**Status.** Conditional first-pass operating candidate. It makes the advertised opening, local interface cases and three later horde-scale build climaxes determinate enough for written accounting. The owner-selected directions are connected reusable parts, mostly automatic ordinary fire, manual specials, limited carried oxygen, unlimited ship oxygen, one shared carrying capacity, carried-property return and reset of temporary combat upgrades on every return home. The **10 C / 4 A comparison baseline, four-part starting inventory, every amount and threshold, power/heat limit and fixture detail introduced here are proposed**, replaceable and unvalidated. This article adds no implementation, asset, balance result, campaign claim or answer to any pending owner question.

[Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules) explains connected machines and temporary upgrades. The [Equipment Catalogue](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment%20Catalogue) describes each reusable part; [Equipment Acquisition and Rig Growth](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Equipment%20Acquisition%20And%20Rig%20Growth) covers finding and carrying them. [Survival and Loadout](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Survival%20And%20Loadout) explains oxygen and packing choices.

Support several **independent ordinary launch paths** when the mounted rig, carrying manifest and visible power budget allow them. Every automatic actuator owns its shown reach, target rule and readiness; each commits its own launch when its connected event source offers a valid target and it is ready. Fork may also carry one committed event to compatible descendants. Repeated arcs, rebounds, penetration and blooms use a visible finite route/body budget; a descendant cannot refill the budget, readiness or power that created it. Manual Trigger and chosen Capacitor release remain distinct manual sources. In normalized packet examples a committed Dynamo or either stated Cycler response carries **2 usable units (U)**, Fork divides usable payload in a fixed output order without amplification, Capacitor holds **4 U**, and its default chosen manual release spends **2 U** only after its first receiver accepts. U determines receiver acceptance and authored effect tier, not damage per victim. Failed later receivers never rewind an upstream commit. A proposed later backplane supplies **10 operating points (P)** and each component has **16 heat (H)** capacity under the horde-scale comparison below; accepted actions reserve their full stated heat and power before they advertise full coverage. The opening remains a separate **10 C / 4 A / 6 P** comparison with the existing oxygen sheet. These numbers determine written cases only; they prove no route safe, build balanced or effect readable.

An ordinary launch path consists of one event source, one named automatic actuator and any compatible changing or delivery parts between or after them. Threat Sensor observes its shown arc; each connected Pulse Projector or other automatic actuator owns its own reach, readiness and target validity. While an actuator is ready, the nearest visible valid hostile inside the intersection of source arc and actuator reach is selected. Positioning may change that candidate until this actuator commits. No candidate holds another path ready, spends its readiness or creates a shared reservation. At commitment, that actuator seals one target and spends its own readiness; its projectile never retargets.

Several such paths may coexist. Sensor→Projector and Stride→a second Projector are legal if both mounted chains fit and the previewed concurrent demand does not exceed the rig's visible power supply. Each checks and fires independently. The same is true of two automatic actuators behind a compatible Fork: the event is shared, but each receiver keeps its own readiness and target. One refusing branch never suppresses a ready sibling. Manual Trigger, chosen manual Capacitor release and a temporary effect's labelled full-store command remain independent manual sources under their own rules.

Stride Switch emits only for its accepted deliberate grounded-movement gate. Conveyor motion, shove and recoil remain invalid. A qualifying traversal may therefore launch its connected ready actuator while a Sensor path independently watches another arc, or may end in a non-launch response such as a configured Capacitor→Barrier release. Shared physical inputs, port compatibility and target rules still apply locally; legal possession never guarantees that two plugs fit the same socket.

The rig preview checks compatible links and visible operating demand before a link edit commits. It sums components that can operate in the same causal interval. Mutually exclusive link layouts, gated modes and buffered charge-versus-discharge states show separate peak demands rather than one impossible all-maxima total; every state that can actually overlap must fit supply. Thunderhead's journal preview includes both of its visible modes and demand that can overlap from already launched effects: gating new launches does not erase projectiles or their remaining effects. A proposal with an unsafe state refuses without changing current links. A legal multi-output rig pays for its coverage in active space, carrying space, power and heat. This article now gives explicit replaceable supply, draw, heat, readiness and cooling quantities for the bounded comparison; they are proposed rather than owner-selected and do not disguise a single-launch cap.

