Changelog v3 0s - Heliomance/Uncharted-Horizons GitHub Wiki

_{Changelog · Design document — Changelog}

Breakthrough IDs link to the breakthrough that holds the ID today. A few early entries predate a renumbering or a merge, so an ID there may since have passed to another breakthrough.

Summary: Rehomed IDs renumbered to their host foci (CM→TR/OP/EL/EN/RK/QP/SE/CU) and Signal Fire Network moved to Fire (F15). The CM prefix is retired; no Communications focus remains. ~520 breakthroughs, 37 focus areas.

Follow-up to the v3.8 dissolution: the nine rehomed breakthroughs kept their old CM IDs in v3.8; they are now renumbered to match their host foci, and one moved home.

• Signal Fire Network moved from Warfare to Fire — signal fires are, self-evidently, fire. (It keeps its military effects and WA02 prerequisite; it's simply flavoured and filed under Fire now.)
• All nine renumbered to their host-focus prefixes (every reference updated in lockstep): Postal System CM01→TR13; Semaphore CM02→**OP10; Telephone CM04→EL13**; Radio CM05→**EN11; Satellite Communications CM06→RK16; Quantum Communication CM07→QP14; Interstellar Communication CM08→SE14**; Talking Drum Networks CM09→**CU13; Signal Fire Network CM10→F15**.
• The internal chain (Radio → Satellite → Quantum → Interstellar Communication) and the Mass Media (CU08) dependency were updated to the new IDs and re-verified. No CM IDs remain in the live tree; the CM prefix is retired.

Summary: Communications focus dissolved. The sparse Communications focus is gone; its nine original breakthroughs rehomed to Trade, Optics, Electricity, Electronics, Rocketry, Quantum Physics, Space Engineering, Religion & Culture, and Warfare (IDs and prerequisite chains preserved), and the five v3.6 filler techs removed. ~520 breakthroughs, 37 focus areas.

The Communications focus was too sparse to be a legible investment — most of its breakthroughs were already dual-listed with other foci, and the era gaps made it hard to know when entering it was worthwhile. Rather than pad it out, it has been dissolved and its breakthroughs rehomed.

• Removed the five v3.6 filler techs (CM11 Courier Relay, CM12 Cartographic Standardisation, CM13 Printing & Broadsheets, CM14 Encrypted Signals, CM15 Digital Networks).
• Relocated the nine original breakthroughs to their most natural foci (prerequisite chains and the Mass Media dependency kept intact): Postal System → Trade; Semaphore → Optics; Telephone → Electricity; Radio → Electronics; Satellite Communications → Rocketry; Quantum Communication → Quantum Physics; Interstellar Communication → Space Engineering; Talking Drum Networks (UNIQUE) → Religion & Culture; Signal Fire Network (UNIQUE) → Warfare (later moved to Fire in v3.9).
• Deleted the Communications focus. Focus Areas 38 → 37. Dead dual-path notes on MC06 (Printing Press) and EL04 (Telegraph) removed, as those were the "also via Communications" pointers.
• Net breakthrough count 525 → 520.

Summary: Disease forks, cross-listing index & changelog relocation. Antibiotics made Germ-exclusive; humoral medicine line filled out (MD18 Humoral Pharmacology, MD19 Temperament Engineering) plus a vitalist medicine layer (MD-V01); MASS_MEDICINE token keeps late medicine world-agnostic. Vitalist AI route (GN14) dual-listed with Computing. Every focus now lists the dual-path breakthroughs reachable through it. Changelog moved to the end. ~525 breakthroughs, 38 focus areas.

• Antibiotics (MD06) made Germ-exclusive. Antibiotics target microbes, so they now require Germ Theory to have validated (FQ10 = Germ). Miasma and Humoral worlds reach empire-wide disease control through their own routes instead.
• Humoral tech line filled out. Previously only MD17 existed for humoral worlds. Added MD18 (Humoral Pharmacology — the humoral mass-medicine equivalent of antibiotics), MD19 (Temperament Engineering — cultivate a city's dominant humour for civic bonuses), and MD-V01 (Vital Essence Medicine — a vitalist medicine layer, dual-listed with Genetics).
• MASS_MEDICINE token added so downstream medicine (e.g. Gene Therapy MD11) no longer hard-depends on the germ-only Antibiotics; it is satisfied by MD06 (germ), MD16 (miasma), or MD18 (humoral).
• Vitalist AI route dual-listed. GN14 (Animate Intelligence) is now reachable through Genetics or Computing, matching the existing bio-computing dual-paths.
• Per-focus cross-listing index. Every focus that can discover a breakthrough whose home is another focus now carries an explicit note under its availability line listing those dual-path breakthroughs and their home focus — so a player browsing one focus can see everything reachable through it.
• Changelog moved to the end of the document (was at the top), so the design content opens immediately after the title.

