An ordinary weapon launches when both its world-time readiness and a valid target are present. If readiness finishes without a target, it remains ready and fires when a valid target later appears; each launch consumes that readiness before the next stated interval. The controller launch is a proposed external equipment event that starts one causal wave. Rig output cannot ready the controller again or mint a launch event, and descendants retain the launch wave. Journal pause advances neither readiness nor firing. Assembly labels manual specials: a chosen Capacitor release, aimed shove or directional Barrier starts a manual external wave. Dynamo and other reactive parts remain automatic only on inspected triggers.

| Ordinary weapon ready | Eligible target is highlighted | Automatic launch starts one wave; no target holds fire |

| Staged world action | Current stage and completed checkpoints are shown | Cancel loses the unfinished stage; completed physical checkpoints persist |

| Hit taken | Condition loss and any displacement are shown | Condition persists for the expedition; damage alone does not cancel an action |

- A **presser** follows a reachable route and strikes close. Groups crowd lanes without shared omniscience. Separate attacks are separate external events, so Counterwall can be repeatedly fed while strikes continue.

All attack on sight. They also investigate recent local force impacts, Cycler discharges, grinding doors or stated alarms. They pursue sight or the last perceived location, then search locally and return to their route/holding behavior rather than track across the station.

A route crowd can occupy space without escalation. Reinforcements require a readable mechanism alarm or completed caller warning. Lights/sirens identify the source; sound and door movement identify the connected entrance. Alerts move only existing adjacent groups. They cannot spawn behind the player or refill a crowd because the rig killed efficiently.

Stopping the source prevents unanswered calls; groups already moving continue. An active source with unused eligible groups means its area is not clear. After every eligible group answers, it manufactures no more. Quiet observation, record framing and journal use make no call; a noisy mechanism must cue that rule before commitment.

World-time actions state checkpoints. Each cut bolt and each completed hand-cycle leaves a visible physical state that survives later expeditions. Canceling or leaving reach loses only the unfinished stage and spent time/oxygen. Damage alone does not cancel; readable displacement or an occupied control can. A later obstruction, powered brake or damage may block the next stage, but cannot replace a bolt or erase a latched position. Backing out still requires reaching an exit past any obstruction or pursuer.

Recording is atomic: interruption before commit yields no record; completion persists. The journal freezes the world even in combat but finishes no door, attack, alarm or record. Quiet looking and paused thought remain; sampling or changing the world uses running time.

Within an expedition, defeated enemies stay defeated. Survivors search and disengage locally rather than reset at a doorway. A deliberately disabled alert persists as infrastructure; otherwise later power follows the mechanism's stated state.

A hit visibly reduces condition and narrows the margin before damage death. Lost condition persists for the expedition with no passive field recovery in this proposal. Returning alive or reviving aboard restores ordinary condition for the next expedition; field healing and lasting injuries remain undecided. On death, everything still carried—including unused loot—returns aboard with the astronaut. Cycler inputs and canister oxygen already consumed stay spent; dropped or installed property remains where left. Combat adds no replacement tax or substitute death penalty. Working under attack still risks losing the current position, unfinished action and time while completed world changes persist under their own rules.

Withdrawal is valid but physical. Completed records/checkpoints remain; unfinished stages do not. Detours spend oxygen and may defer the objective; abandoned alarms may stay active. Later, authored evidence and deliberate changes persist while population may differ. Breadcrumbs promise no safety.

**Alternative: visible continuous attention.** Loud combat and most world actions fill a meter that brings nearby groups. It offers one systemic pressure rule with fewer authored sources. Its cost is a repeated noise tax on doors and experimentation, encouraging meter optimization over mystery; spatial provenance must stay clear.

Prefer local sources because arrival is understandable and quiet discovery remains possible. Reopen if alerts are too sparse/easy or their authoring becomes formulaic. Prose establishes no frequency, readability, fun, balance, performance or pacing.

Attack ancestry, reinforcement scope, interruption and persistence are explicit. Successful power stays successful; avoidance has opportunity costs without becoming failure. No attack-on-recording or global reset is imported. Enemy senses, population placement, targeting overrides/assistance, accessibility and frequency remain dependencies.