Hold The Horde — Rescue Rules
Current owner direction — 2026-09-08. Cooperative rescue is accepted only while it avoids becoming a long escort quest. A long continuous escort is no longer an eligible alternative under that direction. Death now triggers a station shift; the ordering of shift, current-refuge handling and final abort is still to be specified. Old references to a shipward refuge or adjoining vestibule do not guarantee unchanged reachability after a shift. Global survivor loss remains undecided. Owner Brief.
Status: a working proposal after focused review for the Dorn example in Rescue and Home. It is not a global rescue, colony-management or survivor-loss system. The physical Sent boundary and local continuation rules below support one authored scene; oxygen quantities and gameplay quality remain unvalidated.
Goal, air and handover
The immediate goal is to get Dorn from his refuge through the ship airlock. Contact through a viewport or radio establishes his willingness to leave after a route and breathable transfer are prepared. Consent and readiness are separate from sending.
The original refuge's finite air supports a stable waiting state between expeditions without a hidden countdown. It produces no oxygen and cannot refill the astronaut. This is an explicit local gameplay convention, not a physical model or a general guarantee that survivors cannot worsen or die.
Its damaged personnel lock vents the room when opened. A separate pressure-rated equipment sleeve passes a canister inward without cycling that lock: the astronaut closes the outer hatch, Dorn opens the inner hatch, takes the canister, connects his suit and confirms flow. Only then may the personnel door open. The canister leaves the astronaut's carrying capacity when committed inside the sleeve. Neither sleeve nor refuge provides a player refill; Dorn is never an inventory slot.
Routes and carrying costs
The player traverses the proposed route and stocks its designated abort refuge with a separate reserve canister. Breadcrumbs record visited passages, not current safety, continued access or exact oxygen cost.
- Direct route: an installed relay-family part powers the hoist while its feed holds. The part frees carried capacity but is unavailable to the rig. Retrieval stops the powered access without reversing every opened-section consequence. The shorter crossing overrides Dorn's wish. The companion article proposes a population/hazard connection with unknown contents and severity; this is not guaranteed punishment or an implied trust deduction.
- Long route: keep the relay and preserve his boundary. The suit's baseline cutter releases visible jammed door bolts; each manual door cycle takes world time. The vacuum route costs distance, oxygen, preparation trips and exposure. No repressurisation capability is assumed.
Travel air and staged reserves compete with equipment and salvage while carried. Committed supplies are not simultaneously available in the astronaut's pack. A consumed reserve pays for a waiting state; it is not recoverable player oxygen. Under the owner’s death rule, only property still carried returns aboard; staged canisters and installed parts remain where committed.
A finite route with an abort destination
This example has a finite authored sequence of refuges ending at a vestibule beside the ship airlock. Before any departure, the next segment has an explicit stocked abort destination.
For an intermediate segment, it is a pressure vestibule immediately shipward of the exposed junction. During an interruption Dorn crosses into it using his travel canister's emergency margin and closes its stationward door from inside. He does not seal it on the wrong side and then need to pass through that seal. Its staged reserve supports the same bounded waiting convention, without a player refill or hidden countdown.
On the final approach, the last vestibule is the abort destination. Unlike the original damaged room, it can reseal. Interruption returns Dorn there unsent; a new reserve must be staged before each attempt. No refuge beyond the ship or automatic successful delivery is required. This authored abort behaviour is a local rule whose clarity and credibility remain to be tested in a later authorised phase.
Transfer states
| State | What establishes it | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting | Dorn is in his current supported refuge | Postpone, explore, prepare or revise the route |
| Prepared | Travel air connected and confirmed; next segment traversed; designated abort refuge stocked; route equipment ready | Request movement; Dorn confirms readiness and his preference |
| In transfer | Dorn accepts and leaves | Hold the ordinary horde, operate controls, signal movement or call abort; only the original damaged room is permanently lost on opening |
| At abort refuge | An interrupted transfer reaches its designated destination | Defer under the bounded waiting rule, or bring fresh travel air, recheck the segment and stock the next abort destination |
| Sent / colony | Dorn is inside the ship and the airlock closes | His authored interpretation and proposed canister-packing contribution become available aboard |
The short defence uses ordinary hordes. Clearing the route first can reduce pressure but does not promise an empty crossing. The astronaut chooses route, timing, diversion and abort; Dorn crosses under his own power, operates controls and can call an abort. Both staged movement and continuous escort require survivor behaviour; neither has been demonstrated here.
Failure and continuation
| Outcome | Persistent result | Player's next choice |
|---|---|---|
| Postpone or abort before departure | Dorn stays in the current refuge; its waiting support remains. Uncommitted equipment and installations follow their existing rules | Continue another objective, revise preparation, or retrieve available equipment |
| Intermediate interruption | Original room remains vented if already opened; Dorn reaches the prepared shipward refuge. Travel emergency margin and its waiting reserve are committed/spent | Prepare the next segment with fresh travel air and its designated reserve; recover installed or staged equipment; or defer |
| Final-approach interruption | Dorn returns to the resealable last vestibule, unsent; the staged reserve supports waiting | Restock that same vestibule and supply fresh travel air before retrying the ship approach |
| Astronaut dies before a departure | Everything still carried returns aboard with the astronaut. Dorn remains in his current waiting refuge, not necessarily the original room | Resume rescue, recover committed equipment, or pursue another objective after revival |
| Astronaut dies during transfer | Everything still carried returns aboard; Dorn reaches the designated abort refuge and is not retroactively Sent | Resume from that refuge with fresh supplies and route checks |
| Astronaut dies after Sent | Dorn remains aboard; everything still carried returns with the astronaut | Continue with Dorn still part of the colony |
Requests, radio confirmations and a crossing in progress never count as Sent. Failure is locally reversible but consumes travel air and staged reserves already spent and may leave installations committed. It creates no death-cache trip or replacement tax. This does not establish trust penalties, injury, permanent deterioration or universal immunity. A different rescue may need a separate explicit outcome and an owner decision about its stakes.
Alternative and accepted costs
Continuous physical escort makes sustained protection visible and permits preferences, cooperation and the same canister economy. Its broader traversal and detour reliability are costs; the staged proposal trades those for authored refuges and controlled transitions. Either can feel compelling or tedious. Reopen this local preference if the crossings feel automatic, Dorn's actions are unclear, or the short defence cannot carry the intended human stake. No written comparison proves balance, emotional impact, feasibility or campaign duration.