Feed Notifications - Community Activity Without Surveillance

February 14, 2026

The Problem

Players had no awareness of what was happening in their galaxy. Did someone join? Complete a big mission? Buy a capital ship? Claim a planet? No way to know.

The galaxy felt empty and isolated, even with dozens of active players.

The Vision

Show community activity without tactical surveillance.

Players should see:

✅ Who’s joining/leaving
✅ Major achievements (mission complete, ship purchase)
✅ Territory changes (planet claims)
✅ Combat outcomes (who won/lost)

Players should not see:

❌ Exact sectors or coordinates
❌ Cargo loads or trade routes
❌ Ship positions or movements

Privacy first. Atmosphere over surveillance.

The Solution: Feed Notification System

6 Event Types

1. Join/Leave (Season Category)

"PlayerName joined the galaxy!"
"PlayerName has left the galaxy"

Shows community growth/shrinkage
Minor severity (doesn’t clutter feed)

2. Mission Complete (Mission Category)

"PlayerName completed mission: Deliver Medical Supplies"

Shows player achievement
Minor severity

3. Ship Purchase (Economy Category)

"PlayerName purchased a Freighter MK3!"

Shows economic activity
Minor severity

4. Planet Claim (Planet Category)

"PlayerName claimed New Terra in the Outer Rim!"

Shows territory expansion
Standard severity (important event)

5. Combat (Combat Category)

"PlayerName defeated PlayerB in combat"

Shows PvP activity
Standard severity
Respects privacy (no sector shown)

6. Admin Announcements (Admin Category)

"Server maintenance scheduled for tomorrow at 14:00 UTC"

Admin broadcasts
Standard severity
Global or galaxy-specific targeting

Privacy Principles

What We Show:

Player names
Event outcomes (win/loss, purchase, claim)
General locations (region names, not sectors)

What We Hide:

Sector IDs or coordinates
Ship positions
Cargo contents
Trade routes
Combat tactics (just outcome)

Why: You should know who is active and what they achieved, but not where they are or how they did it.

Implementation

Backend: Fire-and-Forget

// In mission complete function
try {
  await postSeasonFeedMessage(
    galaxyId,
    'mission',           // FeedMessageType
    'mission',           // FeedCategory
    `${playerName} completed mission: ${missionName}`,
    'minor',             // Severity
    { title: 'Mission Complete', metadata: {...} }
  );
} catch (feedError) {
  logger.warn('Failed to post feed notification:', feedError);
  // Transaction already completed - just log error
}

Key: Feed posting never blocks core transactions. If it fails, we log it and move on.

Frontend: Real-Time Feed

Feed Screen shows:

Recent events (newest first)
Category badges (season, mission, economy, planet, combat, admin)
Severity indicators (minor = gray, standard = white)
Timestamps (relative: “2m ago”, “1h ago”)

No refresh needed - Firestore listeners update in real-time

Admin Broadcast Feature

Settings Card

Admin-only card in Settings screen:

Target selector: Global or specific Galaxy
Galaxy dropdown (auto-populated)
Multi-line message input
Post button

Use Cases

Global announcements:

“Server maintenance scheduled…”
“New feature released: PvP combat zones”
“Season 5 starts tomorrow!”

Galaxy-specific:

“Congratulations to PlayerX for reaching Level 50!”
“Federation-Pirate war begins at midnight”
“Double XP weekend in this galaxy!”

Backend Validation

export const adminFeedPost = onCall(async (request) => {
  const { uid } = request.auth;
  
  // Verify admin privileges
  const playerDoc = await db.collection("players").doc(uid).get();
  if (!playerDoc.data()?.isAdmin) {
    throw new HttpsError('permission-denied', 'Admin access required');
  }
  
  // Post message
  await postSeasonFeedMessage(...);
});

Security: Only admins can post. Non-admins get permission denied.

