LHDF Encounters

1.0.16

## [1.0.16]

### Added

- Server owners can change single entries of the location types, location rules, no-spawn circles and sectors in the Encounters server settings without copying the whole list: name the list in the new `mergeLists` key, then add entries, replace an entry (a replaced entry is taken as written, so keys left out return to their defaults), or remove one with `"remove": true`. Lists not named in `mergeLists` are read as before and still replace the defaults, so existing settings files work unchanged. No-spawn circles can now carry an optional `id`.
- Server owners can adjust the balance numbers of adaptive sectors, dynamic encounters and encounter zones (pressure tiers, how strongly sectors move towards their rival share, how often a zone keeps its type, mission site weights, spacing of dynamic encounters, how far groups from outside start, and more) in a new `tuning` block of the Encounters server settings. Its defaults are the values used so far, so nothing changes unless the block is set. The full block with every value is in the reference settings file the server writes at start.
- The server log warns once at start when a sector names an encounter type for its zones that does not exist, is disabled or is a mission type. Such types are skipped as before.

1.0.15

## [1.0.15]

### Changed

- The descriptions of the encounter override settings and of "Use type defaults" (in Workbench, in the Game Master dialog and in the server settings file) now say what applies when a setting is left unset: the sector's value, else the type's, else the server's.

1.0.14

## [1.0.14]

### Changed

- Game Master: mission time limits and repeat times can be set up to 24 hours.
- Workbench: an encounter's money reward can be set up to 10,000,000, as in the server files. The descriptions of the chance settings in Workbench and in the server settings file now say that chance is a value from 0 to 1.
- Placed encounter zones, patrols, random encounters and encampments, whether placed in the world or by a Game Master, no longer have their own respawn time of 60 minutes. They use the respawn time of their encounter type or sector if it sets one, else the server's respawn time, which is 45 minutes unless the server owner changed it. Cleared zones therefore come back after 45 minutes instead of 60, also on Nizla Island. Server owners who want the old timing can set the respawn time to 60 in the Encounters server settings. A respawn time other than 60 minutes that a Game Master or Workbench set on a placed encounter is kept. Placed encounters left at 60 minutes, including ones a Game Master changed in other ways, now follow the server's respawn time.

### Fixed

- Game Master: a value set outside a slider's range (in Workbench or a server file) is no longer cut down when another setting of the same encounter is changed. It is kept until that slider is moved.

1.0.13

## [1.0.13]

### Added

- Game Masters can request resolved settings and their sources in the server log. Diagnostic reports include actual random seeds and recent placement decisions to help investigate repeated outcomes.

### Changed

- Group choice in `Forces.json` is now strict. When a faction has no group of the requested size, no group is picked instead of a group of any size; mixed size takes small and medium groups, and large ones only with `largeInMixed`. When `includeLabels` and `excludeLabels` match no catalog group, the faction gets no catalog groups instead of the whole catalog. An unknown label name turns off that faction's catalog groups (its listed groups still count) and logs a warning. After updating, check the server log for factions whose encounters no longer appear.
- Encounter and mission types are checked as a whole when the server starts: spawns, objectives, actions, references to other types and random pools. A file in `Encounters/Types/` that changes a shipped type and fails this check is ignored, and the shipped type is used. A type of your own that fails is not loaded, and types that depend on it can be dropped too. Each rejected type logs one error naming its file, the type and the part of the type that is wrong.
- A placed encounter or mission, an `Areas.json` entry, a location rule or a static mission that names a type the server does not have, a disabled type or a type of the other kind no longer falls back to the zone or random mission type. It does not start, and the log names the rejected type. Update placed encounters and `Areas.json` entries that still name a removed or renamed type. An empty type still uses the default.

