Hold the Flood — Build Paths
EQP101 · r1 · 2026-09-06 UTC · Equipment and Build Designer · Three build-family proposals for PM review. Sources: Design Document r14 / ec1b6c, §§3–6, 8 and 10; World r20 / 7699de, W1–W4, S1–S3 and campaign contribution rules; Expansion Brief / cdc0c5. Design Index · Glossary · Equipment.
These are loadout intentions, not locked classes. A player can change family at shelter or on a later departure. Early/middle/late mean available decisions and knowledge, not approved district numbers or elapsed hours. All cell counts use the proposed eight-cell Inventory and Charge contract; all numeric yields are conditional written examples. No build has been played, simulated, balanced or shown fun.
Why these are three families
| Family | Repeated player action | What it obtains | What defeats its preferred plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circuit Harvester | Invite a fresh mass into connected water, discharge, choose whether to collect or leave, spend a separate burst | Charge and brief power/control windows for interior travel | Dry or already-spent crowd; fuel stranded past recovering enemies |
| Route Shepherd | Place and time a lure, work from the side of the resulting crowd path, recover or abandon the pair | A chosen temporary crowd destination and a crossing | Nearer fixed light, local pursuit at the plant point, or insufficient retrieval space |
| Salvage Breacher | Pick a deposit route, line up limited penetration shots, gather, leave before the crowd closes | Bankable salvage with sparse fighting and controlled exposure | Flanks, cluttered lines, or a drainage shortcut that also removes door power |
Water combat, destination control and hauling under fire ask for different movement and expenditure. Their interactions overlap intentionally; none owns a private rule system or equipment key. A no-battery hauler remains valid and loses all motes, while keeping the free panel and valves.
Family 1 — Circuit Harvester
| Stage | Concrete equipment choice | Changed action and competing choice |
|---|---|---|
| Early | Cutter + Battery; seek Coil and Insulation (four cells total once fitted) | First learn a free panel/valve route; choose to spend the first full bank opening a route or save it for a fresh wet crowd. Leave four cells for finds/cargo; a Siphon can finish seven charge but cannot fill an empty bank |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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.
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | C | C | Bc |
| S | Insulation | Arc | Ba |
Exploration and counterplay illustration. At the known junction pool, shutting its valve isolates a Coil injection; the gate opens briefly without relaying a dispatch signal. A crowd still holding at nearer B1 does not move. For harvesting instead, deliberately light the yard and wait until fresh organisms are in its water. If the only targets are on dry steps or already marked spent, there is no profitable harvest; choose ordinary edge fighting or the free machinery route. Any enemy resistance beyond the existing basic organism is for Combat to specify, not assumed away.
Why H versus G matters. H is better suited to remaining near a crowd and spending charge against density. G spends its same inventory budget on crossing linked machinery and recovering a mistake. Neither can simultaneously keep the other's Arc/reserve or cable/Kit without giving up the two cargo cells. Late storage preserves a previous useful item; it grants no extra damage or capacity per bank.
Family 2 — Route Shepherd
| Stage | Concrete equipment choice | Changed action and competing choice |
|---|---|---|
| Early | Cutter + Beacon + Battery + Kit: three cells, up to five cargo cells | Arm only when a target route is chosen. Gather initial charge with Cutter, plant on reachable dry ground, and leave before the crowd reaches the lure. Kit versus Insulation is a dry-approach/wet-approach choice |
| Middle, branch P: Pathmaker | Prod brace + Beacon + Battery + Insulation: four cells, four cargo | Use local shoves to make room for the plant/retreat, then let normal beacon targeting move enemies. It never kills or sheds charge: fill a bank with Cutter before the shelter swap, find reachable motes, or use Siphon; do not assume free starting fuel |
| Middle, branch F: Kill funnel | Cutter + Beacon + two Batteries + Arc + Insulation: five cells, three cargo | Keep Cutter and turn a controlled approach into a timed burst. Prefer fresh enemies that have not yielded; collecting their motes still requires approaching the danger |
| Late P | Add Cable Reel and Kit: six cells, two cargo | Hold a door's power connection while the planted lure creates a separate destination, then disconnect and recover. A nearer fixed beacon may still win; cable routing can light exactly the beacon the player wanted dark |
| Late F | Add Cable Reel: six cells, two cargo | Arrange a corridor and then spend Arc on its queue; trade one cargo cell for power reach. Or leave the reel and bank more salvage. A cable does not promise a favourable crowd route |
Legal late P rack. Link Bp → Beacon. F is the Prod's brace. The bank is isolated from both bundles; the other modules remain nonconductive.
