The astronaut leaves with a Pulse Projector, an Arc Emitter, a Fork Relay and a charge cell. They expect crowded hospital corridors, so the parts are connected to turn automatic hits into branching arcs. The same four parts could instead support a forceful projectile and a defensive release; the machine is an intention, not a fixed class.
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Later in the game, the astronaut leaves with a proposed **7 C / 7 A Storm Choir**: Threat Sensor 1, Pulse Projector 1, Impact Dynamo 1, Fork Relay 1, Arc Emitter 2 and Capacitor 1. Sensor feeds Projector. Dynamo is clamped to Projector's physical-output feed and sends its proposed 2 U contribution through Fork to Arc and Capacitor. When both are ready, Fork divides 1 U to each: Arc discharges and Capacitor banks 1 U. This is a larger-rig example, not starting equipment or a final balance value.
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The first occupied hall gathers into a real crest. Automatic weapons keep cycling while the player chooses the dense line, uses a manual barrier to survive the flank and clears the source route. In the quiet afterwards the rig offers two temporary upgrades based on what is installed:
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An identified ward vent announces one finite release into the first occupied hall. Whenever Sensor offers a valid target and Projector is ready, the ordinary shot cycles; its impact supplies the real Dynamo input. The player chooses dense lines and clears that stage's committed arrivals. In the quiet afterwards the rig offers two temporary upgrades based on what is installed:
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- **Echoing Arc** lets the final arc return once through the connection, adding charge and heat. It promises a larger payoff when enemies stay close.
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- **Rebound Disc** changes the Projector's ordinary shot into a heavy disc with a limited return path. It promises repeated impacts when the room has hard walls and useful angles.
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- **Echoing Arc** gives each accepted Arc discharge a proposed two-echo target allowance. Each echo extends that same physical Arc action to another nearby valid target and adds Arc heat. It creates no signal output and no U.
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- **Rebound Disc** changes Projector's ordinary shot into a heavy disc with a proposed two-echo rebound allowance. Each rebound spends one echo and adds Projector heat. It promises repeated impacts when the room has hard walls and useful angles.
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This is a choice of play, not “damage plus five percent.” Echoing Arc asks the astronaut to run toward density and save a manual discharge. Rebound Disc asks them to read the architecture and bank shots through the crowd. The player chooses Echoing Arc.
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This is a choice of play, not “damage plus five percent.” Echoing Arc asks the astronaut to run toward density and preserve cooling headroom. Rebound Disc asks them to read the architecture and bank shots through the crowd. The player chooses Echoing Arc.
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At the next crest, returning arcs fill the charge cell quickly enough to power a manual **Thunderhead**. The player holds the dangerous centre for one more second, presses the special and watches the stored charge fork through the entire lane. A build that was modest at departure has crossed a visible threshold. A deliberately woken larger surge may later offer one rarer transformation, but the player can also turn home with the parts and knowledge already earned.
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Later ordinary Projector cycles—not the arcs—fill Capacitor through Dynamo and Fork. At the next resolved stage, **Thunderhead** becomes an offered temporary transformation: while Capacitor is full, it may replace the default 2 U release with a chosen manual **4 U** release that empties the store and adds a high heat pulse. In the paused journal the player can switch the mounted links from Dynamo→Fork and Sensor→Projector to Capacitor release→Fork→Arc + Projector. Fork divides the 4 U into 2 U per ready branch. Arc spends its packet on one Echoing Arc action; Projector launches the other charged packet. No return refills storage, and the burst cannot repeat until later external impacts recharge the Capacitor. Because automatic and discharge layouts are mutually exclusive relinks, power preview checks their peaks separately; each must fit the rig's visible backplane supply. Exact power and heat values remain proposals, but the source, storage spend, two-echo allowance and outputs are explicit.
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Back aboard, every temporary upgrade is removed under the owner-set reset. The physical Projector, Arc, Fork and charge cell remain. The player also keeps the discovered fact that the next freight route has hard rebound surfaces. On the next departure they may rebuild toward Rebound Disc from the start, carry more oxygen instead, or follow a different clue. The power climb restarts; the player's equipment and understanding do not.
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Back aboard, Echoing Arc and Thunderhead are removed under the owner-set reset. The six physical parts remain if carried. The player also keeps the discovered fact that the next freight route has hard rebound surfaces. On the next departure they may choose the permanent ricochet base intended to seek Rebound Disc again, carry more oxygen instead, or follow a different clue. The expired upgrade itself is not retained; the power climb restarts while equipment and understanding remain.
