Making Starhex: the devlog

Oct 16, 12:18 pmv1milestone

Build 1: wake the derelict

Claude: The first playable build, about ten minutes after the rename. The derelict sits at the centre, drifting very slowly, with a broken burner and a broken smelter on its hull. You fly the frigate out to the iron rocks close by. Its laser breaks off pieces and the drone carries them aboard. Back home it docks, unloads and recharges, and the ore repairs the burner and then the smelter. Six steps end with 10 iron made and the derelict awake. A test player runs the whole loop in about seven minutes.

• The station: stores, a battery and two broken modules.
• The frigate: a 30-ore hold, a 100 battery, a mining laser and one drone.
• Seven iron rocks close in, three copper rocks past 2 km.
• A six-step tutorial, from the first flight to 10 iron.

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Published as “Build 1”

Oct 16, 12:30 pmv2mechanic

A second chapter: spend iron, then go far

“one more pass and build”Kraig, 12:30 pm

Claude: Iron now buys something. 10 iron fits a bigger hold, 15 iron a bigger battery, and the bigger battery is what reaches the copper field. The new goal is to bring home 10 copper ore. Nine objectives in about twelve minutes for the test player.

• A bigger hold for 10 iron (30 to 50 ore).
• A bigger battery for 15 iron (100 to 180), enough for copper.
• Bring home 10 copper ore from the far field.

Oct 16, 12:56 pmv3controls

A free camera, like a god

“we need to change the camera and, like, controls. So, like, you play the game moving the camera around with AWDS, and you can, there's no, like, home or frigate view. You can just control the frigate as, like, a movable character. And you can control anything, anywhere. So it's like a remote view, omniscient god mode.”Kraig, 12:56 pm

Claude: From his first playtest on the Mac. The camera no longer follows anything: WASD or the arrow keys pan it at a steady speed, and scroll or pinch zooms. The Home and Frigate buttons are gone. You command the frigate from wherever you happen to be looking.

• WASD and arrows pan; the camera never follows.
• No Home or Frigate views.
• Orders work from anywhere on the map.

Oct 16, 12:58 pmv4controls

No menu, just the game

“let's just get rid of the menu at the front. I just want to play test like a super quick, simple version of this game. So just strip away everything we don't need. And I'm trying to start a new game and I can't.”Kraig, 12:58 pm

Claude: The start card and the menu came out. What's left is one New game button, tapped twice to confirm. It hadn't worked before because the play page blocks pop-up confirm dialogs.

• No start card and no menu.
• New game works: tap it twice.

Oct 16, 1:00 pmv5controls

Controls like a real-time strategy game

“controlling the frigate should be like controlling a unit in any other real-time strategy game. The like two-finger alt click should be to send it to a new location on the map, and then just single clicking on the map should deselect the unit. I don't like that you just single tap and it goes... And I should be able to click and drag a box to select the unit instead of just clicking it.”Kraig, 1:00 pm

Claude: Click the frigate, or drag a box round it, to select it, and a green ring shows. Right-click (two-finger click) a rock, the station or empty space to send it there, with a green ping where it's going. Clicking empty space deselects. On a phone, a finger drag still pans.

• Click or box-select the frigate.
• Right-click to send it.
• Click empty space to deselect.

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Oct 16, 1:04 pmv6mechanic

A harvester loop, like an RTS worker

“do another 10-minute pass of improvements”Kraig, 1:04 pm

Claude: Claude's own pass. Right-click a rock and the frigate keeps hauling that ore. When it's full, the rock runs out or the battery gets low, it flies home, unloads, charges and goes back. Any other order stops it, and Esc deselects.

• A rock order keeps the frigate hauling until another order.
• Esc deselects.

Oct 16, 1:05 pmv7controls

Pause, and four times speed

“The speed overclock for time should just be pause 1 and 4. So hitting F just goes between 4 times and 1 time speed. And I think spacebar has to be pause for the game. I don't think we need, like, where's the ship?”Kraig, 1:05 pm

Claude: F toggles between normal speed and four times, Space pauses and resumes, and a badge shows PAUSED or x4. The camera still pans while paused. The key that jumped to the ship is gone.

• F: x1 or x4.
• Space: pause.
• No jump-to-ship key.

Oct 16, 1:19 pmv8mechanicmilestone

Start with nothing but the core

“maybe you should just build the most simple version and then we'll do another playtest. So instead of repairing the two modules attached to the core, we should just start with the core. And I think the ship should be able to dock only with the core. For now. And I also want it to dock sideways, not engines in. And instead of repairing the modules, we're going to build the modules and also build the connector. Belt.”Kraig, 1:19 pm

Claude: The derelict's broken modules are gone. You start with the core alone, and the frigate docks side-on against a clamp on its lower face. You place a burner and a smelter yourself, and the drone builds them from the stores while you're docked. Then you join them to the core with belts. Modules only work through their belts.

• Start with the core only.
• The frigate docks sideways.
• Build modules instead of repairing them, and link them with belts.

Oct 16, 1:22 pmv9design

Auto-hauling becomes an upgrade, later

“I like that you have to control the ship at the beginning and like being able to enable auto mining mode going back and forth between asteroids and the base should be something that we upgrade later. So let's just take that out for now.”Kraig, 1:22 pm

Claude: The harvester loop came out. A rock order mines until the hold is full and stops, and you fly every trip home yourself. The loop stays in the code for a future frigate upgrade.

• You fly every trip.
• Auto-hauling is saved for a later upgrade.

Oct 16, 1:26 pmv10mechanic

Move modules, and watch the belts stretch

“you should be able to click on any module, and then in the menu there's a move option, and then you can like click and drag it... as you move it, you should see the belts update in real time. And if they get too far, the belts just like detach and the smelter is like separate.”Kraig, 1:26 pm

Claude: A module's panel has Move. The module follows the mouse, and its belts redraw as it goes. Past 120 m they turn red and dashed, and when you drop it there they detach, sending what was on them back to where it came from.

• Move any module.
• Belts stretch live and detach past 120 m.

Oct 16, 1:32 pmv11designmechanic

A locked hex grid, and the core becomes the dock

“I'm wondering if the station should keep like a locked hex grid... just placeholder hexes so that we can space things out a little bit. But like organizing the hex grid for logistics is like a huge puzzle. And eventually you'll need to like be shifting and moving, selecting entire sections, pushing it out from the dock. I want to change the core to dock. So the AI is the frigate... the frigate is fine. And then the little drone is what comes out... the module within the hex is like a little smaller than the grid space, so that we can have some space between the modules to show the connections.”Kraig, 1:32 pm

Claude: Free placement gave way to a grid. Modules snap to hex cells around the dock, each a little smaller than its cell, leaving gaps for the belts. Free cells show as faint placeholder hexes. The core is called the dock everywhere, and the AI is now the frigate.

• A flat-top hex grid round the dock.
• Modules sit a little smaller than their cells, with room for belts.
• The core is the dock; you are the AI aboard the frigate.
• Later: shift whole sections out from the dock.

Oct 16, 1:43 pmv12mechanic

Belts as hexes, tried

“What if the belts were hexes themselves? And eventually we would have like mergers or splitters as hexes as well.”Kraig, 1:43 pm

“let's make this update with the hex grid. And also you can just hide the hex grid during normal play. Only show it when I'm like building a new hex or moving a hex. Also, let's add a constructor module so that we can attach the smelter to a constructor to make iron plates.”Kraig, 1:43 pm

Claude: Belts became hex cells of their own that you lay in lines, and buildings that touch hand items to each other. You can only build next to something already there. The grid only shows while you're building or moving. A third module arrived: the constructor, which turns 2 iron into an iron plate.

• Belts as hexes you lay in lines; touching buildings pass items.
• Build next to the station only.
• The grid shows only while building.
• The constructor: iron into iron plates.

Oct 16, 1:47 pmv13mechanic

Shuttle to one rock, then wait

“We should make it so the frigate continues to go back and forth to the one asteroid that it starts. But once it fully depletes that asteroid, it just waits at the dock.”Kraig, 1:47 pm

Claude: A rock order shuttles: full, the frigate flies home, unloads, charges and goes back to that same rock. When the rock is mined out it comes home and waits, and it never picks a new rock by itself.

• A rock order shuttles to that one rock.
• Mined out, the frigate waits docked.

Oct 16, 1:56 pmv14mechanic

Belts between modules, and modules you give a job

“we're not going to do belts as hexes. That's a bad idea. Mergers and splitters eventually will probably be hexes, like modules. But belts need to be built between modules. And they have to all start neutral. So you have to pick the direction, and you have to pick what item it can transport. You can only have two belts per side of the hex. And for each module, it starts neutral, and you need to pick what it does.”Kraig, 1:56 pm

Claude: Belt hexes came out about fifteen minutes after they went in. There is one kind of module now, built neutral, and you give it a job: burner, smelter or constructor. Belts join touching buildings across a shared side. You set each belt's direction and the item it carries, and nothing moves on a belt until both are set.

• Belt hexes removed.
• One kind of module; you pick its job.
• Belts across a shared side, set by hand.
• Items move only on belts.

