VEHICLE MOVEMENT
Vehicle movement controls are available only while you are actively
controlling a driver or pilot station. They are supplied by that
Vehicle control surface; they are not ordinary global Character commands.
A driver station receives ground movement controls only. A pilot station
receives the ground controls plus AV flight/altitude controls. This keeps
ordinary local commands such as object-specific CLIMB available to ground
drivers and passengers instead of being shadowed by aircraft controls.
Ground movement:
n / ne / e / se / s / sw / w / nw
drive <direction>
drv <direction>
An air-capable AV may use the same bare compass directions while grounded.
Once airborne, bare compass directions use flight movement automatically.
Air movement:
fly <direction>
fly up
fly down
takeoff
land
climb
descend
FLY UP and FLY DOWN change physical altitude by one real Z increment
within the AV's current airspace tier. This is the only way to change
altitude today.
CLIMB and DESCEND request a transition to a higher or lower connected
airspace *tier* -- a different travel concept from physical altitude.
Each tier is its own freely navigable airspace. Issuing CLIMB or
DESCEND starts a configured transition delay; the AV stays exactly
where it physically is until the delay completes, then automatically
arrives in the destination tier's corresponding airspace at the
equivalent position. No authored departure point, destination, or
route is needed for an ordinary tier transition.
The engine/propulsion system must be running before the Vehicle can move.
Movement follows real physical world topology. The Vehicle always uses
real connected Exits; it does not teleport around blocked or missing routes.
Ground movement uses the Room's canonical physical terrain. Ordinary road
travel is physically valid without a duplicate per-Room vehicle flag.
Rough terrain may be physically traversable even when it is a poor match for
the Vehicle; Vehicle suitability and Driving resolution are separate from
basic Room occupation.
A ground Vehicle cannot enter a Room explicitly authored as indoor (a
building interior). This is decided by the Room's canonical indoor/outdoor
fact, never by terrain alone: an outdoor street and a building lobby can
share the same physical terrain classification.
TAKEOFF moves an AV from valid ground space into connected airspace.
LAND moves an airborne AV into connected valid ground space.
FLY UP and FLY DOWN move physically up/down one real Z increment within
the AV's current airspace tier. Neither substitutes for LAND.
CLIMB and DESCEND request a timed, unrouted transition to the adjacent
connected airspace tier -- the AV remains physically in its current
tier until the transition delay completes.
Passengers do not receive driver/pilot movement controls merely because
they are aboard the Vehicle.
Staff/builders:
NeoOrleans surface Rooms use canonical manifest-cell `base_terrain`
as physical ground truth. Do not add a duplicate vehicle terrain value.
A Room explicitly authored as indoor (`outside` is literal False)
refuses ordinary ground Vehicle occupation regardless of its base
terrain, so a walk-only building entrance never has to be reclassified
as a special terrain just to keep vehicles out of it.
`vehicle_ground_allowed` is an exceptional authored override, and the
only authoring seam for a genuine vehicle entrance (for example a
garage) into an otherwise indoor Room:
True = explicitly permit ground Vehicle occupation, including an
indoor Room with a real vehicle entrance
False = explicitly deny ground Vehicle occupation
missing = fall through to the indoor fact above, then to
canonical physical terrain
`vehicle_air_allowed` remains explicit:
True = valid airspace
missing/non-True = airborne Vehicle occupation denied
A terrain being physically occupiable does not mean it is safe, legal,
suitable for the current Vehicle, or automatically free of a Driving
check.
Ground Vehicle models carry an authored ground-mobility profile. Ordinary
compatible road travel does not require a Driving roll. When canonical
terrain is hazardous for the current Vehicle, movement resolves one
Driving check using the driver's effective weighted Driving Attributes,
Driving Skill, the Vehicle mobility profile, and the terrain challenge.
At the current implementation stage, an unsuccessful hazardous-terrain
Driving check stops the movement attempt. Vehicle damage, bogging,
immobilization, loss of control, speed effects, and damaged-component
consequences belong to later Vehicle damage/component integration and are
not fabricated by the movement command.
Larger AV rear-compartment rappel capability is reserved for the later
capability/equipment implementation and is not part of basic pilot
controls.