Commit fbf654

2026-09-10 12:33:03 Anonymous: Align the three build examples with actual equipment and retain crowd-scale payoff targets

hold the flood/hordes and builds.md ..
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	Hold The Horde should repeatedly move between curiosity, rising crowd pressure, a spectacular build payoff and a short breath in which the player can understand what they reached. Ordinary weapons fire mostly automatically. The player's combat decisions are movement, route, proximity, which automatic effects to connect, and when to trigger a manual special.
-	The following is a proposed experience and ruleset. Counts describe the intended impression, not tested balance or performance.
+	The following is a proposed experience. **The target is a survivorslike spectacle: a developed build changes most of the visible horde.** Counts and effects are untested. Storm Choir and Ricochet Foundry still need rules supporting their largest payoffs; Gravity Furnace adds two proposed temporary transformations using existing parts.
-	Ordinary exploration crosses substantial **local hordes** already occupying or moving through connected station spaces. The player can also deliberately wake machinery that draws a much larger surge and reveals new space; other disturbances can wake adjacent crowds. A **temporary overclock** is a proposed extra behaviour earned by an installed part after the player survives a crowd crest. It lasts only for the current expedition and changes the existing build without adding a permanent part.
+	Ordinary exploration crosses substantial **local hordes** already occupying or moving through connected station spaces. The player can also deliberately wake machinery that draws a much larger surge and reveals new space; other disturbances can wake adjacent crowds. A **temporary overclock** changes the behaviour of installed equipment for the current expedition. It can turn a useful automatic shot into something the player wants to build a whole trip around.
	## Example: the moving scan
-	The astronaut enters a hospital transfer concourse because a window above it shows a constellation that was not there before the last death. A rail-mounted lamp can scan it, but the carriage is at the wrong end. Fitting one carried power part starts the carriage moving at walking pace. There is no panel to hold: the player can run ahead, fall behind or circle it. Bodies slow the carriage until its rail is cleared, then it continues.
+	The astronaut enters a hospital transfer concourse because a window above it shows a constellation that was not there before the last death. A rail-mounted lamp can scan it, but the carriage is at the wrong end. Its station supply is visibly live. Releasing its mechanical brake starts the carriage moving at walking pace. The player can run ahead, fall behind or circle it. Bodies slow the carriage until its rail is cleared, then it continues.
-	The machinery wakes the concourse. About forty shambling patients spill from two wards across the central lane. A dozen faster creatures descend marked maintenance stairs in flanking groups; more silhouettes press behind ward glass. The player's modest **Storm Choir** sends a spark through four nearby bodies. It helps but does not dominate the space.
+	The machinery wakes the concourse. About forty shambling patients spill from two wards across the central lane. A dozen faster creatures descend marked maintenance stairs in flanking groups; more silhouettes press behind ward glass. The player's later-game **Storm Choir** has automatic Projector fire, impact-powered arcs and a charge store, but begins this trip without its temporary transformations. Its short electrical chains help without dominating the space.
-	At the first junction the crowd thickens. The player stays near the packed centre so every automatic spark finds another body, then cuts aside when the fast group arrives. Defeating this crest earns a temporary overclock. In the paused journal the player chooses **Echoing Arc**, making the last jump return charge to its starter. This interrupts the motion briefly, but costs no oxygen or position and requires no field rewiring. Play resumes at the same danger.
+	At the first junction the crowd thickens. The player stays near the packed centre so each arc finds another body, then cuts aside when the fast group arrives. The ward release is finite and visibly runs out. Clearing its committed crowd earns a choice under the proposed stage reward rule. In the paused journal the player chooses **Echoing Arc**: each Arc discharge can extend to two additional nearby targets, at a heat cost. It resumes the same danger when the journal closes.
-	The final ward doors open ahead. Roughly one hundred enemies fill the concourse, with more flowing from known doors. A broad tide closes from behind while fast groups cross the carriage's path. The player risks the dense middle, fills the rig's charge cell with returning sparks and manually releases **Thunderhead**. Blue-white arcs fork across the packed lane. The crowd collapses and the carriage surges through: a strong build turns an impossible screen into a route.
+	At the next junction, the carriage trips a second marked ward release. Resolving it offers **Thunderhead**, adding a manual full-store burst to the same rig. Ordinary Projector impacts charge the store. Each Arc discharge spends its supplied charge; the extra jumps add heat. These two releases prepare the build for the final optional scan. At either junction the player can stop the carriage and leave by the walking route.
