M2 Living Town (outline)

M2 leads with four themes the maintainer picked on 2026-11-08: moderation, medic, comms, and investigation. This file is an outline. Each theme is broken into sub-issues on GitHub, listed under its section; they get full scope cards after the M1 playtests show what players need. Read it with direction, decisions, and the life/RP benchmark, which ranks these four as its top candidates.

Where M2 happens. The four themes are built and proven in the M1 playtest village. M2 closes by placing the loops in one Everon town on MainWorld from reusable site prefabs, with a filmed tour. That step was all of M2 ("Flagship town") until 2026-11-08; it now comes last, so the prefabs carry the new systems too.

Rules that apply to every theme.

• In-world first: a real item, a place, a sound before a screen.
• Animation and sound are part of done. Each scope names its animation and sound (vanilla, a recorded dependency, or ours).
• Gamepad-friendly, PC-first: amounts from presets, short lists, typing rare. Every scope says how a gamepad player completes it.
• Framework, then flagship: each system is configurable; the flagship default is what 1989 Everon ships.
• Officers apply fixed penalties from config (no court in M2).
• Overthrow code may be copied with its header (THIRD_PARTY.md); check docs/ecosystem.md pull #2 before writing a system from scratch.

Epics on GitHub: milestone M2, labels m2 and epic, one issue per theme: #145 moderation, #146 medic, #147 comms, #148 investigation.

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1. Moderation: incident log and Game Master tools

Epic: #145.

Moderation decides whether a life server survives; every burnout story in the benchmark is about RDM and admin conduct, not missing features.

Player journey. A player is shot outside the bank. They report it from the payphone or to an admin. The admin opens Game Master, sees the incident at that spot: who fired, who was hit, whether either held up the other first, whether it happened in the lawless area. The admin rules in a minute, from facts, and the ruling is recorded. Players see moderation as fast and fair; nobody sees an admin panel.

In-world design. The log is invisible to players. Its effects are in the world: the hold-up is a visible gesture with a sound, the lawless area has signs and a fence line, and the New Life Rule cue appears as a hospital wristband (see Medic). Admins work inside vanilla Game Master, not a custom menu.

Framework vs flagship.

Depends on M1. Server-authoritative crime and kill hooks (M1-27, #125), the safe zone (#125), the interaction menu (M1-12, #98), the restart-safe save (M1-04, #89).

Sub-issues (epic #145, in order; the first is the playable core):

1. #239 Incident log records deaths, damage, and cash moves
2. #240 Admins read incidents in Game Master
3. #241 A player report flags recent incidents for staff
4. #242 Zone service with safe, lawless, and normal rule sets
5. #243 The quarry is the one marked lawless area (flagship)
6. #244 Hold-up action marks hostile intent
7. #245 Aiming a weapon at a player is logged as intent
8. #246 Admin actions are logged too

Risks. Log volume on a busy server (bound it, sample damage). Aim detection cost per frame (check on a timer, only for drawn weapons). Game Master API surface for custom panels is unknown; research before planning. Privacy: the log is for admins only and never reaches a client.

2. Medic: downed state, EMS, ambulance

Epic: #146.

A third role with its own loop, so the town is more than cops and criminals. Reforger already simulates bleeding, tourniquets, morphine, and saline.

Player journey. A courier crashes on the coast road and goes down instead of dying. Someone calls the hospital from a payphone; the medic's pager beeps with the location. The medic drives the ambulance out, stabilises the patient with a real kit, loads them, and drives them to a hospital bed. The patient wakes there with a smaller bill. If nobody comes in time, the patient dies, wakes in hospital with the full bill, and the New Life Rule applies.

In-world design. The downed state uses vanilla unconsciousness with a bleed-out timer the patient can feel (vision, sound), not a countdown HUD. The medic kit is real vanilla medical items. The ambulance is a vanilla vehicle with a stretcher slot. Paying the medic is cash, handed over or billed on paper. Polish: carry and drag animations (ACE Carrying, under evaluation in docs/ecosystem.md), stretcher load sound, siren.

Framework vs flagship.

Depends on M1. Wake up in hospital (M1-26, #121), duty desk pattern and duty pay (M1-11, #96; M1-07, #92), dual inventory for duty gear (#96).