Oct 16, 2:04 pmv15mechanic

One belt per side, R to flip

“belts should start going one direction, but neutral. And you can, when you have it selected, you can just press R to rotate it between the two different options. And the game, for 8 out of 13... it shouldn't be bringing 10 iron to the dock. It should just be produce 10 iron... The smelter has like a small inventory... So the inventory is 10, I guess... And also, let's just do one belt per side, right?”Kraig, 2:04 pm

Claude: A new belt points from the building you had selected to the one you right-clicked, and R flips it. Each side takes one belt. The eighth goal is now to make 10 iron, kept in the smelter's own store of 10. Upgrades cost plates.

• Belts start pointing one way; R flips them.
• One belt per side.
• Make 10 iron instead of bringing it to the dock; modules keep 10 of what they make.

Oct 16, 2:07 pmv16mechanic

Belts carry what their ends imply

“belts coming from the smelter only have one option, and that's whatever the smelter is making. So like the game should be smart about like asking you what you want to do with the belt based on what it's connect to and what it can do... So there's no selecting, and that's just what it does, right?”Kraig, 2:07 pm

Claude: No item picking: out of a module, a belt carries what that module makes, and out of the dock it carries what the receiving module uses. When nothing fits, the belt panel says why.

• Belts set their item from their ends.
• When nothing fits, the panel explains.

Oct 16, 2:10 pmv17designart

Chapter 1, refreshed, with tube belts

“Let's just do like a refresh of the entire tutorial, chapter one, with the objectives adjusted to what we have now, because we're not bringing materials back to the dock... there's just one belt per side, and it should just be in the middle. Let's make them a little like tubes so that we can see the materials trading between them.”Kraig, 2:10 pm

Claude: Chapter 1, Wake the station, is 14 goals now. Fly out, mine and unload. Build a burner and belt ore to it, then power the station. Build a smelter and make 10 iron, then a constructor and 5 plates. Fit the bigger hold and battery, and bring home copper. Nothing has to go back to the dock: upgrades take plates from any module's store. Belts are tubes across the middle of each side, with the items visible moving inside.

• A 14-goal Chapter 1 for the game as it is now.
• Upgrades take from any module's store.
• Belts drawn as tubes with the items inside.

Oct 16, 2:14 pmv18soundart

Music and a design pass

“take this time to do a quick design overhaul improvement, as well as add the background music. You can like copy it from the previous games we've made pretty much.”Kraig, 2:14 pm

Claude: Jumpgate's generative score came over. A low drone, pads and cold glass notes; a long sortie lifts it, docking resolves it, and finishing a chapter plays a small triumph. M mutes it. The design pass added a DRIFTWORKS wordmark and a glowing dock. Modules are tinted by job (burner amber, smelter steel, constructor blue) with a meter of what they hold. The goal card got a progress bar, and the panels got calmer.

• Background music, from Jumpgate's score.
• A wordmark, a glowing dock and modules tinted by job.
• A clearer goal card, panels and toasts.

Oct 16, 2:16 pmv19mechanic

You always pick a belt's item

“I just attached the dock to my burner and it auto picked ore... What I meant is that when I connect a belt between two modules and there's only like one resource, that should be the only option that's available for me to click. I should always choose what resource or item goes through the belt.”Kraig, 2:16 pm

Claude: Every new belt carries nothing until you pick its item. The belt panel offers only what fits its ends, so there's often a single button, and you still click it. If nothing fits, it says why.

• New belts start empty.
• Only the items that fit are offered, even when that's one.

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Oct 16, 2:17 pmv20mechanic

Belt blueprints that build themselves

“if it places a module ghost blueprint, I should be able to put a ghost belt blueprint as well, and it'll just build it when it can.”Kraig, 2:17 pm

Claude: A new belt is always a blueprint first, a faint dashed outline, and it can go to or from a module that is itself still a blueprint. It builds itself once both ends are built and the dock can spare the ore. Jobs and belt items can be picked ahead of time, so a whole layout can be planned before it exists.

• Belt blueprints, built when they can be.
• Jobs and items can be set before anything is built.

Oct 16, 2:21 pmv21mechanicdesign

Modules start empty, and only real options show

“the constructor automatically just picked iron plates to make out of iron. I should have to pick that. It should just start a neutral empty... we just want to limit what the player sees and what they can choose based on like their actual options.”Kraig, 2:21 pm

Claude: After its job, a module needs a recipe you pick: what the burner burns, what the smelter makes, what the constructor builds. Nothing runs until then. A job or recipe is only offered once you've actually had its input, so the choices grow as you do.

• A recipe to pick after the job.
• Only options you can really use are shown.

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Oct 16, 2:21 pmv21mechanicart

Thrusters for the fine work

“The engines should light up for the like big movement of the flip and burn, but if it's moving a short distance or just like course correcting, it should have little thruster bursts that are just like light gray... so it can like dock easier... if it's flying into the dock, it should like thrust and turn or rotate so that it just like lands into the dock nicely.”Kraig, 2:21 pm

Claude: The main engine and the flip and burn are only for the long run now, and it brakes early enough to hand over smoothly. The last stretch, short hops and small corrections are on thrusters, light-grey puffs out the side opposite the push. On the way in the frigate turns to its arrival heading: side-on for the dock, nose to the rock for mining. No more overshooting and bouncing, and the trip to the first rock dropped from 46 seconds to about 30.

• Main engine for the long run, thrusters for the last 70 m and small moves.
• Light-grey thruster puffs.
• Turns to its arrival heading: side-on to dock, nose to the rock.

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Oct 16, 2:23 pmv22milestonemechanic

Chapter 2: copper and wire

“I completed the chapter one. It's fantastic... Let's add on copper smelting, copper bars, or just copper, and wires. So we'll have a smelting and a constructing line for copper as well.”Kraig, 2:23 pm

Claude: Kraig finished Chapter 1. Chapter 2, Copper, follows the 10 copper ore you brought home. Build a copper smelter fed by a belt from the dock and make 10 copper. Then build a wire constructor fed from the copper smelter and make 10 copper wire, at two wire per copper. Finishing a chapter plays the small triumph. The test player gets through both chapters in 20 to 24 minutes.

• A copper smelting line and a wire line beside the iron ones.
• A chapter-complete moment.
• Both chapters in about 20 to 24 minutes for the test player.

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Published as “Build 22”

Oct 16, 4:30 pmv23–v30playtestbalance

Fixes from the Chapter 1 playtest

“My dock ran out of power and my frigate ran out of power... I can't build the burner... a stalemate... We just should have more power... a lot of players would do this.”Kraig, 4:05 pm

“On auto mode, it shouldn't keep going if it knows it's going to fail.”Kraig, 4:20 pm

“The frigate battery should last just enough to go out to get the iron and back... a bigger battery for chapter 2... copper and back. That teaches you.”Kraig, 4:25 pm

Claude: Kraig's playtest found a trap: with both batteries flat at the dock, nothing could be built and nothing could fly. The station now starts with more charge, and the drone's work while docked costs nothing, so the trap can't close. The 'unload at the dock' goal now completes on the first unload. A frigate hauling on its own now waits at the dock until it has charge for the whole round trip, and a manual order warns when the battery looks short. The starting battery reaches the iron field but not copper, so the bigger battery is what opens the copper run. The Rocinante-style frigate drawing also got simpler and smoother.

• No power stalemate: more starting charge, free docked drone work.
• Auto hauling waits for enough charge; manual orders warn.
• The starting battery reaches iron only; the bigger battery opens copper.

Oct 16, 6:10 pmv31mechanicsound

Sound follows the camera, and no last-second spin

“The frigate should just dock at its destination, like in the same orientation that it's approaching... there's no up or down in space, so any direction is fine, even for the dock back at the station.”Kraig, 5:40 pm

“We shouldn't hear the frigate mining if we're zoomed in on the station. Like, where our camera is should dictate what we hear.”Kraig, 5:55 pm

Claude: Mining, pickups, docking and repairs now play at full volume while they're on screen and fade out over about one more screen beyond the edge, so the camera decides what you hear. The frigate keeps the heading it arrives on, at rocks and at the dock, and rests a little further out when it docks nose-first so the hull clears the core. A test checks it doesn't turn in the final stretch. This version also brought the first Chapter 3, with data cards and research.

• World sounds fade with distance from the camera.
• The frigate arrives and docks on its own heading, no final spin.
• A first Chapter 3 with data cards and a data center.

Oct 16, 7:40 pmv32milestonemechanic

Chapter 3: Compute

“For the data centers, it should make heat... a number that builds up in the data center... heat is just like different, it just needs to connect to the radiator.”Kraig, 6:20 pm

“I'd like to daisy chain the burners together. Like, should we be able to transfer ore through a burner to another burner? I think we should.”Kraig, 6:30 pm

“We feed those cards to the data center. But those cards are used by the data center to make compute, which then we can spend for research.”Kraig, 6:45 pm

“At the end of chapter 3, you build a lab after the data center. And it can be anywhere on the station... all it does is burn compute.”Kraig, 7:05 pm

Claude: Chapter 3 became a chapter about compute. A constructor makes data cards from plates and wire, and a data center turns them into compute, which it stores up to a limit. When it's full it stops taking cards, so the card line backs up like any other. Converting makes heat. A radiator touching the data center connects itself with a short heat pipe and keeps it cool; without one, compute slows to a crawl. The data center draws so much power that one burner can't keep up and everything slows evenly, so the fix is a second burner fed with ore through the first. The chapter ends when you build a lab, which spends compute on research from anywhere on the station. Compute is stored by tier, ready for harder cards later. New modules now cost plates and wire, and modules show just an icon and a status light when you zoom out. A quiet factory hum plays when you look at the station.

