diff --git a/docker/common.yml b/docker/common.yml
index 8f215087d7..d032b1941c 100644
--- a/docker/common.yml
+++ b/docker/common.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ services:
       - CHAIN=/data/chainspec.json
       - ALLOW_PRIVATE_IPV4=true
       - DISCOVER_LOCAL=true
-      - UNIT_CREATION_DELAY=300
+      - UNIT_CREATION_DELAY=200
     volumes:
       - ./data/:/data/
 
diff --git a/docker/docker_entrypoint.sh b/docker/docker_entrypoint.sh
index 9982db8536..49b0485b0d 100644
--- a/docker/docker_entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/docker_entrypoint.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ PROMETHEUS_ENABLED=${PROMETHEUS_ENABLED:-true}
 TELEMETRY_ENABLED=${TELEMETRY_ENABLED:-false}
 TELEMETRY_URL=${TELEMETRY_URL:-'wss://telemetry.polkadot.io/submit/'}
 TELEMETRY_VERBOSITY_LVL=${TELEMETRY_VERBOSITY_LVL:-'0'}
-UNIT_CREATION_DELAY=${UNIT_CREATION_DELAY:-300}
+UNIT_CREATION_DELAY=${UNIT_CREATION_DELAY:-200}
 DB_CACHE=${DB_CACHE:-1024}
 RUNTIME_CACHE_SIZE=${RUNTIME_CACHE_SIZE:-2}
 MAX_RUNTIME_INSTANCES=${MAX_RUNTIME_INSTANCES:-8}
diff --git a/docker/smartnet-compose.yml b/docker/smartnet-compose.yml
index 669363ec7d..a9d414c28e 100644
--- a/docker/smartnet-compose.yml
+++ b/docker/smartnet-compose.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ services:
       - PURGE_BEFORE_START=false
       - RPC_PORT=9943
       - RUST_LOG=info
-      - UNIT_CREATION_DELAY=300
+      - UNIT_CREATION_DELAY=200
       - BOOT_NODES=/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/30333/p2p/$BOOTNODE_PEER_ID
       - PUBLIC_ADDR=/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/30333
       - VALIDATOR_PORT=30343
diff --git a/finality-aleph/src/abft/common.rs b/finality-aleph/src/abft/common.rs
index bf9b26a398..595ba67c7a 100644
--- a/finality-aleph/src/abft/common.rs
+++ b/finality-aleph/src/abft/common.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,15 @@ use std::{sync::Arc, time::Duration};
 
 use crate::UnitCreationDelay;
 
-pub const MAX_ROUNDS: u16 = 7000;
+// Chosen as a round number large enough so that given the default 200 ms unit creation delay, and the exponential
+// slowdown consts below, the time to reach the max round noticeably surpasses the required 7 days. With this
+// setting max round should be reached in ~12.5 days.
+pub const MAX_ROUNDS: u16 = 10_000;
+
+// Given the default 200 ms unit creation delay, the expected no-slowdown time will be 7500*200/1000/60 = 25 minutes
+// which is noticeably longer than the expected 15 minutes of session time.
+const EXP_SLOWDOWN_START_ROUND: usize = 7500;
+const EXP_SLOWDOWN_MUL: f64 = 1.004;
 
 fn exponential_slowdown(
     t: usize,
@@ -29,7 +37,12 @@ pub type DelaySchedule = Arc<dyn Fn(usize) -> Duration + Sync + Send + 'static>;
 pub fn unit_creation_delay_fn(unit_creation_delay: UnitCreationDelay) -> DelaySchedule {
     Arc::new(move |t| match t {
         0 => Duration::from_millis(2000),
-        _ => exponential_slowdown(t, unit_creation_delay.0 as f64, 5000, 1.005),
+        _ => exponential_slowdown(
+            t,
+            unit_creation_delay.0 as f64,
+            EXP_SLOWDOWN_START_ROUND,
+            EXP_SLOWDOWN_MUL,
+        ),
     })
 }
 
diff --git a/primitives/src/lib.rs b/primitives/src/lib.rs
index 4462729528..c102864fb6 100644
--- a/primitives/src/lib.rs
+++ b/primitives/src/lib.rs
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ pub const TOKEN: u128 = 10u128.pow(TOKEN_DECIMALS);
 pub const ADDRESSES_ENCODING: u8 = 42;
 
 /// ABFT unit creation delay (in ms)
-pub const DEFAULT_UNIT_CREATION_DELAY: u64 = 300;
+pub const DEFAULT_UNIT_CREATION_DELAY: u64 = 200;
 
 /// Committee Size for new chains
 pub const DEFAULT_COMMITTEE_SIZE: u32 = 4;