hold the flood/encounter and mechanism placement inventory.md ..
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## Shared encounter contract
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Warnings remain visible independently when they overlap. **Every placement except E03's deliberately quiet first latch lesson is a crowd encounter fed by named source areas** — wards, lift wells, ducts or sealed volumes that physically hold bodies. Sources release their crowds through **feeding apertures** — grilles, hatches, ward doors, ducts, gantry mouths — shown before anything arrives. Feeding apertures are distinct from the walking passages a room needs for the ship, rescue, records, clamps or exploration, and sealing an aperture never closes a walking passage. A placement's first readable cue may be one creature, but the route to and through it carries a crowd, following [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules). Nothing enters except through a shown aperture or route, no creature materializes without a physical approach, and no source reacts to build strength, kill speed or reward. A shown route can still carry creatures behind the player. Defeated creatures stay defeated for the expedition. A different population variant is selected only at a **death shift**, never on a living return and never on a load. A living return preserves this arrangement's population state entirely — resolved stages stay spent, occupied sources stay occupied, and nothing is replaced, escalated or reduced because the result was clean.
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Warnings remain visible independently when they overlap. **Every placement except E03's deliberately quiet first latch lesson is a crowd encounter fed by named source areas** — wards, lift wells, ducts or sealed volumes that physically hold bodies. Sources release their crowds through **feeding apertures** — grilles, hatches, ward doors, ducts, gantry mouths — shown before anything arrives. Feeding apertures are distinct from the walking passages a room needs for the ship, rescue, records, clamps or exploration, and sealing an aperture never closes a walking passage. A placement's first readable cue may be one creature, but the route to and through it carries a crowd, following [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules). Nothing enters except through a shown aperture or route, no creature materializes without a physical approach, and no source reacts to build strength, kill speed or reward. A shown route can still carry creatures behind the player. Defeated creatures stay defeated for the expedition. Combat populations renew for every new expedition after living return or revival. A living return keeps room arrangement and permanent changes; death additionally shifts unjoined rooms. Loading the ongoing expedition preserves its actual population and growth state. Permanent source seals and completed work remain changed, so renewed arrivals need viable sources and routes within that altered station. These placements still need a renewal pass; population changes are not a reaction to how efficiently the player fought.
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**Stages and temporary upgrades.** A **stage** is a finite, announced pressure release from an identified physical source. Its announced attackers and arrivals must commit before it can earn a combat-upgrade offer. Its peak — feeding apertures fully open, overlapping movement patterns, warning lights and music shifting — is what the player reads as the crest. While it is still feeding, killing faster than it arrives suppresses a lane but does not stop it. A committed stage **resolves** when the player clears all its committed arrivals or completes a physical seal that ends their access. Either earns the **same** single temporary upgrade choice in [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules), including resolution before the peak. A physical closure completed before release commitment prevents it and gives **no combat-upgrade offer**; safety and access are its benefit, with completed work persisting under its owning rule. This accepts less temporary growth for successful prevention. A seal leaves already-arrived creatures active: reward resolution is separate from a safe quiet space, which also needs those threats cleared, bypassed or physically separated. **Escaping resolves nothing:** leaving the pressure boundary saves the astronaut, who keeps carried property and knowledge, but earns no consolation choice, and re-entering resumes the same unresolved stage. Each stage pays once for the current arrangement: it stays spent across a living return, cannot be farmed by leaving and re-entering, and reopening the same seal does not create a new stage. Whether a seal stays closed follows its owning mechanism. Further machinery releases count as separate stages only where they are announced and sourced; a deliberately woken larger stage may offer a transformation. Cleared travel earns nothing, earned-but-unchosen offers expire aboard with temporary power, and death itself pays nothing. Rescue eligibility is a separate question, stated below.
