2026-09-07 08:56:34
Anonymous:
EQP102: three same-objective Tram approaches and discovery-led Siphon return; legal issue and cross-role proposals
hold the flood/equipment/build paths.md ..
@@ 1,10 1,88 @@
# Hold the Flood — Build Paths
-
**EQP101 · r3 · 2026-09-06 UTC · Equipment and Build Designer · PMR006 effect and Colony interfaces reconciled; EQP101 remains in review.**
+
**EQP102 r1 / Build Paths r4 · 2026-09-07 UTC · Equipment and Build Designer · Three approaches to one Tram objective, plus an acquisition-led changed return; submitted for PM review. EQP101 remains in review.**
These are loadout intentions, not locked classes. A player can change family at shelter or on a later departure. Early/middle/late mean available decisions and knowledge, **not approved district numbers or elapsed hours**. All cell counts use the D023/Lead-adopted eight-cell [Inventory and Charge contract](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanics/Inventory%20And%20Charge); all numeric yields are conditional written examples. No build has been played, simulated, balanced or shown fun.
+
## EQP102 — One Tram objective, three approaches, one changed combination
+
+
**Recommendation for DES105, not an adopted district rewrite.** Use Colony's Tram case rather than invent another district. The common objective is **reach the summit, copy the timetable, inspect the open pass toward the Exchange, and extract at the depot**. Do not enter another district in this expedition. A summit bundle is an optional competing reward, not a success condition. This section proposes the equipment contribution; Lead owns the combined sequence and Campaign owns the actual paths. Numbers below are written requirements/accounting, not measured survivability or travel times.
+
+
### Common start and acquisition — no free full rack
+
+
Compare the same supplied Tram state before any Collector intervention: tram at the depot; Walkers entering the yard, a Heavy obstructing the rail; panel initially Gates; the surveyed depot is the sole baseline stop. Use the existing road, stairs, panel and summit shelter in [Campaign r5 §3.2 / 9366c8](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Campaign?revision=9366c8). The service choice is tooling, not a simultaneous supported summit berth. Both crane parts have previously been banked and the workshop/tooling repaired under [Colony fe7d88](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Colony?revision=fe7d88); those are prerequisites, not guaranteed earnings at a prescribed visit number.
+
+
**Equipment acquisition clarification:** a revisit may still select the smaller ordinary-workshop or tooling packages; the actually-recorded-pattern requirement applies when claiming expanded, up-to-six-cell recorded-rack issue. A first-visit-sized Circuit set does not become unavailable on returning. All three racks below fit those small packages: no full-pattern entitlement is used. Known recipes still require real inspection. This is an Equipment clarification offered to Colony/Lead, not a change to D023's six-cell cap.
+
+
For the missing first Insulation placement identified by COL102, propose the **dry direct road beside Lock Flight's Head basin**, outside the lock-house door, with the existing lever/road approach. This allows inspection before any insulated crossing. Put the first Coil on the Pumping District's free machinery route, the first Beacon at the Lock Flight Tail's route-maintenance cache, and Kit on a public aid route, as their existing entry categories require. Campaign must place these offers and demonstrate their free approaches; none is currently certified geography. Before those recipes are observed, choose the basic/manual route, not imaginary issued gear. On a first Tram visit the Coil/Insulation Circuit set can be assembled and recorded at the summit shelter; that gives Colony B's subsequent four-cell record its concrete acquisition chain without requiring an extra record-collection trip.
+
+
Literal departure racks below use Cutter outside the rack. `.` is empty; C/C one Coil; B a bank; I Insulation; L Beacon; K Kit. Each row is four cells. All batteries start **0/10**, and none touches proposed cargo cells. A uses the ordinary workshop and declines the default bank; B and C use tooling's two-known-module Circuit set.
+
+
| Approach | Top row / bottom row | Issue and links | What is given up |
+
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+
| A — Ride and cut | `. . . K` / `. . . .` | Kit: 1 cell; no battery or link; 7 free | Charge collection, wet protection and crowd control |
+
| B — Wet-yard breach, then walk | `. C C B` / `. . . I` | Coil + Insulation + default bank: 4 cells; B → Coil; 4 free | Kit, portable destination and four cargo cells |
+
| C — Leave a lure below, ride dark | `. . L B` / `. . K .` | Beacon + Kit + default bank: 3 cells; B → Beacon; 5 free | Insulation; two physical items committed at the plant point |
+
+
### A — Ride and cut: pay exposure instead of fuel
+
+
Throw Rail, board the lit tram and take it uphill. The lamp draws entered bodies; the player has chosen to bring the crowd onto the incline. When the Heavy blocks the rail, step onto the roadbed and position it as Cutter's nearest legal target. Its ten-hit durability means a real exposed stop, not one hit shared with ordinary Walkers. There is no Arc here and no bank: its five-unit mote and ordinary kill motes are lost rather than silently stored. Use Kit only if injured; it restores health once and then leaves the rack. Neither healing nor the moving tram protects against contact.
