If a transaction is in a queue, it can take a few ledgers before it is included. That's what the lastledgersequence is for. If a transaction is not included, and the lastledgersequence has passed, it will never be included, and must be resubmitted. 

Does that help?