1. **Edit preview:** in the fully paused journal, accessible port direction/type and each possible concurrent demand state are checked. Invalid or over-supply proposals refuse without changing the current links. Physical pickup, mounting and removal remain live-world actions.

5. **Finite route:** after complete-action heat has been reserved at commit, an Arc route, projectile bank, penetration segment, fragment fan or bloom spends only its named geometry/body allowance. Missing line, obstruction or exhaustion ends it visibly; heat is never charged again per hop, contact or descendant and cannot secretly shorten an accepted effect. A descendant cannot refill the allowance, readiness or power that created it.

**P** is simultaneous operating demand, not stored energy. The proposed ship backplane supplies **6 P** in its opening 4 A state, **8 P** with the navigation coupler's 6 A state and **10 P** with both area assemblies installed for 8 A. These additions are one visible ship configuration, not new portable parts. A state that can overlap must fit; mutually gated states are checked separately. A named transformed projectile with duration after dispatch reserves 1 P from launch through its terminal descendants, even after Projector itself becomes ready again. The current disc family uses that reservation; the Arc routes and straight Thunderhead/Furnace lances resolve inside their accepted action rather than leaving an unstated flight.

| Salvage Cycler accepted conversion | **2 P** until its one response is delivered or dissipates |

Every heat-bearing component has a proposed **16 H** capacity and cools **4 H per second** after **0.75 seconds** without that component committing another action. Heat cost is reserved for the whole named action at commit; it is not accumulated victim by victim until an advertised effect secretly stops. If the complete power/heat reservation is unavailable, an automatic actuator holds ready and names the limit, while a manual command refuses before charge or heat is spent. Once accepted, charge and heat remain committed. Moving bodies, lost targets or new cover may physically shorten a route, but that is a visible miss or obstruction rather than a hidden resource cancellation.

| Accepted action or component | Heat and natural recovery comparison |

| Threat Sensor / Manual Trigger / Fork Relay | **0 H**; no independent timed recovery. Their receiver/wave gates still apply. |

| Salvage Cycler accepted conversion | Cycler **+4 H**; ready after **2.0 s**. The selected eligible material commits before its one response. |

| Foundry Drop master disc | Projector **+8 H**, Capacitor **+4 H**; Projector must already be naturally ready and becomes ready again after **1.25 s** |

| Furnace Burst | Projector **+8 H**, Lens **+6 H**, Capacitor **+4 H**; Projector/Lens must already be naturally ready and become ready again after **1.0 s** |

These values intentionally support a few overlapping transformed shots and one prepared climax, then force cooling. They are not damage numbers. For this candidate, a developed manual climax defeats an ordinary Presser it validly reaches. A special body still consumes one body slot and receives the effect, but whether it survives follows its own existing response and unresolved combat-strength tuning. No current roster role is silently granted insulation, heat resistance or projectile absorption. That qualitative rule makes “break the horde” mechanically meaningful without inventing a complete health table or a universal counter.

| Arc Emitter | Minimum **1 U** charged trigger; it spends its delivered packet on that one action |

4. If both pass, Fork divides the amount as evenly as whole U allow: output 1 receives the larger share when odd, output 2 the smaller. Thus 1 U divides 1/0, 2 U divides 1/1 and 3 U divides 2/1. Total assigned never exceeds input.

The temporary **Rebound Disc** turns each accepted ordinary Projector shot into one physical disc. It keeps the committed initial direction and never homes. Before commitment, a stationary hard face is a **bank face** only when the shown incoming path also has a clear shown outgoing reflection and a rebound remains; the journal/world preview draws both segments. The same structure still blocks travel through itself. A soft/irregular face, a hard face with no clear outgoing segment, or the next hard face after the rebound allowance is spent shows a terminal fan marker instead. Bodies are contacts, never bank faces, and the current roster supplies no universal projectile absorber.

A later temporary **Foundry Drop** gives the same six-part 7 C / 7 A Ricochet rig an automatic-fire mode and one gated manual master-disc mode. With Capacitor full, its built-in manual command uses the shared manual-ready hold and requires natural Projector readiness, a valid shown bank/terminal path, complete 4 P dispatch plus all current reservations/Nozzle demand, and 8 H Projector/4 H Capacitor headroom. Before Projector accepts, cancellation, lapse or refusal retains 4 U and releases ordinary Sensor fire. Acceptance gates new Sensor launches for dispatch, spends all 4 U and launches one master disc with at most **40 metres**, **5 seconds**, **ten bank-face rebounds** and **32 unique body contacts**. It uses the same per-segment rule and normal-terminal classification, then emits at most **16** one-body fragments subject to the same no-repeat, cover and no-descendant rules. A route that reaches 32 bodies can therefore end in a fan reaching 16 different bodies, for an achievable ideal-path ceiling of **48 unique bodies**.

