hold the flood/equipment acquisition and rig growth.md ..
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- **Temporary expedition power:** resolving a new announced pressure stage can offer an upgrade to the active rig. As an illustrative sustained-outing cadence, three to five meaningful choices could provide a foundation, then a branch, then refinements or changes; an optional larger authored stage may offer a rarer transformation. This is not a quota or a claim that current routes support it. 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.
- **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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**Provisional pending owner choice:** this model grants temporary upgrades only for resolved stages. Regular growth from defeated enemies plus larger milestone transformations remains the owner-facing alternative; its meter, thresholds, pickup behaviour and interruption cost are not designed here.
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An eligible stage is one finite, announced pressure release from an identified physical source. 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. 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 earns immediately without waiting for a peak, and both resolutions give the same choice. Their combat, oxygen and access costs may differ.
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 authored, announced and sourced. Physical seal persistence follows its mechanism, and death itself pays nothing. This makes skilled prevention and forward exploration sources of renewed power instead of instant repopulation, deliberate stalling or deliberate death. Its accepted cost is that an unsuccessful escape provides only retained property and knowledge, while a conveniently placed seal could become the default reward route, so placement must make sealing a real tactical choice. Where the next eligible frontier lies still needs route/content support; no quick first choice after reset is guaranteed.