-	An unready player sees the crest turn against them. Flankers consume arcs before they reach the tide, bodies stall the carriage, and a heavy creature narrows the exit while hits strip condition. The choice is legible: spend Thunderhead early and face the main mass empty; hold the centre long enough to charge, risking death; or abandon the scan and flee, spending oxygen and position. Death changes the next route, but everything physical still carried returns aboard. The horde has teeth without deleting the loadout.
+	The final ward doors open ahead. Roughly one hundred enemies fill the concourse, with more flowing from announced sources. A tide closes from behind while fast groups cross the carriage's path. The player risks the dense middle, finishes charging and presses Thunderhead. Stored charge discharges through Arc and Projector together, then charging resumes automatically. **The intended climax** is blue-white branching light across the packed lane: the crowd collapses and the carriage surges through. The player turns an impossible screen into a route. Storm Choir below identifies the coverage rules still needed for that scale.
-	At the far window the doors seal and pressure breaks. The “constellation” is a live map of rooms that are currently far apart. Its last line unfolds an overhead bridge toward the matching point—a route the player can walk now. An earlier recorded mark suggests another unpowered scan track may reveal a second bridge elsewhere. The player can push onto the new span with reduced oxygen or carry the exposed lamp component home and try the idea elsewhere. Combat delivered access; knowledge points to a specific next action.
+	An unready player sees the crest turn against them. Flankers draw arcs away from the tide, bodies stall the carriage, and a heavy creature narrows the exit while hits strip condition. The choice is legible: spend Thunderhead early and face the main mass empty; hold the centre long enough to charge, risking death; or abandon the scan and flee, spending oxygen and position. The walking route remains usable without an overclock. Death changes the next route, but everything physical still carried returns aboard. The horde has teeth without deleting the loadout.
-	The moving lamp is one expedition example, not a required escort pattern. Other trips can simply cross an occupied route, pursue a creature, carry an object or deliberately wake a larger surge.
+	At the far window the final source gates close, stopping further arrivals. The player clears the creatures already beside the carriage or leaves them separated behind a pedestrian bulkhead before investigating. The “constellation” is a live map of rooms that are currently far apart. Its last line unfolds an overhead bridge toward the matching point—a route the player can walk now. An earlier recorded mark suggests another scan track may reveal a second bridge elsewhere. The player can push onto the new span with reduced oxygen or bring that recorded connection home and plan the next trip. Combat delivered access; knowledge points to a specific next action.
+
+	This is a proposed later-expedition sequence. Its three sources, source gates, carriage power and bypass need a room placement before it becomes an authored encounter. The moving lamp is one expedition example; other trips can cross an occupied route, pursue a creature, carry an object or deliberately wake a larger surge.
	## The ordinary horde rhythm
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	1. **Wake.** The player sees sleeping bodies, moving shadows, opening doors or a crowd already migrating. Sound and warning lights identify the routes that may answer.
	2. **Gather.** A slow majority occupies broad lanes. Faster packs take visible side routes; climbing creatures spill from ceiling or maintenance routes; a few heavy bodies bend the flow and make the player change course.
	3. **Crest.** Two or three movement patterns overlap. The player must choose the dense line that rewards the build, the safer line that protects condition, or a costly retreat that spends oxygen. A moving objective continues through the space rather than turning into a defence circle.
-	4. **Break.** The build kills faster than nearby routes can fill, the player crosses a bulkhead and seals it, or they outrun the alerted volume. Music, enemy flow and the room's silhouette all release together. The resulting lull belongs to inspection, salvage, route choice and discovery.
+	4. **Break.** The player clears the finite release or completes a physical seal at its source. Sealing stops arrivals; creatures already inside still need clearing or safe separation before investigation. Music, enemy flow and the room's silhouette release together. The resulting lull belongs to inspection, salvage, route choice and discovery.
-	Crowds come from connected spaces rather than a secret global timer, but they need not be a tiny census of individually placed enemies. An infested ward can keep feeding a concourse while its doors remain open and disturbed. Each source area has a readable endpoint: sealing its route, leaving its attention range, exhausting that authored surge, or killing through it. A powerful build is allowed to erase the ordinary crest and enjoy the silence it bought.
+	Killing faster than a source can feed buys room to move while it is still active. Outrunning the crowd buys escape. A resolved release stays spent in the current station arrangement; returning to the same source does not make it pay again. Further releases need their own announced physical source. A powerful build is allowed to erase an ordinary crest and enjoy the silence it bought. [Fighting the Horde](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules) explains sources, stage rewards and the difference between a cleared lane and a quiet room.
