4.4 KiB
Base replacement is the primary deliverable
The project replaces the abandoned Escapists base with a maintainable, independently authored mission. Porting the user's companion mods is secondary. A passing companion feature test does not establish that the base replacement is complete.
The installed original package (1.6.30, metadata targeting Reforger 1.8.0.10) was inventoried read-only: 299 script paths, plus resource category counts, are recorded in original-resource-inventory.json. This identifies responsibilities that the old base supplied. No original implementation, compositions or UI resources were imported. Names in that inventory are reference data, not successor dependencies. The first release remains Everon, vanilla factions and up to 12 players; complete original feature parity is deferred.
The complete responsibility inventory assigns every original script entry to an unfinished replacement area. This is a filename-based coverage map, not proof of behavior equivalence.
Base responsibilities and current gaps
| Responsibility | Successor implementation | Still required |
|---|---|---|
| Mission setup and progression | Core phase rules, server settings/commands, replicated startup failure status, definition validation and asynchronous site preparation | Player-facing setup, failure reporting, richer objective service boundaries |
| Prison and player start | New vanilla composition, physical gate and supplies, native spawning | Manual escape and 12-player equipment/space validation; additional surveyed layouts |
| Scavenging and discovery | Core owns a finite supply cache, targeted physical documents and objective markers; optional Intel distributes more documents | More surveyed scavenging locations, route variety and gameplay balance |
| Location population | Four configured sites and guard groups, physical stock ownership and preparation rollback | Additional compositions, destruction presentation, manual access and multiplayer cleanup validation |
| Radio objective | Core authorizes interaction, requires conscious defenders, resets interrupted transmission and publishes native task progress | Native task and radio-progress UI validation, unconscious/revive and simultaneous-player validation |
| Extraction and results | Physical helicopter occupancy, escape boundary and survivor result | Manual navigation/takeoff, full-capacity seating, partial escape and late-join verification |
| Player lifecycle | Identity roster, native reconnect reservation, one life, local unconsciousness/recovery checks, spectator camera, defeat/restart | Dedicated server and real multi-client reconnect/streaming tests |
| Factions and assets | Injected faction/asset catalog drives prisoner, guard group, extraction and friendly/enemy lookup | Additional catalog combinations and remote validation; provenance review and release packaging |
| Enemy strategic response | Optional AI addon supplies the sole HQ coordinator through ERR_CommandService |
Complete virtualHQ integration after base contracts stabilize; no competing original response system |
Immediate implementation order
- Completed development check: Core-only escape/restart and finite site inventory regression. Full gameplay acceptance remains pending.
- Expand and manually validate the authored locations, scavenging route and objective presentation so a person can play without test teleports or hidden knowledge.
- Validate player lifecycle and restart on a dedicated server; resolve native errors before declaring a clean build.
- Integrate existing HQ, Intel, Chat and Map behavior against those base interfaces, followed by equivalent-workload performance measurements.
Core scenario: {AD62322D5213C440}Missions/ERR_Everon_Base.conf. Full integration scenario: {C1E20667DCE324ED}Missions/ERR_Everon.conf. Both use the newly authored Everon child world. The Core-only case uses vanilla tactical AI; loading AI installs the HQ coordinator. The production target includes virtualHQ, while the isolated Core case proves the base does not need a companion to advance its objectives.
Run the base diagnostic without visible windows or sound:
python3 tools/headless_workbench.py --compat /tmp/erri-headless-compat --profile /tmp/erri-workbench-profile --project core --smoke victory --rounds 2
This diagnostic moves actors and the helicopter programmatically. It proves integration paths, not manual playability, multiplayer correctness or FPS improvement.