Game loops — the canonical catalog¶
The named gameplay loops SectorWars 2102 ships or specifies, each as a one-line player fantasy, its build status, the doc that owns its full spec, and the cadence layer it occupies. A loop here is a self-contained "do this, get that, spend it on the next thing" cycle a player repeats. This page is an index only; the linked home doc carries the rules, numbers, and section-level status markers.
Implementation status uses the four FEATURES status markers: ✅ Shipped, 🚧 Partial, 📐 Design-only, 🐛 Bug. The marker on each row is the loop's overall maturity; a loop's home doc breaks status down per mechanic, and most 🚧 Partial loops have a shipped core with design-only extensions.
Cadence layers, fastest to slowest:
- Moment-to-moment — the substrate loops a player touches constantly (movement, trading, combat beats).
- Session — discrete acts within a play session (a gambling run, a haggle, a raid, a contract).
- Multi-day — capital projects and long timers (ship construction, warp gates, Genesis, citadel tiers).
- Long-arc — identity and empire that compound across many sessions (colonization, rank/reputation, governance).
Loop catalog¶
| Loop | Player fantasy | Status | Home doc | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trading | Read supply/demand, buy where glutted, sell where scarce, pocket the spread | 🚧 Partial | trading.md | Moment-to-moment |
| Haggling | Haggle an NPC trader down for a price edge (numerical band engine; narrative mode design-only) | 🚧 Partial | haggling.md | Session |
| Exploration / movement | Push sector-to-sector across the warp graph, reveal systems, name worlds | 🚧 Partial | movement.md | Moment-to-moment |
| Quantum Jump (Warp Jumper) | Aim a bearing into uncharted void and fire a one-shot directional FTL jump | ✅ Shipped | sectors.md | Session |
| Ship combat | Strip shields, punch hull, claim the kill or flee when the math turns | 🚧 Partial | combat.md | Moment-to-moment |
| Raiding sector drones | Clear hostile drones screening a contested lane | 🚧 Partial | combat.md | Session |
| Planetary assault | Seize a rival's already-built colony by force | ✅ Shipped | combat.md | Session |
| Fleet tactics | Pool a team's ships into one force and commit it to a decisive battle | 🚧 Partial | fleet-tactics.md | Session |
| Sector positional defense | Leave drones and minefields so hostiles pay a price while you are offline | 🚧 Partial | sectors.md | Long-arc |
| Bounty hunting & placement | Turn notoriety into credits; mark a wrongdoer's head with a public price | 🚧 Partial | bounties.md | Session |
| Ship acquisition & upgrades | Turn credits into a more capable hull, stat upgrades, and equipment | 🚧 Partial | ships.md | Moment-to-moment |
| Ship building (TradeDock shipyard) | Commission a ship as a multi-day project, feed it self-gathered resources | 🚧 Partial | tradedock-shipyard.md | Multi-day |
| Warp-gate construction | Collapse a route into a permanent 0-turn shortcut by sacrificing a Warp Jumper | 🚧 Partial | warp-gates.md | Multi-day |
| Special formations & lost worlds | Hunt rare topologies and Quantum-Jump-only dark territory for exclusive prizes | 🚧 Partial | special-formations.md | Long-arc |
| Genesis device deployment | Deploy a Genesis device to birth a brand-new owned planet from nothing | ✅ Shipped | genesis-devices.md | Multi-day |
| Colonization & raising a planet | Plant a colony and grow it from Outpost to Planetary Capital over real time | 🚧 Partial | colonization.md | Long-arc |
| Citadels, defense buildings & research | Climb the citadel tier ladder and fortify a world into a fortress-capital | 🚧 Partial | citadels.md | Multi-day |
| Port / station ownership | Own the station, set the tax, sweep the treasury, defend the deed | 🚧 Partial | port-ownership.md | Long-arc |
| Gambling (SpaceDock casino) | Risk surplus credits at four casino games chasing a multiplier or jackpot | ✅ Shipped | gambling.md | Session |
| Rank, medals & reputation | Climb the military rank ladder, collect medals, carry a moral-alignment score | 🚧 Partial | ranking.md | Long-arc |
| Faction reputation | Become known to the NPC factions purely by how you play | 🚧 Partial | factions-and-teams.md | Long-arc |
| Teams, alliances & region governance | Pool wealth in a team, vote as a citizen, run a region as a sovereign | 🚧 Partial | regional-governance.md | Long-arc |
| ARIA companion & beacons | An AI co-pilot that plots courses, predicts markets, and deepens with use | 🚧 Partial | aria-companion.md | Long-arc |
| First-login onboarding | Negotiate a starter ship with an AI guard at character creation | 🚧 Partial | first-login.md | Session |
| Police / Wanted heat | Commit crimes and named NPC police hunt you down | 🚧 Partial | police-forces.md | Session |
| Player & team messaging | Asynchronous inbox underpinning team, contract, and bounty coordination | 🚧 Partial | messaging.md | Long-arc |
Under design¶
These loops are specified but unbuilt, or proposed for a dedicated planning pass. They are catalogued here so the loop set is complete; their home docs carry the 📐 Design-only detail. The end-to-end primary-loop gap analysis — which loops exist but were unlisted, and which proven-elsewhere loops pair well and should be added — is the dedicated planning effort tracked in DECISIONS "Deferred design sessions" (item 6, "Primary game-loop audit & design").
| Loop | Player fantasy | Status | Home doc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mining | Fire a Mining Laser at an asteroid field and pull raw ore from the rock | 📐 Design-only | mining.md |
| Nebula harvesting & quantum refining | Extract Quantum Shards from nebulae and refine them into Crystals | 📐 Design-only | quantum-resources.md |
| Contracts & alternative trade jobs | Take deadline-bound delivery, procurement, and escort jobs for guaranteed pay | 📐 Design-only | contracts.md |
| Black-market smuggling | Run contraband at huge margins, dodging law-faction detection | 📐 Design-only | black-market.md |
| Player-to-player trading | Direct bilateral atomic exchange of credits, cargo, ships, and equipment | 📐 Design-only | player-trading.md |
| Pirate-holding raids | Raid persistent pirate holdings and capture their territory | 📐 Design-only | pirate-holdings.md |
| Colonist professions | Specialize colonists to stack bonuses on production, defense, and research | 📐 Design-only | professions.md |
Cross-links¶
- FEATURES README — the full FEATURES index and the status-marker convention.
- player-journey.md — how these loops sequence across early, mid, and end game.
- lifecycle.md — the faucet/sink macro-economy that the economic loops feed.