• Data cards, compute stored in each data center, heat and automatic radiator links.
• Burners pass ore to each other; power shortages slow everything evenly.
• The lab and the research card; Chapter 3 ends at the lab.
• Modules cost what you make; zoomed-out icons and status lights; a factory hum.

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Oct 17, 6:00 pmv34balancetest

Chapter 3: plates shared fairly, and builds you can't pay for yet are ordered

“If we have a splitter outputting the plates to different places, then each would get the equal amounts, right? It's just a splitting issue. We don't want one machine getting everything. We want it to be spread out between all the machines.”Kraig, 5:27 pm

Claude: Belts and splitters already shared evenly: a module with several belts out sends from the one that sent longest ago, and a splitter takes turns between its belts and skips one that can't take. The squeeze was the build costs. The data center, radiator, second burner and lab were paid all at once, the moment you picked them, from the dock and the modules' stores. The belt to the card constructor takes each plate a second after it's made, so the store never reached 10 plates and the job was refused again and again. Now a job or recipe you can't pay for yet is ordered instead of refused. The order collects its plates and wire one at a time and takes turns with the belts, so the card constructor and the build split the plates evenly. Paid in full, the job is set; pick something else or remove the module and what it collected goes back to the dock. The test player also changed: after the 10 data cards it takes the card constructor's feed belts off until the lab is built, and it stops going back for copper once copper is stocked. Over ten maps it finishes Chapters 1 to 3 in 29.9 to 34.9 minutes, down from 32.6 to 39.0. Without pulling the card belts it takes 33.1 to 38.6: fair sharing alone doesn't save time, because the card line still turns about 60 iron ore into 25 cards when 10 get read.

• Plates are shared fairly: a job or recipe you can't pay for yet is ordered, collects its items one at a time and takes turns with the belts. The module panel shows what it has so far.
• Cancelling an order or removing the module returns what it collected to the dock. Paste stays all or nothing; frigate upgrades still pay at once.
• Test player: after 10 data cards it pauses the card line until the lab is up, and makes no extra copper trips once copper is stocked.
• Open for Kraig: the card constructor keeps making cards nobody reads (25 for 10), so a player who leaves it running spends about 60 more iron ore in Chapter 3.

Oct 18, 1:27 pmv35milestonemechanicbalance

Chapter 4: decode the vanguard signal

“Our first set of research should just cause us to want to beef up the production and scale what we already have so that it operates quicker.”Kraig, 9:00 pm

“Maybe you need to add a third burner or maybe even a fourth just to keep up with the power demand because we're scaling things up so that we can get research going as a trickle.”Kraig, 9:00 pm

“We're past the tutorial now, and the player has a lot of options to solve the problems and needs to figure out themselves. So objectives should now be advancing the story.”Kraig, 9:00 pm

Claude: Building the lab now finishes Chapter 3 with its toast and music, and Chapter 4 opens with one goal: decode a faint telemetry burst from the vanguard jump gate. Decoding is research at the lab, 400 compute, and it's heavy work: a lab decoding draws 10 power a second, so two burners can't carry it and the whole station slows. The fix is a third and a fourth burner chained through belts. Four burners eat ore faster than the frigate's 50-ore hold brings it, so the dock now offers a cargo refit: a 100-ore hold, bigger pieces off the rock and a faster drone. The dock holds 150 of each ore, and a new research, Station storage, adds a module that holds 100 of one item, fed and drawn by belts, which builds and upgrades can spend. Frigate upgrades can now be ordered like jobs and collect their plates as they're made. A ring of bigger iron rocks lies further out for when the near ones run dry. Past the tutorial, the goal card no longer says what to do step by step: only what's in the way. The test player finishes Chapter 4 in 15 to 19 minutes.

• Chapter 4 · Signal: one story goal, decode the vanguard signal (400 compute at a lab; a lab decoding draws 10 power a second).
• Station storage research: a Storage module holds up to 100 of one item; belts fill and draw it; builds, upgrades and blueprints can spend it.
• The cargo refit at the dock: 100-ore hold, 5-ore pieces, a faster drone. Frigate upgrades can be ordered.
• The dock holds 150 of each ore; an outer ring of bigger iron rocks, 750 to 1,100 m out.
• Fixed: the 'Build a constructor' goal card no longer shows an empty research bar.
• Open for Kraig: Chapter 5 (solar, silicon wafers and silicon mining) is designed and kept as notes.

Oct 18, 1:38 pmv35milestone

A new name: Starhex

“i want to rebrand the game. ideally one unique word. like "Stellarus" but having to do with the story or mechanics of the game.”Kraig, 1:35 pm

“starhex”Kraig, 1:38 pm

Claude: Kraig asked for one made-up word tied to the story or the mechanics. Claude offered six: Cogitara, Ferrovox and Signara, then Oremind, Hexwake and Expergia (a seventh, Hexara, was already a puzzle game on Steam). Kraig picked his own instead, Starhex: a station out among the stars, built on a hex grid. A web search found no game by that name. Only the title changed: saves, settings and playtest recordings carry over, and the play link stays the same.

• The name: Starhex (was Driftworks).
• The same play link, save and playtest recordings.

Oct 18, 1:43 pmv36visual

Support beams

“i think all adjacent modules should have two thin support beams holding them together. belts appear between them in the middle once built”Kraig, 1:41 pm

Claude: Drawn as two thin steel struts across each gap between touching buildings, near the ends of the shared side, with the belts running down the middle.

• Every built module and the dock it touches are joined by two thin support beams.
• Belts and heat links run between the beams, in the middle.
• A blueprint gets its beams once it's built.

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Oct 18, 1:50 pmv37mechanic

A sensor, and the frigate's reach

“i don't think we should see the copper astroids in chapter 1. maybe the start of chapter two is building a sensor which then allows us to see far enough to reveal the astroids in a radius”Kraig, 1:44 pm

“selecting the frigate should show a slight diameter of its current possible roundtrip”Kraig, 1:45 pm

Claude: Rocks now show only once they've come within sight. Chapter 2 opens with a new goal, Build a sensor, and its first sweep rushes out and reveals the copper field. With the frigate selected, a faint outline shows how far it can go and still get home.

• Copper is hidden in chapter 1.
• Chapter 2 starts with Build a sensor: a module that sweeps out to 3.6 km and reveals every rock in range.
• Selecting the frigate shows its reach: a whole mining trip when docked, the way home when out.

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Oct 18, 1:56 pmv38controls

Q makes a ghost

“pressing q over a module or any item should create a ghost that you can build”Kraig, 1:52 pm

Claude: Q over a module picks up its job and recipe as a ghost under the cursor; each click lays a blueprint that takes that setup once the drone has built it.

• Q over a module: a ghost with its job and recipe follows the cursor.
• Each click lays a copy; Esc, a right-click or Q again puts it away.

Oct 18, 1:58 pmv39balance

Just enough battery

“the battery of the frigate for chapter 3 should be just enough for one roundtrip to copper astroid and back”Kraig, 1:53 pm

Claude: Sized from the trip estimate the game already uses for auto mode: one full charge is one copper trip.

• The frigate's battery is sized for exactly one copper round trip.

Oct 18, 2:05 pmv40interface

A steady top bar

“we need to fix the top bar info read out. give an overall improvement for it with hover over details. keep the main bar as minimal as possible yet gives all required info. shouldn't bounce around as numbers change”Kraig, 1:58 pm

Claude: One chip per thing, always in the same order, each number in a fixed-width slot, so nothing shifts as values change. Hover (or tap) for a live detail card.

• Station power with a trend arrow, then each item, then the frigate's battery and hold.
• A chip stays once it has appeared, even at 0.
• Hover or tap a chip for its details.

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Oct 18, 2:08 pmv41mechanic

Docking over the middle

“i want the frigate to dock over the middle of the dock module leaving all 6 sides free for building”Kraig, 2:00 pm

Claude: The frigate now docks on the dock's centre, with small cradle brackets lit while it's in, and the side below the dock takes a module like the others.

• The frigate docks over the dock's middle.
• All six sides of the dock are free to build on.

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Oct 18, 2:10 pmv42interface

Drop inventory

“every module should have a "drop inventory" button. change the button for ship”Kraig, 2:02 pm

Claude: Two taps, like the frigate's: what a module holds goes out into space and is lost.

• Every module and the dock have Drop inventory.
• The frigate's Drop cargo is now Drop inventory too.

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Oct 18, 2:14 pmv43mechanic

A job is for good

“i think once a module is built, it shouldn't be able to change so we can get rid of these options”Kraig, 2:04 pm

Claude: Once a module has a job the job list is gone; to make it something else you remove it and place a new one. Extra smelters and constructors now cost a few plates, like extra burners.

• A module's job is fixed once picked.
• The second and later smelters and constructors cost 3 plates.

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Oct 18, 2:30 pmv44mechanic

Ship upgrades are research

“i think all ship upgrades should be research. so we'll have to make the trip to copper possible with base ship. also reveal the copper with the sensor instead of the trip distance”Kraig, 2:07 pm

“auto mine toggle for the ship should be a reserach after the bigger battery and cargo. should mine the next closest and possible astroid with priority to what we have least in dock cargo”Kraig, 2:10 pm

Claude: Chapter 2 lost its two upgrade goals; the starting frigate can reach the copper on one charge. Bigger hold, Bigger battery, Cargo refit and a new Auto mining switch all come from research now, fitted the moment they're done.