Sub-issues (epic #146, in order; the first is the playable core):

1. #255 Downed state on lethal damage
2. #256 Bleed-out timer and the give-up option
3. #257 Anyone with first aid slows the bleed-out
4. #258 Medic job clocked in at the hospital desk
5. #259 A medic revives a downed patient
6. #260 Treatment bill on paper, paid at the hospital desk
7. #261 Carry and drag a downed player
8. #262 Ambulance delivers a patient to a hospital bed for the reduced bill
9. #263 Siren and lights on service vehicles
10. #264 New Life Rule: wristband on waking and a reminder near the scene
11. #265 Village hospital: medic desk, ambulance bay, and 1989 bills (flagship)

Risks. Intercepting vanilla death without breaking respawn, loot on the body, and the murder hook. Downed players as hostages or loot pinatas (decide what a downed player can lose). A medic role with nothing to do on a quiet server (pair it with a simple NPC call or a towing side job).

3. Comms: payphones, pagers, dispatch board

Epic: #147.

Every service (police, medic, taxi, mechanic) needs a way to be called. No phone UI; 1989 comms only.

Player journey. A shop owner sees a robbery and walks to the payphone. They pick up, press the police preset, and give a short description from a list. On duty, the officer's pager beeps; at the station, the dispatch board shows the call with time and place. A criminal with a scanner hears the police radio and leaves early.

In-world design. Payphones are placed props with a coin slot and a handset animation. The call is a short preset menu (service, then what you saw); free text is optional. Pagers are carried items that beep and show a one-line message. The dispatch board is a corkboard or teleprinter at the station. Radios are vanilla, on frequencies. Polish: dial tone, DTMF, coin drop, pager beep, teleprinter clatter.

Framework vs flagship.

Depends on M1. Alarm and dispatch on the vanilla radio (M1-20, #105), the wanted board (#96), the interaction menu patterns (#98).

Sub-issues (epic #147, in order; the first is the playable core):

1. #247 Call the police from a payphone
2. #248 Calls route to any service in config
3. #249 Pager item beeps with the call
4. #250 Dispatch board at each service's station
5. #251 A responder takes a call and the caller hears back
6. #252 Service radios on fixed frequencies
7. #253 Police scanner as an illegal crime tool
8. #254 Payphones and boards placed around the village (flagship)

Risks. Spam calls (cost and cooldown, logged). Message text on a dedicated server is fine, but rendering on a prop needs the RT-texture pattern from the signs (#119). Vanilla radio API limits for scanning.

4. Investigation: witnesses and evidence

Epic: #148.

Gives police something to do between chases and makes the vague-description wanted system real (decision "Wanted is automatic; police get a description").

Player journey. A cash van is robbed at the quarry road. A passing civilian sees a green jacket and a tan car with a plate starting "B-" and reports it from the payphone. Police find casings and a dropped drill at the scene, bag them, and log them in the evidence locker. The drill came from the fence; its serial ties to a buyer. A stop on the coast road finds a man in a green jacket in a tan car. An ID check names him and the wanted entry becomes "identified".

In-world design. Witness statements come from the payphone and from talking to a civilian, using presets drawn from what that witness could see. Evidence is physical: casings, dropped items, a bag, the evidence locker. Plates are read by eye. No database terminal; the board and paper files are the record.

Framework vs flagship.

Depends on M1. Description snapshots and the identified flag (decision 2026-11-08, wanted board #96, dispatch #105), the paper ticket (#104), jail (#106), plates (EL_LicensePlateManager).

Sub-issues (epic #148, in order; the first is the playable core):

1. #266 Witness description from the payphone
2. #267 Officers question witnesses in person, including NPCs
3. #268 Casings and dropped items become scene evidence
4. #269 Evidence locker at the station
5. #270 Hidden crime record per account
6. #271 Fence NPC sells tools to proven criminals only
7. #272 Fence tools carry serials that lead back to the buyer
8. #273 The bank vault needs fence tools
9. #274 Cash van robbery
10. #275 Police armory heist
11. #276 Fence, cash van route, and evidence locker in the village (flagship)

Risks. Witness quality on a low-population server (NPC witnesses may be needed). Evidence that never gets used turns into clutter (expiry). The fence must not become a grind wall; thresholds are small and come from playtests.

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Not in M2

• Scheduled and organised events (decision "Scheduled events are parked").
• A player-staffed bail or appeal desk (decision "Officers apply fixed penalties from config").
• Permanent character death.
• Cosmetic donations (flagship, M4 at the earliest).