Highway

A Highway is a Zone subtype that lets ships travel at high speed along a fixed route. Two flavours:

Flavour	Connects	`.islocalhighway`	`.issuperhighway`
Local highway	Two zones inside the same sector	true	false
Superhighway	Two clusters	false	true

Inheritance: component → space → zone → highway.

Properties

Highway-specific

Property	Type	Description
`.isdisabled`	bool	Highway disabled (only via custom gamestart)
`.origin`	zone	The zone the highway starts from
`.destination`	zone	The zone the highway leads to
`.junctions`	list	Zones along the highway path
`.entry`	highwayentrygate	Entry gate (the visual portal at the start)
`.exit`	highwayexitgate	Exit gate (the visual portal at the end)
`.entryjumpgate`	gate	Jumpgate that leads INTO this highway (for highway-after-gate flows)
`.exitjumpgate`	gate	Jumpgate this highway leads INTO
`.closestpointtoplayer`	position	Closest point to player in highway coords (x=y=0, z=0..1)

Inherited from zone

.islocalhighway / .issuperhighway (from zone) are the discriminators. Plus all zone accessors apply (since highway IS-A zone).

Common patterns

”Where does this highway lead?”

<set_value name="$nextSector"
    exact="$highway.destination.sector"/>

.destination is a zone — chain .sector for sector lookup (same pattern as Gate).

”Player on a superhighway — read the exit”

Pattern from vanilla conversations.xml:1616:

<set_value name="$locationobject"
    exact="if @$Origin.zone.issuperhighway
           then $Origin.zone.exit
           else $Origin"/>

For conversation positioning, vanilla uses the exit gate of the highway rather than the player’s mid-highway position.

”Find highways in a sector"

<find_zone
    name="$Highways"
    space="$Sector"
    normalzone="false"
    multiple="true"/>

<do_for_each name="$z" in="$Highways">
    <do_if value="$z.islocalhighway or $z.issuperhighway">
        <!-- a highway zone -->
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

"Read player’s progress along a highway”

<do_if value="@player.zone.issuperhighway">
    <write_to_logbook
        text="'Player progress: '
            + player.zone.closestpointtoplayer.z
            + ' (0=entry, 1=exit)'"/>
</do_if>

The .closestpointtoplayer.z value (0..1) is the progress fraction along the highway.

Events

There is no event_highway_X family. Standard space events apply:

Event	When	Notes
`event_object_changed_sector`	Ship crossed a sector boundary (superhighway exits trigger this)	Standard

Common gotchas

⚠ Highway IS-A zone. isclass.zone is TRUE for highways. To exclude highways, check .islocalhighway and .issuperhighway.
⚠ .destination returns a zone, not a sector. Chain .destination.sector for sector lookup (same as Gate).
⚠ .entry / .exit are dedicated highway-gate classes (highwayentrygate / highwayexitgate). They are NOT class.gate — see Gate for the class hierarchy.
⚠ .entryjumpgate / .exitjumpgate are the connected JUMPGATES. These are class.gate proper. Useful for “after I jump through gate X, will I enter a highway?”.
⚠ .closestpointtoplayer.x and .y are always 0 by design. Only .z (progress 0..1) is meaningful. Don’t treat as a full position.
⚠ .isdisabled is rare. Only set via custom gamestart definitions. Most mods can ignore this flag.
⚠ .haspriority=false on highways (from zone). Patrol / mission cues that pick “the most important zone in this sector” should skip highways via this flag.

Examples

Example 1: Find a highway connecting two specific sectors

<find_zone
    name="$SuperHighways"
    space="$ClusterA"
    multiple="true"/>

<set_value name="$found" exact="null"/>

<do_for_each name="$hw" in="$SuperHighways">
    <do_if value="$hw.issuperhighway
        and $hw.destination.sector == $TargetSector">
        <set_value name="$found" exact="$hw"/>
        <break/>
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

Example 2: Detect player entering a highway

<cue name="WatchHighwayEntry" instantiate="true">
    <conditions>
        <event_player_signalled/>
        <check_value
            value="@player.zone
                and (player.zone.islocalhighway
                    or player.zone.issuperhighway)"/>
    </conditions>
    <actions>
        <write_to_logbook
            text="'Player entered highway: '
                + player.zone.knownname"/>
    </actions>
</cue>

(event_player_signalled is a placeholder; real detection typically polls player.zone changes via heartbeats.)

Example 3: Compute highway transit time estimate

<do_if value="@player.zone.issuperhighway">
    <set_value name="$Progress"
        exact="player.zone.closestpointtoplayer.z"/>
    <set_value name="$Remaining"
        exact="(1.0f - $Progress) * 60s"
        comment="approximate — depends on highway speed"/>
    <write_to_logbook
        text="'Estimated time to exit: ' + $Remaining"/>
</do_if>

Architectural context

Highway pathfinding: Architectural overview Highway routing — how NPCs enter, traverse, and exit highways.
Local vs super: Architectural overview Highway topology — visual / mechanic differences, speed multipliers.
Junction handling: Architectural overview Highway junctions — how junctions list defines multi-stop highways.

Zone — parent abstraction.
Sector — what highways exist in (local) or connect (super).
Cluster — what superhighways connect.
Gate — sibling connectivity mechanism (formal jumpgates vs highways).