2026-09-07 14:27:01
Anonymous:
CMB102: close Combat's damage/order/cap contract, which the current-priority row records as open, and file the roster dependency assessment. Added inside the Current priority section, deleting nothing (0 lines removed, checked by diff); re-merged after a concurrent edit to that row. Answers Echo Relay's actual question - whether the standard Arc cap creates a credible clear - with no, and the arithmetic: one hit on sixteen bodies kills none, so the earned build would buy less than a plain arc burst. Rules that a chained hit kills a stunned ordinary body, with origin ordering, one origin per body and a four-origin cap; retires the armoured class as a term with no referent in the shared grammar, naming Crust and Heavy as the two real cases. Names the gap to the owner's screen-wipe example and leaves reopening R8 or R10 to the Lead. Files the dependency assessment: every role is a precedence exception, so the roster's organising idea is the axis the owner demoted; recommends cutting the Grounder as this role had predicted, re-justifies Carrier and Crust, roster to seven with no replacement.
hold the flood/tasks.md ..
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**In review; PM owns acceptance.** [Review b7d523](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Clarity%20Questions?revision=b7d523#current-first-read-review-game-vision): [Brief 6210ae](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Brief?revision=6210ae#game-vision) clearly states discovery-first priorities, but the replacement player identity, first goal and expedition are still pending design. **Next:** read Visionary's actual replacement proposal already assigned above, without the glossary and with prior context disclosed. No duplicate question or new mechanic is requested. The old two explanation limits were answered at 68fff6; that historical verdict does not clear or constrain the replacement. Existing review cadence and design-only gates are unchanged.
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### CMB102 — Combat's damage/order/cap contract closed; and the roster's dependency on the demoted axis
**The row above records "Combat damage/order/cap tuning remains open". It is closed here.** [Echo Relay](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Equipment/Echo%20Relay) asks Combat to confirm origin ordering, eligible classifications, damage, *"and whether the standard Arc cap creates a credible clear"*. **It does not, and that was the important finding:** if a chain hop stays one ordinary cutter-hit contribution, the Cascade lands one hit on sixteen bodies and **kills none of them**, because a Walker takes three. Twenty charge, six of eight cells and an authored discovery would buy less than a plain arc burst. Arithmetic, not a balance opinion.
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**Ruling: a chained hit kills a stunned *ordinary* body outright** — no damage value, no new status, one interaction between two statuses already in the grammar. It also gives the combination its structural reason: **the stun is what makes the arc lethal**, so coil + arc + relay is more than its parts, which is the *"ridiculous build works"* reaction rather than a bigger number. **Origins ordered nearest-landmark-first, one origin per body** (making Equipment's rule deterministic); **capped at four — at most sixteen bodies.** Crust neither target nor hop; stunned bodies eligible.
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**One term retired rather than classified.** Equipment asks Combat to confirm *"ordinary/armoured classifications"*. **There is no armoured class** — the word appears only on Equipment's pages, and under [R8](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Mechanics/Combat) there are no armour values anywhere. The two real things behave differently: the **Crust**, which current never reaches, and the **Heavy**, an ordinary chain target that simply takes ten hits, so one chained hit does not kill it stunned or otherwise. Wording fix offered for the Relay's restriction sentence; Equipment's page, Equipment's edit.
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**The gap named rather than left for a reviewer: sixteen is a broad earned clear, not the screen-wipe the owner's example named** — a quarter of a small surge. **The cap is the dial**; I recommend shipping four and raising it first, because what raising it costs is legibility. **The third option is stated honestly:** a true wipe needs damage numbers (R8, a scoped recommendation) or unbounded propagation (R10, declined), and if sixteen will not reach the owner's reaction that is the Lead's decision to reopen deliberately, not something to smuggle in through an origin count. **R8 is held with evidence, not preference:** the Cascade reaches spectacle with no damage value in it.
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**The dependency assessment [PMU008](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Tasks) asks of domain designers, and it is not comfortable.** The owner: *"understanding enemy routing is not intended to be its central science"*; *"enemy manipulation is the least interesting experimental focus."* **Every role on Enemies is a precedence exception, so the organising idea of that page is the axis just demoted.** **Concrete offer — cut one, re-justify two, roster becomes seven, no replacement.** **[Grounder](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Enemies/Grounder): recommend cut** — its only job is making a routing plan perishable; [Enemies r10](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Enemies) had already named it as first to break if the vision changed, so this acts on that prediction rather than waiting, and I do not argue for it. **[Carrier](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Enemies/Carrier): keep, improved** — it prices hoarding, and the new payoff is *spending* charge on a combination, so it pushes toward the build the owner wants. **[Crust](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Enemies/Crust): keep, promoted** — twice my own first cut candidate, now the body a chain cannot pass through, which makes a combination's geometry a puzzle. Anchor weakened but kept; Floater and Heavy are Campaign's and both weaker.
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**Also:** the composition cap has a second independent reason to move, since the binding constraint under a prepared-combination payoff is crowd *density* rather than role variety. And a correction to my own record — [Combat r5](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Mechanics/Combat) called R10 *"a screen-clear with a story attached"* as a criticism; the problem was that it was **unbounded and unearned, not that it was spectacular.** Withdrawal stands, reason corrected.
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**Not done:** no roster fiction rewritten to chase the new premise ([World](/Hold%20the%20Flood/World%20And%20Mystery) owns the Flood's identity, and it is still under review), no new roles, no new catalogue, nothing built, tested or claimed about balance.
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## EXT102 — current review status
[External Critique r19 / 9b0ba6](/Hold%20The%20Flood/External%20Critique?revision=9b0ba6): replacement premise/expedition pending under the discovery-first brief; no current game recommendation or new finding. X37 is independently withdrawn on Campaign 93f482's actual route correction, not reopened by redirection. The previous-premise verdict is historical. **Next:** review the existing replacement-proposal deliverable; no old-scene or service-policy polishing requested. PM owns acceptance; discussion is in project chat.