### Fixed

- Resetting or removing an encounter now keeps ownership of its unfinished objects until cleanup completes. Stopping the world also removes objects from encounters already leaving play.
- Concurrent follow-up missions keep their own cleanup and zone holds; removing an older mission cannot disturb a newer one. Player location queries stay correct when location-change polling is unused.
- Camps, building defenses and roadside ambushes now plan in small background steps. Resetting or stopping them discards unfinished placement, including objects created during cancellation.
- New enemy groups reserve capacity only after finding a valid position; failed creation returns that capacity immediately. Waking zones and mission groups remain unrestricted and their members still count toward new-spawn limits.
- Terrain placement thresholds now adjust to the map scan's cell size. Roadside ambushes check the actual road edge, and saturated tree counts defer to the final placement check.
- A held cleared zone stays held when it or its sector is disabled. Releasing it checks whether it is still enabled before allowing a new life.
- Cleared encounters now wait until players are outside both the wake range and spawn clearance before respawning, with one respawn per pass. Running missions do not respawn their baseline enemies.
- Empty failed zones are reported as failed, without combat rewards or sector pressure. A director may still reuse an empty failed site for a mission.
- A placed or positioned director stays local even when it is the only director. Overlapping sectors use their actual area, with stable identifiers breaking ties; moving an unnamed director keeps its pressure history.
- Detected location identifiers now use type and position, so translated display names no longer change their identity. Existing disabled-location aliases from the current server locale remain accepted with a warning.
- Cancelling or stopping missions releases held zones and action resources, including scenario zombie nests. Active mission data now updates when objectives change and refreshes countdowns at least every thirty seconds.
- A mission that cannot start at a cleared zone now releases the zone immediately and retries after a minute, instead of leaving the zone held and reporting a successful start.
- Enemy groups, patrol routes, reinforcements, mission locations and extraction destinations now check the actual ground for ponds and lakes even while the map scan is still loading. Camps and fortifications also check points inside their planned footprint.
- Named enemy groups blocked by nearby players wait and retry only their missing groups, without failing the mission or duplicating groups already created.
- When terrain or building information arrives late, only quiet zones that players have never woken may rebuild their placement, one zone at a time.
- An extraction with no dry destination fails without a reward. An enemy exfiltration with no dry destination is skipped and leaves its target in place.
- Missions no longer put hostages, targets or the mass grave in the sea or a lake. Such a mission does not start; if its target cannot appear once it has started, the mission fails without a reward and is not repeated.
- A mission target, hostage or enemy group that could not appear (for example because of a missing game object) no longer counts as destroyed or eliminated at once, so it no longer completes the mission and pays a reward for a fight that never happened. Reward items no longer drop at the corner of the map when the target is missing; they drop at the mission's centre.
- Escorts, guards and other extra enemies of a mission that cannot stand in the sea or a lake are left out instead of appearing in the water.

1.0.12

## [1.0.12]

### Changed

- `maxAI` also watches the server's own AI limit: new dynamic encounters, active-zone groups and event waves wait while either limit is reached. Zones that wake when a player comes near are never held back; they always fill, and their members count.
- With Encounters listed in Core.json `debug`, the log shows for every woken group when it woke, how its member count grows, the server's AI count and limit, whether a player was within its spawn range, and a line for a group still empty a minute after it woke.

### Fixed

- A failed spawn of an encounter group (for example a wrong prefab path in `Forces.json`) no longer leaves the next group spawned by anything, such as the Game Master, without its members.
- Woken passive encounter zones are no longer counted at an estimate of five AI per group once their groups have filled, so they no longer use up the `maxAI` limit and hold back new encounters.
- On the first start on a new map, encounter zones that were built before the world scan finished now get their fortifications and building checks once nobody is near them.
- A zone held by a running mission (cleared, with the mission still on it) now stays held and cleared when its sector's director changes or a Game Master edits or resets it, instead of respawning under the players.
- Moving a director without a name now keeps the pressure its sector had built up, instead of losing it.
- A woken encounter group whose members never came no longer stays empty for good: it asks again up to 10 times (after 5, 10, 20 and 40 seconds, then every minute), waiting without counting while the server's AI limit is reached or no player is close enough for it to spawn. After the last try one warning is logged and the group stays empty, counted as no AI, until its zone wakes again.
- An encounter whose groups never appeared no longer counts as cleared: no reward, money, drop or sector pressure for a fight that never happened. Missions and timed encounters no longer count a group that got no member within 90 seconds as eliminated; a mission whose groups never came ends by its time limit.
- A zone that goes to sleep before its groups arrived now really sleeps: members that still arrive are removed, and the zone fills again the next time a player comes near.
- Groups whose members the game removed to make room for other AI are asked for again instead of leaving their zone empty.
- The Game Master attributes of a placed encounter, mission or director now show every setting: all the overrides (groups, group size, behaviour, doctrine, compositions, fortified houses, activation distance, respawn time, time limit, event, chance, reward items, money reward) and all four sector switches of a director. Before, only the first slider and the first choice appeared, and the server log filled with "already an attribute of the same type" errors each time the dialog opened.

1.0.11

## [1.0.11]

### Added

- `fortifyPercent`: the share of a zone's holdable houses that are fortified (sandbags or barricades outside, defender posts), set by the Game Master slider "Fortified houses" on placed encounters and directors, and by a server key in `Encounters.json` (default 30, 0 to 100). Order: placed encounter, JSON entry or rule, then director sector, type, server. The count is rounded, at least one house when the share is above 0, at most 12 per zone; 0 fortifies none (user, 2026-10-10). The gates are unchanged: zone layout, defend or mixed groups, a faction with fortifications.

1.0.10

## [1.0.10]

### Changed

- Fortifications of held buildings are placed by a LHDF Core building rule set (`docs/tdd/LHDF_Core_WorldMap.md` 5.5): the same spots as before (beside exterior doors and entries, then the sides, two at most), with the sides now taken at the building's walls (its interior boxes) instead of the outer edge of porches and eaves. Two fortifications of one building stay 4 m apart. A building whose prefab the catalog does not know is no longer held. Needs LHDF Core 1.0.31.

