- Waypoints were comms-only beacons with no landing or trade; a second
deep-space station is a more useful destination in their place
- The old waypoint chance in systems.json becomes
deepSpaceStation.second, so a system can roll 0–2 stations
- StationFrames now assigns a distinct sprite variant per station
(Galaxy.stationFrames is id → [frame, …]) and a two-station system
always wears two different variants
- Rename the route-gate pulse from "destination's waypoint" to
"route's next stop" so the term no longer refers to a removed kind
- New ShimmerCue module: pure shimmerPhase/drawShimmer cycle (yellow band sweeps face, comet runs cut-corner edge), shared by both surfaces
- ActionBar gains setShimmer + a dedicated additive layer; the RESEARCH slot wears the full face+edge recipe while a tech can start and the console is closed
- ResearchWindow._paintCues paints the edge-only shimmer on every category tab whose tree still holds an available tech, plus the ACK pulse on the "Unlock Jumpgates" plate (or SYSTEM tab when off-screen)
- GameScene._applyResearchCue switches one cue at a time: deck slot when console closed, console cues when open; rests while a project runs (maxConcurrent 1), under standby, or under the tutorial finger
- ResearchModel.hasAvailable and SystemCategory.gatesReady/gatesNodeId encode the ready rules
- data: actionbar.json animation.shimmer, research.json fx.tabShimmer (#ffd84d, comm-pulse yellow family)
- dev: Node test (research-cue.test.mjs) pinning the pure cycle model + slot/tab behavior; browser verify page (research-cue-shot.html/.mjs) with CDP capture poses
- assets: arid-surface-03 / arid-takeoff-03 videos
- Use fixed short button copy for the gates tech ("Unlock Jumpgates") and mining nodes (drop "Mining" prefix) since the tree node has no room for system names or category words
- Raise detail panel height and widen node/button plates so long descriptions and status labels stop bleeding past plate edges
- Add word-wrap to the unlocks line and trim redundant status prefixes ("RESEARCH CONSOLE STANDBY", "PROJECT COMPLETE")
- Fix ice-surface-01 video reference in landing.json (was pointing at rocky-surface)
- Add OAC speech clips and ice surface video asset; update planets.psd
- Tighten tether research descriptions to match the new short-copy style
- Shrink the roster from 200 to 60 systems and drop spiral arms / core bulge for a uniform-in-area sparse disk (data/galaxy.json)
- Turn the jump network into a pure spanning tree (shortcuts off): exactly one route between any two systems, barren systems become single-gate dead-end leaves
- Remove the rendered Star entity; non-home system centers are now empty space with the star kept only as invisible dossier flavor
- Gate anchors restricted to planets (stations no longer anchor) and every non-barren system guaranteed ≥1 planet so a buildable world always exists
- Give barren dead ends 1–2 asteroid clusters drifting inside their gate's level-1 tether as the stop's only payload
- Bump save format to 2 and reject legacy format-1 saves with a clear toast message
- Update tests, docs, and README to reflect the maze layout, leaf dead ends, empty centers, and new barren cluster rules
- `_applyResearchEffects` now receives the node id explicitly instead of
reading `node.id`, which is undefined (the id is the key in the tree's
`nodes` map, not a field on the object) — this was silently skipping
`activateGates` so researched jumpgates stayed dark
- Add `systemIdOfGatesNode()` as the pure inverse of `systemNodeId()` for
the gates node, with round-trip tests
- Reconcile gate activation in `_onEnterSystem()`: if the gates tech is
already unlocked, re-run `_activateSystemJumpgates` (idempotent) so a
missed activation self-heals on the next entry/jump/reload
- Make `_activateSystemJumpgates` idempotent by tracking fresh keys and
early-returning when everything is already online
- Add `navPoints()` and `navChart()` to SystemCategory.js as pure,
testable cores for the jumpgate unlock condition (discovered/missing
split over all NAV points)
- Add `js/dev/NavDiag.js` with `orbitNav()` / `orbitNavBrief()` console
commands that print the live NAV chart and which objects are still
undiscovered, installed by `main.js` on every page load
- Update `data/landing.json` to reference the correct gasgiant surface/shop
videos for slot 03
- Add tests for `navPoints`, `navChart`, and `systemIdOfGatesNode`
- Document the activation wiring bug, the `orbitNav()` diagnostic, and the
new pure functions in PROJECT_NOTES.md
- Introduce a dynamic "system" research category built at runtime with two techs: `{System} Map` (granted on entry) and `Unlock {System} Jumpgates` (researchable once every NAV point is discovered).
- Wire gate activation through the research effects seam so completing the jumpgate tech activates the system's gates plus linked return gates, anchors level-1 tethers at each activated gate, and saves/restores via a new `activatedGates` set.
- Extend ResearchModel with optional tree hooks (`available`, `lockNote`) so dynamic categories can gate research on live world state without adding static requires.
- Add map and gate procedural icons, update tests for the new category contract and icon roster, and document the system category in project notes.
Brian Fertig
Brian Fertig