Charging links restore automatically after master dispatch; readiness is not granted. The still-flying master keeps one P through its terminal fragments, so restored automatic fire includes that reservation and any ordinary-disc reservations in every new overlap check. The master disc and every descendant are ineligible for Dynamo recharge. A later automatic disc uses its own ordinary readiness, heat and reservation rather than inheriting the manual action's.

Manual Trigger→Vector Nozzle remains a separate faced positioning special. It can overlap the automatic or manual disc only when the visible supply and local heat accept the actual combination. Foundry Drop invents no steering: the player earns the line by moving and by shoving eligible bodies or loose cover before the disc commits. Static bank and terminal lines are previewable; moving bodies and loose cover can still make a committed route shorter without refund.

Temporary **Inward Draft** reverses only a Stride-sourced Nozzle action. Every accepted **3-metre** deliberate grounded traversal emits one rear-facing **120-degree**, **8-metre** pull, affecting at most **12 eligible bodies** with unobstructed line of effect. Each can move at most **2 metres** toward the wake centreline and only once in that pulse. Fixed/sealed objects do not move; hard cover blocks; the opposite reaction tugs the astronaut **0.5 metre** back toward the wake. Forced motion, Nozzle recoil and conveyor travel cannot trigger Stride. Bellback's current Roster response says a successful Nozzle displacement during its brace interrupts it. This proposal treats an accepted Inward Draft that has clear line to Bellback as that same Nozzle displacement: Bellback consumes one body slot, moves at most 2 metres and loses the brace; the Roster needs that finite clarification if accepted. If the rib blocks the pull or Bellback releases first, its existing pressure wave can scatter the gathered line. With 1.25-second readiness, three differently positioned pulses can gather at most 36 body responses before the earliest spacing falls apart; they are three real actions, not one multiplied packet.

Temporary **Furnace Burst** supplies two visible gated modes on that same rig. Charging keeps Sensor→Projector, Projector-impact→Dynamo→Capacitor and Stride→Nozzle. A full-store manual command uses the shared manual-ready hold and preflights natural Projector readiness, a valid shown target/line/bloom origin, complete possible overlap and 8 H Projector/6 H Lens/4 H Capacitor headroom. It then gates new Sensor and Stride launches, spends 4 U through Capacitor→Lens→Projector, and dispatches one **16-metre by 2-metre** heat lance through at most **16 unique bodies**. At the first hard surface or its range end, the lance produces one **6-metre-radius** thermal bloom reaching at most **32 additional bodies** with unobstructed lines from the impact. No body is counted twice; total ideal-path coverage is at most **48**. Hard cover ends the lance and breaks bloom sight; every current body consumes a slot, ordinary Pressers reached by the accepted climax are defeated, and special survival remains unresolved combat-strength tuning rather than a new resistance class.

Refusal, lapse or cancellation before first-receiver acceptance spends no charge/heat and leaves charging mode. After acceptance, loss of the later target or blocked bloom refunds nothing. The lance and bloom resolve within dispatch; charging connections restore automatically without a journal edit and grant no readiness. Pulls create no charge; the burst and all its descendants cannot feed Dynamo after restoration.

| Build | Existing physical manifest; with one 2 C canister | Named coexistence checks against 10 P | Finite developed outcome |

| **Storm Choir** | Sensor, Projector, Dynamo, Fork, Arc, Capacitor: **7 C / 7 A; 9/10 C** | Full charging action **8 P**; Thunderhead dispatch **7 P**. After restoration, its still-finishing Arc uses **2 P**. Until that same Arc is naturally ready, a Sensor wave can only use the other eligible charging branches (at most **6 P**, for **8 P** total); once the Arc action ends, the full 8 P path is available again. | Echoing ordinary Arc up to **18** bodies. Thunderhead up to **30 Arc + 12 lance = 42 unique**. |

The middle column gives named power-only coexistence checks, not exhaustive global maxima or sustained-fire rates. Every new action also needs its own target, natural readiness, heat headroom and physically possible timing; a path may therefore accept fewer overlaps than P alone permits. The outcome column gives achievable ideal-path ceilings, not guaranteed victims. Static bank/terminal lines, Arc hop regions, lance/bloom cover and the presently eligible body count are visible before a manual commit; moving bodies and loose cover can reduce the result after acceptance without refund. No build has a hidden screen-wide count that silently ignores its actual route.