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**Stages and temporary growth.** A **stage** is a finite, announced pressure release from an identified physical source. Its peak — feeding apertures fully open, overlapping movement patterns, warning lights and music shifting — is what the player reads as the crest. Killing faster than arrivals suppresses a lane while the source still feeds. Clearing the committed attackers or completing a physical seal resolves the release; already-arrived creatures remain active until cleared, bypassed or physically separated. A preventive closure blocks the release and provides safety and access. Regular fighting now supplies temporary growth independently of full release resolution, while major horde milestones supply larger transformations. Exact award cadence, milestone mapping and additional early-seal rewards remain open under [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules). Retreat preserves growth already earned until the expedition ends; every temporary upgrade and unchosen offer expires aboard. Each new expedition provides fresh combat and growth opportunities while permanent work remains. Loading or re-entering a room does not create a new expedition. Rescue eligibility remains separate, as stated below.
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**Cadence and route support.** A sustained outing might offer three to five meaningful choices — a foundation, a branch, later refinements, and possibly a transformation from a larger optional stage — while a short trip can earn one. The ten placements alone supply only one or two stages each, so that rhythm also depends on travel routes and their unresolved sources. In Arrangement A, **R11→R17→R20→R25** crosses E06 before the R25 setpiece. After a first living return that leaves R11 cleared, unresolved E06 supplies a growth opportunity. If the astronaut resolves E06 and returns home a second time, its stage remains spent and temporary power ends; the same route then reaches R25 through cleared ground without another ordinary award stage. Every major placement therefore keeps a baseline approach requiring no temporary upgrade. The distance to another unresolved frontier is a design cost. If stages come too often the rhythm becomes a chore; too rarely and the build barely grows between climaxes.
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**Cadence and route support.** The ten placements supply one or two announced stages each and retain their named crowd sources and physical resolution conditions; they do not yet establish the new ordinary-growth cadence or major-milestone mapping. In Arrangement A, **R11→R17→R20→R25** crosses E06 before the R25 setpiece. Fresh expeditions must offer renewed fighting and growth along viable routes despite earlier returns, but permanent seals or changed connections can affect where those crowds fit. This route needs a placement pass rather than assuming its previous award stages supply the new climb. Every major placement keeps a baseline approach requiring no temporary upgrade. Too many choice interruptions can make the rhythm a chore; too little growth can leave a build unchanged between climaxes.
Ordinary weapons fire automatically at the nearest visible valid target. A rig may carry more than one ordinary output; [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules) and [Mechanical Interfaces And Opening Quantities](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities) own their limits, triggers and feedback accounting, and examples below name the rig they assume. Manual Trigger starts one manual wave after facing/target/material preview. Fork copies trigger/type/wave and conserves usable payload; fixed machinery supplies its own power. Stride triggers only from the astronaut's deliberate grounded traversal. No example assumes an unseen target, universal Arc permission or stat tier.
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**Host and warning.** R02 Cargo Turn and compact partner R03 Collar Control, objective 1; P01 Triage Relay and the opening board/rack interface. From R01, the player sees two separated Pressers, the board's two output lamps, the shutter lane and rack through the fixed glazed throat. One Caller waits beside the matching alarm source beyond the shown patient-bay entrance. The final bridge fastener is labelled noisy; the Caller's throat shutters and P01's destination preview identify the answering lane before either commits.
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**Crowd, sources and space.** The cargo aisle already holds a slow crowd of Pressers in both lanes — perhaps 20–40 for the L-shaped aisle — whose first arrivals teach backswing and the nearest-visible target; that standing crowd is not a stage and earns nothing by itself. The **patient-bay ward** is the source volume behind the shutter lane's feeding aperture. The noisy final fastener or a completed Caller call releases its **stage**, perhaps 40–60 bodies through the shutter lane. **Resolution:** clear the stage's committed arrivals, or seal it by completing P01's manual dog hand-cycle with the shutter across the patient-bay lane — an existing persistent commit. A board- or Fork-held shutter closes that lane only while it is held: it suppresses the stage but is not a seal, and an undogged shutter still returns neutral on withdrawal or death. R02's waist-high rack breaks one lane, the board occupies the exposed inside corner, R03's bridge work is visible across the fixed throat, and R01 is the retreat. R02/R03 never shift apart. **Rework:** M02's aisle and the patient-bay aperture were built for a handful of bodies and need widening for this crowd.