Statistics

Files Modified:

functions/src/missions/completeMissionV1.ts (mission feed post)
functions/src/ship/purchaseV1.ts (ship purchase feed post)
functions/src/season/enhancedSeasonManagerV2.ts (join/leave feed posts)
functions/src/feed/adminPostV1.ts (NEW - admin announcements)
functions/src/feed/globalFeedFunctions.ts (added join/leave types)
app/src/screens/SettingsScreenV2.tsx (admin feed post card)

Lines of Code:

Backend: ~200 lines (admin post + feed helpers)
Frontend: ~150 lines (admin card + galaxy selector)
Documentation: 9.7KB (docs/features/feed-notifications.md)

Commits:

a24b28d (join/leave notifications)
97c1c4e (mission/ship notifications)
59c811d (admin feed post card)
53651e8 (galaxy selector dropdown)
81ae13a (feed notifications docs)

Event Examples

Join Event

{
  type: 'join',
  category: 'season',
  message: 'PlayerName joined the galaxy!',
  severity: 'minor',
  timestamp: '2026-02-14T22:15:00Z'
}

Mission Complete

{
  type: 'mission',
  category: 'mission',
  message: 'PlayerName completed mission: Deliver Medical Supplies',
  severity: 'minor',
  title: 'Mission Complete',
  metadata: { missionId, reward: 500 }
}

Ship Purchase

{
  type: 'economy',
  category: 'economy',
  message: 'PlayerName purchased a Freighter MK3!',
  severity: 'minor',
  metadata: { shipClass: 'freighter_mk3', cost: 25000 }
}

Combat Outcome

{
  type: 'combat',
  category: 'combat',
  message: 'PlayerName defeated PlayerB in combat',
  severity: 'standard',
  metadata: { winner, loser, outcome: 'victory' }
}

Admin Announcement

{
  type: 'admin',
  category: 'admin',
  message: 'New feature: PvP combat zones now live!',
  severity: 'standard',
  title: 'Feature Release',
  metadata: { global: true }
}

Severity Levels

Minor (Gray):

Join/leave
Mission complete
Ship purchase
Background activity

Standard (White):

Planet claim
Combat
Admin announcements
Important events

Why Two Levels? Minor events show activity without cluttering. Standard events demand attention.

Design Decisions

Fire-and-Forget Pattern

Feed posting uses try/catch with logging only:

try {
  await postSeasonFeedMessage(...);
} catch (error) {
  logger.warn('Feed post failed:', error);
  // Transaction already completed - don't fail
}

Why: Core transactions (mission complete, ship purchase) should never fail because feed posting failed. Feed is nice-to-have, not critical.

Non-Intrusive Notifications

All feed events use minor severity except combat and admin announcements.

Why: Feed should feel like ambient awareness, not constant alerts. Players check feed when they want updates, not because they’re bombarded.

Privacy Protection

No sector IDs, coordinates, or tactical intel in feed messages.

Why: Feed shows who is active, not where they are. Prevents stalking while maintaining community feel.

What’s Next

Potential Future Events

Corporation announcements (corp formed, alliance made)
Alliance declarations (Corp A declares war on Corp B)
Territory conquests (Corp captures sector)
Leaderboard milestones (top 10, top trader, top combatant)
Rare discoveries (wormhole found, ancient artifact discovered)

Enhanced Admin Tools

Scheduled posts (announce maintenance ahead of time)
Post templates (common announcements pre-written)
Player targeting (send message to specific player’s feed)
Rich formatting (bold, links, images)

Try It Now

Check your feed:

Open Feed tab
See recent activity (joins, missions, purchases)
Watch for real-time updates (no refresh needed)

Admins: Try the broadcast tool:

Open Settings
Scroll to Admin Tools → Feed Post
Select target (Global or specific Galaxy)
Write message
Click Post
Check feed to confirm

Technical Details: See docs/features/feed-notifications.md for implementation guide (9.7KB, 352 lines).

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