Chapter 52 — Defeat Flow

52 — Defeat Flow

When an entity’s HP hits zero the engine emits combat.entity.defeated. That single event triggers a cascade of in-combat reactions: morale shifts, tactical re-evaluation, AI behaviour changes, resource effects, and narration. This chapter covers the full pipeline.

Defeat Pipeline

hit → HP check → combat.entity.defeated
  ├─ morale cascade (cognition-core)
  │    ├─ will-mitigated delta
  │    ├─ per-tick cap (-20 max)
  │    ├─ combat.morale.shift
  │    └─ flee check → combat.morale.flee / combat.morale.rout
  ├─ zone re-evaluation (engagement-core)
  │    ├─ PROTECTED / ISOLATED / ENGAGED / BACKLINE refresh
  │    └─ frontline collapse → combat.frontline.collapsed
  ├─ AI defeat awareness (combat-intent)
  │    ├─ allyDefeatedRecently → panic contributions
  │    └─ enemyDefeatedRecently → momentum contributions
  ├─ resource triggers (combat-resources)
  │    ├─ defeat-enemy (on the killer)
  │    └─ ally-defeated (zone witnesses, same type)
  └─ narration (defeat-narration)
       ├─ defeat text (3 default variants + pack flavor)
       ├─ flee text
       ├─ rout text
       └─ frontline collapse text

Morale Cascade

All morale shifts from ally/enemy defeat use will mitigation:

willMitigation = max(0.3, 1 - (will - 3) * 0.1)
delta = round(rawDelta * willMitigation)

Will	Mitigation	-12 raw → actual
3	1.0	-12
5	0.8	-10
7	0.6	-7
10	0.3	-4

Per-tick cap: No entity can lose more than 20 morale from defeat events in a single tick. Three simultaneous ally deaths hit the cap instead of causing -36.

Morale-Triggered FLEEING

When combat.morale.shift fires and morale falls below a threshold, FLEEING is auto-applied (duration 3, source morale_collapse).

Threshold lookup: Entity tags are checked against moraleFleeThresholds config. First matching tag wins. Unmatched entities use 15.

Will adjustment: threshold = max(0, packThreshold - willShift) where willShift = min(10, max(0, (will - 3) * 3)). High-will entities effectively lower their own flee threshold.

Pack Tag	Base Threshold	Will 3 Effective	Will 7 Effective
zombie	0	never	never
undead	5	5	never
feral	5	5	never
samurai	15	15	5
criminal	45	45	35
(default)	15	15	5

Rout penalty: If an entity has no living allies in zone AND morale ≤ 20 AND the shift reason is ally_defeated, an extra -10 morale is applied (bounded by the per-tick cap). Emits combat.morale.rout.

Frontline Collapse

When the last ENGAGED entity of a side falls and BACKLINE entities of that side remain in the zone, combat.frontline.collapsed fires with exposedIds.

Conditions:

• Defeated entity had ENGAGED status
• No same-type entities remain ENGAGED in the zone
• At least one same-type entity has BACKLINE in the zone

AI Defeat Awareness

The combat-intent module tracks defeats per tick via a module-scoped log cleared on tick.start.

Context Field	True When
allyDefeatedRecently	Same-type entity defeated this tick
enemyDefeatedRecently	Different-type entity defeated this tick

Scorer contributions:

• attack: enemyDefeatedRecently → +8 momentum
• guard: allyDefeatedRecently → +8 ally_fallen
• disengage: allyDefeatedRecently → +12 ally_fallen
• finish: enemyDefeatedRecently → +10 momentum

Resource Triggers

Two defeat-related triggers exist in CombatResourceProfile:

• defeat-enemy: Fires on the entity whose defeatedBy matches. Existing.
• ally-defeated: Fires on all living same-type entities in the defeated entity’s zone. New in P5.

Example profile for pirates (morale crash on ally death):

drains: [{ trigger: 'ally-defeated', resource: 'morale', amount: 5 }]

Defeat Narration

The defeat-narration module patches description text onto four event types:

Event	Default Templates
combat.entity.defeated	”{name} falls”, “{name} crumples”, “{name} is defeated”
combat.morale.flee	”{name} breaks under pressure and flees”, etc.
combat.morale.rout	”{name} panics, alone and surrounded”, etc.
combat.frontline.collapsed	”The front line crumbles — backliners are exposed”, etc.

Pack flavor: Pass packFlavor: Record<string, string[]> in config to map entity tags to custom defeat text arrays. First matching tag wins.

Enriched Defeat Payload

The combat.entity.defeated event includes:

Field	Type	Description
entityId	string	Defeated entity ID
entityName	string	Defeated entity name
defeatedBy	string	Attacker entity ID
defeatedByName	string	Attacker entity name
defeatZoneId	string	Zone where defeat occurred
wasInterceptor	boolean	Whether the defeated was intercepting

Design Constraints

• No new combat states or engagement states
• Morale cascades are bounded (per-tick cap, will mitigation)
• All changes are additive — existing packs work without modification
• defeat-fallout.ts handles post-combat social consequences (faction rep, heat, rumor). This chapter covers in-combat reactions only.

Pack Author Guidance

To customise defeat behaviour for a new pack:

1. Flee threshold: Pass moraleFleeThresholds to createCognitionCore()
2. Defeat narration: Pass packFlavor to createDefeatNarration()
3. Resource effects: Add ally-defeated or defeat-enemy triggers to your CombatResourceProfile
4. Pack biases: Use moraleFleeThreshold in PackBias for AI scoring

---

See Also

• Combat Overview — The six pillars and how they fit together
• Combat States — FLEEING state mechanics
• Zone Positioning — Frontline collapse and ISOLATED
• Combat System — Defeat fallout, role templates, morale profiles
• Companion Interception — FLEEING blocks interception