Hold The Horde — Mechanical Interfaces And Opening Quantities

Status. Conditional first-pass operating candidate. It makes the advertised opening, Counterwall and heat-lance examples determinate enough for paper 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 and carried-property return. The 10 C / 4 A comparison baseline, four-part starting inventory, every amount and threshold, controller 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 of the five pending owner questions.

Current sources and authority

The first seven design packages above own their accepted inventories, rigs, encounters, rooms and home participation. Build Rules owns the connected grammar; Connecting owns A/B/R service behavior versus walking joins; the continuity article owns death, shift and property ordering; Information34 owns presentation. This article supplies only the missing operating quantities and local interface states. The PM's mechanical-interface scope memo routed those gaps but is not design canon. No parent is edited here.

Candidate in one paragraph

Support one independent ordinary launch path in a first-pass rig: one event source names one ordinary launch actuator whose readiness, shown reach and selected nearest visible valid target gate and commit that launch exactly once. Threat Sensor or deliberate-grounded-movement Stride may source that one path. Stride may also coexist with Sensor when its separate link ends in a non-launch response such as a configured Capacitor→Barrier release. Fork may copy the committed wave to other compatible descendants, and manual or derived paths such as Projector impact → Dynamo → Arc remain legal; neither is an extra independent ordinary launch. 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 chosen manual release spends 2 U only after its first receiver accepts. Failed later receivers never rewind an upstream commit. For the proposed opening comparison, use 10 C / 4 A, a 12 O suit tank, 8 O ordinary canister, 12 O prepared canister, continuous base drain of 1 O per 30 seconds, transfer of up to 3 O per 30 seconds while breathing continues, and a player-set suit reserve mark defaulting to 4 O. These numbers determine the following paper cases only; they prove no route safe or build balanced.

1. Supported controller and receiver envelope

The proposed supported envelope

An ordinary launch path consists of one event source, one named ordinary launch actuator and any compatible non-controller parts between or after them. In the opening path, Threat Sensor observes its shown arc and the designated Pulse Projector owns reach, readiness and target validity. While Projector is ready, the nearest visible valid hostile inside the intersection of Sensor arc and Projector reach is selected. Positioning may change that candidate until launch commits. No candidate holds the path ready; it does not spend readiness, emit a trigger or create a wave. At commitment, the target and Projector readiness spend seal one launch reservation and start one external event. When that wave reaches the designated Projector, it executes the reserved physical launch once as part of the same event; the projectile never retargets.

Fork behind Sensor does not create another ordinary launch. It carries the committed bare trigger/wave to the already designated Projector branch and copies it to the other outputs. The designated Projector does not recheck the readiness it has just spent, refuse its own sealed launch or shoot again when the packet reaches it; it executes that one sealed launch. Other descendants still check independently. A ready Barrier can therefore respond on the same wave; an unready Barrier refuses locally and queues nothing. A downstream Arc driven by charge from a Dynamo clamp is likewise a descendant action in the existing wave, not a second controller event. Manual Trigger and chosen manual Capacitor release remain independent manual sources under their own rules.

Stride Switch is an external event source with its accepted deliberate grounded-movement gate. Stride→Projector may replace Sensor→Projector as the rig's one independent ordinary launch path: only the astronaut's qualifying traversal emits the Stride packet, then the designated Projector must be ready and have a valid selected target for the launch to commit once. Conveyor motion, shove and recoil remain invalid. Separately, Sensor→Projector may remain the sole ordinary launch while Stride uses a different input to trigger a configured Capacitor release into Barrier. That Stride wave retains its identity; Capacitor and Barrier apply their existing readiness/charge checks. The coexistence is legal because the Stride branch ends in a non-launch descendant and shares no input. Two sources connected to the same single Projector input, or Sensor→Projector plus Stride→a second Projector, remain unsupported.

For this first pass, a rig preview supports at most one independent ordinary launch path and one designated ordinary launch actuator. A second Sensor, a second separately target-seeking Projector, Sensor→Projector plus Stride→another ordinary launcher, or any two source-to-launch paths in the same active rig is labelled unsupported by the current content envelope before the final edit commits. Other external sources and legitimate descendant actions do not count toward that limit. The objects remain legal possessions and may be packed, used in separate rigs or installed elsewhere; nothing is consumed. This is a proposed content limit, not a physical impossibility or permanent owner decision. It sacrifices simultaneous independently targeted ordinary fire and meaningful duplicate-controller builds in exchange for one target/readiness owner and a bounded first-pass interaction surface. Later work could lift it only with an explicit arbitration rule, duplicate sources and representative encounter/interface coverage.