• Ship upgrades are research.
• The base frigate reaches copper on a full charge.
• Only the sensor reveals copper.
• Auto mining: the frigate keeps fetching the ore the station holds least of, nearest rock first.

Oct 18, 2:55 pmv45mechanic

Research eats data cards

“i'm wondering if we should just have the datacenter consume the data cards to do tech. data cards can go into cargo to increase storage”Kraig, 2:14 pm

“Yes: data centers eat data cards for research, the lab and compute go away, cards are stored in the dock and storage, chapter 3 ends with the first research done.”Kraig, 2:15 pm

Claude: One building and one resource fewer: you pick research at a data center and it reads cards straight into it, one at a time. Cards wait in the dock and storage until it wants them, so a stack of cards is research waiting to happen.

• Data centers read data cards into the research you pick.
• The lab and compute are gone.
• Chapter 3 ends with your first research.

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Oct 18, 3:10 pmv46interface

Polish from ten questions

“wait for me to pick, with a toast saying to pick the next research.”Kraig, 2:25 pm

“yes, add a research chip to the top bar.”Kraig, 2:26 pm

“removing a module refunds half.”Kraig, 2:26 pm

“shorten goal cards from chapter 2 on: title plus one line, full text on hover.”Kraig, 2:31 pm

“drag from one module to its neighbour to lay a belt, item picked automatically when there's only one choice.”Kraig, 2:42 pm

Claude: Claude asked ten questions one at a time; these are the answers that changed something. Kraig also handed the numbers over: "I wish there was some way that you could just analyze how I play so that you can make those adjustments yourself."

• Research waits for your pick, with a nudge when one finishes.
• A research chip in the top bar.
• Removing a module gives back half its cost.
• Shorter goal cards from chapter 2, the rest on hover.
• Drag from one building to its neighbour to lay a belt.

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Oct 18, 3:40 pmv47balance

Mining keeps up

“the time it took to go out and mine ore and bring it back was longer than the time it took to process it, construct items and do research. these should almost all balance out closer but they also wait on each other just a little bit”Kraig, 2:41 pm

Claude: The game now measures how long the station's machines sit waiting for ore and how long the frigate sits idle, in every playtest and in the test player. The frigate was never idle while the smelters waited two thirds of the time, so mining got faster and the hold bigger. A round of small sounds and rings marks builds, research, goals and chapters.

• Pacing is measured in every playtest.
• Faster mining and a 42-ore hold: the smelters wait far less.
• New sounds and rings for builds, research done, goals and chapters.

Oct 18, 4:30 pmv48mechanic

The chaingun and the pull field

“i want to switch the mining from laser to chaingun on frigate. within a diameter of the frigate, items fall into it slowly like gravity well. it collects this way. the start of the game has grabable chunkes of ore on the float. making amno from iron is an objective after burning power and smelting and constructor”Kraig, 2:17 pm

“because once we unlock amno mining, then we can crack open the large astroids floating around to get much more ore amno refills into the ship like power”Kraig, 2:19 pm

“This is all great”Kraig, 4:40 pm

Claude: The laser and the fetching drone are gone. The game opens with loose ore chunks drifting near the station, and a pull field draws anything within 60 m into the frigate. Big rocks need the chaingun: each burst uses a round and knocks off a chunk. Ammo is made from iron at a constructor and loads into the frigate while it's docked, like charging. The drone stays home as the station's builder.

• Loose ore chunks to gather from the start; the pull field collects them.
• The chaingun cracks big rocks, a round a burst; no battery to fire.
• Ammo from iron at a constructor, reloaded while docked.
• Chapter 1 ends with Make 20 ammo and Crack a big rock; plates open chapter 2.

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(open full size)

Oct 18, 5:00 pmv49mechanic

Chapter 5: Sunlight

“i think we should do dust storms to introduce a day night type cycle that is irregular. solar panels have to balance storage with batteries”Kraig, 4:05 pm

“we need a reason to switch from burners to solar. getting to use the ore for construction makes sense but is that enough”Kraig, 4:08 pm

“we'll have normal amno break the silicon astroid for now but eventually we'll make up a reason for an upgraded version for the harder astroid”Kraig, 4:12 pm

Claude: Designed one question at a time. By chapter 5 the near iron is nearly mined out, so every ore a burner eats is a long trip. Solar power reveals a silicon field four kilometres out; a long-range battery gets the frigate there and back. Silicon smelts into wafers on heavy power, wafers build solar panels, and the chapter ends when the station runs on sunlight alone, just as the first dust storm rolls in. Batteries are chapter 6.

• Research Solar power: a long-range scan reveals the silicon field.
• Research Long-range battery for the trip out.
• Silicon ore smelts into wafers, on heavy power.
• Solar panels: free power, no fuel.
• Run on solar alone, then the first dust storm.

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Oct 18, 7:10 pmv50–v57playtest

Fixes from a full playtest

“amno isn't loading into the frigate”Kraig, 5:40 pm

“should the build drone just stay at the station?”Kraig, 5:46 pm

“the frigate should be able to shoot at astroids as it's moving as long as it's inside it's range”Kraig, 5:50 pm

“amno capacity should be just enough to do an ore run”Kraig, 5:55 pm

“let's get rid of this in the top bar. it's better in the bottom right. we should be able to see reserach we've finished. the list should always have the top one in the list be the cheapest”Kraig, 6:00 pm

“let's get rid of the click drag selection box. instead it should allow you to pan the camera and map”Kraig, 6:05 pm

Claude: Kraig played the new chaingun build from a fresh start and sent notes as he went; each was fixed and live within minutes. Afterwards the recording showed where time went: the ammo goal ran long and, late in chapter 4, cards weren't reaching the data center, so the game now says what's in the way.

• The frigate reloads ammo from anywhere on the station, constructors included.
• The build drone lives at the station and builds while the frigate is out.
• The chaingun fires at its target rock while flying in.
• A dark station still charges a docked frigate enough to restart.
• The ammo store holds one ore run; the ammo goal is 10 rounds.
• A job with one recipe picks it; belts with one fitting item set themselves.
• Research lives on the bottom-right card, cheapest first, with what's done listed.
• Dragging empty space pans the view.
• A warning when research is picked but no cards reach the data center.

Oct 18, 7:40 pmv58mechanic

Chapter 6: Storm season

“1 (Storms grow: each one is longer and darker than the last, so you keep expanding your batteries and panels to stay lit)”Kraig, 6:52 pm

“1 (batteries cost wire and wafers, keeping both far trips busy and leaving iron for building)”Kraig, 7:03 pm

“1 (anywhere: a battery module joins the station's power like the station battery, no belts, no placement rules)”Kraig, 7:10 pm

“Yes”Kraig, 7:11 pm

Claude: Designed one question at a time, a chapter after the first dust storm browned the station out. Station batteries is offered only once that storm has hit. A battery is a module anywhere on the station, paid in wire and wafers; it joins the station's power as one store. Fill a reserve, then ride out the storms, each longer and darker than the last, until the great storm: five minutes with the panels fully dark. Burners still help as a backup.

• Research Station batteries, offered after the first dust storm.
• Battery modules: wire and wafers, no belts, 500 more power stored each.
• Store a 1400 power reserve.
• Storms grow through the chapter: 110 s, then 140, 170 and 200, darker each time.
• Ride out a storm, then the great storm, with the lights never dropping.

Oct 18, 8:15 pmv59visual

The visual pass: colours that follow the chains

“Let's do a design and color and make the game look better now. Small animations like the thrusters being more realistic, belts, better visuals for modules so you can tell what it is. Colors need to match the production chains more”Kraig, 7:45 pm

Claude: A polish pass on the same thin-line look. Each production chain now keeps one colour family, getting lighter as it goes up. Iron runs from rust ore to blue-grey iron to bright steel plates; copper from green ore to copper orange to amber wire; silicon from deep teal ore to bright cyan wafers. Cards stay violet, ammo dull brass, power gold. Every module takes the colour of what it makes and has its own glyph: a flame, a crucible, a press, server racks, fins, crates, arrows. Working modules move, belts carry beads in their item's colour past sliding chevrons, and the frigate's drive burns a flickering plume. No game rules changed.

• Item colours by chain: iron rust, steel, bright steel; copper green, orange, amber; silicon teal, cyan; cards violet; ammo brass; power gold.
• Modules tinted by what they make: an iron smelter steel, a copper smelter copper, a wire constructor amber, a card constructor violet, a wafer smelter cyan.
• A glyph per job: burner flame, smelter crucible, constructor press, data center racks with blinking LEDs, radiator fins, storage crates, merger and splitter arrows.
• Working modules come alive: the flame flickers, the melt glows, the press strokes with each recipe, panels shimmer, batteries fill.
• Belts in their item's colour, with beads travelling and chevrons sliding the way they flow.
• The frigate's engine: a glow and a plume that flickers and lengthens with thrust; RCS puffs when it turns or corrects; the dock's clamps light softly.

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Oct 18, 9:30 pmv60interface

The interface pass: a title screen, a menu, one icon set

“Looks great. What about a menu and icon and text buttons upgrade”Kraig, 8:40 pm

Claude: A pass on everything around the game. It now opens on a title screen: the STARHEX wordmark over the station drifting slowly behind, with Continue (your chapter and time played), New game, Settings and How to play. Esc, or the new Menu button, pauses into a menu with Resume, Settings, Controls, a note for Claude and New game, which asks first in the page. Settings keep the music and sound volumes, a mute and the starting speed. Every item, job and action has one line icon, drawn like the module glyphs, and every button has its icon, its label and its key. No game rules changed.