Summary: Non-Atomic Coherence Pass. The alternative-physics forks made to hang together across the whole tree: Aeronautics reworked for phlogiston airship worlds, Rocketry given elemental equivalents, Quintessic Physics dual-framed for both Greek and Chinese elemental traditions, vitalism reconciled with petrochemistry and made to block silicon AGI, Energy Systems given elemental/caloric/phlogiston plants, Materials Science and Electricity checked for non-atomic compatibility, Communications thickened into a steady chain. ~522 breakthroughs, 38 focus areas.

Follow-up sweep making the alternative-physics forks hang together across the whole tree, plus fixes.

• Aeronautics reworked for Phlogiston worlds. Levity flight (F13) exists from the Early Modern era, so a phlogiston civilisation enters Aeronautics already airborne: AE01 (Hot Air Balloon) is skipped, AE02 (Airship) arrives early and cheaply, and F13 is now a focus-entry route. "Zeppelin Resurgence" (which made no sense where airships never lapsed) is now AE12 Grand Aerostat, dual-framed — a resurgence in atomic worlds, the culmination of an unbroken tradition in phlogiston worlds. Identical mechanics.
• Rocketry given elemental equivalents. RK08/RK10/RK13/RK14 now resolve via the HIGH_ENERGY_PHYSICS token and carry alternate names/flavour for elemental worlds (Quintessic Thermal Rocket, Great Work Drive, Alchemical Pulse Drive). No mechanical change.
• Quantum Physics table formatting fixed (missing blank line before the table).
• Communications thickened from one tech per era to a steady chain: added CM11 Courier Relay Network, CM12 Cartographic Standardisation, CM13 Printing & Broadsheets, CM14 Encrypted Signals, CM15 Digital Networks. It is now legible as a focus worth entering.
• Quintessic Physics de-Hellenised. All seven QM-E breakthroughs now carry dual framings — a Substance reading (Greek/Aristotelian aether) and a Process reading (Chinese wu xing cycles) — with shared mechanics, so the elemental pillar serves both FQ9 alternative values rather than just alchemy.
• Vitalism made compatible with petrochemistry & bio-organic synthesis. Only abiotic synthesis is blocked in vitalist worlds; chemistry on once-living feedstock (petroleum, biomass) carries residual vital essence and works normally. CH25, CH07, and CH09-W updated.
• Vitalism now blocks silicon AGI. In vitalist worlds intelligence is a property of life: the silicon route (EN06) dead-ends as narrow AI, and general intelligence requires a living substrate — GN11 (grown neural architecture) or the new GN14 Animate Intelligence (vital-essence homunculus mind). CP09 is now Truth-aware.
• Energy Systems gained non-atomic plants: ES15 Quintessic Power Plant (elemental), ES16 Caloric Engine Plant, ES17 Phlogiston Furnace Plant — filling the grid-power niche that previously only fission/fusion covered.
• Materials Science & Electricity checked for non-atomic compatibility. MS02 renamed Nanotechnology / Fine Structuring and routed through the HIGH_ENERGY_PHYSICS token; a convergence note explains most of the focus is shared post-reconciliation. Electricity gained a theory-agnostic note (it is phenomenon-level; the account of current differs by world, the tech does not).

Summary: The Symmetry Principle. No privileged reality: every Truth value, ours included, forks into an exclusive cluster and forecloses its rivals'. Foundational axes fork into niche-equivalent pillars (added Quintessic Physics, the elemental mirror of Nuclear Physics); only frontier axes truly dead-end. Far-flung cross-axis implications formalised (phlogiston reaches exotic-matter FTL an era early). Deep-physics tokens keep the late tree foundation-agnostic. Redundancies removed (Ekranoplan, Factory, Zero-Point Generator, Laboratory). ~513 breakthroughs, 38 focus areas.

Our reality is no longer the default. Previously the orthodox Truth values (atomic matter, kinetic heat, mechanist life, germ disease) were treated as the baseline tree, with alternatives "validating or dead-ending" off it. This was philosophically inconsistent: those orthodox answers are as contingent as any rival, and they gate their own exclusive content that alternative worlds lack. The Symmetry Principle makes every Truth value — including ours — a fork that opens an exclusive cluster and forecloses its rivals'.