An eligible stage is one finite, announced pressure release from an identified physical source. It moves from **uncommitted** to **unresolved** when that release's attackers/arrivals commit. A physical closure completed before commitment prevents the release and gives no combat-upgrade offer; safety, access and mechanism-owned completed work remain its benefits. After commitment, it moves to **spent** and offers one temporary choice when the player clears all attackers committed to that release or completes a physical seal that ends their access. The seal stops further access but leaves already-arrived bodies active; quiet requires clearing or separating those bodies. Clearing the current lane while further committed attackers still feed is suppression, not resolution. If the committed finite release is cleared or its access is sealed before the announced peak, it pays immediately; no struggle threshold is required. Preventing commitment accepts less temporary growth in exchange for safety and access. Break and seal present the same choice even though their combat, oxygen and access costs may differ.

| Opening active rig area / operating supply | **4 A / 6 P** | Current comparison baseline; enough for Sensor→Fork→Projector + Barrier at its actual simultaneous peak |

| Navigation coupler | **2 C / 0 A** carried | Provisional value; installation grants the proposed 4→6 A and 6→8 P ship state |

| Coupled transfer | Up to **3 O per 30 seconds** from vessel while base breathing continues | Stops at suit **12 O** or vessel empty; all untransferred gas remains in the vessel |

Ordinary ship refill adds oxygen only up to 8 O. It neither vents an above-ordinary partial nor recreates prepared surplus. A completed packing-bench cycle can raise an eligible vessel to 12 O. Every transfer is incremental and conserved: oxygen leaving a canister enters the suit, while base drain in the same interval is separately breathed and spent. Transfer automatically stops when the suit reaches 12 O or the selected vessel reaches 0 O; any amount the transfer rate could not move because of either boundary remains where it already was. No oxygen quantity heals, creates charge or readies a part.

For the paper cases only, treat the currently walked opening as: ship/R01→R02 board **one 30-second interval**; R02→R03 rack **one**; the same return **two**; one fastener stage **two**; Fork install or reclaim **one each**; bridge pickup **one**. No enemy delay, displacement, tether, door wait, wrong turn or unseen route is included. Under base drain alone, direct out-and-back plus one fastener and bridge pickup consumes **7 O**. Adding both Fork installation and reclaim consumes **9 O**. A full 12 O suit would therefore show 5 O or 3 O respectively before any combat cost. Crossing the proposed 4 O reserve is information, not proof that return fails or succeeds. For each hand check, account for breathing and transfer over the actual time before a ceiling or empty stop; full-interval totals apply only while transfer continues for that whole interval. Breathing continues after transfer stops.

- **Ready/refusal:** the fixture must be commissioned, the one known address selected, Fork seated and bus powered. Poll-gate neutrality and a cleared display latch are separate branch-readiness conditions; each branch checks independently. A missing Fork or both branches blocked refuses at the control. One accepting branch may act, but a dated receiver reading requires both the poll sample and display latch for the same poll.

- **Incomplete/interrupted:** if poll accepts but display refuses, the gate performs one addressed sample into a temporary local buffer marked **unlatched**. Only that incomplete-status mark is shown: the buffered value is not player-readable, cannot be captured and is not a completed dated reading. If display arms but poll refuses, it times out empty. Power loss or cancellation before sampling detent yields no sample; after detent it leaves only that unreadable unlatched buffer until clear/retry. Neither outcome proves collar pressure, sensor health, route or safety.

- **Ready/refusal:** every operation requires the commissioned bench, one eligible vessel physically seated with its securing clamp closed, Fork installed and both controls neutral. With that prerequisite met, the valve accepts any vessel below 12 O. The compressor accepts only when the vessel begins that wave at least ordinary-full (8 O) and below prepared-full. A secured 0–7 O vessel therefore lets the valve accept while the compressor independently refuses for **below ordinary-full**; prepared-full refuses both. An ineligible, unsecured or absent vessel refuses before any gas moves.

