2026-09-15 13:22:31
Anonymous:
Integrate renewed hordes along the sealed-source expedition route
hold the flood/combat rules.md ..
@@ 139,15 139,15 @@
| | Earlier open-local-source pass | All three local source sets shut |
|---|---|---|
| **What the player sees** | R17's ward previews and R25's crowded mouths announce pressure beside each fight. | Empty ward windows and locked mouths prove the permanent work. Two separated standing groups in R17, then scuffs, shipward-facing bodies and successive threshold movement, point outward through R20, R25 and R26→R27→R35. The ship side of the shut R11 grille stays empty. |
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| **Proposed population** | R17 and R25 use their own local groups. | R35's side-mouth volumes receive a new provisional **220–370-body finite total** for this arrangement. **40–60** have migrated into two R17 bands; **20–30** form one R20-to-R25 band; **80–130** form two R25 bands, including exactly one Bellback standing across the rib; and **80–150 remain at R35 at once**, preserving its present receiver-hall occupancy. These ranges add exactly to 220–370. They are one conserved allocation, not copies. |
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| **Growth and payoff** | Three R17 bands provide one Tune before R25; a mouth band plus a Bellback answer readies the transformation. | On the full long route, the two R17 bands pay marks one and two and the R20 approach band pays mark three. The player can take the first Tune in the paused journal during the counter lull before R25. A first 40–65-body gallery band then crosses R26→R25 after a visible warning; commitment sets **horde engaged**. The ordinary rib answer, faced Barrier or defeat answers Bellback, making the major ready before that band breaks. A second 40–65-body band remains behind it. |
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| **Proposed population** | R17 and R25 use their own local groups. | R35's side-mouth volumes receive a new provisional **220–370-body finite total** for this arrangement. **40–60** have migrated into two R17 bands; **20–30**, including the existing Glass Siphon, form one R20-to-R25 band; **80–130** form two R25 bands, including exactly one Bellback standing across the rib; and **80–150 remain at R35 at once**, preserving its present receiver-hall occupancy. These ranges add exactly to 220–370. They are one conserved allocation, not copies. |
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| **Growth and payoff** | Three R17 bands provide one Tune before R25; a mouth band plus a Bellback answer readies the transformation. | On the full long route, the two R17 bands pay marks one and two and the R20 approach band pays mark three. The player can take the first Tune in the paused journal during the counter lull before R25. The first gallery cohort contains 40–65 bodies including the Bellback already standing across the rib. Its remaining members cross R26→R25 after a visible warning; that commitment sets **horde engaged**. The ordinary rib answer, faced Barrier or defeat answers Bellback, making the major ready before that cohort breaks. A second 40–65-body band follows the first crossing with its own visible warning and can overlap it; its movement does not wait for a kill count or add bodies in response to efficient play. |
| **What completed work buys** | The R11 seal removes one source; the passage can skip the ward bands or shorten return. | All local side injections are gone, so pressure is one readable outward column. The passage bypasses both R17 bands at the cost of two marks, or shortens the earned-quiet return. It is two-way and does not prevent pursuit. |
The paid sequence is concrete without becoming a gate. With the existing Storm Choir example, the pre-gallery Tune can add **Echoing Arc**, so ordinary shots branch visibly through the first dense R25 band. Answering Bellback can then ready **Thunderhead**; its manual stored-charge burst breaks roughly forty well-packed ordinary bodies while the surviving first band and second rear band keep the transformed rig relevant. Another compatible rig receives its own offers, and the no-upgrade baseline can still cross with the rib and ordinary fire. The major is never delayed until a Tune is taken.
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The renewed Bellback is explicitly one body in the R35-owned R25 allocation. A Bellback defeated on the prior expedition stays defeated there; the next expedition initializes exactly this one before departure, and no other Bellback appears if it is defeated early. This is a proposed composition rule for this mapped source, not a global special-enemy exception. R35's 80–150 simultaneous occupancy is preserved rather than treated as its total, so its later fight is not weakened in head count. The cost is the newly proposed 220–370 total, longer-lived population state and added R27 threshold; their clarity, space and performance are unvalidated. R35's separate far-wall stage still requires its existing Caller and is not included in the total.
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The renewed Bellback is explicitly one body in the R35-owned R25 allocation, counted within its first cohort rather than added to the total. The existing R20 Glass Siphon is likewise one of that room’s 20–30 source-owned bodies, placed across its pillars before departure; it is not another source or a replacement triggered by a kill. A Bellback defeated on the prior expedition stays defeated there; the next expedition initializes exactly this one before departure, and no other Bellback appears if it is defeated early. This is a proposed composition rule for this mapped source, not a global special-enemy exception. R35's 80–150 simultaneous occupancy is preserved rather than treated as its total, so its later fight is not weakened in head count. The cost is the newly proposed 220–370 total, longer-lived population state and added R27 threshold; their clarity, space and performance are unvalidated. R35's separate far-wall stage still requires its existing Caller and is not included in the total.
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Clearing or separating each forward group preserves the R17 panel and R20 counter lulls; the R20 Glass Siphon and Breath Bank remain live mechanism hazards until handled even when creatures are absent. Clearing gallery pressure preserves the far-wall discovery lull. No timer, load or re-entry refills those spaces. The safe ship, R11 rescue leg and limited quiet first-latch lesson are unchanged.
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Clearing or separating each forward group preserves the R17 panel and R20 counter lulls; any surviving R20 Glass Siphon remains a creature threat, and the Breath Bank continues its mechanism cycle until the player deals with it. A cleared crowd does not switch off that machine. Clearing gallery pressure preserves the far-wall discovery lull. No timer, load or re-entry refills those spaces. The safe ship, R11 rescue leg and limited quiet first-latch lesson are unchanged.
A **living return** with the same arrangement initializes this allocation once again. After a **death**, the unjoined R27→R35 relation may move and becomes historical. Another named source may feed the route only after its own allocation, walking path and warnings are authored; otherwise this corridor stays quiet while the owner's fresh combat and growth direction is served at another current frontier. That conditional coverage is a limitation of this proposal, not a settled exception. **Strongest alternative:** keep the completed corridor quiet and place an equivalent ordinary climb and major opportunity at the first open frontier. It can preserve build development, but on a different itinerary; the accepted cost is losing fresh combat on the familiar route and reducing the R17 passage mostly to safe travel. The migration pass instead risks a harder-to-read distant source and a larger active population budget. Neither direction has established fun, balance, readability or performance.
