Epoch 4

A new structure type is now printable at space stations: the Wormhole Anchor. Deploy two anchors and they automatically pair, opening a traversable wormhole between their sectors — any vessel that enters one tile exits the other instantly. Anchors drain cargo each tick to sustain the bridge; when supplies run out the anchor enters Singular Atrophy and the wormhole collapses. From Singular Atrophy it can be restarted (200 reagents + 100 biomass) or, once HP reaches zero, cleared entirely with a Remove Singular Atrophy action (200 reagents + 200 biomass). Sector Sentinels gain a new Toll Collector behavior: set a reagent and biomass toll, and any enemy ship entering the sector must pay before passing — or face consequences. The GM panel has a new CONFIG tab for live-editing all game balance constants (energy costs, wormhole HP, tick drain rates, etc.) and a Restart Server button so changes take effect immediately.

Sector Sentinels no longer deal direct damage — they launch homing torpedoes instead. A torpedo moves 2 sectors per tick, homes in on its target ship, and deals 80 damage on impact (or expires after 4 ticks). Both the sentinel owner and the target receive Captain's Log notifications when a torpedo is launched and when it hits. A new Guardian behavior has been added: the sentinel broadcasts a warning signal when any enemy vessel enters its sector, and fires a torpedo only if that vessel attacks something within range — proportionate force, not a standing shoot-on-sight order. Civilizations now select their sentinel behavior based on their faction disposition.

Two new deployable structures are now printable at space stations. Comm Nodes extend your visibility by 3 sectors and drain 2 energy per tick — refill them with reagents to keep them active. Sector Sentinels do the same plus engage enemies on contact: configure each sentinel to attack on sight or broadcast a signal when an intruder is detected. Both structures are carried aboard ships and deployed at any sector — load them from your current tile, fly to the target sector, then deploy. NPC civilizations now print and deploy these structures automatically, spreading a perimeter of Autonomous Arrays around their territory. The GM map left panel shows a dedicated AUTONOMOUS ARRAYS section per player so all deployed nodes and sentinels are visible at a glance.

The Asterion Compact and the Veyra Directorate are now smarter: ships hold position on resource fields while mining instead of wandering off, and automatically pilot to the nearest space station when cargo reaches 60% capacity. Civilizations now also build space stations and form a real empire over time. Game ticks now fire every 30 minutes (down from 2 hours). The GM civilization activity log now shows a coordinate jump button on every entry so the Game Master can instantly navigate to any reported sector.

Game Masters now have a FOG button on the map alongside ROADS, SIGNALS, and COORDS. Toggling it OFF removes all fog-of-war opacity from explored tiles, giving a clear view of the full known map during balancing and observation sessions.

Two deterministic NPC civilizations now run as normal player clients: the Asterion Compact and the Veyra Directorate. They log in, observe game ticks, name their vessels and roamers from the shared civilization name pool, and queue ordinary player actions. Game Masters also get a new Civilization activity log tab for watching NPC movement, mining, scans, printing, and attacks during balancing.

When a vessel, space station, or mining station is destroyed, it now leaves behind a Scavengable Wreck. Wrecks contain 100% of the destroyed entity's cargo plus a salvage bonus of Reagents (50% of max HP). Wrecks can be mined by vessels and roamers, but are ignored by mining stations. Additionally, the Automatic Road planner has been improved: you can now select the assigned vessel directly from a dropdown within the road planning modal, grouped by sector.

Space stations now have real strategic depth. Three new ship classes are printable only from station printers: Pathfinder (fast scout with stealth), Dreadnought (heavy warship with tactical scan), and Hauler (massive 5000-cargo transport). Stations take 3 ticks to come online after printing (warmup phase). Once active they provide: visibility across 3 sectors instead of 1, a repair dock that heals nearby ships and structures each tick (costs reagents), automatic roamer recharging when roamers land on the station tile, and signal relay +5 instead of +3. Map panning bug fixed — the map no longer goes black when you scroll far from your units. Tooltips added throughout the UI (? buttons) to explain mechanics. README updated with full game documentation.

Deep Space is now the default look for new and returning sessions (you can still switch to Tactical HUD or Med-Bay in Settings). Added sci-fi font presets and text size controls. Space station owner in the sector popup shows your nickname only when the station is yours; otherwise it reads "unknown" so other players are not identified from the tile alone.

This is the first entry. Replace it with your actual launch notes. Each entry is tied to a version number so players who miss a release catch up automatically on their next login.