Commit 50fecc

2026-09-10 11:15:19 Anonymous: Outcome47 coordination: align crest reward to break-or-seal, early success eligible and escape unresolved

hold the flood/build rules.md ..
@@ 64,7 64,9 @@
	## A proposed reward rhythm
-	When a new local crowd crest commits its arrivals, resolving that crest earns one temporary choice tied to the active rig. Resolution can come from defeating those arrivals, sealing their physical source route or crossing the crest's named escape boundary; 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. The crest then counts as spent for the current station arrangement even if the player escaped and its source remains occupied. Stepping back across the boundary or re-entering the surviving crowd pays nothing. A genuinely new crest requires another source route, machinery wake or authored pressure stage—not a distance reset.
+	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.
+
+	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.
	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.