## Three kinds of progress
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**Retained equipment** is physical. A reusable part carried home remains in the collection. Installed rig parts and inactive carried parts use the same shared carrying capacity as oxygen canisters and loot; active use also occupies rig space. A part left in a station machine or dropped in a room is not carried home.
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**Retained equipment** is physical. A reusable part carried home remains in the collection. Installed rig parts and inactive carried parts use the same shared carrying capacity as oxygen canisters and loot; active use also occupies rig space. Under the current ten-C comparison, either seven-C later base plus one proposed two-C canister leaves one C for a discovery. A part left in a station machine or dropped in a room is not carried home.
**Expedition power** is temporary. Resolving meaningful crowd pressure earns upgrades tied to parts already installed. Every such upgrade resets on any return aboard. The player gets the survivorslike pleasure of rising from vulnerable to dominant during each outing without losing permanent finds.
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## Several ordinary weapons can work together
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A rig may contain more than one ordinary automatic weapon. Each automatic actuator owns its visible reach, target rule and readiness. When ready with a valid target, it fires; another actuator checks independently. A Fork may also send one event to several compatible payoffs. The universal single-ordinary-launch ban is removed.
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A rig may contain more than one ordinary automatic weapon. Each automatic actuator owns its visible reach, target rule and readiness. When its connected event source offers a valid target and the actuator is ready, it fires; another actuator checks independently. A Fork may also send one event to several compatible payoffs. The universal single-ordinary-launch ban is removed.
The understandable limits are physical:
- **Rig space:** every active part must fit.
- **Carrying space:** equipment competes with spare oxygen and discoveries.
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- **Power:** the link preview refuses a configuration whose simultaneous operating demand exceeds the rig's visible supply.
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- **Power:** the link preview refuses a configuration whose possible concurrent operating demand exceeds the rig's visible supply. Mutually exclusive link states and buffered charge/discharge states are checked separately rather than summing every theoretical maximum; any state that can truly overlap must fit.
- **Heat:** firing and repeated effects add visible heat. A hot component pauses or weakens according to its own inspected rule until it cools; it does not secretly choose another weapon to disable.
Multiple outputs therefore buy coverage and spectacle by consuming the same capacity that could support defence, oxygen or a more focused chain. Ordinary fire stays mostly automatic. Facing, movement and proximity determine what the actuators can reach; the player reserves button presses for labelled specials such as a barrier, shove or stored discharge.
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Spectacular builds need effects that can travel, branch and return. A blanket “each part resolves once and every return stops” makes that fantasy disappear. The proposed replacement is a visible **echo budget**.
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An automatic launch, manual special, enemy strike or environmental event begins one causal sequence. A part or temporary upgrade may give that sequence a number of echoes. An arc jump, projectile rebound or signal return spends one echo and adds its stated heat. The returned effect may pass through compatible parts again while echoes remain. When the budget reaches zero, no target remains or a component overheats, that branch ends visibly.
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An automatic launch, manual special, enemy strike or environmental event begins one causal sequence. A part or temporary upgrade may give that sequence a number of echoes. An arc extension, projectile rebound or explicitly authored signal return spends one echo and adds its stated heat. A return can revisit compatible parts only when its named effect actually provides a signal output; Arc Emitter's ordinary physical arc does not. When the budget reaches zero, no target remains or a component overheats, that branch ends visibly.
A descendant cannot refill the echo budget that created it, refresh its own readiness or mint power from itself. Forking divides or copies only the kind of event its inspected rule names; stored charge and consumed salvage remain real inputs. A later automatic firing cycle, a new manual special or a separate enemy attack starts a new sequence with its own budget. This allows a single disc to rebound several times or an arc to sing across a dense crowd without permitting an undefined loop that runs forever in an empty room.
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## A proposed reward rhythm
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When a new local crowd crest commits its arrivals, resolving that crest earns one temporary choice tied to the active rig. Resolution comes from **breaking** it—its source flow is exhausted or out-killed and the room visibly releases—or sealing its physical source route as a completed act. The encounter page owns the visible start, pressure and break tells. The visible high-pressure beat is the latest safe resolution window, not a quota the player must wait to fill. A strong build that clears the first arrivals, or a prepared player who seals the route before pressure peaks, earns the reward immediately.
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An eligible stage is one finite, announced pressure release from an identified physical source. Once that stage's arrivals commit, resolving it earns one temporary choice tied to the active rig. The player resolves it either by clearing all attackers committed to that release or by completing a physical seal that ends their access. Killing faster than arrivals suppresses the lane but does not end a release that still has committed attackers feeding through it. A strong build that clears the finite release before the announced peak, or a prepared player who seals it early, earns immediately without waiting for danger to grow. Break and seal offer the same choice; their combat, oxygen and access costs may differ.