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**Crowd, sources and space.** The cargo aisle already holds a slow crowd of Pressers in both lanes — perhaps 20–40 for the L-shaped aisle — whose first arrivals teach backswing and the nearest-visible target; that standing crowd is not a named release stage, but fighting it contributes to regular growth under Combat Rules; exact awards remain open. The **patient-bay ward** is the source volume behind the shutter lane's feeding aperture. The noisy final fastener or a completed Caller call releases its **stage**, perhaps 40–60 bodies through the shutter lane. **Resolution:** clear the stage's committed arrivals, or seal it by completing P01's manual dog hand-cycle with the shutter across the patient-bay lane — an existing persistent commit. A board- or Fork-held shutter closes that lane only while it is held: it suppresses the stage but is not a seal, and an undogged shutter still returns neutral on withdrawal or death. R02's waist-high rack breaks one lane, the board occupies the exposed inside corner, R03's bridge work is visible across the fixed throat, and R01 is the retreat. R02/R03 never shift apart. **Rework:** M02's aisle and the patient-bay aperture were built for a handful of bodies and need widening for this crowd.
**Objective and commitment.** Remove staged fasteners and carry the isolation bridge home; killing is optional. Each fastener commits separately. The last committed fastener starts the loud hold and may let a braced Caller complete its one call. Fork installation/retrieval and bridge pickup are separate commits.
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**Host and warning.** R08 First Local Latch Hall with a currently adjacent R09 test face, objective 3 and P03 Triage Relay. On the first local-latch introduction, one Clampcrawler is visible beside the centre inspection island and it is the entire combat population. Its arched crouch and jaw-flash lock draw a fixed landing arc when the latch control activates. The answering shutter is physically closed and its empty count lamp confirms that no Presser is eligible during this first lesson.
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**Crowd, sources and geometry.** The first latch lesson is a deliberately quiet beat: inside the hall one Clampcrawler is the whole fight, reached through the ordinary crowded route. Entry to that first lesson records one persistent **introduction seen** staging bit whether the player succeeds, refuses, cancels or withdraws. This alarm-only variant is eligible only while its shutter is closed; a persistently dogged-open shutter stays open and excludes this closed-holding variant. It is never closed again merely to stage the crowd. On a later death-shift population setup after that introduction, the eligible variant may occupy the **holding volume** behind the alarm-only shutter with a crowd of perhaps 20–40 Pressers, already present before the player enters. The introduction-seen bit does not create a creature on a same-life retry, exit or immediate re-entry; that life retains its existing population and defeated enemies stay defeated. This delays the combined variant until a later life. A count silhouette shows the holding volume is occupied before activation, but the closed opaque shutter denies mutual local sight and is the only physical route, so this variant is alarm-only. A completed P03 alert opens that route; cutting the lead before alert commitment prevents it. If the alert has already opened the shutter and the crowd is moving, cutting the lead neither closes the route nor dismisses it. **Stage:** the later variant's released crowd while the latch work runs. **Resolution:** clear its committed arrivals. Cutting P03's lead before the alert commits prevents the stage entirely, so there is nothing to resolve or earn. P03's own persistent commit dogs the shutter *open*, so this placement has no physical seal. The first lesson itself is not a stage and awards nothing. Opposed service faces are readable from the island; the latch work position sits inside the Crawler's possible arc, while one side step and R09 retreat lie outside. P03's alarm lead is exposed before the control. **Rework:** M06's hall and holding volume need space for the later crowd.