• Title screen over the live game view, the sim held: Continue, New game, Settings, How to play.
• Pause menu on Esc or the Menu button (it replaces the old New game button): Resume, Settings, Controls, Note for Claude, New game with an in-page confirm.
• Settings: music and sound volume, mute all, starting speed x1 or x4, remembered on this device.
• How to play: three lines on the basics and every mouse and key control on one card.
• One line-icon set for items, jobs (flame, crucible, press, racks, fins, dish, cells, battery, crates, arrows) and actions.
• Panels: a header with the module's icon in its chain colour, small-caps section labels, an even type scale.
• Buttons in four kinds: primary, outline, ghost and danger (the two-tap arm turns it solid red), with key hints, hover, pressed, disabled and can't-afford states.
• Home, pause and speed buttons beside the zoom, for phones as much as anyone.

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(open full size)

Oct 18, 10:45 pmv61combattest

A combat test: one hostile drone off to the side

“Let's put a small enemy in the game off to the side so we can test combat”Kraig, 10:00 pm

Claude: A small test of fighting, kept apart from the chapters. Every game now has one hostile drone about 1.5 km out, on the side away from the copper and silicon, marked in red from the start. Fly within 400 m and it fires slow red bolts that take the frigate's new hull (100, shown in the top bar). Select the frigate and right-click the drone to attack: the chaingun fires on it within 300 m, one round a burst, and eight bursts break it into iron scrap the pull field brings in. Docked, the hull mends for free; at 0 the frigate drifts home on life support like a flat battery, with no game over. Nothing in the chapters depends on it.

• One hostile drone a game, 1.5 km out away from the copper and silicon, clear of every rock; a red Hostile edge marker shows where it is.
• Within 400 m it fires a slow red bolt every 3.5 s, aimed where the frigate is: a stopped frigate gets hit, one passing fast can be missed.
• The frigate has a hull of 100: a shield chip in the top bar with a detail card, a row in its panel, a bar under the ship when damaged.
• Right-click the drone to attack: the frigate closes to 220 m, turns its nose to it and the chaingun fires within 300 m (1 round, 8 of its 60 hp a burst). A drone in reach is fired on by itself when the frigate isn't mining; with no ammo it can't fight.
• Destroyed: a flash and sparks, a crunch, a toast and 25 iron ore of scrap in five chunks for the pull field. A new game brings it back.
• Docked, the hull mends 2 a second for free. At 0 the frigate is disabled and drifts home on life support.
• New sounds: the drone's low zap, a thud on a hit, a crunch for the kill.
• Old saves get the drone and a full hull. The test player stays clear of it and plays chapters 1 to 6 exactly as before.

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Oct 18, 10:47 pmv62playtestbalance

Ammo keeps coming when the frigate takes part of it

“why is this amno not filling up”Kraig, 10:45 pm

Claude: The constructor makes ammo ten rounds at a time and kept at most ten. With no belt out, the frigate loaded five from it and left, and the five left over meant the next ten-round job had no room, so the constructor sat idle with the smelter's iron piling up beside it. A module that makes several at a time now holds two jobs' worth (an ammo constructor 20 rounds), so it always tops itself back up.

• An ammo constructor keeps up to 20 rounds (two jobs), not 10, so a partial load by the frigate never stalls it.
• Modules that make one item at a time keep 10, as before (25 with Bigger module stores).
• A test for the case Kraig hit: a constructor left holding 5 rounds goes on making them.

Oct 18, 10:50 pmv63playtest

No more crumbs of ammo blocking a constructor

“like right now, why isn't the amno filling the constructor to max 10? there is plenty of iron waiting to be input”Kraig, 10:48 pm

Claude: His constructor showed "Out: 0/10" and "Full" at the same time. The frigate loads ammo a sliver at a time, and taking slivers out of a store of 10 can leave a crumb like a trillionth of a round. The panel rounds it to 0, but the check for room saw 10 plus a crumb, over 10, and never started the next job. A store emptied this way now snaps to exactly 0, the room check allows for rounding, and a new test fails if any module is ever left holding a crumb.

• Taking from any store (the dock, a storage, a module's output) snaps a crumb under a billionth to 0.
• A module's room check for its next job allows for rounding.
• A test that a constructor holding a crumb of a round starts its next job, and a check in every test that no module is left holding a crumb.

Oct 18, 10:54 pmv64playtestmilestone

Anyone can playtest now, and every playthrough comes back to me

“you can do the stranger recording now. getting feedback from other people playing seems important”Kraig, 10:52 pm

Claude: Until now only Kraig's playthroughs were recorded, inside Claude. The public play page now records too: the same summary of each session (the goals reached and when, the quiet stretches, how the factory was paced, errors, screen size) goes to a small database in Kraig's own Cloudflare account, with no names, emails or IP addresses. Press C any time to send feedback, and finishing chapter 3, the end of the test, asks once what confused you and where you felt like stopping. The title screen says it's a test build that records, and #norec on the address turns it off. I read every recording with the same pacing report I use on Kraig's, so the first strangers' playtests (Gate 1 on the road to Steam) can start.

• The play page's recorder posts each session's summary, event log and notes to kraigadams.com, kept in a separate D1 database (starhex-playtests).
• Guards on it: the document's shape, a size cap, same-origin only, 30 posts a minute per visitor and 4,000 rows a day in all, and an off switch.
• On the play page, Note becomes Feedback, the title screen explains the recording, and finishing chapter 3 asks for feedback once.
• The site's privacy page says what the game records.
• A script pulls the public playtests into the same files as Kraig's, for the pacing report.

Oct 18, 10:58 pmv65interfaceplaytest

A Build button you can always find

“i think the sensor objective was missing the module build button. also where is the module build option in general?”Kraig, 10:56 pm

Claude: Placing a new module was only offered in the dock's panel and on some goal cards, from a list written before the sensor goal existed, so "Build a sensor" had no button. The toolbar at the bottom left now has a Build button (Q) that's always there: click it, then click a cell touching the station. It lights up while you're placing. The sensor and burner goals show the button on their cards too.

• A Build button (Q) in the bottom toolbar, lit while placing; click it again to stop.
• The sensor and burner goal cards offer Place module.

Oct 18, 11:02 pmv66soundinterface

Each chapter opens with its own music and its name

“can we add little chapter text motifs for those transitions”Kraig, 10:59 pm

“i don't want actual cards that stop the game. more so music motifs and the chapter names to fade in and out cineamtically”Kraig, 11:00 pm

Claude: When a chapter begins, its number and name fade in over the map, a thin line drawing out between them, and fade away about five seconds later. Nothing stops and clicks go straight through. Under it the score plays that chapter's own short phrase in the game's key: chapter 1 wakes on a bare fifth, 2 warms into C, 3 ticks like data, 4 calls three times and waits, 5 opens on the one bright chord, and 6 falls through the dust. Then the usual music carries on. A new game opens the same way, on chapter 1.

• A chapter's number and name fade in and out over the map as it begins (and at a new game); never blocking, and shown without motion when the system asks for reduced motion.
• A music phrase per chapter (music.js chapter()), in place of the one triumph stinger; finishing the last chapter still plays the triumph.

Oct 18, 11:06 pmv67interfaceplaytest

The frigate's range shows where it can fly now

“the distance possible to travel should work better. it was correct to have the circle further past the copper but when i got to the copper the circle was tiny. it should reflect current state and not the end of the return trip”Kraig, 11:03 pm

“we'll be able to see if it can get home because the dock will be inside the circle?”Kraig, 11:04 pm

Claude: Out in space, the outline round a selected frigate used to show how far it could go and still get home, which shrinks to almost nothing right when you reach a far rock. Now it shows how far it can fly from where it is on the battery it has. If the dock is inside the outline it can make it home, and the label says so too: "Range on 45 battery · 3.6 km · enough to get home", amber when it isn't. Docked, it still shows the full mining round trip.

• Out, the selected frigate's outline is its range from here on its current battery; the label says whether that gets it home (amber when not).
• The battery chip's tip says the same.

Oct 18, 11:10 pmv68interfaceplaytest

It's the ship now, and its hold shows its cargo in colour

“the color of the item should be reflected in the inventory bar of the ship. change name from frigate to ship”Kraig, 11:08 pm

Claude: The hold's chip in the top bar has a bar now, split by what's aboard, each part in its item's own colour: rust iron ore, green copper ore, teal silicon. Its tip lists them with their icons. And everywhere the game talks to the player it says ship, not frigate: the top bar, its panel, goals, tips and messages. Saves and the code keep their old names, so nothing breaks.

• The ship's hold chip: a bar in segments, one per item in its colour; its tip shows each item's icon.
• Frigate becomes ship in every word the player reads; the code and saves keep the old name.

Oct 18, 11:13 pmv69interfaceplaytest

The station's top bar keeps just the ores

“maybe we just keep base ores on top bar and one spot for inventory that shows all items if hover”Kraig, 11:11 pm

Claude: The station's half of the top bar had a chip for every item the station had ever seen, so it kept growing. Now it keeps power and the base ores (iron, copper and silicon ore, each once found), and one Items chip: a small dot per made item in its colour, dimmed when there's none. Hover it for the whole list: each item's icon, name, how many there are and the dock's limit, and where they are when some sit in modules. It goes amber when anything fills the dock.

