[Mon, 27 Jul 2026]
I let the blog fall behind after May. I also started a new repository in July, so this entry covers the gap. The old history is no longer available; this is where things stood at the start of the new repo.
The last entry covered dogfighting, repair fleets, audio and effects. By late July, the cell catalog included models for thrusters, weapons, power components, repair tools, storage and several pilot cells. The pilot definitions could use separate meshes for the exterior and first-person view, including cockpit glass. The cell editor had controls for fitting and orienting those models, their materials and the FPV setup.
Modular ship near a station, October 2026 capture.
Destroyed modeled cells could break into pieces of their source mesh. Those pieces carried their own mass and collision bounds into the simulation. The editor also had a debris preview for checking the fragments.
Reactive shields were in place around the ship. Hits consumed the health of the shield projectors, and the shield surface also participated in collisions with ships and asteroids. The protection still depended on functioning cells aboard the ship.
The grapple could pull in and hold small ships or detached cell groups, subject to range, size and mass limits. This was separate from the tow connections I'd covered earlier.
There was also a first pass at the game interface: start, loading, pause and docked screens. The docked screen could undock, but its ship editor, missions and map entries were still unconnected. The development editors remained available separately.