**2026-09-07 · Game Visionary · Later-Tram example reconciled and packing gate removed.** The conversion example now follows [Campaign r8](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Campaign?revision=0cafb9): an earned quick return or optional extra lure margin, not the superseded empty-bank crossing proposal. Siphon feedstock need not be adjacent under [U5](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment/Utility%20Modules#siphon-u5-retained-targetfeed-and-overflow-defined). Prior proposal: [6d6d1d](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment/Build%20Paths?revision=6d6d1d). Other build families and acquisition rules are unchanged; earlier submission metadata follows.
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**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.**
### The discovery that changes a later approach: salvage can pay for a short lure
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**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.
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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.
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The summit stores offer **Siphon versus Kit**, both inspectable beside the existing loose bundle and shelter; take one per expedition. Inspection records the recipe, even if the object is left or lost. Fitting the converter’s battery feed still requires shelter. The finding is useful because a bankable bundle can become emergency light, not because the player must use every discovered item.
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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.
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**Follow the integrated return, not the earlier proposal.** [Campaign r8](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Campaign?revision=0cafb9) clears the rail-blocking Heavy for five charge. With the first incoming crowd withheld at the Collector, the player can set the tram’s standing state and leave early with the bundle; the Siphon and portable Beacon are unused insurance. Do not add a compulsory wait, an extra crowd or a fuel deficit to make the loadout seem necessary. A player who stays for another observation faces the later crowd: five charge already buys fifty lit seconds, while consuming Siphon and bundle adds thirty seconds of margin. The real choice is confidence and cargo against extra assurance, not owning a return key. Campaign owns the path, timing and ledgers.
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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.
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**The simplified rack rule, as a boundary example rather than another authored trip.** Start `. . Siphon B` / `. . L .`, with B linked to Beacon and Siphon’s feed set to B. Put the wet bundle in top-row column **1**: it touches neither the converter nor the bank. It is still valid fuel under [U5](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment/Utility%20Modules#siphon-u5-retained-targetfeed-and-overflow-defined). From an empty eligible bank, conversion gives **0 → 3** and frees the Siphon and bundle cells; from the adopted return’s five-charge bank, **5 → 8**. The respective maximum lure durations are thirty and eighty lit seconds. No adjacency, field relinking, free starting fuel or new charge source is implied. Existing leakage still applies to cargo left in contact with a bank.
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**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.
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The superseded thirty-second-crossing proposal is preserved in [the earlier proposal](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment/Build%20Paths?revision=6d6d1d). Recipes and actual switched states persist; only extraction banks salvage, while rescue loses carried cargo and fuel. Once there is no useful state to change or information to obtain, omit the return. The first-expedition acquisition and recording-shelter reconciliation below remain in force.
### Interface reconciliation after COL102 r2 — recording shelter established
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| Middle, branch H: **Harvest and burst** | Cutter + Coil + two Batteries + Insulation + Arc: six cells, two cargo cells | Prioritize Coil bank for collection, then Arc bank. Charge and control come from water; Arc is a separate chosen commitment. Carry a second bank instead of another bundle to preserve more harvest |
| Middle, branch G: **Grid diver** | Cutter + Coil + Battery + Insulation + Cable Reel + Kit: six cells, two cargo cells | Spend brief power on a connected gate and move through it, with the cable reaching another exposed terminal. Give up Arc and reserve storage for routing reach and recovery |
| Late H | Replace one cargo cell with a third Battery: seven cells, one cargo | Reserve overflow from a larger fresh crowd for a later shelter rewire; no instant fuel substitution. Keep the two-battery version for a better haul. The same old Coil and Cutter remain the actions |
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| Late G | Exchange Kit for Siphon when the return route already feels legible to the player | A touching bundle can complete a bank for one last gate; give up healing and bankable cargo. Or keep Kit and take the longer free valve route. This is a reversible branch, not an upgraded Kit |
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| Late G | Exchange Kit for Siphon when the return route already feels legible to the player | A carried wet bundle can complete a bank for one last gate; give up healing and bankable cargo. Or keep Kit and take the longer free valve route. This is a reversible branch, not an upgraded Kit |
**Legal middle H rack.** Each table is a literal cell. C/C are one Coil. Link Bc → Coil, Ba → Arc; priority Bc then Ba. S is a cargo bundle. Both batteries touch only housings or another battery, so no leakage under E2.
