Commit 79850a
2026-09-07 22:28:17 Anonymous: Define rescue transfer, air, failure, and colony states| /dev/null .. hold the flood/rescue rules.md | |
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| + | # Hold The Horde — Rescue Rules |
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| + | **Status.** Proposed rules for one authored rescue, not an owner-approved global rescue or survivor-loss system. The brief requires that rescued humans can be sent to the ship, where an authored colony grows and provides understanding, upgrades and a reason to care. It does not define rescue logistics, colony management or permanent survivor loss. The example fiction below uses Dorn and the sealed section already proposed in Exploration Structure; it does not settle station history. |
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| + | ## The immediate goal and the bounded shelter |
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| + | The goal is readable: **get Dorn from the sealed pressure refuge through the ship airlock.** The player first contacts Dorn through a viewport or local radio. Dorn agrees to leave only after a route and breathable transfer are prepared; consent and readiness are separate from being sent. |
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| + | The refuge contains a finite pocket of breathable air held by its damaged pressure lock. For this example it sustains Dorn between expeditions without a hidden countdown. It cannot cycle without venting, produces no oxygen and cannot refill the astronaut's suit or canisters. Opening it for departure spends that shelter permanently. This authored stable wait prevents an invisible deadline; it is not a general rule that survivors cannot worsen or die. |
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| + | ## Preparation choices and costs |
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| + | Dorn needs a full portable canister connected to their own suit before the refuge opens. It occupies the astronaut's shared carrying capacity while carried. When handed over it leaves the astronaut's inventory and is committed to the rescue; Dorn never occupies an inventory slot. |
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| + | The player must also visit the intended path and one fallback point. The recorded breadcrumb describes passages actually traversed but does not certify safety, continued access or exact oxygen cost. Two preparations are credible: |
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| + | - **Short exposed route:** leave a relay-family part in the station feed to power the hoist and open the run Dorn deliberately sealed. Once installed there, it frees carrying capacity, but remains unavailable to the rig and the hoist stops if it is retrieved. Dorn objects to opening this route even though it is cheaper. |
| + | - **Long sealed route:** respect Dorn's preference and keep the relay, but spend more trips and personal oxygen preparing the longer pressure route. Any ordinary sealing gear carried for that work competes with equipment and salvage while held. |
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| + | These costs can change with later capacity design; the qualitative choice is persistent capability commitment versus a longer, heavier transfer. |
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| + | ## Transfer sequence |
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| + | | State | What establishes it | What each person can do next | |
| + | |---|---|---| |
| + | | **Waiting** | Contact and consent; refuge still sealed | Player postpones, explores or prepares. Dorn remains in the bounded shelter. | |
| + | | **Prepared** | Survivor canister delivered; route and fallback visited; required equipment placed or carried | Player may retrieve uncommitted supplies or request departure. Dorn confirms physical readiness and restates his route preference. | |
| + | | **In transfer** | Dorn accepts; canister connects; refuge opens and vents | Player leads the exposed segment and holds an ordinary horde. Dorn operates pressure controls, crosses on the player's signal and seals the prepared fallback. Either can call an abort. | |
| + | | **Fallback** | Transfer is interrupted before the ship | Dorn retreats to the last prepared refuge using the canister's emergency margin. Player must later relocate them there, replace spent air and recheck access. | |
| + | | **Sent / colony** | Dorn crosses the ship airlock and the lock closes | Dorn's authored interpretation and proposed carry-frame seal service become available aboard. Later astronaut death does not remove him. | |
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| + | The defence beat is short and uses ordinary hordes, not a bespoke boss. Clearing enemies before the request may reduce pressure, but varying population and a venting refuge mean preparation does not promise an empty crossing. The astronaut chooses the route, when to signal movement, whether to spend a diversion, and whether to abort rather than exhaust the transfer margin. Dorn is an actor: he states his preference, runs the inner controls and can call the retreat when his air or the seal is threatened. |
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| + | ## Failure and continuation rules |
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| + | The **Sent** boundary is physical and unambiguous. A radio request, accepted plan, opened refuge or survivor moving toward the ship is not completion. |
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| + | | Outcome | Persistent local result | Player's next available choice | |
| + | |---|---|---| |
| + | | Postpone before departure | Refuge remains sealed; any installed relay or delivered, unconnected canister stays where left | Continue another objective, revise the route, or retrieve uncommitted equipment | |
| + | | Abort before refuge opens | Dorn remains waiting; shelter and air are not spent | Change loadout or route and request again | |
| + | | Interrupted after opening | Original pocket is vented; emergency air/diversion is spent; Dorn is at the named fallback; installations and door changes persist under their own rules | Attempt the fallback rescue, recover a death cache, or defer while Dorn remains at the recorded place | |
| + | | Astronaut dies before **Sent** | Carried items form the ordinary death cache. If departure has not begun, Dorn stays in the sealed refuge; during transfer, he reaches the prepared fallback. He is not retroactively aboard. | Choose between rescue, cache recovery and another objective on revival | |
| + | | Astronaut dies after **Sent** | Dorn remains a colony member; ordinary carried gear follows death rules | Re-equip with Dorn still aboard | |
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| + | The local failure is deliberately reversible but not consequence-free: a failed committed attempt loses the first shelter and emergency air, may leave a useful relay installed, and moves the next attempt to a different known point. No trust penalty, injury or permanent deterioration is inferred. The authored transfer starts only with a viable fallback, so this example does not require a permadeath ruling. That does not grant immunity outside it or settle whether another clearly telegraphed rescue can end permanently. |
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| + | ## Credible alternative: full physical escort |
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| + | The stronger alternative is to have Dorn accompany the astronaut from refuge to ship, stopping, following and fighting or hiding throughout ordinary traversal. It makes protection visible and gives oxygen and hordes a direct human stake. The same canister and capacity rules can apply without treating Dorn as cargo. |
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| + | Its cost is that pathfinding and repeated protection may turn an authored person into an escort object, while every detour or discovery becomes a threat to mission reliability. The staged transfer is preferred because it concentrates cooperation into chosen pressure points and lets Dorn operate the route. Reopen that preference if the staged crossing reads as automatic, if Dorn's reciprocal actions are not legible, or if the short defence cannot carry the intended human stake. |
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| + | ## Self-check and dependencies |
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| + | Waiting, prepared, moving, fallback and sent are mutually exclusive and give the player an explicit next action. Observed evidence establishes location and air state; it does not prove motive or safety. Parts left in fixtures and supplies handed away are not double-counted as carried cargo. No route reference predicts unseen danger. The proposal assumes authored fallback spaces and survivor behavior, increasing content and state-authoring cost. It does not establish fun, emotional impact, balance, oxygen quantities, colony economy, global survivor loss or campaign feasibility. |