- **Recovery/removal:** secure the vessel, correct branch readiness and run or resume from the exact vessel amount. Ordinary refill can raise a lower vessel to 8 O but cannot restore 9–12 O prepared surplus after use. Fork reclaim first cancels or settles the active cycle, then returns the same object; completed gas remains. Removing Fork prevents another cycle, not ordinary ship refill.

- **Ready/refusal:** the mechanical selector position and direction arrows are locally readable, and the hand selector can reach its committing detent without diagnostic power. An actual pulse test requires current diagnostic power, the matching input type/direction, clear fixed circuit and an inspectable output contact. Missing power/input, wrong incoming type or busy output refuses before the test pulse commits. It changes no mode or walking join.

**Action:** Sensor presents one bare trigger to both branches. Projector checks its own ready state and target, commits that target and spends its readiness to launch once. Barrier independently refuses because it is unready. Its refusal neither cancels Projector nor queues a later response.

**After:** one shot exists in the one wave. Barrier performs nothing, stores nothing and queues nothing; Manual still occupies 1 C. Barrier later becoming ready emits no event. A second automatic actuator would be legal if its own links, space, power, heat, target and readiness passed; this four-A rig simply does not contain one.

**Before:** Sensor1 + Projector1 + Dynamo1 + Fork1 + Arc2 + Capacitor1 + Lens1 is **8 C / 8 A**. Sensor→Projector is this rig's automatic launch path; Dynamo clamps to Projector output; its 2 U goes through Fork output1→Arc and output2→Capacitor. Both accept, Capacitor starts 0/4. The rules would allow another automatic actuator, but this manifest spends its eight spaces on branching, storage and conversion instead.

**Action 1:** the first committed Projector impact makes Dynamo emit exactly 2 U regardless of how many qualifying impacts that carrier batched in the wave. Fork divides 1/1. Arc meets its 1 U minimum and acts; Capacitor stores 1 U. It is partial and below the 2 U release threshold. As a separate paper alternative replacing output2→Capacitor, output2→Lens would give Lens only 1 U and refuse for insufficient share. It is not simultaneously connected, does not share Projector's already occupied input and creates no amplification.

**Action 2:** on a later valid ordinary wave Arc is unready before allocation, so Capacitor is the sole pre-allocation candidate and receives the full 2 U. It now holds 3/4. With all parts already mounted and accessible, the player opens the fully paused journal, previews the compatible change, disconnects Sensor from Projector and connects Capacitor manual release→Lens→Projector. No enemy, oxygen, readiness or heat state advances during that link edit. The player then closes the journal and selects a valid displayed Projector target. A pickup, physical mount or removal would still take live-world time.

**Action 3:** Lens accepts the 2 U first receiver check, so release commits, Capacitor falls to 1/4 and Lens converts the charge to heat. Before Projector resolves, its target becomes invalid behind hard cover. Projector refuses. The heat packet dissipates there; the 2 U is not refunded and the edited links remain as shown. The case determines failure without asserting heat damage or build strength.

**Second strike:** a later distinct enemy attack produces another 2 U. Capacitor accepts it and becomes 4/4 full. Readiness/fullness creates no event. A third qualifying strike while it is saturated finds Capacitor blocked; if no other pre-allocation candidate exists, Dynamo's already emitted 2 U dissipates and storage stays 4/4.

**Opening arithmetic:** under the declared no-encounter assumptions, out/back + one fastener + bridge pickup consumes 7 O, taking a full suit from 12 to 5. Installing and reclaiming Fork adds two intervals and reaches 3 O, below the proposed 4 O reserve mark. That mark commands nothing, may not be presented as a route estimate and predicts no safety; the player may transfer, leave Fork, return after the fastener or accept further risk.

**Incremental transfer:** suppose the suit is 4 O and the selected prepared canister 12 O. One 30-second coupling interval breathes 1 O and moves 3 O: suit becomes 6, canister 9. A second becomes suit 8, canister 6. Six moved, two were breathed, and total remaining oxygen fell only by those two. At the ceiling boundary, starting suit 11/canister 5 reaches suit 12/canister 3.5 after 15 seconds: 1.5 O transfers and 0.5 O is breathed, then transfer stops immediately at the ceiling. If the remaining 15 seconds pass without a new transfer, breathing leaves suit 11.5/canister 3.5. The stopped transfer does not keep topping up the tank. At the empty boundary, suit 5/canister 1 becomes suit 5/canister 0: one is breathed and only the last one can move. Back aboard, ordinary refill can raise a 6 O vessel to ordinary-full 8, not prepared-full 12; another completed bench cycle is needed to restore the four-unit surplus. None of this includes combat delay or certifies the return.