Boundary order

1. Edit preview: accessible port direction/type and the one-independent-launch topology are checked. Invalid or currently unsupported links refuse before world-time edit commitment.
2. Ordinary hold: the designated launch actuator checks readiness and the source/actuator shared valid-target condition. Failure holds ready; there is no event, wave or downstream check.
3. Launch commit: one selected target and one readiness spend seal one launch reservation as the external event starts. When the wave reaches the designated actuator, that reserved physical launch executes once as part of the same event; the branch cannot recheck or act again in this wave.
4. Descendant delivery: every other receiving branch checks its own link, type, readiness/storage, target and allocated threshold when the packet actually arrives. Refusal affects only that branch, creates no event and refunds no already committed upstream state.
5. Recovery: the ordinary actuator becomes ready only through its stated world time. Readiness completion creates no target, trigger or wave.

The credible smaller rule is direct Sensor → Projector only for ordinary fire, with no Fork branch on that event. Manual specials and Projector → Dynamo → Arc descendants still work. This is cheaper to explain and removes branch arbitration from ordinary fire, but deletes the four-space sensor-timed Barrier choice and reduces Fork's early expressive value. The chosen envelope keeps that one branch without opening multiple independent ordinary launches.

2. Fork allocation, storage and committed loss

Normalized quantities and receiver thresholds

U is a paper-accounting unit of usable packet payload, not a damage stat, battery currency or inventory item. A bare trigger has no U and is copied intact to every branch that accepts its trigger type. For the bounded examples:

These amounts say only whether an action accepts; they assign no damage, duration, barrier strength or enemy statistic.

Fork's fixed order

Fork's two outputs are visibly labelled 1 and 2. Resolution is once per incoming wave:

1. Each output first checks direct-link compatibility, payload type, present receiver readiness/storage and any required valid target. A branch failing one of those checks is blocked before allocation.
2. If neither branch passes, Fork emits nothing; the incoming payload is already committed and dissipates visibly at Fork.
3. If exactly one branch passes, that sole pre-allocation candidate receives the full incoming usable payload. It then applies its own minimum and maximum.
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.
5. Each candidate then checks whether its allocated share meets its minimum. A zero or sub-threshold share refuses. That share is not reallocated after the fact, buffered or copied; it dissipates visibly at Fork. An accepting receiver owns its share from that point.

This ordering distinguishes a branch known blocked before division from a branch that was otherwise ready but received too small a share. It preserves the existing rule that one sole pre-allocation candidate gets the full payload while making post-allocation threshold refusal determinate. A branch is not called accepting until its allocated share meets that receiver's minimum. Output priority on odd amounts is a legibility convention and an expressive cost: swapping the two links can matter. Full-copy Fork remains the stronger spectacle alternative, but would be amplification and would need a named source/cost rather than conservation language.

Capacitor receive, overflow and release

Capacitor stores exact accepted U from 0 through 4. At 0 it is empty; 1–3 is partial; 4 is full/saturated. If it has free space, it accepts at least 1 U. It stores up to that free space and vents any delivered overflow at its own inlet with a local saturation response. It never passes overflow onward in this candidate. At 4 it is blocked before Fork allocation. Becoming partial, release-ready at 2 U, full or no longer full is a state change, never a source event.

A chosen manual release first checks the directly connected first receiver's link/type, readiness and any target. At less than 2 U, or when that first receiver refuses, release refuses before commitment: no wave starts and all stored charge remains. If the first receiver accepts, the release commits, 2 U leaves storage immediately, and one new manual wave begins. The first receiver may convert or act. Any later downstream refusal dissipates the packet there; it never restores the 2 U. A rig-triggered release, if a later authored configuration uses one, retains the incoming wave and follows the same first-receiver gate.

An emitted Dynamo contribution is no longer held by Dynamo. A valid Cycler activation consumes its selected material before emitting its response. Fork refusal, Capacitor overflow, Lens conversion or a later actuator refusal can therefore lose payload without refunding the carrier impact, stored release or material. Conversely, the existing pre-release refusal is not a loss and never needs a refund because the charge never left storage.

