SUBSTELLAR — Creative and Product Direction
Selected completion 06

Complete narrative source collection. Each source below is preserved verbatim; source-boundary labels are editorial separators. Current evidence and decisions are in reconciliation_06.txt and decisions_06.json. Earlier wording retains its edition context.


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# The creative foundation

## Purpose of this document

SUBSTELLAR is a Minecraft survival adventure built around the relationship between a home worth returning to and worlds worth exploring. The player begins in a recognizable Overworld, develops a useful settlement, and discovers that the underground contains enough places, lives, materials, and unfinished work to support a long adventure of its own. The capabilities earned below ground eventually make the first journey into space possible. Landing on another world opens another landscape to learn, another descent to prepare, and another place that can become a home.

This document describes the full creative and product direction. It defines the intended experiences, the rules that make those experiences coherent, and the content families that a later roadmap can draw from. Its environment profiles, settlement journeys, equipment catalogues, spacecraft classes, and illustration register are designed to be read together. A resource matters because it changes what a player can do in a place. A settlement matters because it changes the experience of leaving and returning. A planet earns its place because it asks the player to learn something different.

Version 0.1 is the complete text proposal for creative review. The established project foundation is identified below. All expanded biomes, destination treatments, material properties, supporting structures, encounters, and named examples are proposed additions until accepted. The illustration register specifies future visual work; this edition contains no newly generated concept art. Text approval comes before visual production, and neither approval automatically starts implementation.

The long-term vision is deliberately larger than an initial release. The existing generation-first development sequence remains the engineering starting point. This document supplies direction for that sequence and the work that could follow; it does not replace verified repository state, assign delivery dates, or claim that described features already run in the game.

## Identity and the promise to the player

The product name remains SUBSTELLAR. Its meaning joins what lies beneath with what lies among the stars. The established lines “Every world goes deeper” and “From the depths to the stars” describe the scope of the experience. Their practical consequence is that underground exploration must remain central after space travel arrives. A world with a distinctive sky and a shallow resource field would not fulfill that promise.

The player should eventually be able to remember a journey by its places: the crossing they repaired, the bend in the flooded passage, the roof of the fungal station, the lift that finally worked, and the first window from which Earth looked small. Progression is expressed through these memories and through increased competence. Better equipment enables new decisions; established infrastructure makes earlier journeys easier; the player's knowledge makes a once intimidating region understandable.

The adventure is intended for solo players and cooperative groups. It must support someone who enjoys careful expeditions, someone who wants to build a beautiful settlement, and someone who enjoys preparing machinery and supplies for friends. These roles should contribute to a shared journey without requiring every player to complete the same activity. Larger public-server scale remains a later product and engineering question.

## The foundation carried forward

| Ref. | Established direction | Consequence for the full vision |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CF01 | Familiar surface and ordinary Minecraft building remain central. | The Overworld must support ordinary homes, farms, mountains, forests, and independent exploration. |
| CF02 | The added vertical room belongs underground. | Surface improvements express environmental richness without silently raising the world ceiling or replacing the surface with a different game. |
| CF03 | The handbook working default is 512 total block levels from Y minus 192 through 319. | Treat the seven named realms as a creative atlas, not seven equally thick floors already proven to fit. |
| CF04 | Strata have recognizable identities and irregular overlapping transitions. | Climate, geology, cave form, water, and life change across regions rather than at universal horizontal walls. |
| CF05 | Correct generation precedes new tools, hazards, crafting, and equipment progression. | Early terrain remains testable with simple equipment; later survival rules must improve a working landscape. |
| CF06 | Project Vanilla becomes part of SUBSTELLAR. | Preserve Old Valley, the approved chapter sequence, useful settlements, guided adventures, and optional free building. |
| CF07 | Interactive project blocks receive materials and trigger scripted construction. | Authored structures grow through understandable stages inside controlled plots. |
| CF08 | Authored regional activity has explicit bounds and pauses when players leave. | Construction, visits, production, and chapter events must preserve their state without absence penalties. |
| CF09 | Earth exploration enables a longer underground-to-space journey. | Rockets and planetary expeditions grow out of capabilities learned at home. |
| CF10 | New worlds bring new underground adventures. | Planet design includes surface, subsurface, deep destinations, and a useful outpost. |
| CF11 | The mod is standalone-first. | The core experience must make sense without mandatory gameplay-mod integrations. |
| CF12 | The desired visual character includes rich blue water, visible underwater growth, expressive trees, warm sunlight, and strong depth. | Separate lighting and shader presentation from the actual shapes, materials, and vegetation the world must generate. |