• The station bar: power and the base ores only, plus one Items chip.
• The Items chip: a coloured dot per made item; its tip lists every item with counts and limits.

Oct 18, 11:15 pmv70interfaceplaytest

The STARHEX wordmark is the menu

“menu button should be the starhex text”Kraig, 11:13 pm

Claude: The separate Menu button is gone: click the STARHEX wordmark at the top left to open the menu (Esc still works). It shows a faint outline on hover so it reads as a button.

• The wordmark opens the menu; the Menu button is removed.

Oct 18, 11:17 pmv71interfacevisual

The screen dims under a chapter's title

“whole screen should darken a little more when white chapter title cards appear”Kraig, 11:15 pm

Claude: While a chapter's name is up, the whole screen (the map, the top bar and the goal card) dims a little, a touch less round the title, on the same five-second fade in and out. The game keeps running and clicks still go through.

• A full-screen dim under the chapter title, fading with it; never blocks a click.

Oct 18, 11:20 pmv72interfacebalanceplaytest

Research cards on hover, and mergers and splitters apart

“hovering over research items should give description and info card”Kraig, 11:17 pm

“make merger and splitters two researches and each 20”Kraig, 11:18 pm

Claude: Hovering a research in the list now opens an info card beside it: what it does, what it costs in data cards and how far along it is, what it needs first and what it opens next, a note when it's a story research or a ship upgrade, and a warning when no data center is reading cards. And Mergers and splitters is two researches now, Mergers and Splitters, 20 data cards each. A save that already had the old research keeps both.

• A research's info card on hover, in the research card and the panel.
• Mergers (20 cards) and Splitters (20 cards) are separate researches; old saves with the combined one keep both.

Oct 18, 11:24 pmv73controlsplaytest

Drag to select again, and Auto mining on its own

“let's reverse the decision for click map pan and go back to drag select. makes it easier to select the ship. also if i drag click select over the base it should only select the ship if it's in there”Kraig, 11:21 pm

“auto mining should be it's own research”Kraig, 11:22 pm

Claude: A left-drag across empty space draws a selection box again. If the ship is inside it, the box selects just the ship, even when the box also covers the station, so grabbing the docked ship is one sweep. Without the ship it selects the modules inside. The map pans with a right-drag or a middle-drag (a right-click that doesn't move still sends the ship), with WASD or the arrows, and with one finger on a phone. And Auto mining no longer waits for Bigger battery and Cargo refit: it's a research of its own, on the list from the start.

• Left-drag from empty space is a selection box; with the ship inside, only the ship.
• Right-drag or middle-drag pans; a right-click without a drag still sends the ship.
• Auto mining has no prerequisites.

Oct 18, 11:27 pmv74interfaceplaytest

Shorter research messages that stay longer

“the research done info in green should stay on screen longer and be shorter sentence”Kraig, 11:25 pm

Claude: Finishing a research now says just "Researched: Mergers" and stays up for 9 seconds, not 4. The "Pick the next research" reminder after it is shorter too, and stays 7 seconds. What each research does is on its info card when you hover it.

• The research-done message: its name only, 9 s on screen.
• The pick-next reminder: shorter, 7 s.

Oct 18, 11:36 pmv75interfacedesign

Research moves a tenth of a card at a time

“should be make data cards have a percentage of use and research needs a number of data instead of actual cards? similar to reserach packs in factorio. give me pros and cons and what you'd do”Kraig, 11:30 pm

“2”Kraig, 11:33 pm

Claude: We kept research priced in data cards, the way Factorio prices it in packs, and showed the partial reading instead. Research progress now reads to a tenth of a card (Mergers 7.4/20) on the research card, its list, the hover card and the goal card, so it moves every second rather than jumping a card at a time. Each data center shows how far through its current card it is: a thin violet line over its meter on the map, and "this card 60% read" in its panel. A data unit, with cards worth different amounts, waits for tier-2 cards in Act 2.

• Research progress to a tenth of a card everywhere it's shown.
• A data center's current card: a violet line on the map and a percentage in its panel.

Oct 18, 11:39 pmv76interfaceplaytest

No zoom buttons

“get rid of these buttons”Kraig, 11:38 pm

Claude: The zoom buttons at the bottom right are gone. Zoom with the mouse wheel or a trackpad pinch, the + and − keys, or a pinch on a phone.

• The zoom in and out buttons are removed.

Oct 18, 11:43 pmv77interfaceplaytest

The Items list shows totals only

“this looks messy. i don't think we need to have both dock and modules. just total”Kraig, 11:41 pm

Claude: Hovering the Items chip now lists each item's icon, name and total on the station, one tidy line each, with "dock full" only when the dock can't take more. Where the items sit, dock or modules, is gone.

• The Items tip: icon, name and total per item; "dock full" when it applies.

Oct 18, 11:48 pmv78balanceplaytest

Mergers and Splitters wait for chapter 5

“we should push mergers and splitters to the next chapter”Kraig, 11:46 pm

Claude: Mergers and Splitters now join the research list when chapter 5 (Sunlight) begins, the way the story researches wait for their goal, so the early chapters' list is shorter: the ship upgrades, Auto mining, Station storage and Bigger module stores. A save already researching Mergers carries on with it.

• Mergers and Splitters are offered from chapter 5.

Oct 18, 11:58 pmv79interfaceartplaytest

Modules show what they make

“i think we need to have modules show icons of what they're making instead of the module type. each module should have some indication around the "what it makes" icon that shows the mod type. plan this with me before taking action”Kraig, 11:50 pm

Claude: We planned it first, and Kraig picked a corner badge for the type. Now the middle of a smelter or constructor is the icon of what it makes, in that item's colour: iron, copper, a plate, wire, a data card, a wafer. A burner shows the fuel it burns and a storage the item it holds. The job's own drawing, the crucible or the press or the crates, shrinks into a small badge at the top left. A thin arc round the icon fills as each one is made, and the icon breathes while it works. Far out the badges drop away and the icons carry the map. The sensor, radiator, panels, batteries, data centers, mergers and splitters keep their own drawing in the middle.

• Smelters and constructors show their output's icon; burners their fuel, storages their item.
• The type's drawing is a corner badge, hidden far out.
• A progress arc round the icon while it works.

(open full size)

Oct 19, 12:10 amv80soundtest

A first test of the ship AI's voice

“could you make the VO just for the first 2-3 lines so i can hear it in the game as a test? female. like cortana from halo as inspiration”Kraig, 12:00 am

Claude: The AI now speaks the first three goals' lines as they appear: waking up to the loose iron, the full hold and the old dock, and the first module. The music dips under her and the words stay on the goal card. They're recorded ahead with Artlist's voiceover (Eleven v3, American accent), in two voices to compare, Insight and Hope; pick one, or turn her off, under Settings > AI voice. A third voice kept cutting a line short and was dropped.

• Pre-recorded lines for the first three goals, played as each goal appears (src/voice.js, vo/test/).
• Settings: AI voice, Insight, Hope or off; picking one plays a sample.
• The music dips while she speaks.

Oct 19, 12:20 amv81interfaceplaytest

The ship's own cargo bar shows what's aboard

“the inventory bar on the actual ship should match the inventory on the top bar with different colors based on what's in there. this is showing iron color but there's only cu in this ship right now”Kraig, 12:16 am

Claude: The little cargo bar drawn on the ship itself was always iron-coloured. Now it's in segments like the top bar's: green copper ore, rust iron ore, teal silicon, each as long as its share of the hold.

• The ship's on-map hold bar: one segment per item in its colour, in the top bar's order.

Oct 19, 12:25 amv82interfaceplaytest

A cleaner research card

“"researched" list should only be visible when selecting new research. make the base UI cleaner by moving that behind button”Kraig, 12:23 am

Claude: The research card now shows only what's being researched, its progress and the button. The list of what's already researched appears when you open Change research (or Pick research), and when there's nothing left to pick.

• The researched list shows only while picking research, or when nothing's left.

Oct 19, 12:35 amv83mechanicplaytest

Auto mining doesn't get stuck on leftover cargo

“the ship is waiting at dock because cu is still in hold but station is at max to hold cu but we need fe. the ship is on auto mine and should know to leave and go get fe even with cu in hold”Kraig, 12:28 am

Claude: Auto mining used to wait at the dock until the hold was empty, so copper the full dock couldn't take kept it there forever while the station ran out of iron. Now, when the dock is full of what's aboard and at least a quarter of the hold is free, it leaves with the leftovers and fetches the ore the station needs; it also never picks an ore the dock is already full of. The leftovers unload once there's room.

• Auto mining leaves with cargo the full dock can't take, when a quarter of the hold is free, for the ore the station needs.
• It never picks an ore the dock is full of while the hold has cargo.
• A test for the case.

Oct 19, 12:45 amv84interfaceplaytest

An alert when the ship is stuck at a full dock

“an alert should show if the ship is full of one item and can't send it to max capacity station and other item is needed. like if the ship was full of cu and the station needs fe. an alert to drop cargo or something”Kraig, 12:38 am

Claude: When the ship sits docked holding something the dock is already full of, with too little room left to go mining (or Auto mining off), and the station is short of another ore, an amber alert appears at the top: "Ship stuck at the dock: the dock is full of copper ore, and the station needs iron ore." Its button drops just the stuck cargo, keeping anything else aboard. It goes away by itself once the ship can move again.