This article deliberately does not decide whether stored Capacitor charge survives death, living return, storage removal or another expedition boundary. Save/global04 must represent the actual amount and apply their accepted owning policy once that policy exists. No case below uses death to settle retained charge.

3. Opening quantity sheet

Proposed comparison quantities

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.

Declared opening arithmetic assumptions

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 30-second hand check, debit the interval's 1 O breathing and then move up to 3 O subject to the same continuously enforced tank/vessel boundaries; this ordering is arithmetic notation, not a pause in breathing.

These assumptions explain arithmetic; they are not final action timings, safe-route certification, balance, comfort, campaign duration or a promise the R02/R03 route remains available after death.

4. Four existing local interface cards

Ship collar receiver

• Source/input/control: fixed ship power, the existing collar monitoring bus and fixed maintenance poll control provide one bare trigger to a seated Fork. Fork output 1 reaches the addressed poll gate; output 2 reaches the display latch. The sensor value returns through the fixed collar bus, never through Fork.
• Ready/refusal: the fixture must be commissioned, the one known address selected, Fork seated, bus powered, poll gate neutral and display latch cleared. 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.
• Stage/commit: pressing the control starts one world-time poll wave. Poll-gate opening commits that branch; display arming commits its branch. The fixed bus sample commits only when the poll gate reaches its sampling detent. A simultaneously armed latch then holds that sample for direct observation; capture into evidence is a separate world-time action.
• 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.
• Recovery/removal: clearing the latch/buffer discards any unlatched sample, then restored readiness permits a wholly new poll; incomplete branches never secretly pair across attempts. Fork may be reclaimed only after the active poll is cancelled or settled. Reclaiming that same instance darkens future polling but does not erase a completed observed/captured reading. Lost power ends live value; stored evidence remains dated.

Ship packing bench

• Source/input/control: fixed ship power, unlimited ship oxygen, the installed compressor head and fixed packing control provide one bare trigger through seated Fork. Output 1 opens the ship-supply valve; output 2 starts the compressor cycle. The selected vessel is the actual receiver of gas.
• 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.
• Stage/commit: gas transfer commits incrementally to the vessel. A valve-only wave can ordinary-fill toward 8 O but cannot cross it. On a later wave beginning at 8–11 O, both branches accept; the valve supplies gas while the compressor packs above ordinary fill, and each received O is real. At 12 O the completed cycle commits prepared-full. The Fork supplies neither gas nor energy.
• Incomplete/interrupted: if valve accepts while compressor refuses, the vessel may reach at most ordinary-full and remains ordinary-full/partial, never prepared-full. During an accepted compression cycle, cancellation or lost power preserves the exact amount already in the vessel; an 8–11 O vessel is labelled partial with a last completed amount and can resume. No incomplete cycle awards the prepared-full state.
• 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.

R26 reversible A↔B service transformer

• Source/input/control: R26's fixed room service circuit and current diagnostic supply receive an actually present A pulse at the selected forward input or B pulse at the selected reverse input. The local hand selector chooses forward A→B or reverse B→A; its final detent commits mode. A separate local test control admits one current pulse. Nozzle and the air knife are separate.
• 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.
• Stage/commit: preview arrows → hand-cycle selector → final detent commits mode. Afterward, pressing test admits one pulse at the input contact; the pulse commit is separate from mode commit. A valid forward test visibly produces B; reverse produces A.
• Incomplete/interrupted: interruption before selector detent leaves the prior mode; after detent the mode persists. Cancellation before pulse admission spends no pulse. Power loss after admission but before output dissipates that temporary pulse and yields an interrupted local observation, not a false output or stored proof.
• Recovery/removal: restore current power/input and test again. The transformer is a fixed room service circuit, not a portable part; it has no removal action. Removing Vector Nozzle stops only the air knife. Mode survives power loss, while diagnostic output does not. Walking access and persistent latches remain separately inspectable.

