orbit/data/gates.json

{
  "_comment": "JUMP GATES — the galaxy's highway layer (js/galaxy/JumpNetwork.js for the network, js/galaxy/SystemGenerator.js → layoutGates for the in-system placement). NETWORK: every system holds between minGates and maxGates jump gates; every gate jumps to one of the system's `neighborPool` nearest stars on the 2-D map (the roster's x/y plane). The network is a degree-limited spanning tree of that neighbor graph (tree edges run BOTH ways); `shortcuts` is OFF — no mesh, no one-way links, no closed loops: the tree has EXACTLY ONE route between any two systems, so the galaxy reads as a MAZE of dead ends and long hauls. The deliberate exception is `bridges` (below): cross-branch middle-belt links that open loops in the MIDDLE of the galaxy so one branch doesn't have to trek back to the trunk (home) to reach another (the faction design — data/factions.json). Strong connectivity still holds by construction (a bidirected tree — from any star you can reach any other, no closed systems, no trapped sets), and every jump is to a nearby star with a RETURN gate (the destination's gate pointing back — the player can always jump back the way they came). No system ever holds more than maxGates gates. A BARREN system (objectCount → 0, no planets/stations) is a DEAD-END LEAF of the tree — exactly one gate, in and out the same way (JumpNetwork takes the barren set from the per-system composition roll and never lets a barren node adopt children; the repair pass prefers non-barren attach targets). PLACEMENT (anchored systems): each gate sits EXACTLY one of the radius steps spanning `anchorMinDistance`..`anchorMaxDistance` (default 3500–4608 px) — CAPPED by the level-`anchorTetherLevel` tether range — from an ANCHOR — a PLANET, or the home world in the starting system. The band keeps the gate CLEARLY inside the level-1 tether of data/tether.json — ≤ 5120 − edgeMargin (512 px rim margin, so no gate sits at the edge of a tether region), hence STRICTLY < 5000 px from the anchor (Rule 1); a per-gate preferred step (a seeded fork) makes the distance VARY between gates — clearance/gap pressure only ever pushes a gate outward from its preference; all hard by construction. Free-space stations are deliberately NOT anchors: the build console lives on a WORLD, so every gate must be tether-reachable from a planet the player can build and expand out from (the composition roll demotes a station to a planet when a system's budget would otherwise run out, guaranteeing the anchor exists). Candidates are tried in facing quality (ray-circle intersection → circle point aimed at the star → ±75° scan) so each gate is on the target side of its anchor (within 90° of the system→star bearing) — the direction rule is soft, so a gate reads as 'facing that star' without the exact ray always being free. PLACEMENT (barren systems — no anchor, data/systems.json → objectCount.barren): the single gate sits ON the ray from the center toward its destination, `barrenDistance` px out (stepped outward within the minRadius..maxRadius band if the gap forces it), facing its destination; its payload is 1–2 asteroid clusters drifting inside the gate's level-1 tether (data/asteroids.json → barren). ACTIVITY: every gate record carries `active` (DEFAULT FALSE — the activation mechanic is future work). When a gate is activated, a level-1 tether (5120 px, data/tether.json) attaches to it: an active gate is a TETHER ANCHOR in its own right. In a barren system that tether is the player's entire room to move (the player arrives AT the gate — the center is empty: the star is invisible flavor, never rendered); in an anchored system it simply adds another anchor circle. A gate keeps `size` + `clearance` (px, center-to-center) from any solid disc (planets + free-space stations + the home world), 2·size + `gateGap` from any other gate, and stays between `minRadius` and `maxRadius` from the center. size = the gate's keepout radius (px). shipClearance = the ship's keepout from the gate (the solid rule, like planets). theme.color = the HUD/compass color (an inactive gate renders dimmed). typeLabel = the discovery/compass label. texture/frameWidth/frameHeight = the spritesheet (assets/images/jumpgate.png, 256×256 frames): frame 0 = the gate body (ring + pylons, drawn static), frame 1 = the active swirl (see swirl); sprite scale = (size×2)/frameWidth puts the ring's outer edge on the keepout disc. A missing sheet falls back to the built-in procedural gate (console note).",