+
+
At the summit, read the board and inspect the open pass. Turn the lamp off before the return: bodies with no reachable lit beacon spread where they stand, so descend behind the observed crowd edge rather than treating darkness as a clearance. Use the existing manual depot-gate return if Rail remains selected; switching Gates locally restores the convenient dock road but closes the upper pass. Leaving the tram below or above changes the next approach's Heavy concentration. That is a deliberate lasting machine state, not an equipment unlock.
+
+
**Failure/alternative:** a second body becomes nearer during the Heavy stop, so automatic Cutter attacks it instead; the Heavy remains and the following crowd removes the lead. Reverse the tram and retry the approach, or abandon the summit objective and return. The seven-cell cargo advantage is only useful if the player can reach cargo; it does not purchase a safe clearing time. This is the credible minimal-equipment alternative to both powered plans.
+
+
### B — Wet-yard breach, then walk: pay for a local control window
+
+
Keep Gates while earning the first bank. Insulation permits the hot-yard approach; draw ten ordinary Walkers to the edge, kill them and walk over their motes before fade. Pursuit applies within about ten metres; the bank is earned amid contact risk, not from a safe firing platform. If the bank is incomplete, take A's free machinery route or abort; no siphon, passive refill or successful ten-kill harvest is assumed.
+
+
Once full, set the tram lamp off and switch Rail. Step into the connected yard water and discharge on the crowd still there, then take the incline road/stairs while it recovers. **The dry rail does not give Coil a dry stun:** a Heavy already on the rail is unaffected. This plan separates from the tram rather than clearing its obstruction. If that Heavy also physically blocks the road, kill/reverse/retreat under ordinary rules; Campaign must not quietly draw a pass-through body.
+
+
Illustrative complete ledger: 60 ordinary arrivals, 10 killed/collected for the first bank, and all 50 survivors still wet and fresh at firing. Spend 10; the 50 drop 25 and become spent. Reach two five-unit motes: bank 10, leave 15 to fade. Total dropped 35, collected 20, spent 10, stored 10, ground-fade 15. Spending no time collecting instead leaves bank 0 and all 25 to fade. Both are legal; neither promises that collection or the entire climb fits the **eight-second stun**. The water's two-second power is separate, and any fixed source can keep it hot. A second paid stun buys control but not another yield from those survivors.
+
+
Read/inspect at the summit and return down the road to the same depot. Keep any refilled bank for a remaining wet obstruction or lose it at extraction. **Failure/cost:** dry or spent enemies remove the harvest advantage; no Kit covers contact mistakes; pausing for motes can spend the escape window. B buys a local departure from the yard, not suppression of the next dispatch or an insulated safe zone.
+
+
### C — Leave a lure below, ride dark: pay to choose the launch crowd's destination
+
+
Earn ten ordinary kill motes at the **dry** edge while Gates holds the yard crowd; step over each actual drop. With no Insulation, do not wade into the lit yard to recover a lost mote. Prepare the tram with its lamp off. Plant the Beacon/bank **dark**, then arm it immediately before switching to Rail. The yard beacon darkens and eligible bodies retarget to the portable; the tram carries no competing light. Board and climb while the local destination remains below.
+
+
**Proposed placement requirement to Campaign:** a traversable dry side apron off the depot road, with room for the planted crowd's displayed press ring to remain off the boarding/return path. This is a placement of existing objects, not an asserted new room or approved asset. Do not integrate the illustration if the actual ground cannot provide it. Bodies within pursuit range still chase the player; a lit beacon is never protection from a pursuer.
+
+
At the provisional one unit per ten lit seconds, 10 buys **at most 100 seconds including arming and withdrawal**. That is a launch diversion, not the source scene's entire multi-minute ascent or a second-dispatch hold. At expiry the crowd spreads from the apron; it is neither deleted nor still magically held. A Heavy can still stop the dark tram; without the crowd following the lamp, C is buying separation for that stop rather than damage. Whether the separation lasts is a Campaign/Combat question, not a claimed success.