R33 fixed A→R exchanger

• Source/input/control: R33's immutable exchanger accepts a current A pulse at its marked A-input face and exposes R at its marked output. A local dead-load test control admits one available pulse; it has no reverse or mode selector.
• Ready/refusal: a test requires current diagnostic power, actual A input, an idle exchanger and clear output contact/dead load. Absent input, B/R input, lost power or occupied output refuses before admission. Carrying an A-family part or knowing an old route is not current input.
• Stage/commit: local preview shows fixed A-in/R-out; pressing and holding the test reaches one admission detent. That detent commits the input pulse. The exchanger then emits one R pulse if power/output remain valid. Observation of both contacts establishes only this local performed transformation.
• Incomplete/interrupted: cancel before admission spends nothing. Power loss after admission but before output dissipates the pulse and leaves an interrupted test indication; it does not create R, reverse the device or modify a join. If a downstream receiver refuses after R emission, the pulse dissipates there and the committed A input is not restored.
• Recovery/removal: clear the output, restore power/current A input and perform a new test. The fixed exchanger is not removable and stores no charge. Capturing the observed transform is separate world-time evidence work. Diagnostic power can disappear while the physical room and all walkable latches remain.

5. Eight bounded paper cases

A. Four-A split opening

Before: active Sensor 1/1 → Fork 1/1 → Projector 1/1 + Barrier 1/1 is 4 C / 4 A. Manual Trigger is inactive but still 1 C / 0 A, so equipment uses 5 C. Projector is ready with one nearest visible valid hostile; Barrier is unready.

Action: Sensor and Projector gate one ordinary external event. At commit the target and Projector's one readiness spend seal one launch reservation. Fork carries that committed bare trigger/wave through the designated Projector branch; Projector executes the reserved physical launch once without rechecking the just-spent readiness, while Fork copies the wave to Barrier. Barrier independently refuses because it is unready.

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. The rig stays inside the one-independent-launch envelope because Barrier is a descendant response, not another target-seeking ordinary controller.

B. Eight-A heat-lance split, threshold and paid rewire

Before: Sensor1 + Projector1 + Dynamo1 + Fork1 + Arc2 + Capacitor1 + Lens1 is 8 C / 8 A. Sensor→Projector is the sole ordinary launch; Dynamo clamps to Projector output; its 2 U goes through Fork output1→Arc and output2→Capacitor. Both accept, Capacitor starts 0/4.

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. The player pays one world-time rewire, disconnecting Sensor from Projector before connecting Capacitor manual release→Lens→Projector, then selects a valid displayed Projector target.

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 and paid rewire are not refunded. The case determines failure without asserting heat damage or build strength.

C. Counterwall partial, full, saturation and pre-release refusal

Before: Manual→Barrier, Dynamo clamped to Barrier, Capacitor and manual release→Arc use 6 C / 6 A. Capacitor is 0/4; Arc is unready. Enemy strike one and strike two are separate external waves.

First strike: Barrier physically catches it; Dynamo emits 2 U and Capacitor stores 2/4. The player requests release, but Arc is the first receiver and is unready. Release refuses before commit: no wave starts and Capacitor remains 2/4. Nothing was spent, so no refund occurs.

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.

Release: once Arc is ready with a valid target, manual release commits 2 U, starts one new wave and leaves Capacitor 2/4. Arc accepts/spends the packet. No duplicate charge arises from its later readiness or the earlier refusal.

D. R23 Cycler spend and receiver refusal

Protected attempt: at R23 the player selects a protected evidence/objective item. The Cycler selection control refuses before activation commitment. Manual press starts no consumption, the protected object remains, and no response packet exists.

Eligible attempt: the player instead selects one normalized expendable pressure sample whose inspected response is 2 U of force. When Cycler accepts the activation, that material commits to consumed and the response enters the same manual wave. Before Pulse Projector receives it, the displayed target becomes invalid. Projector refuses locally and no shot occurs. The 2 U response dissipates; the consumed sample does not return, while the Cycler, Projector and unrelated carried goods remain their same instances. This defines a failed spend, not a salvage economy or recipe.

E. Retrieval-ready versus air-heavy opening

Capacity: retrieval-ready departs with four active starters (4 C) plus one canister (2 C): 6/10 C, four free. A carried Fork makes 7; the carried bridge makes 9; one 1 C loot item can make 10. Installing Fork at R02 temporarily removes its C from the manifest; reclaiming it restores the same 1 C. Air-heavy departs with four starters plus two canisters: 8/10 C. The 2 C bridge fits exactly, but Fork cannot also be carried unless a canister or another object is deliberately left/dropped; nothing is silently discarded.

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, suit 11/canister 5 becomes suit 12/canister 3 after one interval: breathing spends 1, only 2 of the possible 3 transfer, and the untransferred unit remains in the vessel. 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.

