Sides, lifeforms & faces

Narrative missions need factions to fight (sides), characters to talk to (lifeforms), and faces for comms.

Sides

Create sides with prefab_side_generic, then set how they feel about each other. await captures the side id the prefab yields:

tsn      = await prefab_spawn(prefab_side_generic, data={"key":"tsn"})
side_set_display_name(tsn, "TSN")
side_set_description(tsn, "The Terran Stellar Navy")
side_set_icon_color(tsn, "#07F")

# or set it all in the prefab data:
raider   = await prefab_spawn(prefab_side_generic, data={"key":"raider", "name":"Raider", "color":"#F00", "desc":"Hostile Aliens"})
amb_side = await prefab_spawn(prefab_side_generic, data={"key":"ambassador", "name":"Ambassador", "color":"#FFF"})

side_set_relations(tsn, raider, sbs.DIPLOMACY.HOSTILE)
side_set_relations(tsn, amb_side, sbs.DIPLOMACY.NEUTRAL)

sim.set_diplomacy_color(sbs.DIPLOMACY.HOSTILE, "#F00")
sim.set_diplomacy_color(sbs.DIPLOMACY.NEUTRAL, "#077")

An object's side is the first role in its npc_spawn roles string ("tsn, station" → side tsn).

Lifeforms (NPCs)

A lifeform is an NPC used for comms, names, and faces. Create them at the top level (shared) so every task can reach them:

shared admiral = lifeform_spawn("Admiral Harkin", "ter #964b00 8 1;ter #fff 3 5;", "admiral")

Arguments: display name, a face string, and a role. Read its face and name later with get_face(admiral.id) and admiral.name.

Attach a lifeform to a player ship as crew (shown in interior views):

ensign_rachel.host = artemis_id

Faces

Faces are strings. Build random ones, or set an object's face directly:

set_face(station_id, random_terran(civilian=True))
set_face(amb_id, random_terran(civilian=False))
set_face(raider_id, random_kralien())
face = get_face(admiral.id)      # e.g. to pass to a comms message

Use the face when sending a message (see Story & NPC messages) or in comms dialogue. See the faces API and the lifeform API.