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Crossing the crest's escape boundary saves the astronaut but earns nothing; re-entry resumes the same unresolved crest. A resolved crest counts as spent for the current station arrangement and remains spent across a living return. A distinct later stage in the same area qualifies only when it is separately announced and physically sourced, such as a new mouth or machinery wake—not because the player crossed a distance reset. The accepted cost is that surviving an unsuccessful fight gives no temporary help by itself, while a reachable seal may become the safer reward route. Encounter placement must preserve a real tactical cost for sealing rather than turn every seal into a mandatory reward switch.
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Crossing the stage's escape boundary saves the astronaut but earns nothing; re-entry resumes the same unresolved stage. A resolved stage pays once for the current station arrangement and remains spent across a living return. Reopening the same seal does not create another reward. A later machinery release qualifies only when it is separately authored, announced and sourced—not because the player crossed a distance reset. Physical seal persistence follows its mechanism. Death itself pays nothing. An earned but unchosen offer expires aboard with the rest of temporary expedition power. The accepted cost is that surviving an unsuccessful fight gives no temporary help beyond retained property and knowledge, while a reachable seal may become the safer reward route; placement must keep sealing a real tactical choice.
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An ordinary forward expedition aims to offer a foundation choice after its first route crest and a branch or refinement after a second distinct crest. Deliberately waking a larger surge may offer a rarer transformation as a third choice. A short retreat may end with only one, while backtracking through cleared or spent areas grants none. Living return preserves those areas, so the next fresh climb points toward an occupied frontier rather than refilling the route behind the player.
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As an illustrative sustained outing, three to five meaningful stage choices could produce a foundation, then a branch, then refinements or changes; an optional larger authored stage may offer a rarer transformation. This is not a quota or a claim that current routes support the cadence. A short trip can earn one, while backtracking through cleared or spent areas grants none. Living return preserves those areas. Exactly where the next eligible frontier lies requires route/content support and may leave a baseline or no-upgrade approach; no first choice is guaranteed to be soon.
Offers should change behaviour: add a branch, create a return, convert a payload, move a payoff or turn stored energy into a manual climax. Small statistical improvements can support tuning later, but they should not be the defining choice. An offer fails when one answer is mandatory for every crowd shape, when its effect is hard to see, or when the player cannot explain why the machine changed.
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| Direction | What the player sees and does | Payoff | Cost and failure risk |
|---|---|---|---|
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| **Storm Choir** | Moves toward dense groups so automatic arcs keep finding bodies; uses returning charge to time a manual Thunderhead | A few sparks become branching waves that collapse a packed lane | Insulated, isolated or heavy targets interrupt the song; Arc, Fork and storage consume space and run hot, leaving less single-target force |
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| **Ricochet Foundry** | Runs corridor angles while automatic discs rebound; uses a manual magnetic shove to change a bank | One shot becomes a luminous field of returning discs and fragments | Open rooms, soft partitions and absorbing enemies kill the rebounds; Projector and impact parts consume defensive space and heat quickly |
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| **Storm Choir — 7 C / 7 A later base** | Sensor→Projector; Projector impact feed→Dynamo→Fork→Arc + Capacitor. Echoing Arc extends the Arc action; a fully stored Thunderhead can temporarily spend 4 U through a relinked Fork. | Automatic impacts become branching arcs and bank a visible manual lane-clearing climax. | Sparse or insulated targets interrupt Arc; Fork and storage consume space; echoes and Thunderhead run hot; building for the burst leaves less defence. |
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| **Ricochet Foundry — 7 C / 7 A later base** | Sensor→Projector; Projector impact feed→Dynamo→Capacitor; Manual Trigger→Vector Nozzle. Rebound Disc gives Projector two proposed echoes; Fragment Wake may turn the final rebound into one terminating fragment burst. After charging, a paused relink can send Capacitor's manual release to Projector. Nozzle moves eligible bodies or loose cover, not the disc by default. | Corridor geometry sustains a visible returning disc while lane control sets up bodies for its path. | Open rooms and absorbing targets kill rebounds; Dynamo contributes only once per original wave; the fragment finish adds power/heat and no new echoes; Manual and Nozzle use the three units Storm spends on Fork and Arc, so this base has no Barrier or Arc. |
These are illustrative fantasies built from reusable behaviours and temporary transformations. They do not allocate new permanent parts or sources beyond the current equipment list. The player may hybridize them, stop early, or use the same Fork, Projector, Dynamo, Arc and storage parts for defence or station machinery. The meaningful question is what the machine does in this expedition and what it costs, not whether the player completed an authored set.
