- Introduce the `firstForeignPlanet` trigger: when the player discovers a planet in a non-home system, Trestle (new out-of-system mentor character) delivers a two-part ack comm pair (meetup + quest claim), with dedicated video and speech assets.
- Make audio cache keys folder-scoped so characters with identically-named clips (e.g. both having `intro-01.mp3`) don't collide in the loader.
- Add an amber pulsing attention cue (halo + staggered sonar rings) on the ACKNOWLEDGE button for ack comms, driven per-frame from CommsBox.update().
- Put the ActionBar deck into a standby state while an ack comm holds: slots go inert (no hover/press), dimmed visually; re-arms when the comm ends. GameScene wires this via `actionBar.setEnabled()` each frame based on `comms.paused`.
- Extend MenuButton to accept a custom border color so the ACK button can wear the box's amber against the cyan UI.
- Add dev self-check harnesses (`comms-trestle.mjs`, `comms-trestle-hold.mjs`) and update existing tests to cover the new pair, folder-scoped keys, deck standby behavior, and pulse animation.
- Disable browser module caching in CDP probe/shot scripts to avoid stale ES modules shadowing on-disk changes during dev testing.
- Full-screen RESEARCH window: looping archive feed, category tabs, branching
DAG tech tree (top-down layout), per-tech dossier + RESEARCH button, deck
progress bar
- Pure rules layer (ResearchModel / ResearchState) is Node-testable; the
window is a passive view and GameScene owns effects, toasts, and saves
- First category **Exploration** (Tether Level 1–4, Tether Anchoring, Signal
Amplification) lives in data/research/exploration.json; adding a category
= one JSON file + one registry line + one manifest line
- Effects seam: `tether.level` grows the home tether via TetherField.setLevel;
`capability` flags land on scene.researchCapabilities for future systems
- Save/restore round-trips an in-flight project (remainingMs captured at save,
startedAt rebuilt on load); old saves without research still load
- Dev tooling: dev/cdp-shot.mjs (CDP screenshot with readiness wait),
dev/research-shot.html/.mjs (boots the console + starts a run for a shot)
- Assets: gasgiant planet frame 03, takeoff/landing clips, research-computer
feed; planets.png/.psd updated
Brian Fertig