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space-game/SESSION.md
2026-03-11 16:56:28 -04:00

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# Session Summary
## Project State
This repository now contains a playable Three.js/Vite prototype for a space RTS / economy sim testbed inspired by EVE Online and X4.
The current prototype includes:
- Two solar systems: `Helios Reach` and `Perseus Gate`
- A large space environment with stars, planets, orbit lines, nebulae, asteroid/resource fields, and starfield
- RTS-style ship selection, command issuance, camera movement, zoom levels, and follow-camera support
- Three view levels based on zoom: `local`, `solar`, and `universe`
- A bottom command bar with selection info, order buttons, and a minimap
- A strategic HUD overlay that switches to NATO / military-style symbols at higher zoom levels
## Major Gameplay Systems Added
### World / Navigation
- Ships can travel between the two systems using staged FTL travel
- Travel flow includes:
- leaving gravity well
- FTL spool
- warp
- arrival
- FTL speed was increased and a basic warp streak / tunnel effect was added
- Local ship movement is no longer purely straight-line:
- ships bias toward curved orbital-style transfers around the system center
- idle ships hold a passive orbit instead of freezing in place
### Orbital Model
- Stations are no longer static arbitrary points
- Stations in `Helios` are placed on Lagrange-style offsets relative to planets
- Stations update position over time with the planetary orbital motion
- Ships and stations are beginning to behave like orbitals rather than free-floating markers
### Units / AI / Orders
- Ship roles currently in the prototype:
- military
- transport
- mining
- Unit state machine now includes states for:
- idle / moving
- FTL travel
- mining and delivery
- docking approach / docking / docked / undocking
- patrol / escort
- Orders currently supported:
- move
- transfer
- mine
- patrol
- escort
### Docking / Logistics
- Docking was added as a required step for transfer to stations
- Stations have limited docking capacity and explicit docking ports
- Mining ships now:
- mine ore in `Perseus`
- return to `Helios`
- dock at a refinery
- transfer ore
- undock and repeat
### Economy / Inventory Foundations
- Added item storage classes:
- `bulk-solid`
- `bulk-liquid`
- `bulk-gas`
- `container`
- `manufactured`
- Added module categories and starter module definitions for ships/stations
- Ships and stations now expose compatible cargo/storage/module metadata
- Refineries track:
- ore stored
- active refining batch
- refining timer
- refined output stock
### Energy / Fuel
- Ships now track:
- fuel
- energy
- Stations now track:
- fuel
- energy
- Ships consume energy/fuel depending on activity
- Docked ships recharge energy
- Stations recharge energy passively
## Testbed Layout
- `Helios Reach` is now the industrial / infrastructure system
- stations are concentrated there
- refinery loop terminates there
- `Perseus Gate` is now the extraction / resource system
- resource asteroid nodes are concentrated there
- miners operate there before hauling back
## UI / UX State
- Ship and station selection is supported
- Ship multi-selection is supported via click modifiers and marquee drag selection
- `Solar` and `universe` views now overlay high-level tactical symbology instead of relying only on 3D meshes
- Ships use role-specific long-range symbols:
- military: hostile/combat-style diamond iconography
- transport: boxed logistics symbol
- mining: angular resource / industrial symbol
- Stations and constructibles use square strategic markers with category-specific internal glyphs
- `Universe` view groups ships into fleet counts per system and role for cleaner strategic readability
- Focusing works for:
- single ships: follow camera
- stations: focus camera on the station
- Selection panels show:
- ship state, order, cargo, hold type, fuel, energy, modules
- station role, docking occupancy, stored resources, refinery timing, fuel, energy, modules
## Controls
- `Left Click`: select ships or stations
- `Shift + Left Click`: add ships to ship selection
- `Ctrl/Cmd + Left Click`: toggle ships in selection
- `Left Drag`: marquee-select multiple ships
- `Right Click`: issue move/transfer orders
- `Mouse Wheel` or `-` / `=`: zoom
- `W A S D`: pan camera
- `Q / E`: rotate camera
- `F`: focus selection, and follow a single selected ship
- `Tab`: jump camera between systems
- `B`: toggle build mode
- `1-5`: choose constructible
- `M`: assign mining
- `P`: assign patrol
- `E`: assign escort
## Technical Notes
- The prototype is built with:
- Vite
- TypeScript
- Three.js
- High-level symbology is rendered through a dedicated 2D HUD overlay canvas layered above the 3D scene
- Production build is currently passing with `npm run build`
## Known Limitations / Caveats
- Orbital behavior is still an approximation for gameplay, not a full orbital mechanics simulation
- Stations are on Lagrange-style offsets, but not using a physically rigorous orbital solver
- Ship transfer paths are curved and orbit-biased, but still use authored steering rather than patched conics or n-body integration
- Fuel / energy exist but station refueling, resupply, and depletion failure states are still minimal
- Module definitions exist, but there is no actual ship/station designer yet
- Inventory classes exist, but only a subset of economic flows are implemented
- Docking works for logistics, but there is not yet a richer docking queue / reservation UI
- NATO-style symbology is gameplay-oriented inspiration, not a strict APP-6 / MIL-STD implementation
## Suggested Next Steps
- Introduce explicit orbital anchors for:
- stars
- planets
- stations
- asteroid belts / resource fields
- Replace the current movement approximation with a more formal orbital transfer model
- Add refueling and power management gameplay
- Add ship/station fitting data structures that can later drive a designer UI
- Expand the economy beyond ore/refining into manufactured goods and trade lanes
- Improve FTL visuals with a fullscreen post-process distortion or tunnel effect
- Expand the strategic overlay with threat rings, route arrows, and fleet stance/status markers