The development handbook is the source for CF01 through CF05 and CF11. The integrated Project Vanilla direction and the SUBSTELLAR brochure establish the settlement and journey principles. These are design records, not a report of the current implementation. Source details appear at the end of this document.

## The feelings the game should create

Home should feel useful, warm, and personal. A guesthouse lamp, a working mill, a bed beside a carefully arranged window, and an NPC who now has a reason to visit make the surface emotionally important. The first hours need enough quiet that later danger feels like a deliberate expedition from somewhere familiar.

Descent should move through anticipation, discovery, uncertainty, and understanding. A player's first glimpse of a giant chamber can be overwhelming. Their third visit should reveal a workable geography: a safe ledge, a source of timber, a defensible landing, and a possible transport route. The design should let knowledge change the emotional character of the same place.

Danger should encourage preparation and improvisation. Heat, flooded routes, exposed crossings, unfamiliar creatures, and limited supplies create different kinds of pressure. Every serious threat needs a signal and a response the player can learn. The difficulty comes from choosing a route or managing a situation, rather than memorizing invisible rules that kill an uninformed explorer.

Wonder should survive familiarity. Regions need broad silhouettes and major landmarks, but also small observations: roots following moisture, a mineral seam that bends around an old fracture, discarded equipment near a failed crossing, or a quiet window overlooking an underground lake. These details establish that places have relationships and histories beyond the immediate objective.

Space should first feel remote and fragile. On Earth, help and food may be a long walk away. On the Moon, the cabin is the only familiar room under an unfamiliar sky. Later destinations can become more capable homes, but the first landing should preserve that change in scale. Returning with a modest scientific sample can be an important event before interplanetary industry exists.

The overall tone is adventurous, grounded in readable materials and practical activity, and increasingly strange with depth and distance. Some regions can be frightening through darkness, scale, isolation, or sound. The default direction avoids gore and constant horror. Quiet beauty, productive work, and humor in ordinary settlement life must remain present throughout the journey.

## The core activity cycle

A complete expedition begins before the player leaves. They choose a question or goal, look at what is known of the route, prepare equipment, and decide what they can carry home. At the destination they read the landscape, solve a traversal or environmental problem, discover something useful, and make a judgment about whether to continue. The return journey turns discovery into lasting change through construction, research, cultivation, or a new route.

The cycle should accommodate different lengths. A short trip might collect clay for the guesthouse roof or record a newly exposed passage. A larger expedition might establish a Deepwilds field station. A major chapter might restore an Abyss crossing or bring a lunar survey home. Each length needs a satisfying stopping point and a clear sense of what was achieved.

Local convenience grows with investment. A rope line shortens an awkward climb. A marked route reduces navigation effort. A lift carries supplies. A settlement service prepares repeated equipment orders. A surveyed and secured space route can eventually support routine travel. Investment should convert repeated preparation into easier maintenance while leaving unfamiliar regions interesting.

The game should often offer a choice between carrying resources and carrying opportunity. A player might leave ore behind to transport a fragile seed pod, a rescued survey instrument, or a component for an outpost. This works only when inventory burdens remain understandable. New materials should justify their slots through distinct uses, and routine supplies should be easy to replenish at established bases.

## Guidance and freedom

The guided adventure supplies authored situations, characters with useful roles, reliable chapter structure, and places prepared for memorable changes. It should answer the player's question of what might be interesting to do next. The surrounding sandbox supports free building, unstructured exploration, and self-directed goals.