+
+
At the summit, perform the same evidence/pass work. On return, inspect the actual spread before approaching the depot; use manual gate routing or abort to the known baseline when the path remains reachable. Planting freed two cells, but recovering L+B needs **two** free cells, even when empty. Filling every freed cell with salvage trades those physical items away for this expedition. All collected charge was spent on lure time; no refund on retrieval. Unlike A this plan spends a bank and placement exposure; unlike B it has no water-control window, and cargo cannot make a collapsed lure work again.
+
+
### The discovery that changes a later approach: salvage can pay for a short lure
+
+
**New placement proposal, existing item:** the summit stores offer **Siphon versus Kit**, inspectable beside the source's existing loose bundle and accessible from its existing shelter. Inspect either without taking it; take one, forgoing the other for that expedition. Inspecting Siphon records its three-unit conversion rule even if the object is left or lost. On C's visit the player can fit it at the summit, set its feed into the Beacon bank, put the bundle beside it and record that real combination; there is no live relinking or recipe awarded just for reading this page. This proposal relocates U5's generic converter-cache first offer to a named occasion, not an additional catalogue item or mandatory clue.
+
+
The next decision occurs after the player uses the Collector to withhold Tram's first supply while leaving its dispatch permitted, the changed state proposed by [COL102](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Colony?revision=fe7d88). The yard flashes without arrivals: “a scheduled surge will pay for my full Coil” is no longer a reliable preparation plan. This is **not Stop** and does not remove locals or later supplied arrivals. Do not add a compulsory return merely to witness an already understood empty flash.
+
+
For an upper investigation and depot return the player can now choose **Cutter + Beacon + Siphon + empty bank**: three equipment cells under the small Circuit set, no full-rack recording privilege or second berth. Start `. . Siphon B` / `. . L .`, B → L, Siphon feed → B. Gather the summit's bundle into top-row column 2, touching Siphon but not B. Four occupied cells; no leakage. Consume the bundle and Siphon: bank **0 → 3**, two cells freed; the two remaining items buy **30 lit seconds**, not a Coil pulse or an Arc burst. Keep the lure dark during the descent; arm/plant for the observed depot crossing, not at the summit.
+
+
For integration, Campaign must supply a readable crossing that fits the 30-second budget, including local arm/withdrawal, or this option is rejected at that location. A candidate authored allowance is 5 seconds for arming/withdrawal, a 20-second clear crossing and 5 seconds spare; these are proposed route requirements, not measurements. If the crowd's ring/pursuit edge has occupied that path, take the manual detour. The player's new combination turns a reachable **bankable bundle** into a brief return option without waiting for ten kills. It sacrifices that bundle, the converter and Kit's competing offer; preserving the bundle and using the free manual route is genuinely better when that route is already clear. Killing the dry Heavy for five charge is another credible alternative, paid in a ten-hit stop and actual pickup exposure. No absent surge is replaced with invented starting fuel.
+
+
**What remains changed:** the inspected recipe persists, the physical tram/panel/canal states persist as actually left, and the player knows supply and permission are different. Rescue retains those observations and switched states but loses carried cargo/charge; only extraction banks a crane part or salvage. The Siphon does not become passive fuel, and this later route does not require it for the timetable or pass. Once the player knows the supply rule and has no upper work or useful machine repositioning, omit the trip.
+
+
### What this comparison earns — and what it does not
+
+
Keep the twelve-entry **first** catalogue for this draft; add no thirteenth item to repair this case. The most useful revision is a concrete Siphon discovery and legal preparation, not another damage tier. Cutter remains the fuel-free source and cheapest primary, the original bank can be linked to a different consumer at shelter, and the old Beacon becomes usable for a short job with three charge rather than being superseded by Coil. Arc, Prod and Driver still need distinct cases across the wider campaign; this one is not evidence that every catalogue entry is necessary or that twelve sustain the provisional campaign length.
+
+
[REF107 / fcf9d4](/Reference/Content%20Scale?revision=fcf9d4) and [External Critique X32 / 4e4d20](/Hold%20The%20Flood/External%20Critique?revision=4e4d20) are right to put **within-district variety**, not just district count, under scrutiny. Mature manifests are not launch quotas, but their many per-run choices cannot be answered by three family names or multiplying possible racks. Here the observable differences are which crowd follows, where the player stops to fight, whether wet bodies are a resource, and whether salvage is banked or burnt for a return. That is a narrower, inspectable claim. Combinations still cost authoring, cues and acquisition work. If later encounters repeatedly favour the same plan, revise those action choices or add a specifically missing verb; do not call sorting depth or enlarge the catalogue to reach a number.
