diff --git a/src/acquisition.cpp b/src/acquisition.cpp
index 5ded4c1..3c8d900 100644
--- a/src/acquisition.cpp
+++ b/src/acquisition.cpp
@@ -136,6 +136,41 @@ std::uint32_t Acquisition::build_stamps(const udps_frame_t* frame, int time_sign
   }
   stamps_.assign(n, 0.0);
 
+  // Relative mode: the stamp is a pure function of position and the *declared* rate. Nothing
+  // below this block runs -- not the arrival-cadence override, not the degeneracy guard, not
+  // the glitch bridge, not the monotonic clamp's reason for existing -- because a position
+  // cannot jitter, cannot fail to advance and cannot jump.
+  if (cfg_.relative_time) {
+    if (batch_ == 0) {
+      batch_ = n;
+      std::fprintf(stderr,
+                   "[udpscope] relative time: batch=%u samples/packet, rate=%.6g S/s declared\n",
+                   batch_, model_.partition().base_dt > 0.0 ? 1.0 / model_.partition().base_dt
+                                                            : 0.0);
+      std::fflush(stderr);
+    } else if (n != batch_) {
+      // A frame whose length disagrees with the first one is an inconsistency in the
+      // producer, not a loss: the counter still names one packet. Warn once and keep the
+      // established batch, which is only used to size holes -- the timeline itself is built
+      // from the lengths actually seen, so it stays exact for this frame either way.
+      if (!warned_batch_) {
+        warned_batch_ = true;
+        std::fprintf(stderr,
+                     "[udpscope] warning: packet carries %u samples but the stream's first "
+                     "carried %u; keeping %u as the packet length a lost packet is worth.\n",
+                     n, batch_, batch_);
+        std::fflush(stderr);
+      }
+    }
+    double dt = model_.partition().base_dt;
+    if (!(dt > 0.0)) dt = 1.0e-3;
+    for (std::uint32_t k = 0; k < n; ++k) {
+      stamps_[k] = double(slot_base_ + k) * dt;
+    }
+    slot_base_ += n;
+    return n;
+  }
+
   double period = model_.partition().base_dt;
   if (!(period > 0.0)) period = 1.0e-3;
   // The cadence of the samples actually stored: the partition's slot interval (base
diff --git a/src/acquisition.hpp b/src/acquisition.hpp
index 96898bf..2fa6fd4 100644
--- a/src/acquisition.hpp
+++ b/src/acquisition.hpp
@@ -90,6 +90,17 @@ class Acquisition {
   /// signal carrying volt-like values, others from the arrival clock -- which is a
   /// time base no reader can make sense of (see `build_stamps`).
   int time_source_ = 0;
+  /// Relative-time mode's position counter: samples seen since the stream began, which is
+  /// what the counter names. Advanced by `batch_` for every packet the counter reports
+  /// missing (before the frame's own samples) and then by the frame's own `n`, so it is
+  /// exactly `counter * batch + sample_index` for a constant batch and degrades gracefully
+  /// when a frame's length disagrees.
+  std::uint64_t slot_base_ = 0;
+  /// Samples per DATA packet, fixed by the first frame. Only ever needed to size what is
+  /// *absent*: a delivered frame carries its own length. 0 until the first frame.
+  std::uint32_t batch_ = 0;
+  /// Latches the one warning about a frame whose length disagrees with the stream's first.
+  bool warned_batch_ = false;
   std::vector<double> stamps_;
   /// The decimation filter's state: a running sum per channel (and one for the shared
   /// clock) over the group of base samples that becomes one stored sample. A boxcar