Chapter order describes a narrative path; geography does not need to lock every side passage until the story permits it. A well-equipped player can discover a place early. The game records the discovery and explains which functions still need preparation. Required capabilities should appear as physical needs such as a sealed cabin, a usable crossing, or sufficient load support. An unexplained quest flag should rarely be the only obstacle.

A player who supplies an authored building gets the reliability and visual composition of the designed structure. A player who builds independently keeps ownership of their creation. A proposed later commissioning system can recognize supported generic services such as shelter, cultivation, or an approved workshop function in a free-built structure. Its check examines a visible bounded area. Physical usefulness, civic-service recognition, and narrative completion are separate facts: the five Old Valley projects retain their authored completion requirements unless a chapter explicitly supports a commissioned alternative. A beautiful cabin can function as personal shelter without resembling the guesthouse or automatically completing its chapter.

The narrative must tolerate interruption. A player can spend a week decorating a workshop, build a fortress elsewhere, or leave an active region. The next chapter remains available when they return. The world's authored activities operate within the pause rules described in the settlement chapters, and departures do not quietly erase opportunities.

## The boundary between game fiction and physical realism

Real geological and astronomical ideas provide shapes, materials, and questions that can inspire the game. The underground ecosystems, compact strata, survival envelopes, and advanced resources in this document are fictional design. Their properties are defined by how the game communicates and uses them. No claim of geological depth, biological plausibility, flight physics, or resource availability should be inferred from a concept profile.

Mantle and Core remain established progression names. Within the proposed playable Overworld, they describe extreme deep environments and the central Heart region of the adventure. A descent of a few hundred blocks is not a simulation of reaching the literal center of Earth. Art and dialogue should preserve the names while making the scale of the fiction consistent.

Later planets borrow recognizable identities from the Solar System, while the proposed secret system deliberately allows greater invention. Familiar materials and engineering language anchor this progression. Extraordinary substances should have a small number of clear game properties; a mystery becomes less interesting if it is a universal explanation for power, flight, healing, and every lock in the world.

# The complete player journey

## The long arc

The established chapter families are First Descent, Pale Horizon, Red Frontier, Outer Worlds, and Beyond Sol. They describe the expanding experience, not release dates. First Descent contains Old Valley and the long Earth adventure. Pale Horizon covers orbital preparation and the Moon. Red Frontier establishes independent interplanetary expeditions. Outer Worlds explores very different environments and more capable outposts. Beyond Sol opens the secret-system horizon.

| Journey family | The player's central question | Lasting change |
| --- | --- | --- |
| First Descent | What lies beneath home, and how can we make the journey practical? | A working settlement, known underground routes, deep materials, and a launch capability. |
| Pale Horizon | Can we leave Earth, explore, and return safely? | A trusted spacecraft, a lunar foothold, and the first evidence brought home from another world. |
| Red Frontier | Can we work beyond the reach of a simple lunar mission? | A more independent expedition vessel and an outpost able to support extended journeys. |
| Outer Worlds | How does exploration change when each destination imposes different rules? | Specialized equipment, a network of homes, and knowledge that combines across worlds. |
| Beyond Sol | What can we learn somewhere the old maps do not describe? | A new exploratory horizon and a reason to reinterpret discoveries from the whole journey. |

## A proposed first evening

The player arrives near Old Valley with ordinary survival needs and an immediate practical invitation. There is shelter to restore, a nearby landscape to learn, and a crossing that suggests a future route. The opening should demonstrate at least one satisfying piece of gathering, one visible construction change, and one independent discovery without demanding a large tutorial checklist.

The quarry should become a place the player can recognize from above and below. From the surface, water, exposed rock, vegetation, and worked ledges establish a coherent scene. Beneath it, a connected passage introduces the first descent. Looking back up should help the player understand where they are in relation to the familiar world.

The first evening can end after a roof is repaired, a lamp is placed, or a route is marked. The player should have an appealing next task and a place to sleep. A larger mystery can be suggested by a find, a traveler, or an inaccessible viewpoint; it should not drown the ordinary pleasure of making a place usable.