	Combat stays regular because exploration crosses inhabited volumes and because movement, machinery and fighting can wake adjacent source areas. Quiet rooms and earned breaks remain essential; without them, clues become visual noise and a climax has no shape.
-	An expedition ends aboard, whether the astronaut walks back or revives. Temporary overclocks end then. A living return preserves the current arrangement and cleared local populations; occupied places remain threatening. Death rearranges the station and can connect different source areas to familiar rooms, while selected permanent doors and connections remain changed. Everything physical still carried returns after death.
+	An expedition ends aboard, whether the astronaut walks back or revives. **Every temporary combat upgrade and every unchosen upgrade offer ends then.** A living return preserves the current arrangement, cleared local populations and spent stages; occupied places remain threatening. The next climb starts at an unresolved source beyond that cleared ground. Major encounters also need an approach that works at starting power. Death rearranges the station and can connect different source areas to familiar rooms, while selected permanent doors and connections remain changed. Everything physical still carried returns after death.
	## Power during one sortie and across many
-	Permanent growth comes from discovering reusable parts in station machines, strange creatures and hidden stores. A part taken home joins the collection; carrying it competes with oxygen, salvage and other equipment. The most exciting find is not simply a larger number. It introduces a new action—fork, return, orbit, pull, store, convert—that changes several existing chains.
+	Permanent growth comes from reusable parts in station machinery and other placed discoveries. Carrying a find competes with oxygen, salvage and equipment. A new behaviour—fork, sense movement, shove, store, convert—changes several existing chains. [Finding Equipment and Growing the Rig](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment%20Acquisition%20And%20Rig%20Growth) describes the proposed finds and expansion; finding versus fabricating the wider collection remains an owner choice.
+
+	Temporary transformations create a survivorslike rise from “barely holds a lane” to “owns the room.” Echoing Arc adds targets, Rebound Disc makes architecture part of a shot, and Thunderhead turns storage into a climax. The chosen behaviour changes automatically. The pleasure should come from deciding what this expedition's machine will become, then seeing that decision reshape the next crowd.
-	During a sortie, active parts calibrate through use against real crowd pressure. After a crest, the rig offers a small choice between temporary overclocks for parts already installed: an extra fork, a returning projectile, faster storage, a larger manual release. The choice changes a visible connection automatically. This creates a survivorslike rise from “barely holds a lane” to “owns the room” without requiring a new permanent part every few minutes. Only overcoming meaningful pressure advances it; delaying one harmless enemy does not.
+	**How often growth arrives is still an owner choice.** The current proposal used by the moving scan awards one choice for clearing or sealing a finite, announced release, including early resolution. The alternative is regular growth from defeated enemies with larger milestone transformations. Neither should reward delaying a harmless last enemy. [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules) explains temporary effects and growth choices; [Fighting the Horde](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules) explains how a sourced horde is resolved.
-	The owner selected resetting temporary combat upgrades on every return home. The particular overclocks and how they are earned remain proposals. Each expedition gets a fresh rise in power; delivering a survivor, following a new clue and preparing another combination give that rise a purpose beyond its last spectacular clear.
+	The owner selected resetting temporary combat upgrades on every return home. Each expedition gets a fresh rise in power; delivering a survivor, following a new clue and preparing another combination give that rise a purpose beyond its last spectacular clear. A living return must leave a useful route to that next rise, rather than make death the efficient way to find fresh crowds.
	## Build one: Storm Choir
-	**What it does.** Automatic fire plants an electrical note in the nearest valid enemy. The note jumps through nearby bodies. The player moves toward dense knots to extend the song, then manually discharges stored charge when the crowd is fullest.
+	**What it does.** Automatic Projector impacts feed electrical chains and bank charge. The player moves toward dense knots so an arc can reach neighbouring bodies, then manually discharges the full store when the crowd is fullest. Ordinary charging restores itself after the burst.
-	**Connection in plain language.** A proximity starter feeds an arc part. A fork adds more branches; a return coil sends the last jump back as charge; a charge cell stores those returns for the Thunderhead special.
+	**Connection in plain language.** Threat Sensor starts Pulse Projector. Physical impacts supply Impact Dynamo; Fork Relay divides its charge between Arc Emitter and Capacitor. Echoing Arc adds two target jumps. Thunderhead switches the full store through Fork to Arc and Projector for one manual burst. These six parts use seven carrying and mounted spaces on a later rig; one normal oxygen canister leaves one of the proposed ten carrying spaces for salvage.
