neon-sprawl/docs/plans/NEO-109-implementation-plan.md

NEO-109 — Implementation plan

Story reference

Field	Value
Key	NEO-109
Title	E5M3-10: Slice 3 encounter telemetry hook sites
Linear	https://linear.app/neon-sprawl/issue/NEO-109/e5m3-10-slice-3-encounter-telemetry-hook-sites
Module	E5.M3 — EncounterAndRewardTables · Epic 5 Slice 3 · backlog E5M3-10
Branch	NEO-109-slice-3-encounter-telemetry-hook-sites
Blocked by	NEO-106 — combat wiring (Done on main); NEO-107 — event record (Done on main)
Pattern	NEO-49 / NEO-64 — comment-only engine anchors; NEO-84 — reserved encounter_start in Slice 1 combat
Blocks	None — client capstone NEO-110 / NEO-111 do not depend on telemetry
Client counterpart	None — server-only comments; player-visible HUD is NEO-110

Kickoff clarifications

Topic	Question	Agent recommendation	Answer
reward_attribution shape	Once per completion vs per grant vs skip?	Once per successful completion — batch payload after all grants + completion mark commit; item_created remains at inventory layer (NEO-56).	Adopted — once per completion
encounter_complete anchor	Single engine anchor vs dual wiring + ops?	EncounterCompletionOperations.TryCompleteAndGrant only — remove duplicate in EncounterCombatWiring (NEO-49 / NEO-64 precedent).	Adopted — completion ops only
Manual QA doc	docs/manual-qa/NEO-109.md?	Yes (NEO-64 pattern).	Adopted — skip (NEO-108 server-only precedent per user)
encounter_complete_denied	Keep deny hook on Deny?	Keep — already landed from NEO-105 review; NEO-56 deny precedent; not in epic vocabulary but comments-only.	Adopted (implicit — no change)
Runtime behavior	Comments-only vs dev ILogger?	Comments-only — TODO(E9.M1); no production logging (NEO-49 precedent).	Adopted (repo precedent; not asked)

Goal, scope, and out-of-scope

Goal: Document and place comment-only hook sites on the server-authoritative encounter funnel for Epic 5 Slice 3 product telemetry encounter_start, encounter_complete, and reward_attribution, plus consolidate anchors so E9.M1 wiring has one documented surface per event.

In scope (from Linear + E5M3-10):

• TODO(E9.M1) markers at encounter start, completion commit, and once reward attribution on successful grant batch.
• server/README.md encounter telemetry subsection; epic Slice 3 vocabulary cross-link.
• Normalize partial NEO-109 stubs from NEO-104/105/106 into full NEO-64-style comment blocks (event name, payload fields, no ingest).
• Update NEO-84 reserved encounter_start pointer in CombatOperations to E5.M3 anchor (comments only).
• E5M3 backlog + alignment register + module snapshot when implementation completes.

Out of scope (from Linear + backlog):

• Production ingest, dashboards (E9.M1).
• ILogger / metrics / dev-only log lines.
• Godot client, Bruno changes, API/wire contract changes.
• docs/manual-qa/NEO-109.md (kickoff: skip).
• Duplicate hook comments in AbilityCastApi or EncounterCombatWiring for encounter_complete / reward_attribution.

Acceptance criteria checklist

• Hook names match epic_05 Slice 3 vocabulary (encounter_complete, reward attribution / reward_attribution).
• No runtime behavior change beyond comments.

Implementation reconciliation (shipped)

• encounter_start: full comment block in EncounterProgressOperations.TryActivateOnFirstEngagement; NEO-84 CombatOperations reserved pointer updated.
• encounter_complete + reward_attribution: full comment blocks in EncounterCompletionOperations.TryCompleteAndGrant after event record; duplicate removed from EncounterCombatWiring (delegate pointer only).
• encounter_complete_denied: retained on Deny.
• Docs: server/README.md encounter telemetry subsection; E5.M3 module snapshot; alignment register; module dependency register; E5M3-10 backlog landed note.

Technical approach

Current state (on main)

Partial NEO-109 tags already exist from precursor stories:

Event	File	Status
encounter_start	EncounterProgressOperations.TryActivateOnFirstEngagement	Stub present — expand to full block
encounter_complete	EncounterCompletionOperations success path	Thin TODO — expand; remove EncounterCombatWiring duplicate
encounter_complete_denied	EncounterCompletionOperations.Deny	Block present — keep
reward_attribution	—	Missing — add on completion success path

Hook sites (after implementation)

1. encounter_start — EncounterProgressOperations.TryActivateOnFirstEngagement, immediately before progressStore.TryActivate when activation will proceed (not when already started/completed/no encounter):

   • Comment block: future E9.M1 event encounter_start.
   • TODO(E9.M1): catalog emit — once per player+encounter on first activation.
   • Payload: playerId, encounterId, npcInstanceId (engagement target), optional requiredNpcInstanceIds count.
   • NEO-84: update class-level reserved comment in CombatOperations to point here (Slice 3 landed).

