millimeters-of-aluminum/Development_Status.md

Project "Stardust Drifter" Status Summary

Implemented Systems

• Core Physics Simulation: The OrbitalMechanics singleton successfully handles a robust N-body gravity simulation. All celestial bodies and the ship correctly inherit from OrbitalBody2D, ensuring they are part of the same physics simulation.
• Procedural World Generation: The StarSystemGenerator creates a dynamic solar system with stars, planets, moons, and stations in stable, nested orbits.
• Modular Ship Systems: A foundation for modular ships is in place. The Spaceship class is a central hub for subsystems like FuelSystem and LifeSupport. The ThrusterController is highly advanced, capable of self-calibrating to a ship's unique mass and inertia.
• Navigation & Map UI: A functional map UI exists, with zoom-to-cursor and click-and-drag panning. It includes dynamic culling and can be locked onto any celestial body. The NavigationComputer can calculate and execute Hohmann transfers.
• Editor Plugin (WIP): We've started building an editor plugin to handle ship construction. The core functionality for creating a custom dock and listening for editor input has been implemented, but the full UI and piece-placement logic still needs to be completed.

Designed but Unimplemented Systems

• Free-Form Module Construction: The core building system is designed but not yet fully implemented. The Module and StructuralPiece scripts are in place, but the physics recalculation and room sealing logic is not yet finished.
• Unified RigidBody2D Character Controller: The CrewMember.tscn scene and the logic for Spaceship.gd to simulate G-forces still need to be created and integrated.
• Economy, Missions, and Factions: The high-level design for a multi-faction world, a mission system, and an economy exists, but no code or assets have been created for these features yet.
• Multi-Depth Modules: Your idea for a 2.5D building system with multiple depth layers and a "flip" function is designed but has been tabled for later.