Foundational axes now "fork" rather than "dead-end." A losing theory routes the civilisation onto a genuinely different chain occupying the same structural niche (energy pillar, materials pillar, computation substrate, medicine paradigm), never a consolation prize. Dead ends are reserved for frontier axes, where "impossible in this universe" is a legitimate answer. Added a Niche Equivalents table mapping each pillar's orthodox and alternative forks.

New pillar — Quintessic Physics (QM-E01–07). The elemental-world structural mirror of Nuclear Physics: in Elemental worlds (FQ9 ≠ Corpuscular) the atomic→quantum→semiconductor spine never coheres, so Quintessic Physics fills the niche — Quintessence Theory, Elemental Binding Energy (Quintessic Reactor), Resonance/Cycle-Logic Computing, Aetheric Field Theory, Great Work Reactor, Aetheric Exotic Matter, Philosopher's Engine. Elemental worlds reach FTL through this chain.

Deep-physics tokens. HIGH_ENERGY_PHYSICS (NP02 or QM-E01) and EXOTIC_MATTER (QP11, QM-E06, or the phlogiston route) let the late tree accept either foundation without duplicating downstream rows. Nuclear/Quantum and Quintessic Physics are mutually exclusive per world, selected by FQ9.

Far-flung cross-axis implications. Formalised: Phlogiston → Exotic Matter (new F14 Levity Condensate — a Classical chemistry Truth reaching the FTL endgame a full era early), Elemental → Deterministic quantum foundation & non-silicon computation, Caloric → vacuum-energy/fusion-containment bias, Vitalist → quantum-coherent biology bias. All disciplined by master-axis derivation so no contradictory world generates.

Vitalist & caloric forks formalised as the materials and energy-storage niche equivalents (CH07 marked as the FQ11 fork point; GN13 bridges to Materials Science; TH11/TH12 fill the caloric energy niche).

Redundancy/inconsistency fixes: removed duplicate Ekranoplan (AE10 repurposed as Flying Boat; SF15 made dual-path); de-duplicated Factory (CO10 now a Factory upgrade over MC08's base), Zero-Point Generator (ES12 now a grid-scale Reactor upgrade of QP12's prototype), and Laboratory (PH04 now grants the Research Institute upgrade over CH01's Laboratory).

Summary: Structural merge & coherence pass. World variation unified under a single Section 5 (World Truths); the six original narrative worlds are now worked examples of the Geological and Historical families. "World Flag" retired as a system name in favour of "World Truth." No breakthrough content altered.

World Truths unified. The former Section 5 ("Alternative Technology Paths") and Section 5B ("World Truths") were two descriptions of one system, using two vocabularies. They are now a single Section 5 ("World Truths — Variable Laws of Physics"). The six original narrative worlds (No-Gunpowder, No-Fusion, No-Fossil-Fuels, Early Steam, Enhanced Springs, Antikythera) are folded in as Worked Examples of the Geological (Removal) and Historical (Enabling) families, nested under the general taxonomy. "World Flag" is retired as a system name (retained only as individual Truth identifiers like GUNPOWDER_ABSENT); the unifying term is World Truth throughout. Section 6's balance-rules summary and all cross-references retargeted accordingly. No breakthrough rows, effects, or strategic-experience content were altered in the merge — only section structure and terminology.

Summary: Discovery States, Grand Endeavours & World Truths. ~511 breakthroughs across 37 Focus Areas. Unknown → Revealed → Discovered per civilisation, with the One-Step Horizon preserving genuine unknowability forever. Grand Endeavours model directed research — serendipity for the surprises, engineering for the visible mountains. Variable laws of physics on three layers: fixed phenomena, sampled mechanisms (phlogiston, Greek and Chinese elemental truth, miasma, humours, vitalism, caloric — the great rival theories, sometimes true), and sampled frontiers (fusion, FTL, gravitics). Twelve Truth Axes yield ~30,000 physics signatures from ~75 authored outcomes, held together by Understanding Tokens and Deep Reconciliation. Every universe must be discovered from the inside — from the first weighed calx to the final FTL launch.

Three-state discovery model (Section 1.4): Every breakthrough is Unknown → Revealed → Discovered per civilisation. Unknown = invisible, serendipitous rolls only. Revealed = known-possible, visible as a named goal. Revelation triggers: theoretical (theory reveals its direct applications — rare before Scientific Method, the norm after), proximity (formalised "promising developments"), observational (seeing another civ's breakthrough in effect), espionage. One-Step Horizon rule: revelation never reaches beyond direct applications of the frontier — nobody in 1950 glimpses the smartphone. Added serendipitous cross-focus accidents (penicillin moments) and the Paths Not Taken end-of-game codex.

