Simplifications worth revisiting — design brief

The [~] items in ROADMAP.md: features that are implemented with a deliberate shortcut, kept honest so a later session can decide whether to build them out.

1. Shared project context (read this first)

Battle for 'Tismo is an HTML5 port of a turn-of-the-millennium strategy game. Pure JavaScript, no build step, no runtime dependencies.

Server-authoritative. shared/game_state.js (GameState) is the model; server/game_server.js validates orders; the browser renders snapshots.
Shared logic runs in Node and the browser; shared/ stays framework-free (no Node, no DOM).
GameState is mixins. shared/game_state.js imports each shared/game_state/<topic>.js and adds its methods to the prototype.
Data lives in shared/data/ (barrel: shared/data.js).
Version counters / memoisation guard the snapshot and tick paths (_populationVersion, _territoryVersion, _tileImprovementVersion, _gdpEpoch, the trade-graph stamp). A new snapshot collection needs a DELTA_COLLECTIONS entry and a version.

Commands

Install once: npm install.
One suite: node tests/run_tests.js --file <name>.js. Never the full suite during development — the commit hook runs it.
Server: node server/server.js --port 27015 --bind 127.0.0.1.

Conventions

2-space indent; no new libraries; dummy icon dummy icon - <name>.
Tests in tests/<topic>_test.js extending TestCase; force RNG with state._random = () => value.
Commit only when asked; one imperative sentence; the hook runs the full suite.

2. Structure damage is abstracted

[~] Structure and city damage is modelled as city population/GDP loss plus improvement hit points, not a dedicated per-structure HP system.

Today: a city level or tile work has hit points / a repair debt (RESOURCE_RULES.repair, shared/game_state/ combat/improvements), and its loss shows as population and GDP loss. There is no per-building HP.
Full model: each structure on a tile tracks its own condition, so a bombardment knocks out one specific building rather than degrading the city as a whole; repairs target the structure.
Questions: does per-structure HP add meaningful decisions, or just bookkeeping? How does it interact with the existing repair debt and the capture/destruction rules? Snapshot cost if every structure carries HP.
Files: shared/game_state/resources.js (repair rules), combat/improvements mixins, shared/data/combat.js.

3. Fossil fuels are not a resource

[~] Fossil fuels are abstracted into the transformative plants' money upkeep rather than a stored fuel resource (the roadmap lists only the five groups: energy, steel, food, luxury, high-tech).

Today: coal/gas/oil plants pay their fuel as money upkeep; there is no coal, gas or oil stock to buy, store or blockade.
Full model: fossil fuels as storable resources with extraction buildings, market prices and a transport bill, making a blockade or a price spike bite.
Questions: does adding two-to-three more resources pay for the extra UI and simulation? The roadmap deliberately lists only five groups.
Files: shared/data/resources.js, shared/data/buildings.js, shared/game_state/resources.js.

4. Energy is a daily flow, not a store

[~] Energy is modelled as a daily flow everywhere, so no city can bank it. Only the other four groups have per-tile storage.

Today: electricity is produced and consumed within the tick; no battery.
Full model: energy storage (batteries), so a surge can be banked and a brownout ridden out; possibly strategic reserves.
Questions: does storage break the "energy is cheap and everywhere" balance? Round-trip losses? Interaction with the delivery graph (10 GWh = 1 t of delivered energy).
Files: shared/game_state/resources.js, shared/data/resources.js, shared/data/buildings.js.

5. Cities buy from the cheapest source with a nominal delivery

[~] A city always buys from the cheapest source: a nearby store whose delivered price beats the market, or the global market itself. Market buying uses a nominal two-tile road delivery.

Today: the choice is price-only; distance affects the delivered price but not which routes are physically available beyond the network rules.
Full model: a city bids across the transport network with real routing, lead times and possible stock-outs, instead of a nominal two-tile market leg.
Questions: does the simplification hide transport bottlenecks the delivery graph is meant to surface? How is the nominal leg calibrated?
Files: shared/game_state/resources.js, shared/game_state/economy.js, client/js/map_view/modes.js (delivery graph), client/js/map_view/economic.js.

6. Give-money treaties bypass FX and reserves

[~] Give money is denominated in any currency but (simplified) the sum moves straight between the two treasuries, with no FX or central-bank reserve leg.

Today: shared/game_state/treaties.js moves the sum directly; the "cannot get currency from a central bank at war with you" rule is not modelled.
Full model: draw from the giver's foreign reserves, otherwise buy from the relevant central bank at the market rate; block a bank whose nation is at war.
Questions: which FX rate and spread? Does a reserve shortage fail the treaty or partially settle?
Files: shared/game_state/treaties.js, shared/game_state/ currency/central bank mixins, client/js/modals/nation.js (treaty compose).

7. Missiles / WMD

[~] Missiles and WMDs are marked [~] while their sub-items are largely [x].

Today: a plain missile is conventional unless the player arms it nuclear from the unit panel (then it needs nuclear_weapons); the icbm is nuclear by design and needs nuclear_weapons + space_program. A nuclear blast kills ~90% of a tile's people, destroys buildings/improvements except bunkers and fortifications, and costs every nation popularity.
What is unfinished: the WMD follow-up "foreign intelligence may be warned that you are enriching uranium" (see INTELLIGENCE.md), and any further refinement of blast falloff / interception.
Files: shared/game_state/wmd.js, shared/data/units.js, shared/data/combat.js, client/js/game_screen/panels.js.

DESIGN.md (index), INTELLIGENCE.md, STACKS.md, AIR_MOVEMENT.md, ECONOMY_BALANCE.md, POLITICS_PERFORMANCE.md, TRAINING_UI.md, ICONS.md.

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