## The extended Earth adventure

The Shallows teach route reading, light, water, and sensible preparation. The Deepwilds introduce living environments and the possibility of establishing a productive underground home. Underreach asks the player to understand larger structures, vertical connections, and supply routes. The Abyss tests navigation, exposure, and decisions about limited safe ground. Mantle introduces concentrated heat and industrial preparation. Core brings the Earth arc to a deep, unusual destination whose discoveries enable the next frontier.

These experiences need substantial lateral geography. A route may descend, follow a watershed across a region, climb to a settlement, and descend again through a different geological seam. Horizontal journeys allow each realm to support several biomes, side stories, and bases without reducing the game to one ladder through seven rooms.

Completing an Earth objective should improve Earth. Deep materials can repair transport, improve workshops, make homes more expressive, or support safe cultivation. Space preparation is one result of exploration, but players who prefer to remain underground should still have a rich endgame of settlement growth, mapping, specialist equipment, and ambitious free building.

## How space continues the same adventure

The first spacecraft should feel assembled from the player's established world. The workshop contributes fittings, the underground supplies advanced materials, the settlement provides preparation services, and the launch site grows through visible projects. A launch therefore feels like an accomplishment of the home the player has built.

The Moon teaches expedition discipline through absence: little shelter, few familiar ecological supports, and a clear dependence on the lander. Mars supports a longer journey with several surface and underground identities. Outer destinations separate the capabilities that Earth combined: thermal protection, buoyancy or submersion, long navigation, radiation shielding, or the ability to build where local supplies are limited.

Every destination needs an early safe foothold, at least one substantial descent, a memorable local problem, and something that changes life elsewhere. No planet is included solely to hold a mandatory colored ingot. The specific destination profiles later in the document define these roles and their optional branches.

## Completion and a world that remains useful

Pluto completes the proposed Solar System campaign with a distant observatory and a meaningful return. Beyond Sol is a substantial continuation with Morrow as its capstone. Either conclusion can include a discovery, a return, and a visible change to the community that enabled the journey. It should leave the world playable. Settlements continue to offer bounded projects, established routes support future expeditions, and discoveries provide new building materials and optional specialist goals.

Completion is therefore expressed in several ways: the main expedition journal, the state of communities, the collection of surveyed regions, specialist craft mastery, and the player's own buildings. The game should avoid requiring every rare variant, creature, decorative block, or optional planet activity for the principal narrative conclusion.

# The vertical world specification

## The documented working envelope

The development handbook defines a working default of 512 total block levels, with valid block Y values from minus 192 through 319 and an exclusive upper boundary at 320. It preserves the upper world and adds room below the earlier floor. From a reference surface elevation around 63, the difference to minus 192 is about 255 blocks. The document therefore must never describe this envelope as 512 blocks of underground depth.

The existing prototype uses three broad design centers: A around minus 32 to minus 80, B around minus 80 to minus 128, and C around minus 128 to minus 188, with the new bottom near minus 192. Those are experiments in generation shape and transition, not approved final biome boundaries. The creative atlas retains the established realm names without assigning them unsupported permanent Y ranges.

## How the seven realms fit the creative direction

The recommended planning model treats depth as a strong environmental tendency combined with lateral geography. A realm can contain shelves, valleys, hanging ecosystems, flooded pockets, dense rock, and passages above or below its most common range. Geology and authored routes give it recognizable continuity. Adjacent realms overlap in visible transition areas.

Some experiences can share a broad vertical region while occupying different environmental conditions. Deepwilds can favor humid chambers with living substrates. Underreach can occupy drier structural terrain, mineral cliffs, and human routes at comparable local elevations. The Abyss can appear as deep watershed basins and exposed voids. This avoids insisting that every name is a universal planetary floor.

