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, not a plan. M2 gets 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).

Candidate scopes.

• Incident log service: server-only, append-only, bounded, persisted; one EL_Debug feature name; queryable by position and time.
• Game Master view: incidents as markers and an entity context panel (look at Overthrow OVT_GMRecords and OVT_GMPanelUIComponent first).
• Zones (decision "One marked lawless area"): a zone service with shape and rule set, generalising the M1 safe zone; the flagship lawless area with signs and a fence line.
• Hold-up (decision "Hostile intent is a light mechanic"): an interaction menu entry with animation and sound; server-side aimed-weapon detection, throttled; both logged as intent.
• Admin actions logged too (teleport, heal, kick), so moderators are accountable.

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).

Candidate scopes.

• Downed state: intercept death, bleed-out, give-up option, server authority.
• Medic job: clock in at the hospital desk, duty kit as a second inventory, duty pay.
• Stabilise and revive with vanilla items, with animations.
• Ambulance and bed transfer: load, drive, deliver to a bed for the reduced bill.
• New Life Rule (decision "Death costs a hospital bill and the New Life Rule"): death position and time per player, wristband or note on waking, a quiet reminder near the scene, returns logged to the incident log.

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).

Candidate scopes.

• Payphone prop and call flow with gamepad presets.
• Pager item: receive, show, beep; issued at duty desks.
• Dispatch board at the station and the hospital.
• Radio frequencies per service on vanilla radios; a scanner as a crime tool.

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).

Candidate scopes.

• Witness reports from payphones and from NPC or player civilians.
• Physical evidence: casings and dropped items as bagged evidence; the evidence locker.
• Fence (decision "Top-tier crime needs tools from a fence"): a fence NPC that checks a hidden per-account crime record; drills, charges, and keycards as real items with animation and sound; serials that feed evidence.
• Heist tiers that require the fence's tools: armory, cash van, bank vault.

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).