Grand Endeavours (Section 1.5): Revealed breakthroughs with Discovered prerequisites can be pursued as directed programmes with visible progress and guaranteed completion, at a 2× (v3.112; 2.5–3× before) Insight premium (4× RARE). One at a time; occupies the focus slot; suspends the target's obsolescence (UNCOMMON only); spin-off discoveries at milestones. Models the fusion-programme mode of real research. The final FTL launch is always a Grand Endeavour — evidence identifies the target, engineering achieves it.

World Truths system (Section 5): Variable laws of physics, sampled per game. Three layers: phenomena and craft are fixed (fire burns, metals smelt — everywhere); mechanisms are sampled from the Classical era on (Foundational Questions); frontiers are sampled in the Atomic/Space eras (fusion, superconductivity, vacuum energy, FTL). Twelve Truth Axes total (5 Foundational + 7 Frontier), each resolved by a decisive experiment that exists in every game. Six anti-explosion principles: disjoint clusters, shared content with validate/dead-end outcomes, master-axis derivation, bounded axis count (~30,000 physics signatures from ~75 authored outcomes), constraint-checked sampling, and Deep Reconciliation (foundational alternatives reconnect to shared late-game physics while keeping their exclusive unlocks). Understanding Tokens (COMBUSTION/MATTER/DISEASE/LIFE/THERMO_THEORY) let downstream prereqs reference understanding rather than a specific theory, so the practical tree runs identically whatever the deep laws.

The five Foundational Questions: FQ8 Combustion (oxygen / phlogiston-real → early airships), FQ9 Matter (corpuscular / substance-elemental Greek transmutation / process-elemental Chinese wu xing cycles), FQ10 Disease (germ / miasma / humoral), FQ11 Nature of Life (mechanist / vitalist → vital essence, animate constructs), FQ12 Nature of Heat (kinetic / caloric → heat as a stored, traded, weaponised substance). Vitalism corrected out of the disease axis (it concerns the living/dead boundary, not pathology) and given its own life-sciences axis; humoral theory added as the historically dominant disease rival.

New chains: Phlogiston (F12–F13), Greek transmutation (CH20–CH21), Chinese five-phase (CH22 Five-Phase Theory, CH23 Generative Cycle Engine, CH24 Phase-Destruction Warfare), miasma (MD16), humoral (MD17), vitalist (GN12 Vital Essence Isolation, GN13 Animating Principle), caloric (TH09 Caloric Theory, TH11 Caloric Reservoir, TH12 Caloric Projection), gravitic (RC08–RC10), and decisive experiments (CH18, CH19, CH25, MD15, TH10). Candidate future axes noted (light, aether, cosmology, spontaneous generation).

Guarantee rules 11–12 added: constraint-checked world sampling; victory never dice-locked (FTL prereqs always Revealable and Endeavour-able).

Discovery system rewritten:

• Tiers now affect discovery difficulty (roll chance), not existence. Every breakthrough is present in every game unless a World Flag removes it.
• CORE: easy roll, excess Insight can reach 100%. STANDARD: fairly easy, high ceiling but never 100%. UNCOMMON: moderate, with obsolescence mechanic. RARE: hard, low ceiling — exciting when found, never required.
• RARE gateway chains: follow-up breakthroughs promoted to STANDARD. Applies to Clockwork (MC16/17/18), Antikythera (O13/14/15), and Bio-Computing (GN09/10/11) chains.
• World Flags split into Removal Flags (remove breakthroughs) and Enabling Flags (lower RARE gateway difficulty).

UNIQUE tier overhauled (56 breakthroughs, up from 15):

• Same base roll difficulty as STANDARD, but cumulative penalty per UNIQUE already discovered (natural limit of 2–5 per civ).
• First-come-first-served: once any civ discovers a UNIQUE, all others permanently locked out. Cannot be traded or stolen.
• Every UNIQUE has prerequisites (usually environmental) and pushes the player toward a specific playstyle by amplifying the value of its prereqs.
• 41 new UNIQUEs added across 20 focus areas, covering every environmental niche.

Duplicate/overlap cleanup:

• Removed FA04 (Terrace Farming) and FA05 (Rice Paddy Cultivation) — absorbed by UNIQUE counterparts FA15 and WM09. Basic hill/wet-terrain farming folded into FA01.
• Fixed building name overlaps (TX12, AH05, TR11, EL09/EN11). Added missing prereq chains (F15→F05, TR11→TR03, TX12→TX02).

Obsolescence mechanic (UNCOMMON breakthroughs):

• 10 obsolescence relationships. -W alternatives always exist but usually obsoleted. World Flags protect them.