Mantle and Core require particular care. Their current role is a long-term creative proposal for the deepest Earth experience. If a future prototype cannot provide enough readable terrain, travel distance, and separation within the working envelope, the design must be revised deliberately. Options include a larger continuous height specification or a different distribution of content within the existing world. Separate deep dimensions are an option to evaluate only if continuous generation cannot satisfy the intended journey; they are not silently selected here.

## A decision that belongs before permanent worlds

The full Earth atlas should be tested against representative cross-sections and playable routes before numerical bounds become a lasting save promise. The evidence must show that each intended realm has enough usable geography, recognizable transitions, return routes, and room for structures. A successful test also preserves the familiar surface and avoids a universal empty cavern.

This remains a future engineering decision rather than a reason to postpone the current generation-first work. The immediate prototype can prove deeper terrain, cave form, and regional variation inside the documented envelope. The creative atlas gives those experiments a destination while keeping their conclusions open.


# World generation and the Earth atlas

### A familiar world with a second geography beneath it

The Overworld retains the everyday readability of Minecraft. Forests, plains, mountains, rivers, beaches, villages, ordinary resources, farming, and player construction remain valuable. New generation should strengthen the feeling that these places have a hidden underside. A wooded hill can contain a sheltered limestone entrance. A quarry can expose a mineral seam. A mountain basin can feed a deep lake. These relationships create curiosity without turning every surface vista into an advertisement for underground content.

The current handbook baseline provides **512 total Y levels, from -192 through 319**, with familiar surface conditions and the additional room underneath. A reference surface near Y 63 leaves approximately 255 vertical blocks down to the floor. Its three initial prototype bands are approximately A: -32 to -80, B: -80 to -128, and C: -128 to -188, with a floor near -192. These are prototype allocation references. The creative atlas does not assign final Y boundaries to Overworld, Shallows, Deepwilds, Underreach, Abyss, Mantle, or Core, nor promise that seven complete stacked realms already fit those test bands.

The named realms describe recognizable ecological and geological identities. Their edges overlap, their chambers can occupy different local elevations, and substantial exploration runs sideways. A Shallows aquifer may descend into the upper edge of a Deepwilds basin; an Underreach escarpment may overlook an Abyss cavity. Final packaging must protect the intended experiences and realistic traversal space within the chosen world envelope. The full vision needs a later feasibility decision before any change to world height; the deeper planned realms are not a commitment to include everything in the initial prototype. The Core is a fictional deep-crustal **Heart** environment. Reaching it never means digging to a literal planetary center.

### Generation operates at several useful scales

At the largest scale, a seed establishes broad underground regions: wet basins, dry ridges, folded mineral country, extensive living caverns, fractured cavities, and deep thermal districts. These regions provide a reason to travel horizontally. A player cannot obtain every environmental experience by digging one narrow shaft beneath the starter house.

Within a region, generation produces recognizable landforms: terraces, pillars, roof vaults, river trenches, shelves, debris slopes, submerged passages, crystal pockets, and occasional enormous chambers. Large chambers need supporting shape and internal geography. A room with a perfectly smooth roof and one flat floor quickly becomes visually empty. A compelling chamber has foreground cover, a traversable middle distance, and a landmark that explains where another route could lead.

At expedition scale, generation supplies useful decisions. A player chooses between the visible bridge and the longer shore, between a flooded shortcut and a dry climb, or between collecting a nearby seam and reaching shelter before supplies run low. Small details reinforce those decisions: runoff stains reveal water, hanging roots suggest soil above, fractured stone indicates a loose route, and a different sound suggests open space beyond a wall.

The smallest scale belongs to texture, ground cover, and resource clusters. Detail should reward attention without covering every block. Clear patches support building, navigation, combat, and appreciation of silhouettes. Some caverns should be quiet enough that their shape does the work.

### Routes must support expeditions and return journeys

Natural routes combine descending passages, lateral shelves, loops, alternative approaches, and occasional vertical challenges. A dramatic drop can introduce a place, but the region also needs an intelligible method of getting home. That method might be a winding climb, a shore path, an authored lift repaired with materials, or a player-built staircase whose landing can be secured.

