hold the flood/player information and options.md ..
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## One fight, one discovery and a way home
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The astronaut enters a pressure hall carrying a later **7 C / 7 A Storm Choir** and one proposed 2 C oxygen canister. Six physical parts are mounted: Threat Sensor, Pulse Projector, Impact Dynamo, Fork Relay, Arc Emitter and Capacitor. The suit shows **9/10 C carried**, **7/8 A active**, the exact oxygen in the suit and canister, and one free carrying unit for a discovery.
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This is a later expedition, after both relevant ship assemblies—the navigation coupler and thermal exchanger core—have been installed aboard, so the proposed rig has eight mounted spaces. **Carrying capacity (C)** is the shared room taken by equipment, canisters and discoveries; **active rig area (A)** is the mounted space that can operate. **Usable charge (U)** is the payload stored or passed by certain parts, not oxygen or ammunition. The astronaut enters a pressure hall with six physical parts mounted as the **7 C / 7 A Storm Choir**—Threat Sensor, Pulse Projector, Impact Dynamo, Fork Relay, Arc Emitter and Capacitor—and one proposed 2 C oxygen canister. The suit says, in words and numbers, that nine of ten carrying spaces and seven of eight mounted spaces are used. One carrying space remains for a discovery. [Mechanical Interfaces and Opening Quantities](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities) owns the proposed amounts and acceptance rules.
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Earlier in this same outing, resolved pressure stages offered **Echoing Arc** and **Thunderhead**, and the player chose both. They are temporary transformations of the six mounted parts, not carried objects. Neither could have survived a previous return aboard. Their stage-only acquisition remains provisional while the owner considers the regular defeated-enemy-growth alternative.
Before anything attacks, the hall explains where danger will come from. A ward vent bucks in its frame. A door beyond it rattles. Bodies press against the glass, and the music leaves a gap in the same direction. These cues create anticipation without drawing an enemy from nowhere. When the finite release begins, the vent and its route stay marked at their physical positions; the display does not replace them with a generic “wave” banner.
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The crowd thickens. A Flanker commits from the side gallery and its body tell gains the one peripheral direction marker. The suit reaches the player's labelled oxygen reserve at the same time, but the reserve remains anchored beside the tank; it never replaces the threat cue and never claims to know the cost or safety of returning. Projector keeps cycling. Echoing Arc widens the discharge, spends one visible echo per extension and adds heat. Arc creates no charge and does not silently refill Capacitor.
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When Capacitor reaches 4 U, Thunderhead becomes available. The temporary effect provides two visible, mutually gated modes on the same mounted parts: normal charging and manual burst. The player presses the special once. The rig visibly gates ordinary charging, spends the real 4 U, routes the burst through Fork to Arc and Projector, adds its stated heat, then restores normal charging automatically. The player does not open the journal to fire or restore the build. A refusing receiver is named at that part; descendants cannot recharge the same burst through Dynamo.
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When Capacitor reaches 4 U, Thunderhead's manual control becomes available. The temporary effect provides two visible, mutually gated modes on the same mounted parts: normal charging and manual burst. The player presses the special once. The rig visibly gates ordinary charging, spends the real 4 U, routes the burst through Fork to Arc and Projector, adds its stated heat, then restores normal charging automatically. The player does not open the journal to fire or restore the build. A refusing receiver is named at that part; descendants cannot recharge the same burst through Dynamo.
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The finite stage ends when all attackers committed to that release are cleared, or when the player completes a physical seal that ends their access. Early success counts without waiting for a peak. Sealing can earn the same proposed choice while already-arrived creatures remain dangerous; quiet requires clearing or safely separating the present space. Escape earns nothing and re-entry resumes the same unresolved stage.
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Had the astronaut completed the physical closure before the release committed, it would have prevented that release and awarded no combat-upgrade offer; lasting safety and access would be the payoff. Once the release commits, the finite stage ends when all attackers committed to it are cleared, or when the player completes a physical source seal that ends their access. The seal can stop committed attackers that have not crossed yet, and it resolves the stage even before the announced peak. Bodies already beyond the closure remain dangerous; quiet requires clearing or safely separating the present space. Escape earns nothing and re-entry resumes the same unresolved stage. Reopening the seal cannot pay again. [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules) owns the common release boundary.
The temporary-upgrade offer opens in a pause. It shows two behaviour changes, not percentages: what mounted part changes, what the player will do differently, the added heat/power/echo cost, and one situation where the choice fails. Selecting one option returns to the exact frozen moment. An unchosen offer expires on return aboard. Stage-only choices are explicitly provisional while the owner considers regular defeated-enemy growth with larger milestone transformations; no meter or threshold for that alternative is invented here.
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4. **Testimony** — who said what, whether they saw it and what remains their interpretation.
5. **Places** — rooms actually entered, completed work, installed objects and routes actually traversed, each dated to its arrangement.