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | S | F | Bp |
| Reel | Kit | Beacon | Insulation |
Exploration interaction. With the panel set for the next yard intake, plant a lit portable on an accessible dry spur nearer an entered causeway crowd than its old target. Cross behind the crowd toward a deposit or an already-visible clue. Forecast intake stays the yard; only entered targets change. The free alternative is the panel switch, accepting the crossing crowd and changed door state rather than paying portable fuel.
Enemy counterplay. A pursuer within local pursuit range can leave the main crowd to chase the player at the plant point. Prod's short capped shove can make distance; a wall behind the pursuer defeats it and a flanker bypasses its sector. A crowd holding at a nearer lit fixed beacon ignores the farther portable. Proposed braced/ranged enemy coverage would intensify these choices, but is not needed to show the existing failure.
Retrieval cost, concrete. Planting the pair frees two cells. Filling them with bundles does not give free retained equipment: make two cells free to retrieve, or leave the physical pair for that expedition. Its known recipe survives either choice. Disarm/empty/retrieve and the crowd immediately re-evaluates; darkness is not a guaranteed escape. P keeps useful space by displacement but never kills; F kills via finite fuel but has no shove. Swapping P to F needs shelter and a real primary change.
Family 3 — Salvage Breacher
| Stage | Concrete equipment choice | Changed action and competing choice |
|---|---|---|
| Early | Cutter + Kit; optionally retain the default Battery as storage | Thin a pursuer, gather a bundle, decide whether one cell of future charge is worth one fewer bundle. On finding Rivet Driver, choose its brace and committed line shots instead of Cutter's free-cell, faster retargeting |
| Middle, branch D: Dry convoy | Rivet Driver brace + Kit; no Battery: two cells, six cargo | Work from long straight lanes, loosen a deposit at reach, then collect it. All motes expire. This is the largest cargo plan with a distinct weapon, not a universal combat upgrade |
| Middle, branch E: Field engineer | Rivet brace + Hand Pump + Battery + Insulation: four cells, four cargo | Spend five charge to drain a compatible channel and expose a gathering path. Drainage also cuts the door’s water supply; use a free lock/valve detour if the five charge or outlet is unavailable |
| Late D | Add Beacon + Battery: four cells, four cargo | Sacrifice two bundles' capacity for one controllable diversion, then shoot along its approach. Fuel gathered from sparse kills or retained pickups is limited; the battery is not free starting power |
| Late E | Exchange Hand Pump for Coil and add Reel: six cells, two cargo | Choose injection/bridging instead of draining when the access door needs connected water. Give up two cargo cells and the carried drain action; still no Arc host. Or retain the four-cell pump build and haul four bundles. Late capability is expensive preparation, not the presumed correct loadout |
Legal late D rack. D is the Driver brace; Bp → Beacon. Four wet bundles remain disconnected from the battery by the Driver, Kit and Beacon housings. Insulation is unnecessary for rack isolation here, but the player is unprotected in energized water.
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | S | D | Bp |
| S | S | Kit | Beacon |
Exploration interaction. From a service lane, target a visible loose deposit with a Driver tool shot. It creates the same bundle as close hand gathering; it neither delivers the bundle nor produces a bonus. The Hand Pump drains a compatible access channel for a walkable pickup route, but also removes its conduction path: draining the Head basin at the Lock Flight can close the door being approached. A later cable/Coil branch preserves connected water instead, paid by energizing everything on that network. Essential evidence remains intact and inspectable via the ordinary machinery path.
Enemy counterplay. Existing organisms coming from two angles break a narrow shot plan while its aiming line is committed. A short-range Cutter is a credible better choice for the cluttered return. Proposed Combat coverage of a ranged enemy behind a front rank would reward penetration, but that role is an interface request. Kit repairs one contact mistake; it cannot make a hot-water route safe.
Why this family is not a weaker Harvester. Its ordinary plan minimizes fighting, carries four to six bankable bundles, and treats charge as an optional escape/access reserve. Harvester's preferred plan seeks a fresh wet mass and gives that cargo space to charge storage and Arc. Breacher can adopt an expensive Coil detour but loses most of the reason it chose this family. No additional hauling tax is needed to force a difference.
Acquisition and advancement
This is Equipment's acquisition proposal for Colony/Lead integration, not a new adopted colony economy.
