Mechanics deep dive

Architecture and internals that don’t fit inside one specific menu. Useful for modders, integrators, and users diagnosing unusual behavior.

Modded-faction dynamic support

v2.0.0 architecture. Instead of hardcoding vanilla-only faction lists for expedition eligibility, DA queries get_factions_by_tag tag="tag.claimspace" at runtime. Any faction with that tag is a candidate. This lets Apus, ETW, and future faction mods participate without patching DA.

Companion mods provide the actual expedition / SST job templates:

• Apus Compat Patch — Apus Stellar Treaty
• ETW Compat Patch — Eternal Twilight (3 factions)

Without a compat mod, the modded faction shows in the Jobs SST menu with “No suitable ships available!” — the roster query succeeds (faction is enumerated) but no matching job template exists to build ships from.

Xenon Evolution is time-based, not combat-based

The level-up mechanic in DA-Scripts is pure wall-clock time, not tied to kills, damage, or player military strength. Verified against LibraryEvolutionCheckLevels in md/deadairdynamicuniverse.xml around line 3571:

<find_station_by_true_owner name="$EvolutionXenonStations"
  faction="faction.xenon" canbuildships="true" checkoperational="true"/>
<do_if value="$EvolutionXenonStations.count" min="1">
  <do_if value="$DAEvolutionCurrentLevel lt $DAEvolutionMaxLevel">
    <set_value name="$DAEvolutionCurrentLevel" exact="1" operation="add"/>
    <set_value name="$DAEvolutionLastUpgradeTime" exact="player.age"/>
  </do_if>
</do_if>

The gating logic reduces to three conditions per tick:

1. player.age >= LastUpgradeTime + Evolution Interval — the time gate (default 240 min = 4 h game time).
2. Xenon still have at least one operational shipyard or wharf (canbuildships=true, checkoperational=true). Wipe every Xenon yard and evolution freezes; the moment they rebuild one, it resumes.
3. Current level < max level cap.

Consequence: the fastest way to slow Xenon evolution is to destroy their shipyards + wharfs. Grinding kills against Xenon fleets is irrelevant to the level counter — those kills matter for tactical progress and the Fleet-Size pool, not for level. The Enable Evolution toggle stops the tick entirely if you want to freeze the current level.

Interval and level cap live in DA Evolution → Evolution Interval / Max Level Setting.

Save-safety

Every DA setting persists across save/load. Turning features on/off mid-save is safe — DA does state validation on load and re-applies preset semantics via the reconcile passes. If you change a preset mid-save, the new preset applies immediately without needing a save/reload.

Exception: the Presets system’s runtime registry is rebuilt on every game load / start (mlog080+ pattern). This means edits to md/mlog_da_presets.xml between saves get picked up on the next load — but only after a full X4 restart, since MD scripts are cached at engine boot.

6h TTL on Extension Built lists

mlog087 fix. Previously a failed build attempt permanently blocked a cluster for that faction. If Zyarth’s first shipyard attempt in Wretched Skies V failed for any reason, they’d never try again. Now Built entries carry a player.age timestamp; the observe cue re-evaluates entries older than 6 game-hours as fresh candidates.

Data migration: legacy raw cluster refs get a 6h grace period from the first observe pass (typeof check preserves backward-compat).

Global integration points

DA integrates with vanilla systems at several places:

Hook	Purpose
md.Setup.GameStart	Init cue trigger — DA installs its runtime globals here.
md.Guidance.NewTarget	Cross-cluster player-target commands from DA menu buttons.
policeassetscannedship engine signal	Blueprint Scanning subscription point.
event_object_destroyed	Xenon Evolution kill counter + Station Traders reconcile trigger.
event_god_created_station / event_god_created_factory	Trigger points for the mlog_da_extension / God passes.