Infrastructure additions:

• Added CO23 (Railway Network, CORE): standalone breakthrough for railways, previously scattered as building mentions across MC08/ME12/CO10. Requires Steam Engine + Road Building + Blast Furnace.
• Added WM11 (Industrial Canal Network, UNCOMMON): bulk inland transport enabling early industrialisation. Obsoleted by CO23 (Railway Network) — canals give a powerful window before railways arrive. River biome required.
• Cleaned up MC08, ME12, CO10 to reference CO23 properly instead of granting railway buildings directly.

Vague prerequisite cleanup:

• Replaced all vague prereqs ("specific conditions", "extended research", "basic crafting", "direct observation", "sufficient population", "appropriate terrain") with concrete breakthrough IDs and environmental conditions across 16 breakthroughs and 6 focus area unlock conditions.

Knowledge Diffusion, Strategic Resource Access, bug fixes — see previous changelog entries.

• Restored dual-path discovery: ~15 breakthroughs can now be discovered through multiple Focus Areas (e.g. Gunpowder through Chemistry or Warfare, Printing Press through Mechanics or Communications, Vaccination through Medicine or Animal Husbandry)
• New speculative path: No Fossil Fuels World (FOSSIL_FUELS_ABSENT flag) — Coal, petroleum, and bitumen never appear. Added ME08-W (Charcoal Blast Furnace), MC09-W (Alcohol Combustion Engine), CH09-W (Bio-Organic Synthesis), ES03-W (Biomass Power Plant), ES05-W (Alcohol/Biogas Power Plant), MI13 (Wood Gas Production). All downstream prereqs updated to accept substitutes.
• New speculative path: Enhanced Springs / Advanced Clockwork (ENHANCED_SPRINGS flag) — Added MC15 (Mainspring Energy Storage), MC16 (Clockwork Automaton), MC17 (Spring-Powered Vehicle), MC18 (Clockwork Analytical Engine). Creates a "clockpunk" industrialization path.
• New speculative path: Antikythera Chain (ANTIKYTHERA_TRADITION flag) — Added O13 (Mechanical Ephemeris), O14 (Tide Computing Engine), O15 (Mechanical Weather Predictor). Each reduces cost of downstream mechanical computing breakthroughs.
• Formalized World Flags system with probabilities and combination effects
• Updated MC14 (Babbage) to receive cost reductions from both Antikythera and Clockwork chains
• Updated Guaranteed Path Integrity rules (10 rules, up from 7) ensuring all world flag combinations maintain viable paths to victory

• Removed MI01 (Copper Extraction), MI02 (Tin Extraction), MI03 (Gold Panning), MI04 (Iron Ore Extraction) as separate breakthroughs. These were redundant busywork.
• S04 (Ore Identification) now reveals all surface mineral deposits on the map — a visible, exciting moment. Copper, tin, gold, and iron deposits all appear.
• F04 (Smelting) now enables extraction and smelting of soft metals (copper, tin, gold) from revealed deposits. No separate extraction step needed.
• Iron remains gated behind ME-B (Bellows) + F03 (Charcoal) — the temperature barrier is the meaningful challenge, not finding the ore.
• MI05 (Deep Shaft Mining) reveals additional deep deposits not visible on the surface — a second exciting map-reveal moment.
• Updated all downstream references to removed breakthroughs.

• Removed CH03 (Gunpowder Composition) — duplicate of WA10. Gunpowder is now discoverable through either Chemistry or Warfare focus, noted on WA10.
• Removed CM03 (Telegraph) — duplicate of EL04. Telegraph is now discoverable through either Communications or Electricity focus, noted on EL04.
• Removed ES02 (Windmill) — duplicate of MC04. MC04 now noted as discoverable through Energy Systems or Mechanics.
• Removed MS06 (Room Temp Superconductor) — duplicate of EL12. EL12 now noted as reachable through Electronics or Materials Science.

Every breakthrough now has a tangible gameplay reason to be excited about it, beyond just fulfilling prerequisites. Major additions:

• All "pure prereq" science breakthroughs (MA08, MA10, MA13, QP01-QP08, RC01-RC02, NP01-NP02, PH01, PH03, PH10, etc.) now have concrete gameplay effects: buildings, unit improvements, map reveals, or strategic abilities.
• Mining resources (Saltpeter, Sulfur, Bitumen, Volcanic Ash, Rubber, Rare Earths) now each provide immediate gameplay benefits beyond being prerequisites.
• Construction and infrastructure breakthroughs given clearer strategic value.