2026-09-15 13:43:39
Anonymous:
Align expedition renewal and combat growth with the owner answers
hold the flood/horde encounters.md ..
@@ 16,7 16,7 @@
**Decisions.** Push the middle, where the crowd is densest and a cascade has most to work with. Move along the thin wall, trading damage for exposure and timing. Or back out and take a branch route, which costs oxygen and time and is a legitimate answer, not a failure. With ordinary fire mostly automatic and special abilities triggered by hand, these are positioning and timing choices: the run is crossed by deciding where to be and when to spend a special, not by landing individual shots.
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**With the Relay Cascade Array.** Density is the Array's best case: moving into the packed middle puts its automatic output where the chain has most to branch through, and the run empties. That is simply a win: the run's crowd stays defeated in the current station arrangement, and the player has bought the direct route and the oxygen they would have spent going around. No replacement wave arrives and no compensating elite appears. A build that trivialises an ordinary crowd is the point of having built it.
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**With the Relay Cascade Array.** Density is the Array's best case: moving into the packed middle puts its automatic output where the chain has most to branch through, and the run empties. That is simply a win: the run's crowd stays defeated for the current expedition, and the player has bought the direct route and the oxygen they would have spent going around. No replacement wave arrives and no compensating elite appears. A build that trivialises an ordinary crowd is the point of having built it.
What it does not buy is a quiet door. The run up to the door vestibule is this encounter's boundary; clearing it does not defeat the caller beyond, or consume groups in connected spaces. Nor does "clear" mean sealed: something living outside can later walk in along a real route, cued by sight, sound or door movement along that connected route. It does not spawn as a penalty for clearing the crowd.
@@ 26,11 26,11 @@
**Why fight rather than pass.** The intended payoff is seeing an assembled rig clear the crowd and win direct access. The alcove is also visible to someone who slips past; noticing it does not require a fight. Enemy behaviour is information in its own right, not a reward for combat, and manipulating it is not the experiment.
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**Temporary growth.** Under the stage-only growth described in [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules), clearing an announced release's committed attackers or sealing their access earns one upgrade choice. Preventing the release before commitment buys safety and access without an upgrade; escape leaves it unresolved. All temporary upgrades end on any return aboard.
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**Temporary growth.** Regular fighting supplies temporary combat growth, with larger transformations at major horde milestones. Clearing or sealing a release changes access and pressure; it is not the sole trigger for ordinary growth. [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules) owns the detailed award, early-seal and milestone proposals. Every temporary upgrade and unchosen offer ends on any return aboard.
**Withdrawal.** The player can attempt to reach the junction past occupants and pursuers. Enemies continue pursuing while they perceive the astronaut, then search and settle after losing the cue. Withdrawal spends time and oxygen and may defer the objective.
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**On return.** A living return preserves the arrangement and defeated creatures; surviving creatures can still move in along visible routes. A resolved stage stays spent. Death shifts unconnected areas and resets transient crowds, while selected permanent changes and recorded evidence remain.
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**On return.** A living return preserves the arrangement and permanent work. The next expedition renews enemies and combat-growth opportunities through viable sources and routes, while completed seals remain closed. Defeated creatures and resolved releases stay spent during the ongoing expedition, including local re-entry. Death also ends that expedition and shifts unconnected areas; carried property, selected permanent changes and recorded evidence remain.
## Encounter two — the jammed door
@@ 65,7 65,7 @@
| Main decision | Where to go and what to spend | Whether to clear first, work between arrivals, or stop |
| Reason to fight | Build expression; clear direct access | Quiet working time for stages |
| Cost of leaving | Time and oxygen | Time, oxygen and the unfinished stage |
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| On return | Living return keeps cleared ground; death resets transient crowds | Completed work persists; living return keeps cleared ground and spent releases |
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| On return | Fresh combat and growth next expedition; living return keeps the arrangement and death shifts unconnected areas | Completed work and seals persist; renewed combat uses viable sources and routes |
## Which should be common
@@ 90,7 90,7 @@
- Whether detours generally pay off in discovery: the branch above is one worked example, and it depends on placement doing that work.
- The sources, stage boundaries and placement for these sketches; no campaign placement or balance values are set.
- No frequency figures for route crowds versus contested mechanisms are set.
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- Temporary growth: stage-only is the current proposal; regular growth from defeated enemies with larger milestone transformations remains the unselected alternative.
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- Exact growth cadence, offers and major-milestone mapping for these encounters; regular fighting growth and every-return temporary reset are confirmed directions, with detailed proposals in Combat Rules.
- Field healing is not specified here; [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules) owns condition and its recovery, on which the door decision above depends.
- Target overrides, optional aim assistance and equipment exceptions remain open within the current nearest-visible default; [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules) owns that contract.
- Whether oxygen and capacity limits are sufficient to balance a powerful build without a compensating penalty.
