Simulator Hybrid Extension

Great idea! Yes, that sounds like a potential solution.

How would we tackle that, though? Would CT and Developers have to develop that standard together after we rough out an idea on the why and how?

This could be a good lead if the other developers would care to comment and expand on the potential for what Random has proposed.

I that a standard like that could make extensions "smarter" and and allow for more interaction. That would also facilitate better AI and such.

I used to talk about "smart arrays" well, this sounds like a better approach because smart extensions could use an array standard and this could open up some big doors.

Yeah I think some skilled coders should look at it with or without CT.

After all the array should be flexible enough to store data from all potential extensions. I know a guy who wrote/uses a list-based array for an upcoming pathfinding extension. Maybe "our" array should be list-based too.
Usual 2d arrays are like.. an array of arrays of some data type.
A list based one would then be a list of lists of some data type.

While I think it is a bit slower than a regular array, the advantage is that columns and rows can be added on all sides, inserted and removed at very low cost. But then I'm no expert at this and probably your average C++ programmer would kick me in the face for claiming that something list-based can be faster than an array.