  "enabled": true,
  "minGates": 1,
  "maxGates": 3,
  "neighborPool": 8,
  "shortcuts": false,
  "bridges": {
    "_comment": "BRIDGES — the cross-branch links (js/galaxy/JumpNetwork.js, the bridge pass after the spanning tree). With shortcuts OFF the tree is a pure maze: branch-to-branch travel (a branch = a top-level subtree of the home system) means ALL the way back to the trunk. Bridges cut that: for each PAIR of distinct branches, `perPair` bidirectional gate-pairs join two systems of the middle belt (d in dMin..dMax — the home→far diagonal's middle slice, data/galaxy.json → distribution.zones), so the branches interconnect around the middle of the galaxy (a triangle for three branches) and a branch-to-branch trip is one extra hop, not a trek to the trunk — the faction design's \"reach each other without routing through home\" (data/factions.json). HARD RULES: both ends must sit in each other's `neighborPool` symmetric union (the LOCAL rule — a bridge is still a gate to a NEAR star, like any other), both ends non-barren (a dead-end leaf keeps its single gate), and both ends keep degree ≤ maxGates (the cap never breaks). SOFT: the middle-belt preference — an out-of-band pool pair is the fallback, and a pair with NO pool candidate degrades (a console note; the maze still connects the pair). Each bridge runs BOTH ways (a return gate at each end — the \"every jump has a return gate\" rule); planRoute's Dijkstra then prefers the shorter of bridge vs trunk automatically. Deterministic: same roster ⇒ same bridges (index tiebreaks).",
    "enabled": true,
    "perPair": 2,
    "dMin": 0.37,
    "dMax": 0.63
  },
  "size": 96,
  "texture": "assets/images/jumpgate.png",
  "frameWidth": 256,
  "frameHeight": 256,
  "shipClearance": 50,
  "clearance": 256,
  "gateGap": 192,
  "minRadius": 2048,
  "maxRadius": 20480,
  "anchorTetherLevel": 1,
  "anchorMinDistance": 3500,
  "anchorMaxDistance": 4608,
  "barrenDistance": 8192,
  "typeLabel": "Jump Gate",
  "theme": { "color": "#5fd4ff" },
  "swirl": {
    "_comment": "ACTIVE-GATE SWIRL — frame 1 of `texture` (the swirling energy disc that fills the gate's mouth). Shown only when the gate is active (activation below): it spins slowly CLOCKWISE at spinSpeed (rad/s — one revolution every 2π/spinSpeed s) and its alpha breathes between alphaMin and alphaMax, one breath cycle every 2π/breathRate s. Dormant gates show only frame 0 — the body is always drawn at full alpha, and the swirl's absence is the 'this one is live' tell.",
    "spinSpeed": 0.3,
    "alphaMin": 0.6,
    "alphaMax": 0.9,
    "breathRate": 1.8
  },
  "activation": {
    "_comment": "ACTIVATION (the SYSTEM research category — js/research/SystemCategory.js builds the per-system tree from this): '{system} Map' is granted the moment the player is in the system (duration 0 — 'starting'), and 'Unlock Jumpgates' (researchDuration, in research.timeUnit seconds) becomes researchable once EVERY NAV point of the system is discovered (the central body, all planets, all space stations, all jump gates — the scene's discoverable set minus the asteroid clusters; data/game.json → discovery.distance). Completing it activates the system's gates AND the return gates in the systems they connect to — and per the ACTIVITY rule above, each activated gate anchors a level-`tetherLevel` tether at its own position (a TETHER ANCHOR in its own right; that tether saves/restores with the run's tether list). The map label/description copy is templated: `{system}` is replaced with the system name. The gates tech's label is FIXED (no `{system}`) — the console's node button is too narrow for the system name; the map tech carries it.",
    "researchDuration": 45,
    "tetherLevel": 1,
    "mapTech": {
      "label": "{system} Map",
      "description": "Added the Solar System of {system} to the onboard NAV System. Discover all NAV points to unlock the system Jumpgates."
    },
    "gatesTech": {
      "label": "Unlock Jumpgates",
      "description": "With system NAV data complete, we have enough information to plot courses through this system's jumpgates."