**Before:** navigation coupler and thermal core are both installed aboard, exposing the proposed **8 A / 10 P** state. The heat-lance rig occupies 8 A/8 C. The thermal core is one installed ship assembly, not also cargo.

**Action:** before removing the thermal core, the player moves the 1 A Lens and 1 A Capacitor inactive. Active use falls to 6 A, while carrying remains 8 C because inactive parts still pay C. The remaining Sensor→Projector→Dynamo→Fork→Arc operating path has a named **7 P** peak. The reclaim control now accepts; removal returns the same **2 C / 0 A** thermal core to visible ship storage and the ship falls from **10 P to 8 P** with the coupler's 6 A state, so that reduced path still fits.

**After:** every part, core and other good exists once. Selecting the core for an expedition would raise the manifest from 8 to 10 C and leave no canister room; leaving it in ship storage uses no expedition C. Reclaiming the coupler later similarly requires fitting the rig into **4 A / 6 P** first. The operation grants no new progression tier and destroys nothing.

**Collar receiver:** the astronaut seats the one Fork. Poll gate is ready; display latch still contains an uncleared prior incomplete state and refuses. One control press lets output1 open the poll gate and commit a sample to the temporary unlatched buffer; output2 does nothing. Only the incomplete mark is visible: the value is unreadable and uncapturable. Clearing the buffer discards it. The player then starts a wholly new poll; both branches accept, they observe the bounded value and separately capture it. They settle the fixture and reclaim the same Fork; the captured record persists, live polling stops.

**Packing bench:** the same Fork is seated at the commissioned bench with a 6 O partial vessel, physically secured by the closed clamp. The valve branch accepts; the compressor branch independently refuses because the vessel began this wave below ordinary-full. Valve-only gas reaches ordinary-full 8 O and stops; no prepared state appears. On a new cycle beginning at 8 O, valve and compressor both accept, four additional O commit incrementally, and completion marks the same 2 C vessel prepared-full at 12 O. Fork is reclaimed after settlement.

**After:** the manifest may contain one 1 C Fork and one 2 C prepared canister. Ship power and oxygen were fixed supplies; Fork created neither. The discarded unreadable collar sample, completed captured reading, intermediate ordinary fill, prepared surplus and reclaimed object remain distinct outcomes.

**R26:** without diagnostic power, locally read the mechanical arrows, select forward A→B and complete the hand selector's mode detent. With no current A input, pressing test refuses before pulse admission; mode remains forward. When current diagnostic power and A input are present, the test admits one A pulse and B appears at the output. If power fails after a later selector detent, that committed mode remains but no diagnostic pulse survives. Nozzle removal, local evidence capture and walking latch state are unaffected.

| **Equipment Catalogue** | Preserve all twelve physical parts and costs. Add Arc's proposed six-body base route; replace the small Echoing/Rebound limits with the finite route/body and bank/terminal/fan contracts here; add Foundry Drop, Inward Draft and Furnace Burst as temporary effects only. Extend the Capacitor's temporary full-store exception and Dynamo ancestry exclusion to all three climaxes. Keep ordinary Arc non-signalling and add no absorber/resistance property. |

| **Equipment Acquisition And Rig Growth** | Keep twelve sources and 2 C assembly values; align the reversible ship configurations to proposed **6/8/10 P** alongside 4/6/8 A and list the three exact manifests/temporary ladders without creating parts or sources. |

| **Home And Colony Loop** | Owns commissioning, later solo operation, one lent part and completed products, and links here for collar and bench control details. |

| **Build Rules** | Adopt the same multi-output envelope, paused mounted-link editing, finite route/return conservation, manual-ready hold and numeric split/storage example without turning it into an exhaustive port/duplicate grammar. Keep physical pickup, mounting and removal in live world time. |

| **Player Information And Options** | Add visible 6/8/10 P state, 16 H/local cooling, manual-ready hold, committed route/body budget, bank/terminal/fan preview, transformed-parent reservation and Foundry/Furnace mode availability/refusal/restoration. Keep the ordinary view focused on source/target/readiness, heat, manual availability and physical path rather than every equation. |