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**Crowd, sources and geometry.** The first latch lesson is a deliberately quiet beat: inside the hall one Clampcrawler is the whole fight, reached through the ordinary crowded route. Entry to that first lesson records one persistent **introduction seen** staging bit whether the player succeeds, refuses, cancels or withdraws. This alarm-only variant is eligible only while its shutter is closed; a persistently dogged-open shutter stays open and excludes this closed-holding variant. It is never closed again merely to stage the crowd. On a later expedition population setup after that introduction, the eligible variant may occupy the **holding volume** behind the alarm-only shutter with a crowd of perhaps 20–40 Pressers, already present before the player enters. The introduction-seen bit does not create a creature on a retry, exit or immediate re-entry within the same expedition; that expedition retains its existing population and defeated enemies stay defeated. This delays the combined variant until a later expedition. A count silhouette shows the holding volume is occupied before activation, but the closed opaque shutter denies mutual local sight and is the only physical route, so this variant is alarm-only. A completed P03 alert opens that route; cutting the lead before alert commitment prevents it. If the alert has already opened the shutter and the crowd is moving, cutting the lead neither closes the route nor dismisses it. **Stage:** the later variant's released crowd while the latch work runs. **Resolution:** clear its committed arrivals. Cutting P03's lead before the alert commits prevents the stage entirely; any additional reward for avoiding that fight remains open. P03's own persistent commit dogs the shutter *open*, so this placement has no physical seal. The first lesson itself is not a named release stage; its ordinary-growth contribution and any milestone mapping remain to be designed. Opposed service faces are readable from the island; the latch work position sits inside the Crawler's possible arc, while one side step and R09 retreat lie outside. P03's alarm lead is exposed before the control. **Rework:** M06's hall and holding volume need space for the later crowd.
**Objective and approaches.** Commit a valid seam or record a safe refusal, walk through and operate the network-side release. (1) In the solo introduction, bait the Crawler: start work, wait for jaw-flash lock, cancel, step out so it skids, then use the recovery to work; this needs no part. (2) Opening rig: Manual→Barrier intercepts a committed leap while Sensor→Projector fires only on a visible valid target. (3) Later Manual→Nozzle displaces the Crawler before lock or clears the work face; recoil clearance is shown at this instance. In the later crowd variant, cut P03's lead before crossing if the alarm-only route should stay closed, or accept the cued second lane; once the alert has committed, the physical approach remains valid.
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The ledger contains six ordinary roles—Presser, Flanker, Caller, Boltspitter, Clampcrawler and Veilbearer—and all three special roles—Bellback, Shutterback and Glass Siphon.
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Five rescue identities sit inside existing encounters: I1/E02; Y1-or-A1 first/E04; D1 and Y1-later/E06; A1-later/E07; M1/E08. No rescue begins under live pressure: the currently walked and prepared short route must be demonstrably quiet or separated — cleared, bypassed into a shown quiet state, or cut off by a persistent local closure. That requires neither killing every creature nor both clearing and sealing, and no rescue becomes a live escort fight. Whether a stage earned a temporary upgrade is a separate question. Home and evidence conversations remain among the existing 15 cast scenes aboard.
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Five rescue identities sit inside existing encounters: I1/E02; Y1-or-A1 first/E04; D1 and Y1-later/E06; A1-later/E07; M1/E08. No rescue begins under live pressure: the currently walked and prepared short route must be demonstrably quiet or separated — cleared, bypassed into a shown quiet state, or cut off by a persistent local closure. That requires neither killing every creature nor both clearing and sealing, and no rescue becomes a live escort fight. Temporary combat growth and major-milestone rewards are separate from rescue eligibility. Home and evidence conversations remain among the existing 15 cast scenes aboard.
## Two qualitative encounter walkthroughs
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The player first selects an expendable pressure sample. A protected record sample or invalid material refuses before Cycler activation and costs nothing. On a valid press, Manual starts one wave and Cycler commits consumption before emitting its inspected force response. Projector then checks its own readiness and selected valid target. If the Veil makes that target invalid or the receiver otherwise refuses at that point, the already consumed sample stays spent and there is no shot; refusal does not rewind the wave. The player can instead wait around the sheet edge and press when the target/readiness preview is valid. A successful shot does not retarget, duplicate payload or create a second wave; any physical Grid strike follows the Grid's own local rule.