    }
  },
  "jump": {
    "_comment": "THE JUMP (GameScene.jumpThroughGate): CLICK FLOW — a click on ANY gate opens the GATE COMM WINDOW (GameScene.openGateCommsPanel → the shared comms panel, js/ui/CommsPanel.js, in its gate variant: the LINK line reads ACTIVE/DORMANT, CANCEL just closes it) and REQUEST JUMP — a grayed ghost while the gate is dormant or with `enabled` off — transports the run to the connected system; the save pipeline in miniature (captureState → swap in the destination system + arrival position → prepareLoad → scene restart), so discovery/research/builds/minerals/playtime/activatedGates all carry over. ARRIVAL: the ship materialises near the destination's RETURN gate — the gate in the destination whose destination is the system just left (returnGateFor, js/galaxy/JumpTravel.js) — offset back along its facing (the gate faces the star we came from) by radius + shipClearance + ship radius + `arrivalGap`, i.e. just clear of its keepout, inside its activated-gate tether (per ACTIVITY above). One-way SHORTCUT jumps have no return gate (JumpNetwork: tree edges run both ways, shortcuts don't) — those land on the destination's star (its home-tether origin). The jump plays a full-screen one-shot clip (`video`, cover-scaled over the theme background) between the two systems — the destination is already staged behind it, so the scene restarts the moment the clip ends (or errors, or stalls); `videoVolume` is 0..1 (0 = silent). A DOUBLE-CLICK (two quick presses) skips the rest of the clip, same as the landing/takeoff clips. If `video` is empty/missing the jump falls back to the short `jumpDelayMs` cut. `enabled` is the feature switch; dormantToast is the dormant-state copy (dev/jump-travel.test.mjs pins its {system} placeholder); the toasts are templated ({dest}/{system}).",
    "enabled": true,
    "arrivalGap": 128,
    "video": "assets/videos/jump.mp4",
    "videoVolume": 1,
    "jumpDelayMs": 420,
    "toast": "JUMP — {dest}",
    "dormantToast": "JUMP GATE DORMANT — CHART {system} TO ACTIVATE ITS JUMP GATES",
    "miningToast": "CANNOT JUMP WHILE MINING",
    "combatToast": "CANNOT JUMP WHILE UNDER ATTACK"
  },
  "route": {
    "_comment": "ROUTE (js/galaxy/Route.js + GameScene): the player's plotted course to a SET DESTINATION (SYSTEM tab of the MAP console). The run persists only the destination (systemId + objectId); the path from the current system is derived (planRoute — the jump network is a spanning tree, so it is the unique route). While a route is active, the compass marks the NEXT STOP in ORANGE (compassColor), replacing that object's ordinary arrow, and shows it even while still UNDISCOVERED (it is the thing to find): in an intermediate system the next stop is that system's jump gate toward the destination (typeLabel 'Route Gate'); in the DESTINATION system the next stop is the destination OBJECT itself (destTypeLabel) — the last hop is across the system to the world, and it stays orange until the ship actually reaches it (GameScene._checkDestinationReached fires reachedToast, then the route clears). The NEXT STOP in this system ALSO wears an in-world orange pulse the moment it is on screen (js/entities/RoutePulse.js — GameScene marks it each frame): the FULL pulse on the route GATE (pulse), the SAME pulse SUBDUED on the destination OBJECT in the destination system (objectPulse). A jump to any other system re-plots from the detour (replotToast). A destination with NO specific object clears the moment its system is entered. setToast fires when the destination is set ({dest}/{hops}).",
    "compassColor": "#ff8c1a",
    "typeLabel": "Route Gate",
    "destTypeLabel": "Destination",
    "pulse": {
      "_comment": "ROUTE GATE PULSE (js/entities/RoutePulse.js via JumpGate.setRouteTarget): while a destination is set and the route's next stop in the CURRENT system is a jump gate (GameScene.routeNextGate), that gate wears this animated pulse around its keepout ring — the in-world 'your destination is this gate' mark, visible the moment the gate is on screen (the compass's orange arrow is the off-screen half). A steady target ring at baseRadius × the gate's keepout size, plus two radar ripples (staggered half a period) that expand a further ×expand past it and fade out; one ripple cycle every period seconds. The color is compassColor (the route's orange). A DORMANT gate gets the pulse too — the player still has to find the gate to use it. The destination OBJECT (planet/space station) wears the SAME pulse in a subdued form — see objectPulse.",
      "baseRadius": 1.18,
      "expand": 0.55,
      "period": 1.6,
      "ringAlpha": 0.5,
      "rippleAlpha": 0.85
    },
    "objectPulse": {
      "_comment": "DESTINATION OBJECT PULSE (js/entities/RoutePulse.js via Planet.setRouteTarget / Station.setRouteTarget): in the DESTINATION system the route's last stop is the destination OBJECT (a planet or a space station — GameScene._routeDestinationEntity). It wears the SAME pulse as the route gate, SUBDUED: the same shape + timing language, but lower alpha, a smaller reach and a slower cycle — 'the place to go', without shouting like the gate's full pulse (pulse). The geometry still scales with the object's keepout radius (a station and a gas giant read the same).",
      "baseRadius": 1.12,
      "expand": 0.4,
      "period": 1.8,
      "ringAlpha": 0.35,
      "rippleAlpha": 0.55
    },
    "setToast": "DESTINATION SET — {dest} · {hops} HOP(S)",
    "reachedToast": "DESTINATION REACHED — {dest}",
    "replotToast": "ROUTE RE-PLOTTED — {hops} HOP(S) TO {dest}"
  }
}