-	**Early payoff.** One spark crosses four close enemies, making a packed lane safer than scattered flankers. **Developed payoff.** Multiple coloured branches race across most of the visible horde, return, and erupt again in a screen-wide manual storm. The player has turned the crowd's density into fuel.
+	**Early payoff.** Short chains reward packed lanes. **Developed payoff target.** Coloured branches race across most of the visible horde; a manual storm opens the lane in one magnificent release. This needs further reach and branching rules: the base chain's target count is unspecified, and two extra jumps do not establish screen-wide coverage. Arcs spend supplied energy; burst descendants cannot recharge themselves.
-	**Weakness and choice.** Insulated or widely scattered enemies break the chain, and building for more branches leaves less carrying space for oxygen or single-target force. The exciting risk is stepping closer to the densest group because that is where the machine becomes magnificent.
+	**Weakness and choice.** Insulated or widely scattered enemies break the chain. Storage and Arc consume space that could support defence, oxygen or single-target force, and the burst adds a high heat pulse. This particular rig has no Barrier. The exciting risk is stepping closer to the densest group because that is where the machine should become magnificent.
	## Build two: Ricochet Foundry
-	**What it does.** The rig automatically launches a heavy glowing disc. It rebounds from hard surfaces and enemies, shedding smaller projectiles at each impact. The player runs corridor angles and uses a manual magnetic shove to change the next bank.
+	**What it does.** With Rebound Disc, the rig automatically launches a glowing disc that can rebound twice. Fragment Wake can turn its final rebound into one terminating burst of fragments. The player runs corridor angles and uses a manual shove to move eligible bodies or loose cover into the shot's path.
-	**Connection in plain language.** An automatic launcher feeds an impact splitter. A rebound magnet returns surviving discs toward the astronaut; a momentum part makes every completed return faster and more fragmentary.
+	**Connection in plain language.** Threat Sensor starts Pulse Projector. Its physical impacts supply Impact Dynamo, which charges Capacitor. Manual Trigger operates Vector Nozzle for the shove. Rebound Disc and Fragment Wake change the Projector temporarily. These six parts use seven carrying and seven mounted spaces. Nozzle moves bodies and loose objects; steering a disc is not part of its current behaviour. Each original shot gives Dynamo at most one contribution, however many of its rebounds or fragments hit.
-	**Early payoff.** One disc banks around a corner and hits a line twice. **Developed payoff.** Several persistent discs weave between walls while clouds of fragments fill their wake; each successful circuit accelerates the foundry until the room resembles a luminous pinball table.
+	**Early payoff.** A disc banks through a line and strikes again from another angle. **Developed payoff target.** Several independent shots overlap between the walls, finishing in bright fragment fans until the room resembles a luminous pinball table. Rebounds end after their finite allowance; successive ordinary shots build the pattern. Fire rate, flight duration, fragment spread and target damage still need to support that dense result within the rig's power and heat limits.
-	**Weakness and choice.** Open atriums, soft partitions and enemies that absorb projectiles deny useful rebounds. The player can pack a wall-making part to create angles, but it occupies space that could hold salvage or a heavy single-target weapon. Its pleasure comes from reading architecture at running speed and watching a modest bank shot grow into controlled chaos.
+	**Weakness and choice.** Open atriums, soft partitions and enemies that absorb projectiles deny useful rebounds. The shove can arrange existing loose cover, but bringing its parts spends the space Storm Choir uses for Fork and Arc. This rig also lacks a Barrier. Its pleasure comes from reading architecture at running speed and watching a modest bank shot grow into controlled chaos.
	## Build three: Gravity Furnace
-	**What it does.** A moving field tugs nearby enemies into a tightening wake behind the astronaut. Hits inside that mass become heat. The player decides how long to keep running with the dangerous knot before manually collapsing it.
+	**What it should do.** The astronaut gathers a dangerous wake of enemies while running, then burns through the compressed mass with a chosen thermal burst. Its pleasure is the moment pursuit becomes ammunition for the player's plan: keep the knot together for a spectacular release, or fire early to escape it.
+
+	**Proposed connection.** Stride Switch starts Vector Nozzle. A new temporary **Inward Draft** effect would turn its pushes into short pulls toward the astronaut. Threat Sensor separately starts Pulse Projector; physical impacts feed Impact Dynamo and fill Capacitor. A second temporary effect, **Furnace Burst**, would switch the full store through Thermal Lens to Projector for one heat-bearing shot with a terminating thermal bloom, then restore charging automatically. Charge becomes heat at release; heat and burst impacts cannot refill the store.