The mechanical handoff is therefore finite: each ordinary launch source and actuator identity, selected target/readiness commit, causal-sequence identity, remaining route/rebound/body/fragment budget, bank or terminal state, parent reservation through final descendants, local heat/recovery, armed manual-ready hold, Thunderhead/Foundry/Furnace temporary mode and burst ancestry, possible concurrent demand including launched effects, per-branch block/allocation/refusal, exact stored U, exact vessel O/fill label, installed/carried fixture location, reward-stage identity/state, current mechanism stage, last committed checkpoint, fixed/reversible mode and whether an observation was locally performed or separately captured. It is not a complete scheduler or exhaustive engine state matrix.

**Candidate choice.** Allow several independent ordinary launch paths, each with its own source, target and readiness, bounded by visible rig space, carrying, 6/8/10 P supply and 16 H local capacity. Replace tiny universal echo assumptions with named finite geometry contracts: Storm chains, Ricochet bank/terminal paths and fragments, and Gravity pull/lance/bloom. Reserve complete action heat once, keep one P on each disc parent through its fan, and give a full store one visible natural-readiness opportunity before automatic fire. Keep conservative Fork division, 4 U storage, ordinary 2 U release and explicit full-store temporary modes with automatic restoration.

**Accepted cost.** Broad effects require route/body counters, bank/terminal preview, in-flight parent reservations and visible local heat without hiding the fight. Exact finite caps can feel game-like, and 10 P/16 H or the 0.75-second manual hold may be too generous or punitive. Storm fails against separation/cover, Ricochet against poor hard angles, and Gravity when cover or Bellback's force scatters its gathering. Fork order, lost shares and vented overflow remain. Adding supply to the same ship assemblies can make them feel more mandatory. None of the counts, seconds, radii, effect strength, sustained rate or readability is validated.

**Smaller supported variant.** Give the opening backplane a visible supply that powers one direct Sensor→Projector or Stride→Projector path, while keeping the same general legality and later allowing additional automatic outputs through found supply. Keep the quantity sheet and fixed storage policy, and omit Fork branching from opening ordinary fire. Counterwall, Cycler and paused-link descendants remain. This loses the opening's Sensor→Fork→Projector+Barrier control trade but does not impose a universal one-launch rule or delete any accepted part or rig source.

**Open rather than invented.** Duplicate quantity/stacking, final target override, odd payload sources beyond the stated rule, complete damage/health/strength tables, exact encounter delays and reward cadence, actual route support, every overflow/port/geometry variant, final screens and accessibility equivalents, fabrication versus found parts, retained charge across death, survivor air/mortality, population continuity, save policy, completed-station stabilization and all campaign/economy tuning remain with their owners. The P/H/coverage/readiness values here are explicit replaceable hypotheses, not owner selections. Pending owner questions are unanswered.

**Later discrimination.** Only a later owner-authorized implementation and observation could test whether route/body budgets, bank/fan previews, the manual hold, several target/readiness displays, power/heat, lost shares, storage, fixture recovery and packing choices are comprehensible or enjoyable; whether the horde visibly breaks without effect soup; whether 42–48-body ideal paths are reachable often enough or too dominant; or whether one geometry/build wins too often. Written accounting demonstrates finite conservation and possible paths only, not sustained clearing or balance.

The article contains the controller/reward contract, one opening quantity sheet, four unchanged local interface cards, seven unchanged A–H paper cases and case F extended only with the coupled 10→8 P / 7 P-path check. It keeps **10 C / 4 A**, bridge/regulator **2 C**, suit/canister O values, transfer arithmetic, both assembly **2 C** values, Dynamo/Cycler **2 U**, Capacitor **4 U** and default **2 U** release. It proposes demand and ordinary heat/readiness for all twelve parts, **6/8/10 P**, **16 H**, and ideal-path coverage: Echoing Arc 18; Thunderhead 30 Arc + 12 lance; Rebound/Fragment 30 per disc with three ordinary flights after dispatch; Foundry Drop 48; Inward Draft 12 per pulse and Furnace Burst 48. Storm/Ricochet remain 7 C/7 A and Gravity 8 C/8 A. Full-store commands receive one visible natural-readiness opportunity, auto-restore without granting readiness and leave every burst descendant barred from Dynamo recharge. Existing property, gas, fixture, stage and refusal accounting remains intact.