2026-09-15 19:58:43
Anonymous:
Compare local arcs with a projectile-carried discharge
hold the flood/build comparison.md ..
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The accepted cost is three clearer fantasies but two new temporary exceptions and more preview work. Current shared Mechanical rules continue to govern until these replacements are separately reconciled; this comparison does not silently change their power, heat, flight-slot or finite-route safeguards. Written scenes cannot prove that any direction is fun, balanced or sufficiently discoverable.
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## What remains to design
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## Can a shot carry lightning?
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The second mapped trip in [Upgrade Choices](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Upgrade%20Choices) creates a fair test inside Storm Choir rather than a fourth fantasy. The astronaut carries the same Sensor, Projector, Dynamo, Fork, Arc and Capacitor through the same sealed pressure route. They already earned Thunderhead and chose Rebound Disc at the first Tune. At the sixth mark, one **40–75** hall band has broken for Echoing Arc while surviving bodies and the other band still contest Receiver Vault Approach. Neither treatment below is selected.
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### Strong cheaper baseline — two useful effects
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The current hybrid keeps the effects independent. An automatic disc follows its shown bank path. That Projector wave gives the locally clamped Dynamo at most one contribution; Fork feeds a rig-origin Arc action and Capacitor storage. Echoing Arc still starts from a target the astronaut can reach, and a distant rebound does not move the emitter.
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The hint is already present: the Echoing Arc card shows connected bodies around the rig while the disc preview shows the fixed rib, pillars and terminal path. The astronaut experiments by moving until the nearest visible target gives the disc a useful line while another connected group remains in Arc reach. This is dangerous under Shutterback's fan and Siphon's line because the seven-space rig has no Barrier or Nozzle.
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On a good sequence, lightning opens the nearby mass while the disc continues through a banked lane and the store rises toward Thunderhead. On a bad shot, a soft face or crowded segment ends the disc early, but the local Arc may still do useful work. Once the surviving pressure is cleared or separated, the astronaut captures the same seal strip and compares it with the hospital commissioning card.
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This baseline has the strongest reliability and production case. It uses current links, local sensing, previews, heat, flight slots and the established Thunderhead discharge. Its weakness is experiential: the disc and Arc reward compatible positioning but can still feel like two attacks happening beside each other.
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### Proposed alternative — Stormseed Disc
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**Stormseed Disc** is a working label for one optional full-store mode, not a new part or upgrade card. It appears only when Rebound Disc, Echoing Arc and Thunderhead are already active. In the paused journal, the discharge preview offers either current Thunderhead at the rig or Stormseed's first currently shown disc/body contact. Choosing one mode excludes the other for that command and reveals no unseen target or route.
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The rule change is narrow but real. A full Capacitor release still reaches Fork and divides **4 U** into the existing **2 U / 2 U** branches. Instead of producing Thunderhead's straight lance, Projector launches one Rebound Disc. The Arc branch uses one unit to reserve delivery and one unit for one normal Echoing Arc action; it gives up Thunderhead's three seed heads. Through a new delivery compatibility, that action attaches to the same parent flight instead of opening at the astronaut. The first valid body contacted by the disc becomes the Arc's initial body and origin; one base route and the two current Echoing branches begin there under their existing finite limits. The disc then continues with its remaining contact, distance, time and rebound allowance.
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This does not turn Projector's physical output into a general signal port, let Dynamo hear remote impacts or give Arc a signal output. The contact only releases the electrical action already accepted for this manual wave. It happens once. The contact body is the disc contact and the Arc seed, not two Arc seeds; no rig-origin Arc or straight lance also occurs. The disc and every electrical route remain descendants of the same command, cannot recharge Dynamo, cannot refresh readiness and cannot create another discharge.
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Activation keeps Thunderhead's current admission cost: a full **4 U** store, natural Projector and Arc readiness, the manual-ready hold and the complete **7 P** dispatch. The initial comparison also keeps Thunderhead's conservative heat row—Capacitor **+4 H**, Arc **+8 H** and Projector **+4 H**—rather than granting a discount for the different routes. Once launched, the disc keeps its normal flight slot and **1 P** reservation while the held Arc reserves **2 P** until contact or the disc ends. Later automatic fire must fit around that visible three-point hold. If the complete state will not fit, the command refuses before spending. After acceptance, obstruction, a lost group or a disc that reaches no body gives no refund; the Arc action dissipates when the disc ends.
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When Echoing Arc joins Rebound Disc, the full-store preview can place a bright Arc-origin ring on the first body already shown on the bank path. The astronaut moves behind the receiver hall's shelter and pillars until the nearest visible target sits on the useful edge of a connected group, with a rebound line continuing beyond it. Holding that angle while Siphon or Shutterback threatens the approach is the setup.
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A good press makes the combination unmistakable: one loaded disc reaches the chosen edge, lightning branches from that impact inside the remote group, and the same projectile keeps moving through its visible bank path. A bad press is equally clear: a nearer Presser crosses first, cover isolates the seed, or the disc misses every body. Lightning blooms from the wrong place or is lost, the store is empty, and neither local Arc nor lance rescues the command. The astronaut must survive the remaining hall and still earn the same quiet seal-strip inspection afterward.
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Stormseed therefore buys one stronger causal surprise by sacrificing Thunderhead's safer local heads and straight lane. It also adds design and production work: a cross-branch link preview, loaded-disc state, first-contact marker, held Arc/readiness display, contact and fizzle feedback, sound and accessibility equivalents. Adoption would require the [Equipment Catalogue](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment%20Catalogue) and [Mechanical Interfaces](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities) to reconcile the contact-origin action, heat row, overlaps with ordinary flights, and future Fragment Wake or Long Arc compatibility. The cheaper baseline needs only clearer causal feedback between the existing disc impact and rig-centred Dynamo/Fork/Arc pulse; even that feedback has UI, effects and accessibility cost.
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For the common equipment rules, see [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules) and the [Equipment Catalogue](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment%20Catalogue); [Mechanical Interfaces](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities) holds the detailed quantities.
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See these ideas in [Three expeditions into the observation ward](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Expedition%20Proposal), or return to [Hordes and Builds](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Hordes%20and%20Builds). [Back to The Game](/Hold%20The%20Flood/The%20Game).
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## Open questions
- Are Ricochet's forced terminal and Gravity's three-ember heat rule understandable without turning the journal into a recipe list?
- Does Ricochet's smaller permanent footprint need another physical part or higher operating cost, or is its dependence on room geometry enough?
- What regular-growth choices lead toward each major transformation, and what milestone triggers it?
- How should renewed hordes occupy permanently opened and joined rooms without making return travel repetitive?
- Which exact power, heat, duration and coverage values preserve overpowering success without making one build universal?
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For the common equipment rules, see [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules) and the [Equipment Catalogue](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment%20Catalogue); [Mechanical Interfaces](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities) holds the detailed quantities.
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See these ideas in [Three expeditions into the observation ward](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Expedition%20Proposal), or return to [Hordes and Builds](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Hordes%20and%20Builds). [Back to The Game](/Hold%20The%20Flood/The%20Game).
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- Does Stormseed's contact-origin payoff justify replacing Thunderhead's reliable local heads and lance for one command?
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- Can automatic target selection and the first-contact preview give enough control without steering, remote sensing or a recipe list?
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- Should an adopted Stormseed retain the conservative Thunderhead heat row, and how should its cross-effect overlap be shown without implying stacked kills?
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- The rules are untested and all quantities remain proposals.