• A stuck-cargo alert with a warning sound, naming what's stuck and what's needed.
• Its Drop button drops only the stuck items (Drop cargo can now drop chosen items).
• A test for it.

Oct 19, 12:55 amv85mechanicmilestone

Drifting rocks, short sight and the sensor's ping

“i like the idea of slightly drifting astroids that can be mined while they're moving. the ship matches with it. maybe you can select the sensor and use high power to send out a ping in a radius that reveals everything for 20 seconds or some duration. besides that the station has a short visibility and the ship has a visibility as well. player could go out to scout with ship to find things but ping makes that much better. you can set sensor to auto which pings every minute or something”Kraig, 11:50 pm

Claude: Every rock now drifts slowly on its own small loop, and the ship matches a rock's motion while it mines it, for almost no battery. You only see live within 1.2 km of the station and 600 m of the ship; a rock you've seen that drifts out of sight stays on the map faded and dashed where you last saw it, "seen 4 min ago", until a visit or a ping updates it. Select the sensor and press Ping (or P): for 120 of the station's power it lights up everything within 3.6 km for 20 seconds, with a ring sweeping out. Its Auto switch pings every minute when the station can spare the power. Chapter 2 is now "Build a sensor and ping", and the ping finds the copper: one field, drifting together 1.5 to 2 km out. Auto mining and every trip estimate go by what you know, the last-seen marks, not where things secretly are.

• Rocks drift slowly on bounded loops; the copper and silicon fields move as one.
• The ship holds station on a drifting rock while it mines.
• Sight: 1.2 km round the station, 600 m round the ship; faded last-seen marks for the rest.
• Sensor Ping (120 power, 3.6 km, 20 s) and Auto ping every 60 s with a 25% reserve.
• Chapter 2: build a sensor and ping; the copper is one field.
• Saves load with nothing jumping.

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Oct 19, 1:00 amv86interfaceplaytest

Auto mining shows what it's going for next

“auto mine should show an icon of what it's going to get next in the panel”Kraig, 12:58 am

Claude: In the ship's panel, the next ore's icon sits beside the Auto mine switch, marked "next", and the line under it names it.

• The next ore's icon beside Auto mine.

Oct 19, 1:15 amv87artvisual

A new ship, on an electric drive

“let's improve the ship design. also should the engine plume be more energy based? we're not burning fuel so does that make less sense?”Kraig, 1:02 am

“Ship 1 design is great but round the front out just a little. take the antenia lines off”Kraig, 1:10 am

Claude: Three mock-ups, Kraig picked the first: long and lean like the Rocinante, a softly rounded wedge nose, a slim hull in segments, the cargo bay mid-hull where the coloured hold bar sits, the PDC on a dorsal blister and one flared drive bell. The chaingun's tracers now come from that PDC mount. And since the ship runs on its battery, the fiery plume is gone: the drive is a thin cyan-white beam with a white core, fading to violet, with a shimmer of ions, longer and brighter the harder it thrusts.

• The ship's new hull: rounded wedge nose, segmented body, drive bell, PDC blister, no antenna lines.
• Tracers fire from the PDC mount.
• An electric drive plume in place of the fire.

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Oct 19, 1:25 amv88interfaceplaytest

Fe ore

“iron ore should be called fe ore”Kraig, 1:20 am

“no, the ore is called that. not the iron bar”Kraig, 1:22 am

Claude: The rust-red ore is Fe ore now everywhere you read it, matching cu ore and si ore. The smelted bar is still called iron.

• Iron ore is named Fe ore (fe ore for short); iron, the bar, keeps its name.

Oct 19, 1:45 amv89mechanicplaytest

Recipes that pick themselves, and construction first

“bug. si ore isn't flowing to smelter”Kraig, 1:30 am

“it's not letting me pick the siion wafer recepie”Kraig, 1:34 am

“if an item is being requested by drone and the constructor is belting it way, it should divide the availability. so the drone should pick every other if one belt is connected. or we just give master priority to construction”Kraig, 1:38 am

Claude: Three fixes from one jam. A smelter with no recipe takes nothing in, so a belt of si ore just sat there: now a belt bringing an item that only one of a module's recipes uses picks that recipe by itself (si ore into a smelter means wafers), also when its job is picked later, and once for saves already stuck this way. The wafer recipe costs 4 plates and 2 wire, and a recipe you can't pay for yet looked disabled: it now reads "Order: Silicon wafer", and once ordered it lights up with what it has collected. And construction comes first: orders (a recipe's or job's cost, a ship upgrade) take the plates and wire they need before any belt does, so a busy line can't starve them; the dock already kept back the ore the drone's builds wait for.

• A belt's item picks the module's recipe when only one recipe uses it (on setting the belt, picking the job, and once for older saves).
• Unaffordable recipes read as "Order: …"; an ordered recipe shows its progress.
• Orders take items before belts (construction first).

Oct 19, 1:50 amv90interfaceplaytest

A quieter toolbar

“these should be much more greyed out unless the cursor moves over them”Kraig, 1:48 am

Claude: The bottom toolbar (home, pause, speed, build) sits dim until the cursor reaches a button, which then lights up fully; one that's on, like pause, stays a little brighter. On a phone they stay at full strength.

• Toolbar buttons dim to about a third until hovered.

Oct 19, 2:00 amv91interfaceplaytest

You can see when the station's power fails

“there should be much more visual indication that the power is low or empty at the station”Kraig, 1:52 am

Claude: Low power is hard to miss now. Every module browns out on the map, darker the lower the station's running speed, and flickers when it's nearly dark. The dock's rim pulses amber while browning out and red when it's out. The power chip in the top bar pulses red, and an alert at the top says how bad it is and what to do: "Station out of power: nothing runs. Feed the burners Fe ore", or "Low power: everything runs at 62%. Add another burner or more solar panels", noting when dust has the panels dark. Running out also sounds a warning.

• Modules brown out and flicker with low power.
• The dock pulses amber (low) or red (out).
• A power alert with the fix; the power chip pulses; a warning sound when it runs out.

Oct 19, 2:10 amv92controlsplaytest

Copied setups go onto new blueprints

“the hover and q on a module should paste the copied module into the new blueprint”Kraig, 2:05 am

Claude: Q over a module already made a ghost with its job and recipe. Now Q anywhere else uses the setup you copied with C, so you can copy once and lay out a row of the same module, and pasting (V) onto a blueprint the drone hasn't built yet gives it that setup for when it's built. A module whose recipe is still waiting on its cost is labelled "ordered" on the map, not "pick a recipe", so it doesn't look like the setup was lost.

• Q over empty space places the copied setup.
• Paste onto an unbuilt blueprint sets its plan.
• "Ordered" on the map label of a module whose recipe is on order.

Oct 19, 2:20 amv93balanceplaytest

Efficient drive: a research for chapter 5

“there weren't enough research to do in chapter 5”Kraig, 2:12 am

“add research 1. drive”Kraig, 2:15 am

Claude: Chapter 5 only had its two story researches, so the data centers sat idle. Efficient drive (15 cards) joins the list when chapter 5 begins: every burn costs a fifth less battery, so a 1.5 km trip needs about 51 battery instead of 63 and the long silicon run gets easier. More chapter 5 research and repeatable upgrades are planned, waiting on Kraig's call.

• Efficient drive: 15 cards, offered from chapter 5, every burn costs 20% less battery (trip estimates and the range outline follow).

Oct 19, 2:30 amv94visualplaytest

A lighter storm that shows its strength

“the visual of the storm should depend on its intensity. i think the look was overall too much.”Kraig, 2:24 am

Claude: The dust veil is much lighter and greyer, and it now follows how much sunlight the storm is blocking at that moment: a faint haze as a front comes in, thicker at its darkest, and the great storm a touch heavier again. The blowing streaks thin out the same way, and the banner is quieter.

• The storm veil and streaks scale with how dark the storm makes it, and are lighter overall.

Oct 19, 2:50 amv95interfaceplaytest

Shorter module panels

“i don't think we should have these logs. it's not that helpful and complicates the panel”Kraig, 2:45 am

Claude: The list of every belt in and out, with how many items each had moved, is gone from the module and dock panels. Click a belt itself to see what it carries and its count.

• Module and dock panels no longer list their belts.

Oct 19, 3:05 amv96interfaceplaytest

The power bar says how the station is doing

“should we have power bar be green, yellow or red. once battery is introduced, the bottom becomes battery charge bar.”Kraig, 3:00 am

Claude: The station's power bar now shows supply against demand: green when more comes in than is wanted, yellow while it draws on storage at full speed, red when it's short and browning out. Once Station batteries are researched, a thin gold line under it shows the stored charge. The number beside it is still what's stored.

• The power bar: supply against demand, in green, yellow or red.
• A stored-charge line under it once Station batteries are researched.

Oct 19, 3:12 amv97interfaceplaytest

Time stays at the bottom

“the time indicator should be bottom of screen somewhere so it doesn't overlap anything”Kraig, 3:09 am

Claude: Changing speed no longer pops up "Time x4" and "Time x1" at the top, where they covered the storm banner. The paused and x4 indicator now sits at the bottom, just above the status line, and the speed button in the toolbar still shows x1 or x4.

• No speed toasts; the paused / x4 indicator moved to the bottom.