1.0.9

## [1.0.9]

### Changed

- Placement on LHDF Core's world map (user, 2026-10-09; world map design 6.5, tasks 7 and 8):
  - Held buildings: besides size and name, a house or hall with a way in (building catalog); before, sheds, open barns and buildings without a door could be held.
  - Fortifications: beside the building's exterior doors first, the doorway kept free, facing out; its sides as before when no door spot is free.
  - Defenders of a held building spawn outside one of its doors instead of anywhere around it.
  - Camps try the terrain grid's open cells of their area, nearest the centre first; camps and prop spots skip water, road, paved, built-up, forest and steep cells untraced.
  - Groups never spawn in water: ponds and lakes too (only the sea before).
  - Ambush orders: the group lies in cover (trees or buildings) 8 to 35 m from a road of its area.
  - Until the catalog and grid are ready, placement works as before.
- Fortifications may stand on paved ground and on flat surfaces lying on the terrain (pavements, yards), still off roads and road meshes, level and clear of buildings (user, 2026-10-09: a town zone showed none; soft ground only had left no spot at a town's houses). Camps and other props keep the soft-ground rule.
- A random encounter logs the type it rolls on each build ("rolls patrol (patrol, behaviour patrol, faction ...)"), and a zone of a faction with fortifications whose groups do not defend logs why it does not fortify (user, 2026-10-09: a random town encounter that had rolled a non-defending type looked like a zone without fortifications).
- One log line per zone that fortifies: buildings held of those holdable, each fortification's position, and how many spots were refused by reason (prop, water, road, building, ground, slope).

1.0.8

## [1.0.8]

### Added

- With LHDF AI: a doctrine per encounter, `doctrine` (`faction`, `professional`, `militia`, `raiders`; type baseline, director, placed entity, JSON entry and the Game Master's "AI doctrine" override, layered like `behaviour`). `faction` (the default) leaves the faction's doctrine from the LHDF AI tab. Through LHDF Core's AI group plans; without LHDF AI it changes nothing.
- With LHDF AI: groups with Ambush orders really ambush, `ambushRange` (60 m; 0: as their doctrine): they hold fire and keep still until an enemy comes that close or shoots at them, whatever their doctrine. Before, they only defended a 10 m spot.
- Needs LHDF Core with AI group plans (1.0.29).

1.0.7

## [1.0.7]

### Added

- The active missions are published through LHDF Core (`missions`) whenever one starts, ends or is cancelled, so LHDF Data shows them on the website's map right away. Only on change, no timer.
- The encounter report also writes `Encounters/EncounterReport.json` (the data alone) and is registered with LHDF Core as `report.encounters`, so LHDF Data sends it to the website when a Game Master writes it.

1.0.6

## [1.0.6]

### Changed

- Props of encounters stand on free ground: compositions and fortifications are no longer placed on roads, runways, paved areas, objects or in buildings, and are tilted with the ground. A camp moves to the nearest clearing in its area, or gets fewer compositions when there is no room.
- Camp defenders spawn at the camp and take its sandbag posts at once.

### Added

- Fortified buildings: zones and squads of a faction with `fortifications` (Forces.json, scenario `m_aFortifications`; shipped for US, USSR and FIA) hold up to three buildings in their area, with sandbags or barricades outside, and their groups defend them.

1.0.5

## [1.0.5]

### Changed

- Location enemies are not rolled at a location that a placed or standalone encounter already reaches; the encounter report names it ("placed encounter ... there"). Before, both stood at the same place.
- A location's enemies are also not rolled when their area reaches into a no-spawn zone, not only when the location's centre is inside one.

### Fixed

- Dynamic encounters that nobody cleared were never removed. They kept their sleeping groups for the rest of the session, and after `dynamicMaxActive` of them no dynamic encounter came again. They now go after `dynamicLifetimeMinutes` once nobody is near.
- Missions dropped their reward items twice: the baseline drop (3 to 6 picks) and the `reward` action of `onComplete`. A type whose `onComplete` always runs a `reward` action now gets only that one; the baseline drop stays for the others (`clear`, `recon`, own types).
- Rescue informant: when players freed the informant while the enemy was taking them away, the exfiltration still ended by deleting the informant, and the mission failed. Freeing them now stops the exfiltration; the escort fights on as a group of the mission.
- Groups and event waves could appear next to players when no place in the area was far enough from them (the area centre was the fallback). A group now comes from just outside the border and walks to its post, or waits until there is room; a wave group with no place away from players is left out.

1.0.4

## [1.0.4]

### Added

- Types and enemy factions: `factions` (a type is only for these enemy factions) and `excludeFactions` (never these) on every type, in code and in `Types/<id>.json`. Dynamic missions and encounters, random types, follow-up missions and placed missions respect it. A placed mission whose type refuses its enemy faction is not started and logs a warning.
- Spawn placement `open`: free, level ground near the centre, for things that need room around them.

### Changed

- A follow-up mission or encounter (`start` action) now runs against the same enemy faction as the mission that started it. Before, it used the default faction.

1.0.3

1.0.2

1.0.1

1.0.0