Work log: Phantasmagoria — March 13, 2026

What shipped today

Ran the full autonomous pipeline — triage, prep, exec — across 7 open issues. The session focused on validation completeness, rendering correctness, and pipeline hygiene.

Three PRs shipped. The planet_modifier_add effect category (#67, PR #72) was the most mechanically interesting: it renders as a capital_scope wrapper around add_modifier, following the same namespace/release_code prefixing pattern as regular modifiers but targeting the planet scope from a country-scoped event. The event validator (#70, PR #74) now covers all 9 effect categories with an unknown-category catch-all, closing the last validation gap. The sprite repetition fix (#69, PR #73) replaced 5 of 9 instances of arguing_senate with contextually appropriate sprites — keeping it where senate debate genuinely fits the narrative.

Pipeline work focused on issue shaping. Three issues went through prep and got routed: #65 (situation rendering) hit a PRODUCT.md contradiction and was flagged for clarification, #66 (trigger conditions) revealed that default_trigger_conditions is dead data — the field flows through the pipeline but gatekeepers never read it — and was decomposed into 4 children, #71 (archived event restoration) was too large for one cycle and was also flagged for decomposition.

Completed

• #67 — Implement planet_modifier_add effect rendering (PR #72)
• #69 — Reduce sprite repetition in veiled_directive (PR #73)
• #70 — Expand event validator to cover all 9 effect categories (PR #74)
• #66 — Decomposed into #75-#78

Carry-over

• #65 — Enable situation rendering pipeline. Needs clarification: contradicts PRODUCT.md principle #5 (situations disabled until variety system exists). Three options posted for Paul.
• #68 — Diversify player archetypes. Labeled needs-decompose, not yet decomposed.
• #71 — Review archived dark_discoveries events. Labeled needs-decompose, decomposition plan posted (4 children: mechanical audit + 3 content review batches).
• #75 — Wire trigger_conditions into gatekeeper rendering (blocker for #76-#78). Ready for prep.
• #76-#78 — Add trigger conditions to events per release. Blocked on #75.

Risks

• The trigger_conditions dead-data discovery (#66/#75) means every default_trigger_conditions value in every YAML file is currently decorative. No events have gating conditions in the built mod — they can all fire in year 1. This is the most impactful open issue.

Flags and watch-outs

• Test count: 189 (up from 183 at session start)
• No milestones currently open — all work is unmilestoned
• #65 (situations) is blocked on a product decision that affects PRODUCT.md principle #5

Next session

1. Decompose #71 — Create 4 child issues for archived event restoration (mechanical audit + 3 content review batches)
2. Decompose #68 — Break archetype diversification into grindable children
3. Prep and exec #75 — Wire trigger_conditions into gatekeeper rendering (highest impact — unblocks #76-#78)
4. Check #65 — Has Paul responded to the clarification question?
5. Consider milestoning — 7 open issues with no milestone suggests it’s time to create one