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HISTORY.md

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History & Archeology (Phase 40)

Phase 40 introduces the Archeology Tool, Fossil Record, and History Snapshots, enabling users to preserve and analyze the long-term evolutionary trajectory of their world.

Archeology Tool

The Archeology Tool allows users to travel back in time and observe the macro-evolutionary state of the world.

  • Toggle View: Press the y key to open the Archeology & Fossil Record panel.
  • Time Travel: Use the [ (back) and ] (forward) keys to navigate through recorded history snapshots.
  • Data Display: Each snapshot shows the population count, species count, atmospheric carbon levels, and identified biodiversity hotspots at that specific point in time.

Fossil Record

The Fossil Record is a persistent registry of the most successful lineages that have gone extinct. It ensures that evolutionary innovations are not lost even after a species vanishes from the living world.

Fossilization Process

When the last member of a lineage dies, the system triggers the Fossilization process:

  1. Legendary Archiving: Throughout its life, each lineage tracks its "Best Legendary" representative—the individual with the highest fitness score (calculated based on age, offspring count, and peak energy).
  2. Extraction: Upon extinction, this legendary representative's genotype, including its complete neural brain architecture, is extracted.
  3. Fossilization: A Fossil record is created, capturing the lineage's peak stats (Max Generation, Total Offspring produced, Peak Population) and its brain DNA.
  4. Persistence: Fossils are stored in logs/fossils.json and remain accessible across simulation runs.

Viewing Fossils

The Archeology panel (y) displays the top 10 most "interesting" fossils, ranked by the total number of offspring the lineage produced. This allows users to pay homage to the great dynasties of the past.

History Snapshots

To enable deep history browsing, the engine periodically captures the entire macro-state of the world.

Snapshot Mechanics

  • Frequency: A world snapshot is taken every 1,000 ticks.
  • Contents: Each snapshot captures PopulationStats, which includes:
    • Global Population and Species Count.
    • Average Lifespan and Brain Entropy.
    • Biomass distribution (Herbivore vs. Carnivore).
    • Atmospheric Carbon levels and Mutation Scaling factors.
    • Count of entities per active lineage.
    • Location of biodiversity hotspots.
  • Logging: Snapshots are streamed to logs/live.jsonl as Snapshot events, providing an immutable record of the world's progress.

Civilizational History (Phase 63)

Simulation history now records the rise of civilizational structures.

  • Outpost Timeline: Snapshots track the density and ownership of Outposts (Ψ), mapping the expansion of digital territories.
  • Power Grid Formation: History captures when lineages successfully link remote outposts via canal networks, marking the transition from decentralized tribes to integrated civilizations.
  • Climate Legacy: Long-term atmospheric graphs show how dominant lineages used forest management near outposts to reverse global warming, leaving a "Planetary Fingerprint" of their reign.

The history system is built around several key structures:

  • Fossil: The data structure representing an extinct lineage's legacy.
  • FossilRegistry: Manages the collection of fossils and handles I/O.
  • LiveEvent::Snapshot: The event type used for periodic state capture.
  • PopulationStats: The comprehensive metric set captured in each snapshot.

By combining real-time event logging with periodic snapshots and persistent fossilization, Primordium creates a rich, navigable history that turns every simulation run into a unique saga of life, death, and digital evolution.