F. Reclaim an area-granting assembly without duplication

Before: navigation coupler and thermal core are both installed aboard, exposing the proposed 8 A 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 reclaim control now accepts; removal returns the same 2 C / 0 A thermal core to visible ship storage and the ship falls to the coupler's 6 A state.

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 first. The operation grants no new progression tier and destroys nothing.

G. One Fork through receiver and bench

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.

H. R26 reversible and R33 fixed tests

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.

R33: with only an old A record or a current B input, its fixed test refuses: neither is actual current A. With current power and A at the marked face, admission commits and the exchanger emits R to its dead load. Power loss after admission but before output dissipates that pulse and leaves an interrupted observation, not an R result. A separate completed capture can preserve a successful performed A→R observation; it does not power the exchanger, change its fixed direction or latch a seam.

Owning-source compatibility and state handoff

No parent edit follows automatically. If the candidate survives review, each current owner must refresh and align only the named passages:

The mechanical handoff is therefore finite: ordinary launch-source and designated-actuator identity, selected target/readiness at the single commit, one wave identity, per-branch block/allocation/refusal, exact stored U, exact vessel O/fill label, installed/carried fixture location, current 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.

Decision record, costs and open work

Candidate choice. Use one independent ordinary launch path sourced by Sensor or Stride, conservative fixed-order Fork division, hold-and-vent Capacitor storage, fixed 2 U manual release, and the one provisional opening quantity sheet. This keeps Stride's non-launch coexistence, existing manual and derived multi-actuator builds while making all eight traces determinate.

Accepted cost. The controller envelope forbids potentially expressive duplicate independent ordinary-launch rigs in first-pass content. Fork output order can matter, a sub-threshold share can be visibly lost, and vented overflow may feel punitive. Fixed 2 U release reduces fine control. Exact oxygen numbers may over- or under-pressure the opening, and 2 C assemblies can make area growth feel like a mandatory packing ladder. Four local cards add authored interruption and recovery states. None of those costs is validated.

Smaller supported variant. Keep direct Sensor→Projector as the only ordinary path, the quantity sheet and fixed storage policy, and omit Fork branching from ordinary fire. Counterwall, Cycler and paid-rewire descendants remain. This loses the opening's Sensor→Fork→Projector+Barrier control trade and leaves less evidence that one part can reshape both infrastructure and personal rigs; it does not delete any accepted part or rig source.

Open rather than invented. Duplicate quantity/stacking, multiple independent ordinary-launch arbitration, final target override, odd payload sources beyond the stated rule, damage/strength/timing, exact encounter delays, 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 owning decisions. The five pending owner questions are unanswered.

Later discrimination. Only a later owner-authorized implementation and observation could test whether target ownership, lost shares, storage, fixture recovery, reserve marking and packing choices are comprehensible or enjoyable; whether the numbers create useful pressure; whether four- and six-A builds remain viable; or whether duplicate ordinary launches are worth their complexity. This paper arithmetic demonstrates conservation and determinacy only.

Author self-check and finite count

The article contains five requested deltas, one quantity sheet, four existing local interface cards and exactly eight paper cases. It keeps the proposed comparison 10 C / 4 A, existing bridge 2 C and regulator 2 C; proposes suit 12 O, ordinary/prepared vessels 8/12 O, base drain 1 O/30 s, transfer up to 3 O/30 s with a 12 O ceiling/empty stop, reserve default 4 O, both new assembly values 2 C, Dynamo 2 U per eligible wave regardless of batch count, conductive response 2 U charge, pressure response 2 U force, Capacitor 4 U and release 2 U. Case arithmetic accounts for active versus inactive C/A, one Fork/object instance, gas transferred/breathed and retained at both bounds, material consumption, charge allocation/storage/vent/release and upstream versus downstream commitment. Sensor/Stride launch alternatives, legal non-launch coexistence, single launch/readiness commit, once-per-wave, no readiness-created event, first-receiver pre-release refusal, sole-pre-allocation-candidate full payload, local test/evidence/walking separation and completed-work persistence remain intact.

Content counts remain 12 catalogue parts, four opening starters, eight later part sources, four ship assemblies, 24 modules/40 station rooms, 10 encounters including two setpieces, 13 major mechanisms and five home projects. This article adds zero portable parts, resources, rooms, encounters, major mechanisms, survivors, story scenes or unseen destinations. It performs no code, executable/modelled simulation, asset work, playtest or validation and answers none of the five owner questions.