2. encounter_complete — EncounterCompletionOperations.TryCompleteAndGrant, after TryMarkCompleted + TryRecord succeed (authoritative commit):

   • Replace thin TODO with full block naming encounter_complete.
   • Payload: playerId, encounterId, rewardTableId, completedAt, idempotencyKey, grantedItems summary from EncounterCompleteEvent.
   • Remove duplicate hook block at end of EncounterCombatWiring.TryProcessCastOutcome (wiring only calls completion ops).

3. reward_attribution — same success path, once per completion (kickoff decision):

   • Comment block naming reward_attribution (snake_case catalog name; epic prose “reward attribution”).
   • TODO(E9.M1): catalog emit — once when reward table grants commit for encounter completion.
   • Payload: playerId, encounterId, rewardTableId, grantedItems[] (batch from EncounterGrantApplied / event store snapshot).
   • Note in comment: inventory layer still emits item_created per stack via PlayerInventoryOperations (NEO-56); reward_attribution is encounter-scoped attribution for E7.M2 / loot analytics.

4. encounter_complete_denied — keep existing Deny block ( reasonCode from EncounterCompletionReasonCodes ).

5. Cross-references:

   • EncounterCompletionResult / EncounterCompleteEvent xml summaries → telemetry anchors in EncounterCompletionOperations.
   • EncounterProgressOperations class summary → encounter_start anchor.
   • server/README.md: new Encounter telemetry hooks (NEO-109) subsection (after NEO-108 or NEO-106 block) listing all three epic events + deny + CombatOperations reserved pointer.
   • E5_M3_EncounterAndRewardTables.md, documentation_and_implementation_alignment.md, module_dependency_register.md, E5M3-prototype-backlog.md: E5M3-10 landed note when complete.

NEO-56 / NEO-64 analogy

Layer	Inventory / gather	Encounter Slice 3
Low-level item mutation	item_created (NEO-56)	Same on each TryAddStack during grants
Orchestration / funnel	resource_gathered (NEO-64)	encounter_complete + reward_attribution (NEO-109) at completion commit
Engagement	—	encounter_start at first activation

Files to add

None.

Files to modify

Path	Rationale
server/NeonSprawl.Server/Game/Encounters/EncounterCompletionOperations.cs	Expand encounter_complete block; add reward_attribution once on success; keep encounter_complete_denied on Deny.
server/NeonSprawl.Server/Game/Encounters/EncounterCombatWiring.cs	Remove duplicate encounter_complete hook; one-line pointer to EncounterCompletionOperations.
server/NeonSprawl.Server/Game/Encounters/EncounterProgressOperations.cs	Expand encounter_start block to NEO-64 style; class summary cross-ref.
server/NeonSprawl.Server/Game/Encounters/EncounterCompletionResult.cs	Xml summary → telemetry hook anchor (no behavior change).
server/NeonSprawl.Server/Game/Encounters/EncounterCompleteEvent.cs	Xml summary → completion + attribution hook anchor (no behavior change).
server/NeonSprawl.Server/Game/Combat/CombatOperations.cs	Update reserved encounter_start comment → E5.M3 EncounterProgressOperations anchor.
server/README.md	NEO-109 encounter telemetry hooks subsection; fix NEO-104 vs NEO-109 label on encounter_start in NEO-106 table if needed.
docs/decomposition/modules/E5_M3_EncounterAndRewardTables.md	NEO-109 telemetry hooks landed line.
docs/decomposition/modules/documentation_and_implementation_alignment.md	E5.M3 row: NEO-109 hook sites.
docs/decomposition/modules/module_dependency_register.md	E5.M3 note — E5M3-10 complete when landed.
docs/plans/E5M3-prototype-backlog.md	E5M3-10 acceptance checkboxes + landed note when complete.

Tests

Test file	What it covers
(none added or changed)	Comments-only; no behavior or wire contract change. Regression: dotnet test NeonSprawl.sln (existing EncounterCompletionOperationsTests, EncounterProgressOperationsTests, cast integration tests unchanged).

Manual verification (no checklist doc): grep NEO-109 / encounter_complete / reward_attribution / encounter_start under server/NeonSprawl.Server/Game/Encounters/; confirm EncounterCombatWiring has no encounter_complete emit comment; confirm no new ILogger or ingest calls.

Open questions / risks

Question / risk	Agent recommendation	Status
Overlap with NEO-56 item_created	Keep both — item_created per stack; reward_attribution once per encounter completion for attribution context.	adopted (kickoff)
encounter_complete_denied not in epic list	Keep deny hook — NEO-56 precedent; zero runtime cost.	adopted
Precursor partial stubs	Treat as draft; NEO-109 normalizes style and removes wiring duplicate.	adopted

None blocking.