Zone

A Zone is a sub-sector spatial unit — the actual coordinate space where ships physically exist. A Sector typically contains 1–10 zones, organised in an adjacency graph. Zone-level queries answer “what’s near me right now” rather than “what’s in this sector”.

Inheritance: component → space → zone.

Highway is a zone subtype — [Highway](/game/world/highway/) extends zone, so all highway logic is also zone logic.

Properties

Zone-specific

Property	Type	Description
`.adjacentzones`	list	All zones directly adjacent to this one (in-sector graph)
`.haspriority`	bool	This zone has highest priority in its area (false for highways)
`.policefaction`	faction	Police faction for the zone (== zone owner’s police faction; may be null)
`.size`	length	Zone edge length
`.istempzone`	bool	Currently a temporary zone (mission-created)
`.isnormalzone`	bool	Currently a normal zone (not temp, not gate, not highway)
`.isalwaysnormalzone`	bool	Always a normal zone — set at game start, doesn’t change
`.islocalhighway`	bool	Is a local (intra-sector) highway zone
`.issuperhighway`	bool	Is a super (inter-sector) highway zone
`.hashazardousregionat.{position}`	bool	Position is inside a hazardous region
`.isregioncurrentlyhazardousat.{position}`	bool	Position is in a currently active hazardous region

Inherited from space

Property	Source	Description
`.economy` / `.security`	space	Per-zone modifiers
`.locationtags` / `.alllocationtags`	space	Zone tags
`.accesslicence` / `.accessrestricted`	space	Licence-gated access

Common patterns

”Is this object’s container a zone?”

Pattern from vanilla encounters.xml (heavy use, 9 sites):

<do_if value="$LeadShip.parent.isclass.zone">
    <!-- ship is in a zone (could be sub-sector or highway) -->
</do_if>

Encounter scripts use this to distinguish “ship is free-flying in a zone” from “ship is docked at a station / inside a build module”.

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

Pattern from conversations.xml:1616. Used to redirect “where am I” queries — superhighway-traveling ships get their exit point instead of their current highway position.

”Find normal zones in a sector”

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

The normalzone="true" filter on find_zone excludes highways and temp zones.

”Walk the zone adjacency graph”

<do_for_each name="$adj" in="$Zone.adjacentzones">
    <do_if value="$adj.isnormalzone">
        <!-- direct neighbour, useful for traffic / navigation -->
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

Events

There is no event_zone_X family. Zone changes are observed indirectly:

Event	When	Notes
`event_object_changed_sector`	Cross sector boundary	Closest proxy for “left a zone” — see Sector Events

For zone-specific traffic events, use event_object_attacked or event_object_destroyed filtered by event.object.zone == $WatchedZone.

Common gotchas

⚠ .adjacentzones is in-sector only. It does NOT include zones across a gate or highway. For inter-sector neighbour lookup, walk the gate graph.
⚠ .isnormalzone and .isalwaysnormalzone differ for runtime-modified zones. A normal zone with a temporary mission-spawn flag has .isnormalzone=false, .isalwaysnormalzone=true. Use the right one for your logic.
⚠ Highways are zones. class.highway IS-A class.zone. To find non-highway zones, filter with not .islocalhighway and not .issuperhighway.
⚠ .size is edge length, not area. Edge of a cubic-ish region. Don’t square it for “zone area” — use it as the bounding edge.
⚠ .policefaction is null for ownerless / contested zones. Always null-check.
⚠ .haspriority=false for highways. When iterating zones with priority semantics (combat priority, mission spawn priority), highways get deprioritised.

Examples

Example 1: List all zones in a sector

<find_zone
    name="$Zones"
    space="$Sector"
    multiple="true"/>

<do_for_each name="$z" in="$Zones">
    <write_to_logbook
        text="$z.knownname + ' (size: ' + $z.size + ')'"/>
</do_for_each>

Example 2: Check player’s current zone for hazard

<do_if value="@player.zone
    and player.zone.isregioncurrentlyhazardousat.{player.ship.position}">
    <write_to_logbook
        text="'Player in hazardous zone region'"/>
</do_if>

Example 3: Walk adjacency to find nearest enemy-owned zone

<create_list name="$Checked"/>
<set_value name="$Found" exact="null"/>

<do_for_each name="$z" in="player.zone.adjacentzones">
    <do_if value="@$z.policefaction
        and $z.policefaction.hasrelation.enemy.{faction.player}">
        <set_value name="$Found" exact="$z"/>
        <break/>
    </do_if>
</do_for_each>

<do_if value="@$Found">
    <write_to_logbook
        text="'Hostile adjacent zone: ' + $Found.knownname"/>
</do_if>

Architectural context

Zone graph for traffic / patrol: Architectural overview Zone adjacency — how patrols and traffic use the adjacency graph for in-sector pathing.
Highway zone behaviour: Architectural overview Highway flow — local vs super, junctions, entry/exit zone semantics.
Hazardous regions: Architectural overview Hazardous regions — how regions are projected onto zone position-tests.

Sector — parent container.
Highway — zone subtype.
Region — what hazardous-region tests project from.
Gate — connects zones across sector boundaries.
Ship — what populates zones.