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The equipment-free route uses ceramic strips and the Boltspitter's locked line to lure one eligible rail impact, waits through the visible Grid discharge/recharge, then cuts a clamp or frames the pair from cover. Beginning capture shows progress. Cancel/displacement before atomic commit yields no record and that capture does not trigger E07's release. Committing the corrective-pair capture can trigger the still-uncommitted release; the record then persists even if the astronaut is forced to retreat. A stage already triggered or spent is not created again by another capture. A completed Grid clamp remains cut; the other incomplete clamp resets. The single Cycler never exists in both rig and sorter: if active in the carried rig at later death it returns once, while a Cycler deliberately detached into a station socket remains there; spent sample remains spent and the source cradle remains empty. The death shifts external adjacency, preserves the pair capture/Grid cut and marks R24→R23 historical. Aster's rescue at R22 does not begin from those records; it waits unless a fresh, personally walked one-junction route with stocked R24 abort exists.
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The equipment-free route uses ceramic strips and the Boltspitter's locked line to lure one eligible rail impact, waits through the visible Grid discharge/recharge, then cuts a clamp or frames the pair from cover. Beginning capture shows progress. Cancel/displacement before atomic commit yields no record and that capture does not trigger E07's release. Committing the corrective-pair capture can trigger the still-uncommitted release; the record then persists even if the astronaut is forced to retreat. A release already triggered or resolved in this expedition is not created again by another capture; renewal for a later expedition must preserve the completed record and Grid work. A completed Grid clamp remains cut; the other incomplete clamp resets. The single Cycler never exists in both rig and sorter: if active in the carried rig at later death it returns once, while a Cycler deliberately detached into a station socket remains there; spent sample remains spent and the source cradle remains empty. The death shifts external adjacency, preserves the pair capture/Grid cut and marks R24→R23 historical. Aster's rescue at R22 does not begin from those records; it waits unless a fresh, personally walked one-junction route with stocked R24 abort exists.
## Concrete staging cut
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## Open questions
- These rules are untested; numbers, including crowd sizes, are proposals.
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- The owner has not chosen between the stage-only upgrade rhythm and regular defeated-enemy growth plus larger milestone transformations.
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- Exact regular-growth cadence and major-horde-milestone mapping across these placements, including rewards for avoiding fights; the owner has selected the growth direction.
- The mid-crossing safeguard (a rescue crossing is eligible only with a marked full-attempt return margin, an armed retreat line the survivor can operate alone and a local closure tell at the abort room; death mid-crossing then leaves the survivor at that room alive and unsent) is pending owner decision.
- The staging cut above (12 major mechanisms) is not owner-approved.
- Whether mechanism, service-transformation, ordinary-join and enemy-warning cues stay readable in a horde.
- Exact face distribution and complete assemblability of ordinary joins are not yet designed.
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- Exact timing, damage, oxygen drain, crowd sizes beyond these proposals, on-screen effect density, performance, thresholds, cooldowns, target overrides, overflow, simultaneous warning priority, surviving-enemy hold and presentation detail on living return (within the preserved population membership and defeated states), exhaustive arrangement/geometry/state variants, P13's full detail, full scripts, accessibility cue forms, asset selection, implementation and validation are later work.
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- Exact timing, damage, oxygen drain, crowd sizes beyond these proposals, on-screen effect density, performance, thresholds, cooldowns, target overrides, overflow, simultaneous warning priority, population renewal and its presentation for new expeditions while permanent changes remain, plus ongoing-expedition population continuity, exhaustive arrangement/geometry/state variants, P13's full detail, full scripts, accessibility cue forms, asset selection, implementation and validation are later work.
- Owner choices still open: final content band, first survivor and the later rescue host variants, global death/shift/transfer ordering, post-Sent mortality, story package, full-station behavior and endings.
