A toy model. Two copies of a four-agent formation are pushed by the same source, which can only push. The top one only has to keep its shape until a deadline; the bottom one has to keep it afterwards too. Below them, a timeline shows each formation's squeeze against the tolerance and how hard the source pushes. The deadline and the distance of the source can be moved.
Until the deadline
And after
The top formation only has to keep its shape until the deadline, the bottom one afterwards too. On a short deadline the top one gets there still squeezing, and since the source can only push, nothing stops it going out of tolerance after. The bottom one holds back, keeps its shape and arrives slower.
It's a toy model of an effect from a paper Zihao Wang and I are finishing.