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Places is a list, not an omniscient map. A reverse breadcrumb shows passages traversed this life to the last known anchor. It promises no current safety and no oxygen cost. A ship receiver bearing or other distant instrument report is live only while inspected at that instrument; a carried copy is a dated record, not tracking. Neither a log, unchanged geometry nor a matching mark proves that a route is walkable, connected or safe. Unknown geography remains blank until observed.
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Capturing a place, inscription or instrument again creates a new dated record and never overwrites the earlier capture. Alien script is never translated automatically: records preserve visible form and context, while player notes, testimony and labelled software suggestions remain interpretations. [Language and Journal](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Language%20And%20Journal) owns the deeper evidence rules.
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Places is a list, not an omniscient map. A reverse breadcrumb shows passages traversed this life to the last known anchor. It promises no current safety and no oxygen cost. After a death shift, the ship still opens onto its fixed dock room; any space beyond that dock or its selected joined group remains unknown until actually seen in the new arrangement. A ship receiver bearing or other distant instrument report is live only while inspected at that instrument; a carried copy is a dated record, not tracking. Neither a log, unchanged geometry nor a matching mark proves that a route is walkable, connected or safe. Unknown geography remains blank until observed.
## Manifest and property
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- **Inactive cargo:** carried property pays C and no A.
- **Elsewhere:** an object installed, dropped, lent or left at a named observed place; it uses no carried capacity because it is not carried.
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Capacity and rig area are separate exact numbers. A pickup or mount that would exceed either refuses before commitment and leaves the object where it is. A preview that consumes material, hands over an object, installs it outside the carried set or spends stored charge says exactly that beside the confirm control. Invalid links and unsafe concurrent power modes refuse without changing the last valid arrangement.
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Capacity and rig area are separate exact numbers. A pickup or mount that would exceed either refuses before commitment and leaves the object where it is. A protected objective cannot be selected for consumption at all. A preview that consumes material, hands over an object, installs it outside the carried set or spends stored charge says exactly that beside the confirm control. Invalid links and unsafe concurrent power modes refuse without changing the last valid arrangement.
## Complete information obligations
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This reference merges the old repeated cue inventories. “Direct” means observed on the object or action now; “recorded” means dated evidence, not current truth.
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“Direct” means observed on the object or action now; “recorded” means dated evidence, not current truth. The owning rules linked below carry the mechanical detail; this page owns what the player must be able to perceive and act on.
| Domain | Required states and provenance | Required presentation and refusal |
|---|---|---|
| **Body and oxygen** | Exact suit O; player-set reserve defaulting to proposed 4 O; condition/displacement; Glass Siphon tether, radius and separately labelled extra drain; selected canister with exact O and partial/ordinary-full/prepared-full/empty state; incremental coupling progress | Numeric O plus filled form and labelled notch; condition step; physical tether; exact transfer already moved. Transfer stops at suit ceiling or empty vessel, keeps committed increments, and damage alone does not cancel. Reserve never becomes a return estimate. |
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| **Carrying and rig** | Used/free C and A; active, inactive, installed and dropped location; each actuator's connected source, selected target and readiness; manual facing/availability; Capacitor 0–4 U and saturation; component heat; finite echoes; current temporary upgrades and pending offer; normal/burst mode and possible concurrent demand against supply | C and A never merge. No-target holds only that actuator. Refusal names capacity, area, port, receiver or power mode. Every return aboard removes temporary upgrades and pending offers while preserving physical-property rules. Stored-charge survival remains undecided. |
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| **Carrying and rig** | Used/free C and A; active, inactive, installed and dropped location; each actuator's connected source, selected target and readiness; manual facing/availability; Capacitor 0–4 U and saturation; ordinary 2 U release availability; component heat; finite echoes; current temporary upgrades and pending offer; charging/burst mode and possible concurrent demand against supply | C and A never merge. No-target holds only that actuator. Ordinary release below 2 U or toward a refusing first receiver stops before commitment and spends nothing; a downstream failure after commitment gives no refund. Thunderhead's full-store 4 U command is a separate temporary exception. Every return removes temporary upgrades/offers while preserving physical-property rules; stored-charge survival remains undecided. See [Mechanical Interfaces](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities). |
| **Equipment editing** | Physical pickup/mount/removal state; direct link validity; every mutually exclusive/gated operating mode and its peak demand | Physical work runs live and may be interrupted; mounted-link preview/edit is paused. Invalid or unsafe proposal changes nothing. Preview explains structure and demand, not future combat outcomes. |
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| **Work and reward stage** | Mechanism stage, completed checkpoints, exact commit/spend, interruption cause; physical crowd source; finite stage uncommitted/unresolved/spent; seal state separately from present-space quiet | Cancel/displacement/occupied control loses only unfinished work; damage alone does not. Early clear/seal pays under the provisional stage model; lane suppression, escape, re-entry, return and load do not create a reward. Reopening the same seal cannot repay. |
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| **Threat and crowd** | Hostile awareness/facing; locked wind-up and bearing; Caller/alarm; answering physical aperture and arrivals already committed | Body motion/shape plus directional form and named sound subtitle. Stopping a source prevents only uncommitted arrivals; already committed arrivals remain. No unseen spawn or generic omniscient warning. |