Oct 19, 3:18 amv98interfaceplaytest

Continue reads cleanly

“i don't like how the enter overlaps the text”Kraig, 3:15 am

Claude: The title screen's big buttons keep room on both sides, so the chapter and time played under Continue never run under the Enter key hint; the icon sits at the left and the text stays centred.

• The title's big buttons pad around their icon and key hint.

Oct 19, 3:40 amv99balanceplaytest

A full playthrough, read

“just finished playthrough. check it and give me your thoughts and change ideas”Kraig, 3:30 am

Claude: Kraig played chapters 1 to 6 start to finish on the new chapter 1 (53 minutes of active play across the night's builds). Chapters 1 to 3 now run smoothly, with every goal inside its window. Chapter 4's one goal, decoding the vanguard signal, took 26 minutes of game time, far past its 15-minute window, so it now costs 20 data cards instead of 30 (about 3 minutes shorter for the test player). A rare click error the recording caught is fixed. The bigger finding, long stretches of watching while Auto mining does the work in chapters 4 to 6, is what the planned defence update is for.

• Vanguard signal: 20 cards, was 30.
• A rare pointer-capture error can't interrupt a click.

Oct 19, 4:30 amv100combatmilestone

The copper guard: real combat, lasers and honest flight

“what if we have only a single location for the copper and our first enemy ship jump scares the player when they approach. the battle is always won. has to have enough battery and weapons always fire on enemy before mining.”Kraig, 12:00 am

“if you arrive with no amno, it should reveal but escape to raise the alarm”Kraig, 12:05 am

“the ships should only be able to fire inside its radius which isn't happening right now. if i auto pilot attack to a target, it should flip and end burn slightly past the target to get a good round of rounds off in close combat.”Kraig, 12:12 am

“can the enemy be laser weapon based. sustained but short pulses of laser energy that follows the target but needs to recharge after each shot.”Kraig, 12:20 am

Claude: Step 2. The test drone off to the side is gone; a dormant gate-builder guard now sleeps among the copper, invisible even to the ping. Come within 400 m and it wakes: a red flash, an alarm, a music sting, a shake, and the AI: "Contact. It was waiting." The ship's PDC, on its dorsal mount with a 270° arc and a 350 m ring, fires a tearing stream whose hit chance falls with distance and crossing speed (95% close and still, a few percent far and fast), misses flying past. Order an attack and it burns in, flips, brakes with its drive toward the target, drifts past and holds close. The guard's laser charges for a second, then a tracking pulse burns hull, then it recharges; a rock between you blocks it, both ways. The fight is always won (the hull never drops below 40, holding costs no battery, the last rounds always hit), and the wreck gives scrap. Arrive with almost no ammo and it shows itself, then runs off the map to raise the alarm, something Act 2 will remember. Mining is three heavy thudding taps now, twice the old pace, unmistakable from the combat rip. And flight is honest: the ship's systems draw a little battery while it's out, every trip flies at the best speed its battery allows, and a low battery means slower, not stuck.

• The copper guard: dormant, the wake-up scare, the always-won fight, the flee path (S.story).
• The PDC: range ring, 270° dorsal mount, hit chance by distance and speed, a tracer stream, misses visible.
• Attack runs: flip-and-burn, drift past, hold close.
• The guard's laser: charge, tracking pulse, recharge; blocked by rocks.
• Mining taps: 3 rounds every 3.6 s, twice the old rate; separate mining and combat sounds.
• Honest flight: a small drain while out (1.0/s past the relay), economical cruise speeds, slow-but-reachable trips in the range outline.
• Saves migrate (v11).

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Oct 19, 6:30 amv101combatmechanicmilestone

The defence update: rocks, turrets, repairs, relics and heat

“cost could come from defense or combat. what if astroids that drift toward the base need to be gunned down or they damage the station. this could happen from the start. making a gun turret defense module could happen after amno at some point”Kraig, 3:20 am

“i think combat based research advancment is the best way to control the progress of the player. it doesn't have to be 100% but most resaerch should come from exploration and combat”Kraig, 3:25 am

“i think the heat of the entire station should slowly rise and datacenters raise it incredibly. makes heatsinks a balance for a growing station.”Kraig, 4:00 am

Claude: Step 3, built overnight. Every module has a hull now: below half it slows, at zero it goes offline but is never lost. Repair packs (2 plates and a wire, 25 hull each) are made once something first gets hurt, and the station drone carries them to the damage, keeping a part-used pack aboard. From chapter 2 rocks drift onto collision courses, with a warning line, a countdown and an AI call, and the ship or a turret shoots them into collectable chunks. The station turret (4 plates, 2 wire, fed ammo from the dock) opens chapter 4. From chapter 3 scavenger drones sometimes turn up while the ship mines; it fights, then goes back to work. Gate-builder relics, from the copper guard and those fights, are read by a data center on spare power, and each one makes a new research appear: most research comes this way now, while the story's own never waits on one. Chapter 6's storms throw debris, outer modules hardest; a storm shield turns most of it aside while the stored power lasts. And the station has one heat level, from every unit of power used and a lot from data centers, shed by radiators anywhere and best on the edge: over 60% everything slows, over 85% modules start to take damage. When nothing happens for two minutes, the AI suggests something useful.

• Module hulls; repair packs and the drone's repairs.
• Incoming rocks from chapter 2; the station turret (chapter 4's first goal).
• Scavenger encounters from chapter 3.
• Relics: most non-story research now comes from them; five new relic researches.
• Storm debris and the storm shield (chapter 6).
• Station heat in one pool, with a top-bar chip and alerts; data centers' own heat and touching radiators retired.
• The idle hint.
• Saves migrate (v12).

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Oct 19, 7:25 amv102mechanicbalancemilestone

Parts in the chain, upgrades in place, and a busier factory

“i think we should add 2-3 components to stack the production chain”Kraig, 4:10 am

“i don't want to have to replace modules with other modules but rather upgrade them with research”Kraig, 4:20 am

“try to balance the factory production so it's almost always running during play through”Kraig, 5:10 am

Claude: Three parts now sit in the middle of the chain: steel plate (2 plates and an iron, in a smelter) from chapter 4, the circuit (a wafer and 2 wire) from chapter 5, and the motor (2 wire and a plate) from chapter 6, each with its own goal. Later builds use them: solar panels, station batteries and the storm shield. Upgrades never replace a module: a research upgrades every module of its kind where it stands, each one collecting its parts while it keeps working, the drone fitting them, and a rank numeral (II, III) appearing on the map. And the factory was rebalanced so the lines keep each other busy: plates, copper, wire and cards run at matched speeds, ammo is made at the pace it's used, burners need a third less ore for the same power, and the signal decode is 14 cards. For the test player, idle time across the line fell in every chapter (chapter 3 from 53% to 21%).

• Steel plate (ch4), circuit (ch5), motor (ch6), each with a goal; panels, batteries and the shield use them.
• Research upgrades in place with ranks, collected through orders and fitted by the drone; new Smelter speed, Constructor speed and Sun trackers.
• Balance: matched line speeds, slower ammo, thriftier burners, richer outer iron, a 14-card decode.
• Saves migrate (v13).

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Oct 19, 9:30 amv103combatmechanicmilestone

A bigger map, and a threat in every chapter

“we can spread the map out more too since traveling is time relative”Kraig, 2:05 am

“no auto speed”Kraig, 8:00 am

Claude: Step 5. The map is bigger: iron stays close, the copper field (and its guard) sits 2.5 to 3 km out, still inside the ping, and silicon is one cluster 6.4 to 7.4 km away. Batteries and drain were retuned so a full base charge does copper and back at a good speed and the Long-range battery (now 320) does silicon; you can zoom out until the station and both fields share one screen, each field ringed and named. Chapter 4's decode is loud: partway through, two raiders come to see what's broadcasting, and the turret and the ship silence them, for a relic. Chapter 5's silicon is guarded by a fixed sentinel whose laser outranges the PDC: close in behind the drifting rocks, or mine where it can't see you. And the great storm brings a raid: three waves of raiders from split directions while the panels are dark; the shield stops debris, not lasers. Beat them and the last one drops a relic that charts the way past the gate. No auto-speed, on Kraig's word. Saves keep their layout; new games get the big map.

• Copper 2.5-3 km, silicon 6.4-7.4 km; Long-range battery 320, relay drain 0.5/s; zoom out to 0.02 with field rings and markers.
• Chapter 4 patrol (two raiders, damage capped, a relic: Efficient drive).
• Chapter 5 sentinel (420 m laser, blocked by rocks, a relic: Tougher hulls).
• Chapter 6 storm raid (three waves; the gate relic, Act 2's hook).
• Saves keep their layout (v14).

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Oct 19, 10:10 amv104sound

The ship AI speaks through chapter 2

“You can just pick one of the voices and put it in the game so I can hear what it sounds like. And we'll iterate from there.”Kraig, 10:00 am

Claude: Of the two test voices, Hope (natural, clear and calm) is now the ship AI's voice. She reads every goal's line through chapters 1 and 2, and the copper guard's three moments: "Contact. It was waiting.", the flight if it escapes, and what it was once it's down. The music dips under her and the words stay on screen. Settings > AI voice turns her on or off. Later chapters' lines come once the voice is settled.

• Hope's voice on chapters 1-2's goal lines and the guard's three lines (21 recordings).
• Settings: AI voice on or off.