+
+
### Addressed handoffs and source revisions
+
+
- **Lead — Campaign 9366c8 §3.2:** “the summit berth supported” and seven equipment cells at departure cannot coexist with Colony's issue rules. I agree with COL102's correction. Prefer replacing that scene with one of these small legal starts; for a berth-supported scene, ordinary workshop issues Coil + default empty bank (3 cells), **not** Coil/Arc/two banks/Insulation/Kit (7). A six-cell tooling record also cannot be used while the assembly supports the berth. If the fuller field rack is important, author its actual offers and shelter fit before its first use. No increased issue cap is requested.
+
- **Colony — fe7d88 COL-I2:** first Insulation location and the first-Tram Circuit-set/record chain are specified above as proposals. Smaller-package revisit eligibility is explicit here. Inventory now classifies the two Lock Flight parts as one-cell nonconductive project cargo: no links, charge conversion, equipment issue or duplicate banking. These changes preserve one advanced service rather than hiding an exception.
+
- **Combat — 6129ea / CMB102:** countersign or revise these three same-objective approaches, particularly automatic target displacement at the Heavy stop and pursuit/press at the side-apron placement. No dry Coil stun, safe ten-kill funding or lure duration extension is claimed. Correct remaining historical §6 Spark-status and accounting copies in your own page when consolidating; its current effect table is already power-only and E3 owns pickup priority.
+
- **Campaign/World — 9366c8, e1136a, 351f4c:** name the apron, free manual depot return, offer placements and short-lure crossing; integrate the optional Collector intervention with actual supply state and essential-clue redundancy. The Collector's separate five-second winch versus two-second Coil issue at 75c09e is still an owning-page correction, not solved by this Tram example.
+
- **PM:** this is EQP102's Equipment submission, not CMB102's submission or acceptance of EQP101. Proposed placements and route timing remain integration dependencies; design only.
+
+
**Pre-save World update read — [WLD104 r25 / e99445](/Hold%20The%20Flood/World%20And%20Mystery?revision=e99445).** Its weather → supplied → harvested chain supports this example's loss of an expected charge source; the Siphon choice gives that learning a specific equipment consequence without requiring a new clue. Equipment qualifies its claim that late doors want “charge, not cargo”: after withholding a surge, a full-bank plan can be less dependable than a three-unit lure or the free machine route. The held-basin rack it names—Coil, two banks, Insulation—is five cells and needs an actually recorded revisit pattern for full issue, or field acquisition/shelter fitting; it is not a free first-visit Circuit set. Lead/Campaign own clue order and the actual destination for that harvest. No change to World's explanation is made here. Campaign, Colony, Combat and Tasks remained unchanged in this pre-save source check.
+
+
**Exact processed sources, 2026-09-07:** index/log and actual raw Markdown; Hub 693f1b, Brief 77e392, Tasks b68997, Team 3e5ce6, Expansion Brief 8e517e, Design Index 8edf4e, PM Reviews f62987 (PMU007), latest completed PMR006 a28870, Design Review ce94e4, Wiki Conventions 72bb0f; Design Document 5f9fbb (relevant machinery/rack/progression baseline, not current product scope), Campaign 9366c8, Districts e1136a, shared contract 8644ea, Combat 6129ea, Enemies 31ac57, Spark 454133, Colony fe7d88, World 351f4c, Collector 75c09e, Reference/Content Scale fcf9d4, External Critique 4e4d20. Own starting revisions: Equipment dc3aa2, Build Paths 7b7bf2, Inventory 9b0547, Utility 087718, Coil 0696cf, Arc fc64bb, Cutter 5f5713, Alternative Tools aaabb2; compared with r3 task evidence ca40f9 and the r1 historical baseline. All values and scenes are provisional, unplayed written design.
+
## Why these are three families
| Family | Repeated player action | What it obtains | What defeats its preferred plan |
@@ 55,7 133,7 @@
**Exploration interaction.** With the panel set for the next yard intake, plant a lit portable on an accessible dry spur nearer an entered causeway crowd than its old target. Cross behind the crowd toward a deposit or an already-visible clue. Forecast intake stays the yard; only entered targets change. The free alternative is the panel switch, accepting the crossing crowd and changed door state rather than paying portable fuel.