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| **Place and evidence** | Current room and entrances directly seen; breadcrumb traversed this life; historical route/adjacency; unknown route; capture progress; committed record with provenance; fixed-instrument live report versus carried snapshot | Current and historical use different line forms and words. Interrupted capture yields no record. Instrument report names its anchor, time and limit and gives no distance, path, safety or remote diagnosis. |
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| **Work and reward stage** | Mechanism stage, completed checkpoints, exact commit/spend, interruption cause; actual host withdrawal face and neutral warning on re-entry; physical crowd source; finite stage uncommitted/unresolved/spent; seal state separately from present-space quiet | Cancel/displacement/occupied control loses only unfinished work; damage alone does not. Crossing the authored host face resets only that mechanism's temporary phase; re-entry begins at its visible neutral warning while completed work and spent reward stages persist. Pre-commit closure prevents a release with no offer; after commitment, early clear/seal resolves it. Escape, return and load do not create a reward. See [Encounter and Mechanism Placement](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Encounter%20And%20Mechanism%20Placement%20Inventory). |
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| **Threat and crowd** | Hostile awareness/facing; locked wind-up and bearing; Caller/alarm; answering physical aperture; attackers committed to a release and bodies that have already crossed | Body motion/shape plus directional form and named sound subtitle. Stopping a Caller/alarm before commitment prevents the release. A completed physical closure can stop committed attackers that have not crossed; bodies already beyond it remain locally dangerous. No unseen spawn or generic omniscient warning. |
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| **Place and evidence** | Current room and entrances directly seen; fixed ship dock after a shift; unseen space beyond it; breadcrumb traversed this life; historical route/adjacency; unknown route; capture progress; multiple dated captures; fixed-instrument live report versus carried snapshot | Current and historical use different line forms and words. Interrupted capture yields no record; a new capture preserves earlier records. Instrument reports name anchor, time and limit and give no distance, path, safety or remote diagnosis. Alien script is never translated automatically. |
| **Station joining** | A/B/R face family; flow direction and transform sides; join attempt result; walking, latch and diagnostic-power states; joined/discovered-unjoined/anonymous roster counts | Family uses mark count and outline, direction uses arrowheads, not colour alone. Mismatch refuses without spending or changing a join. Walking, latch and diagnostic remain three separate readings. Roster names no unseen room or route. |
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| **Rescue and home** | Waiting, Prepared, In transfer, At abort refuge, Sent; who confirmed each fact; unconfirmed outcome; project unavailable/setup incomplete/commissioned/person absent; participant readiness | Status uses words and the witnessed basis. Either party's abort is named. Death during transfer never invents delivery, loss or safety; world truth and astronaut knowledge remain separate. Home fixtures show exact incomplete/ready state and never predict route safety. |
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| **Rescue and home** | Waiting, Prepared, In transfer, At abort refuge, Sent; who confirmed each fact; unconfirmed outcome; project unavailable/setup incomplete/commissioned/person absent; participant readiness and their explicit signal | Status uses words and the witnessed basis. The participant signals before the astronaut's cooperative action becomes available; the astronaut never acts on their behalf. Either party's abort is named. Death during transfer never invents delivery, loss or safety. Home fixtures show exact incomplete/ready state and never predict route safety. See [Home and Colony Loop](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Home%20And%20Colony%20Loop). |
| **Story and departure** | Isolation coupling live/isolated; installed functions relevant to departure; any in-world irreversible consequence if a departure proposal is adopted | Direct local tell plus words. No universal progress bar or remote “safe” verdict. Departure preview cannot imply that save/continue policy or the ending is already selected. |
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### Home-machine detail kept in the journal
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The ship collar receiver shows each branch as ready or refusing, and distinguishes **incomplete—unreadable** from **cleared**. An incomplete buffer exposes no reading and cannot be captured. Clearing discards it; a valid dated reading requires both branches to be re-sampled in the same new attempt. The packing bench names the secured vessel and its exact oxygen. Incomplete setup or a below-ordinary-fill valve-only cycle preserves the committed amount but cannot label the vessel prepared-full. These are inspection details, not ordinary combat overlays; [Mechanical Interfaces and Opening Quantities](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities) owns their commit and recovery rules, and [Home and Colony Loop](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Home%20And%20Colony%20Loop) owns their place aboard.
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## Controls and accessibility proposals
Bindings and defaults are proposals, not a compliance claim. Every option must preserve the information in the table above.
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General options-menu pausing remains undecided. Only the journal pause is owner-selected. If another menu pauses, the option must say so consistently rather than create a hidden safer pause.
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The owner has not yet reacted to the proposed defaults for directional markers, effect intensity, horde-density damping or field-detail density. Those four rows remain usable proposals for independent design work, not selected settings.
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## Open decisions and validation boundary
Still open: stage-only versus regular defeated-enemy growth; target override and aiming assistance; exact power/heat/echo values; general menu pause; save slots; survivor-transfer safeguard; final station-joining and departure rules; and the exact visual/audio treatment for every creature, mechanism and part.