-	**Connection in plain language.** A stride starter powers a pull field. A pressure part converts collisions inside the field into heat; a furnace stores that heat; a rupture part releases it as a short, violent blast.
+	These seven existing parts use **eight carrying and mounted spaces**. One normal oxygen canister fills the ten-space manifest; there is no Barrier or free salvage space. Pull reach, thermal bloom and crowd-scale behaviour need new rules for these proposed temporary effects.
-	**Early payoff.** A pulse gathers a small pack and burns it in one burst, opening a lane. **Developed payoff.** Dozens of enemies spiral into a bright compressed orbit while the astronaut threads between obstacles; the final collapse expands through the packed horde and leaves a clean circle of silence.
+	**Early payoff target.** Pull pulses bunch a pack for one hot shot. **Developed payoff target.** Dozens fold into a bright wake as the astronaut threads between obstacles; the final bloom tears through the mass and opens a broad escape lane. Each pull needs a fresh voluntary stride, power and cooling. Its opposite reaction draws the astronaut toward the crowd; forced motion cannot trigger more strides. A burst spends the full store, adds heat and restores ordinary firing without a journal edit.
-	**Weakness and choice.** Heavy enemies resist the pull, ranged attackers remain dangerous, and waiting for a larger collapse makes the tail harder to escape. Releasing early is safe but ordinary; holding for spectacle risks condition, oxygen and the moving objective. Enemy manipulation is the setup, while the build's experiment remains the conversion chain and its destructive payoff.
+	**Weakness and choice.** Heavy enemies resist displacement; ranged attackers remain dangerous. Pulling and charging compete for power and cooling. Releasing early is safer but smaller; holding for spectacle brings the tail closer and risks condition, oxygen and the objective. Taking a find means sacrificing oxygen or breaking this packed arrangement. Exact force, recoil, bloom size and damage remain design work.
	## Minimum connection rules
-	A build is read left to right as **start → change → deliver → payoff**. Parts show compatible ports and one plain-language sentence about what they pass onward. Branches are allowed to reach more than one ordinary weapon; power, heat, occupied rig space and carried capacity create the practical limit instead of a universal one-launch-path ban.
+	A build is read left to right as **start → change → deliver → payoff**. Parts show compatible ports and one plain-language sentence about what they pass onward. Branches are allowed to reach more than one ordinary weapon; power, heat, occupied rig space and carried capacity create the practical limits. Each actuator owns its target and readiness. Named echoes are finite, and a descendant cannot refill the energy, readiness or echo allowance that made it.
-	The player assembles freely at the ship. The journal pauses everything and can change links without advancing the world. Newly found parts still require a short physical installation when first fitted, but repeated manual wire drawing is not the source of challenge. Overclocks modify the chosen chain automatically during a sortie, preserving combat momentum. Returning to the action restores exactly the danger that was paused.
+	The player assembles freely at the ship. The journal pauses everything and can change links without advancing the world. Newly found parts still require a short physical installation when first fitted, while picking up equipment and operating fixtures happen live. Temporary transformations modify the chosen chain automatically during a sortie. Returning to the action restores exactly the danger that was paused. [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules) owns connection behaviour; [Mechanical Interfaces](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Mechanical%20Interfaces%20And%20Opening%20Quantities) supplies the current conservation and quantity proposals.
	## Why the loop pulls forward
-	A new room promises evidence and perhaps a transformative part. Reaching it wakes a crowd. The crowd gives the current build enough pressure to reveal its character and enough calibration to cross a visible power threshold. The spectacular clear creates relief and access; the discovery beyond changes the player's theory of the station or suggests a new destination. Taking the part means sacrificing oxygen, salvage or an existing component, so the route home remains a decision even after victory.
+	A new room promises evidence and perhaps a transformative part. Reaching it wakes a crowd. Pressure reveals the current build's character: the lane that was frightening becomes the place where the machine works best. A growth choice changes the next encounter visibly. The spectacular clear creates relief and access; the discovery beyond changes the player's theory of the station or suggests a new destination. Taking a part means sacrificing oxygen, salvage or an existing component, so the route home remains a decision even after victory.
	The next expedition is desirable for two reasons at once: test the new connection against a different crowd shape, and follow the question uncovered behind the last one. Exact counts, timings, targeting help and performance limits require later authorized validation. The intended standard is concrete: ordinary play should repeatedly make the player flee a tide, turn their machine into something absurd, break that tide, breathe, and discover why it was worth entering the room.