FEATURES — Gameplay¶

The core gameplay loop — ships, combat, ranks, factions, ARIA, and the player journey from first login through endgame. See ../README.md for the FEATURES doc set as a whole; this README indexes the gameplay sub-section.

Index¶

Player journey + lifecycle¶

player-journey.md — First login → early/mid/end-game loops, pacing milestones.
first-login.md — Onboarding dialogue, ship-claim flow, starting state.
turns.md — Turn allocation, regeneration, action costs.
movement.md — Ship speed, warp-tunnel turn cost, fleet movement, cross-region travel.

Ships¶

ships.md — Ship lifecycle, maintenance, upgrades, insurance, escape pods, cargo wrecks.
ship-systems.md — Hull / engine / shield / cargo / sensor / weapon / drone / Genesis / maintenance.
ship-roster.md — Ship classes and per-class capability tables.
ship-insurance.md — Insurance tiers, payout formula, non-insurable hulls.
drones.md — Deployable-drone lifecycle: 5 types, per-player caps, create/deploy/recall/repair/upgrade, sector/team deployment.

Combat + ranks¶

combat.md — Ship/drone/planet/port combat, damage model, fleet battles.
fleet-tactics.md — Formations, morale, supply, role assignments, fleet-vs-fleet outcomes.
ranking.md — Military rank progression, combat bonus, personal reputation.
bounties.md — Bounty creation, tracking, collection, expiration.
medals.md — Medal awards, tiers, categories, regional + global recognition.

Factions + governance¶

factions-and-teams.md — NPC factions vs player teams; faction-rep system.
faction-lore.md — Faction profiles, ideology, territory, ally/rival matrix.
regional-governance.md — Elections, policies, treaties, regional citizenship.
police-forces.md — Federation Police + Nexus Sentinel Corps: NPC enforcement.

aria-companion.md — Mid-game ARIA: predictions, trust/consciousness, trading-pattern evolution.
messaging.md — Player-to-player and player-to-team messaging.
message-beacons.md — Player-deployable in-world message objects.

Sibling areas¶

../economy/ — trading, mining, contracts, black market
../galaxy/ — sectors, warp gates, formations, generation
../planets/ — colonization, citadels, defense, production

Conventions¶

Each doc describes target behaviour in present tense. Implementation status (✅ Shipped / 🚧 Partial / 📐 Design-only / 🐛 Bug) lives inline next to the relevant feature in each doc.