-
**Enemy counterplay.** Local pursuit outranks the beacon: a body near the plant point still chases the player, while walls and flankers defeat Prod’s sector. Grounder e10c47 can darken a supplied fixed beacon; first evaluate another reachable lit beacon, including the portable, and allow time for bodies to move. Its alternate-supply scope is still open, so Cable Reel is not promised to bypass the fault. Carrier eb3985 now defines a twelve-metre acquisition/loss range and ordinary pursuit/beacon fallback. A charged portable eight metres from a Carrier and nearer than the charged player can draw its role target; inside ordinary pursuit range it chases the player first. Outside twelve metres, no charge target is acquired. These are written distances, not tested safety. A battery-free Prod cannot kill for beacon fuel: charge before the shelter swap or use a reachable mote/Siphon, paying its bundle and slot.
+
**Enemy counterplay.** Local pursuit outranks the beacon: a body near the plant point still chases the player, while walls and flankers defeat Prod’s sector. A Grounder can darken a supplied fixed beacon; evaluate another reachable lit beacon, including the portable, and allow bodies to move. Shared 8644ea §2 now rules no alternate supply on a grounded run: Cable Reel cannot bypass that fault. Carrier's twelve-metre acquisition/loss and ordinary pursuit/beacon fallback remain provisional. A charged portable eight metres from a Carrier and nearer than the charged player can draw its role target; inside ordinary pursuit range it chases the player first. Outside twelve metres, no charge target is acquired. These are written distances, not tested safety. A battery-free Prod cannot kill for beacon fuel: charge before the shelter swap or use a reachable mote/Siphon, paying its bundle and slot.
**Retrieval cost, concrete.** Planting the pair frees two cells. Filling them with bundles does not give free retained equipment: make two cells free to retrieve, or leave the physical pair for that expedition. Its known recipe survives either choice. Disarm/empty/retrieve and the crowd immediately re-evaluates; darkness is not a guaranteed escape. P keeps useful space by displacement but never kills; F kills via finite fuel but has no shove. Swapping P to F needs shelter and a real primary change.
@@ 78,7 156,7 @@
**Exploration interaction.** From a service lane, target a visible loose deposit with a Driver tool shot. It creates the same bundle as close hand gathering; it neither delivers the bundle nor produces a bonus. The Hand Pump drains a compatible access channel for a walkable pickup route, but also removes its conduction path: draining the Head basin at the Lock Flight can close the door being approached. A later cable/Coil branch preserves connected water instead, paid by energizing everything on that network. Essential evidence remains intact and inspectable via the ordinary machinery path.
-
**Enemy counterplay.** Pursuers from two angles defeat a committed Driver shot; Cutter is a credible better choice on the cluttered return. Spark [730ee8](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Enemies/Spark?revision=730ee8) adds an authored wet-route cost: a lethal shot can energize the connected water the player intended to enter. Insulation or dry firing position answers that hazard; Prod avoids the lethal trigger but gives up kill charge. Lead [29f5b0](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanics/Power%20And%20Attraction?revision=29f5b0) now selects the power-only Spark: it stuns and sheds nothing, preserving Coil as the paid harvest/control action. Combat and Spark still need to mirror that ruling under REV104-15, so this build follows the canonical contract rather than their crossed copy. Do not claim Driver reaches a Grounder on an elevated cable until Combat defines line of sight and height eligibility.
+
**Enemy counterplay.** Pursuers from two angles defeat a committed Driver shot; Cutter is a credible better choice on the cluttered return. Spark [454133](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Enemies/Spark?revision=454133) adds a wet-route cost: a lethal shot can energize the connected water the player intended to enter. Insulation or dry firing position answers that hazard; Prod avoids the lethal trigger but gives up kill charge. Shared 8644ea, Combat 6129ea's current table and Spark now agree on power-only death: the discharge stuns and sheds nothing, preserving Coil as the paid harvest/control action; an unshed kill still has its ordinary mote. The previous crossed-table request is no longer pending. Do not claim Driver reaches a Grounder on an elevated cable until Combat defines line of sight and height eligibility.
**Why this family is not a weaker Harvester.** Its ordinary plan minimizes fighting, carries four to six bankable bundles, and treats charge as an optional escape/access reserve. Harvester's preferred plan seeks a fresh wet mass and gives that cargo space to charge storage and Arc. Breacher can adopt an expensive Coil detour but loses most of the reason it chose this family. No additional hauling tax is needed to force a difference.