Not every cave connects to every other cave. Closed pockets, isolated lakes, and difficult side branches create texture. However, the intended regional expedition network must offer viable ordinary traversal before advanced travel is unlocked. An essential route cannot depend on discovering a single invisible crack, draining an entire ocean, or repeatedly dying to cross an untelegraphed hazard.

The world supports improvisation. Players may tunnel, bridge, climb, swim, and build their own transport. Designed routes earn attention through landmarks, discoveries, comfortable staging points, and useful rewards. Progression relies primarily on obtaining capabilities and understanding an environment; it should rarely depend on an indestructible door that contradicts the surrounding buildable world.

Returning should change the emotional reading of a place. The first descent follows uncertain light across exposed ground. Later, the same view contains the player's bridge, supply hut, rail spur, and settlement lights. Shortcuts reduce repeated travel while leaving worthwhile branches and distant regions unexplored.

### Geological identity gives resources a reason to be somewhere

Stone families, seams, intrusion shapes, exposed faces, and loose debris make regions legible. Limestone shelves differ from dark fractured rock; pale crystal growth differs from a metal seam; a field of broken columns differs from a smooth mineral terrace. These are game-world material languages, with geological inspiration serving readability rather than requiring a complete Earth simulator.

Resource distribution follows several patterns. Common building materials occur in broad workable bodies. Familiar ores remain available through understandable mining. Regional materials favor particular host rock, water conditions, fractures, or structures. Valuable deposits can appear as modest exposed traces leading toward a richer body, allowing surveying and deliberate excavation to matter.

A resource should have a harvesting story beyond a higher tool number. An accessible seam might require keeping footing over a drop. A submerged mineral bed might favor a prepared diving route. A crystal cluster might be easiest to recover intact after stabilizing its supports. These challenges need clear visual clues and alternative preparation choices; random destruction of a valuable drop would be frustrating.


Scarcity is reserved for distinctive equipment, services, and optional projects. Ordinary settlement life should not demand repeated expeditions for a tiny, randomly distributed ingredient. Regions offer resources with useful roles and tradeoffs, so a Deepwilds material can remain desirable after a player reaches the Mantle. Later equipment broadens what players can do instead of invalidating every earlier tool and place.

Excavation persists. Generated ore bodies do not invisibly refill behind the player. Renewable goods come from explicitly renewable processes such as cultivated plants, managed fungal growth, settlement production, or a defined processing recipe. The world can support a mine that looks like a mine, with meaningful reasons to establish a second site elsewhere.

### Water heat air and light form local readable systems

Water creates regional character through underground rivers, perched pools, lake basins, seepage, flooded passages, and dry former channels. Major water bodies have visible containment and believable connections within the game's visual language. Waterfalls end in basins or continuing channels. Flooded shortcuts belong to bounded spaces. A player should usually be able to recognize what they are about to open before breaking through a wet wall.

The desired experience does not require every distant aquifer to simulate continuously. Authored flooding events use finite areas and controlled states. Everyday exploration relies on stable generated water and understandable local block behavior. A small excavation should not accidentally trigger an unbounded region-wide calculation or destroy settlements far beyond the player's view.

Heat becomes important in the Mantle and selected earlier pockets. The first clues are environmental: warm light reflected under a ledge, altered plants, vent sounds, or a visibly active flow. Preparation and route choice handle danger. A broad safe shelf can cross a thermal chamber, while a shorter route through exposed vents rewards better equipment. Safe pockets remain possible within hostile regions.

Air effects emphasize atmosphere and legibility. Pollen, drifting mineral dust, mist, and warm shimmer can distinguish locations. Any gameplay effect needs a recognizable source, understandable extent, and reliable response. The default experience should avoid a permanent stack of invisible meters that forces the player to study an interface before appreciating a cavern.

Light comes from identifiable sources: openings, player equipment, fungi, exposed crystals, settlements, lava, and particular deep materials. Dark areas retain meaningful silhouettes and contrast. A bright fungal forest and a dim crystal shoreline should not share the same universal colored glow. Visibility options must preserve navigation and hazard cues for players who cannot or choose not to use advanced visual effects.

