hold the flood/equipment acquisition and rig growth.md ..
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These are separate forms of progress:
- **Permanent equipment:** a physical reusable part carried aboard remains in the collection. Taking it still costs room that could hold oxygen or salvage.
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- **Temporary expedition power:** resolving a new announced pressure stage can offer an upgrade to the active rig. Over a sustained outing, three to five meaningful choices could provide a foundation, then a branch, then refinements or changes; an optional larger stage may offer a rarer transformation. A short trip can earn one and cleared travel earns none. Every temporary upgrade and every earned-but-unchosen offer resets when the astronaut returns aboard, alive or revived.
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- **Temporary expedition power:** regular fighting supplies growth, and major horde milestones provide larger transformations of the active rig. Exact award cadence and conditions remain open. Every temporary upgrade and every earned-but-unchosen offer resets when the astronaut returns aboard, alive or revived.
- **Knowledge:** observed part behaviour, source locations, crowd traits and useful combinations remain recorded. Knowledge neither creates a part nor preserves a temporary upgrade; it lets the player plan the next fresh climb.
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This model grants temporary upgrades only for resolved stages.
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[Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules) owns regular fighting growth, major horde transformations and the exact questions still to design. Clearing or sealing a physical source changes pressure and access; any additional reward for preventing a fight remains open. Retreat keeps temporary power already earned until the expedition ends.
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An eligible stage is one finite, announced pressure release from an identified physical source. A physical closure completed before its arrivals commit prevents the release without a combat-upgrade offer; safety, access and mechanism-owned completed work remain valuable progress. Once its arrivals commit, it pays one choice when the player clears all attackers committed to that release or completes a physical seal that ends their access. A seal stops further access but leaves already-arrived bodies active until cleared or separated. Killing faster than arrivals suppresses the lane but does not stop a release that still has committed attackers feeding through it. Early decisive clearing or sealing of a committed release earns immediately without waiting for a peak, and both resolutions give the same choice. Their combat, oxygen and access costs may differ.
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Escape earns nothing and 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 cannot pay again. A later machinery release is another stage only when separately designed, announced and sourced. Physical seal persistence follows its mechanism, and death itself pays nothing. Resolving committed releases and reaching an unresolved frontier provide renewed temporary power. An unsuccessful escape provides only retained property and knowledge, while a conveniently placed seal after commitment could become the default reward route, so placement must make the timing and cost readable.
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Each new expedition renews crowds and growth opportunities after living return or revival. Permanent doors, joins, source seals, completed work and equipment locations retain their owning states. Fresh combat must fit those changes. Leaving and re-entering a room, or loading the same ongoing expedition, does not by itself create another expedition.
## Three later rigs and their packing choices
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## Open questions
- Acquisition method: the owner has not chosen between found parts (this page's default) and observation-led fabrication.
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- Temporary-upgrade model: the owner has not chosen between upgrades only for resolved stages (this page's model) and regular growth from defeated enemies plus larger milestone transformations; the alternative's meter, thresholds, pickup behaviour and interruption cost are not designed.
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- Exact regular-growth meter, thresholds, pickups, choice frequency and major-milestone conditions; rewards for avoiding fights. The owner has selected regular fighting growth and larger horde transformations.
- The true starting kit, carrying and active-area values.
- Whether the navigation coupler and thermal exchanger core should be the assemblies that control area and supply; alternatives or tuning to the assembly and objective-item sizes.
- Tuning or replacement of the operating supply, heat and effect budgets.
