The full clockwork curriculum: keys, vengeance, spellcraft, and voice

Every play-strength item, in one education. DOORS: the pathfinder
walks through doors it can open — already-opened ones freely, locked
ones when holding Master Key or Pick Lock, casting the key at the
door on the path before stepping through (and a loop where the
clockwork re-keyed an already-open door forever is fixed: opened
doors read as open). TREASURE DEFENSE: a wizard carrying the
automaton's gold becomes the priority — chased over all objectives,
shaken down with DROP OBJECT when held, and attacked first. WIDER
SPELLCRAFT: blaster wands charged by number and fired; teleport as
escape when wounded and hunted, and as a counteraction clear of big
incoming spells; SPEED cast on sight; WARD armed to guard the gold;
shieldstone displayed so spare numbers soak small hits; ANTI-ANTI
pressed against counters (never against escapes); the berserker grows
BIG with an enemy near, the worrier fades invisible or slams a
CREATE WALL in its pursuer's face; ambushes armed from held
interrupts — the worrier trapping its doorstep, the others trapping
the treasure. Tournament suite green across all temperaments.

And the clockwork speaks: sparing, temperament-voiced table talk on
its own deeds — "ACQUISITION COMPLETE.", "SCHEDULED DEMISE:
DELIVERED.", "good wall. safe wall." — through the same chat ledger
as everyone else. The tally gains "games fought against the
clockwork", and automatons no longer pollute the count of wizards
seated.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

packages/server/src/index.ts

@@ -191,6 +191,52 @@ function broadcast(room: Room, makeMessage: (playerId: PlayerId) => unknown): vo
  * broadcast as it lands, until the maze wants a human again.
  */
 const BOT_STEP_MS = 1500;
+
+/** The clockwork occasionally speaks. Sparingly — menace over chatter. */
+const BOT_LINES: Record<string, Record<string, string[]>> = {
+  hunter: {
+    treasurePickedUp: ["ACQUISITION COMPLETE.", "YOUR GOLD HAS BEEN REALLOCATED."],
+    treasureDropped: ["DELIVERY CONFIRMED. PLEASURE DOING BUSINESS."],
+    damaged: ["AN INEFFICIENT USE OF YOUR TURN."],
+    died: ["INVENTORY TRANSFERRED. CONDOLENCES."],
+  },
+  berserker: {
+    treasurePickedUp: ["GOLD IS MERELY BAIT."],
+    damaged: ["YES. AGAIN.", "PAIN RECEIPT PRINTED."],
+    died: ["SCHEDULED DEMISE: DELIVERED.", "NEXT."],
+    creatureCreated: ["I HAVE MADE YOU A FRIEND. IT IS NOT FRIENDLY."],
+  },
+  worrier: {
+    treasurePickedUp: ["taking this. sorry. sorry."],
+    damaged: ["ow. logged.", "unnecessary!"],
+    wallCreated: ["good wall. safe wall."],
+    died: ["oh no. oh no. it worked?"],
+  },
+};
+
+function botRemark(room: Room, seat: string, events: { type: string; [k: string]: unknown }[]): void {
+  const bot = room.bots.get(seat);
+  if (!bot) return;
+  const lines = BOT_LINES[bot.style] ?? {};
+  for (const e of events) {
+    // Speak only about its own deeds, and rarely.
+    const mine =
+      (e.type === "treasurePickedUp" && e.player === seat) ||
+      (e.type === "treasureDropped" && e.player === seat) ||
+      (e.type === "damaged" && e.player !== seat) ||
+      (e.type === "died" && e.killedBy === seat) ||
+      (e.type === "creatureCreated" && e.controller === seat) ||
+      (e.type === "wallCreated" && e.caster === seat);
+    const pool = lines[e.type];
+    if (!mine || !pool || Math.random() > 0.35) continue;
+    const text = pool[Math.floor(Math.random() * pool.length)]!;
+    const said = addChat(room, seat, text);
+    if (!("error" in said)) {
+      broadcast(room, () => ({ type: "chat", player: seat, text: said.text, at: said.at }));
+    }
+    return; // one remark per step at most
+  }
+}
 const pumping = new Set<string>();
 function runBots(room: Room): void {
   if (pumping.has(room.id)) return;
@@ -203,6 +249,7 @@ function runBots(room: Room): void {
     }
     broadcast(room, (playerId) => ({ type: "events", events: redactFor(step.events, playerId) }));
     broadcast(room, (playerId) => ({ type: "state", view: viewForPlayer(room, playerId), seq: room.log.length }));
+    botRemark(room, step.seat, step.events as { type: string }[]);
     setTimeout(tick, BOT_STEP_MS);
   };
   setTimeout(tick, 800); // a beat after the human's own action settles