One task system for one unit or fifty

From Ashes to Orbit starts with a single survivor and ends with a colony. The tempting way to build that is to write direct character control first and bolt a job system on later. That path ends in a rewrite.

Designations, not commands

Instead, the player never moves a unit directly. A click creates a designation: mine this, haul that, build here. Any unit that is free and able claims the job, walks to it over the navigation mesh and carries it out.

On day one there is only one unit to claim anything, so it feels like click-to-move. Nothing changes when the second survivor arrives except that jobs get claimed faster.

What it bought

Priorities, skills and the salvage mech all slotted into the same queue. The mech is just another worker with different abilities and a battery.