- First departure and recovery. Free Cutter and empty Battery, freely decline the battery at shelter. Equipment does not charge per expedition. Known recipes, notes and banked progress survive rescue; current finds, cargo and charge do not. Discovered recipes survive even if their found item is left or lost. Inspection records how to request a tool, not an essential mystery flag.
- First copies in the world. Place each first tool at an inspectable service/aid/machinery cache named on its item entry. Every first cache is reachable using existing movement, free panels/valves and an alternate route; equipment improves cost or timing, never uniquely gates the associated essential clue. The first named copy is a guaranteed authored offer, not random. Campaign determines actual district/room placement and safe knowledge order; these locations are proposals, not completed geography.
- Repeat expedition choices. Recommend two to four offer sites along alternate routes as an initial placement budget, carried from the source as provisional. Once a tool is known, a site's clearly labelled category offers two specified alternatives, e.g. Battery versus Siphon or Kit versus Insulation; take one and the other is unavailable for that expedition. Offers are fixed for that visit, inspectable before taking, with no paid rerolls. This adds a choice under route pressure without inventing kill XP. If there is no fit, decline or drop cargo live; fitting links still needs shelter.
- Middle preparation. Retain the source workshop's choice of one discovered starting module, occupying its normal rack cells, alongside the default empty Battery. Not every visit must depend on finding the same Coil again. An alternative primary can still be found and fitted on a route; Colony decides when reliable departure selection becomes available.
- Later preparation under Colony’s advanced tooling. COL101 / a1046d arrived during drafting. Carry its one reusable support assembly and recipe-by-inspection proposal into this interface. When advanced tooling is selected, recommend a choice for first visits: Field tool = one known primary plus one known module; Circuit set = Cutter plus up to two known modules using at most three rack cells in total. Both get the normal empty Battery; all selected gear uses actual cells. These are configurations of Colony’s tooling service, not additional facilities or free benefits beside forward pumping/observation. An issued alternative primary’s brace counts toward the equipment allowance. Selecting another service retracts the tooling extras before departure.
- Response to COL-I2: recorded racks for revisits. Agree with Colony’s narrower alternative: full-rack reissue only for a previously visited district, using an arrangement actually assembled and recorded at shelter. Cap issued equipment at six occupied cells including the default Battery and any primary brace. With EQP101’s eight-cell rack this leaves two cells for finds/cargo; it no longer means “banks nothing.” Empty banks and ordinary once-only yield remain. First visits retain the smaller packages so discovering combinations still changes that expedition; repeat investigations can choose reliability instead of forward extraction/observation. This is an argued Equipment response, awaiting Colony and Lead adoption, not a claim they have agreed.
- Costs and failure boundaries. Use Colony’s proposed four-bundle once-only workshop/tooling investments as its price candidates, not a second Equipment price list. Lead must reconcile them with the different hauling capacities. Inspection records recipes even on rescue; issued gear cannot be sold, dismantled to banked salvage, or stockpiled across support changes. The set of eligible modules is the catalogue on Equipment, subject to the ordinary rack/link/one-primary limits. A recorded rack does not include cargo or charge. Until this interface is adopted, first-cache paths let each family exist without advanced tooling. No recurring replacement payment or “full return” price is added.
This borrows inventory expression through scarce functional tools and discovery through reusable rules. It does not import a bag-shape puzzle, kill-level draft, colony upkeep loop and mystery key system merely because inspirations contain them.
Experimentation versus sorting and strict upgrades
Eight cells buy composition; a chosen primary and one-to-one banks keep costs. Nonconductive housings will produce reusable safe arrangements, so packing itself will often become solved. Accept that and provide saved layouts and explicit charge priority. Preserve the live decision to take one more wet bundle, not repeated drag work as content. Links make fuel commitments visible but should never need to follow cell adjacency.
Growth is a larger menu of dependable behaviours, world situations that make different ones worthwhile, and a choice of departure packages. None of the original seven modules is retired; Cutter, small batteries, healing and protection still solve different problems. The strongest contrary proposal is a conventional rarity/damage ladder with frequent kill-XP choices: clearer rapid escalation and less dependence on discoveries. I prefer the behaviour/acquisition path because a known valve route and an old tool can stay valuable in later places. The unresolved risk is cadence: if route offers and powered actions are too sparse, this may still feel like a routing game with occasional combat. Written choices do not resolve that future feel question.