2026-09-10 12:05:14
Anonymous:
Make Thunderhead a single manual special with automatic charging restoration
hold the flood/build rules.md ..
@@ 6,22 6,24 @@
## Example: choosing what this expedition becomes
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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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Later in the game, the astronaut leaves with a proposed **Storm Choir** rig: Threat Sensor, Pulse Projector, Impact Dynamo, Fork Relay, Arc Emitter and Capacitor. Sensor keeps Projector firing at valid targets. Its impacts feed the locally clamped Dynamo, and Fork divides that charge between an Arc discharge and Capacitor storage. This is a later rig built from six physical parts; the exact costs and charge trace are in [Mechanical Interfaces](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities).
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** 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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- **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 or usable charge.
- **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.
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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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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Later ordinary Projector shots fill Capacitor. At the next resolved stage, **Thunderhead** becomes an offered temporary transformation. It gives those same six mounted parts two visible connection modes: automatic charging and a manual burst. With the store full, the player presses the special once. The burst mode sends the stored charge through Fork to Arc and Projector, empties Capacitor with a high heat pulse, then automatically restores the charging connections. Ordinary fire resumes as its parts become ready. The temporary effect supplies that switching behavior.
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A refused burst leaves the charge and automatic mode intact. Once accepted, it spends the full store, even if a later target is lost. The Arc keeps its finite echoes; burst descendants cannot refill storage through Dynamo. Further ordinary shots must charge the next burst. The journal previews both modes, including demand from effects still in flight; [Mechanical Interfaces](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities) gives the numerical trace and acceptance rules.
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. 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.
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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-unit carrying comparison, either seven-unit later base plus one proposed two-unit canister leaves one unit 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.
@@ 47,7 49,7 @@
- **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 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.
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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. Effects already in flight still count when a mode changes.
- **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.
@@ 80,8 82,8 @@
| Direction | What the player sees and does | Payoff | Cost and failure risk |
|---|---|---|---|
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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. |
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| **Storm Choir — 7 carrying / 7 mounted spaces** | Sensor→Projector; Projector impact feed→Dynamo→Fork→Arc + Capacitor. Echoing Arc extends the Arc action. A full-store Thunderhead command switches to its gated burst path, spends the full store through Fork, then automatically restores charging. | 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 carrying / 7 mounted spaces** | 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.
