The Spatials V3 devblog 2016-02-01

Internal development notes, very slightly cleaned up and commented a week later.

TL;DR: started in-station combat, security system items, basic testing

It was time to go back to the central part of V3, the station sim. After a months-long focus on other areas of the game (planets, galaxy and spaceships) to get them up to speed early to make sure we didn’t forget about them later on, we are back to station basics.

We are first tackling a new V3 feature, station combat. Here’s the result of mixing some officers with some attackers in a single room:

The combat is completely hands-off for now, with the AI controlling both officers and attackers.

- make job system more robust in the face of combat and other interruptions
	need more checks for BusyC and more error conditions at various points

One of the first tasks to make the action shown in the video possible was to fix some problems with the job system, to make it more robust. Initially the officers were working on building the beds. In the original version of the system, any interruption due to combat, was either impossible (officers just ignored the attack) or it broke the job and made it impossible to resume it after the danger was gone. The job system has now been made more robust, with more checks for worker attention.

- add default hp and civ to station obj maker
- new gfx: security arch, station turret, camera, some layered remakes
	add hints/model for new objs
- add gizmo entity spawner to station
	with active AI components

In addition to shooting at officers and visitors, attackers will also be able to destroy station objects. For this reason now station objects also feature civ alignment and hitpoints.

Featured also in the video are some initial elements for the station security system. The two big turrets in the sides, and the two smaller ceiling turrets, will automatically attack any aggressors in their range. The ceiling turret will be lower powered but it allows entities to walk under it.

- station: fire
	aggressor-c
	non vulnerable
	pulses a low damage aoe
	dies after some seconds
	can rarely spawn a fires before dying
- make some bomb proc spawn fire with some chance

Another new system shown in the video is the fire system. Some attacks will be able to set nearby tiles on fire. It’s a very simple system that features a low power pulsating attack around the fire effect, and is also able to spawn new fires around itself. It automatically extinguishes itself after around a minute, or it can be put out faster by officers with a firefighting skill that have a water item nearby.