### Life belongs to habitats

Underground life clusters around usable habitat. Roots descend from appropriate surface areas. Fungal growth gathers around damp material and decaying matter. Amphibious creatures favor water edges. Deep animals use ledges, cover, or recognizable nesting areas. Empty expanses remain part of the world, making a pocket of life feel discovered.

Creatures support exploration as much as combat. A small animal can reveal a safe path, a burrowing species can expose a seam, and a territorial grazer can require a quiet detour. Hostile encounters vary in cadence and space. A refuge should not repeatedly spawn attackers inside its intended resting area; a dangerous passage should communicate why it is dangerous.

The player's influence is visible but bounded. Lighting a camp, cultivating a local plant, or restoring water to an authored garden can change that place. These effects do not require a global ecology to run forever. Regrowth, population recovery, settlement work, and production use explicit rules and pause appropriately when their area is inactive.

### Natural landforms and authored places have different jobs

Terrain supplies surprise and regional coherence. Authored structures supply dependable story, useful services, deliberate routes, and construction projects with a recognizable aesthetic. A seed decides where a suitable structure fits; its purpose, room relationships, and major beats remain controlled. Optional sites may be omitted where no supported placement exists. Required campaign anchors must have a reachable supported placement, so an unusual seed cannot remove Old Valley or the intended Heart destination.

Substantial stretches remain natural and unoccupied. Regional anchors are destinations separated by landscape, not the default furnishing of every chamber. Everyday shelters, survey routes, gardens, and working infrastructure can carry human history. Unusual ancient or unexplained technology belongs to selected narrative locations, preserving its significance when encountered. Finding a remarkable natural habitat must be able to complete an expedition on its own.

Placement uses suitable landforms: an entrance on a dry shoulder, a dock at a stable shoreline, a watchpoint with an actual view, or a lift within a usable vertical opening. Adaptable foundations, short transition paths, and a small family of variants help structures meet terrain gracefully. Repeated giant rectangular excavations would damage the world’s character.

Managed construction uses an interactable project/controller block. Players inspect the project, supply its listed materials, and trigger clear stages of a predefined build. The resulting bridge, station, workshop, or refuge belongs to the location aesthetically. Free building remains available alongside these projects, and project placement must respect designated space for player construction.

No existing character, chapter, or settlement identity is replaced by a new name in this chapter. The proposed anchors describe locations and gameplay roles. Established narrative characters can occupy those roles when the complete earlier story is incorporated.

### Variation must remain fair and readable

Seeds vary chamber arrangement, route geometry, regional extent, resource pockets, secondary structures, and local dressing. Rare variants provide memorable discoveries: an unusually clear lake, a cathedral-like mineral fold, or a root column that spans several chambers. Basic campaign capabilities remain reachable through ordinary regions and predictable progression paths.

Each regional identity needs several visual states and activity patterns. Rarity alone cannot carry replay value. A wet Deepwilds basin should differ from a dry, canopy-filled hollow even when both are common. Variation also includes quiet places, accessible building sites, demanding routes, and rewarding survey viewpoints.

Generation should produce stable results that survive revisits. An established route, ore body, or authored landmark must not re-roll because a chunk unloads. Expensive detail concentrates near useful play spaces. Distant atmosphere can suggest scale, but backgrounds must not advertise reachable continents where the playable world ends abruptly.

Creative review should ask: can a player recognize this region without its title; describe a useful choice made there; find shelter; return home; build something that belongs; and explain why they would visit again? A visually striking biome that fails most of these questions needs another design pass.

# Overworld

### Identity and first impression

The Overworld establishes trust. The player sees familiar sky, weather, terrain, farming opportunities, and manageable survival tasks. Discovery begins through a practical need: stone for a house, metal for equipment, a missing supply route, or an interesting opening encountered while exploring. The first underground invitation should feel like a discovery within an ordinary world.

The accepted shoreline/quarry image provides a visual target: rich blue water, visible underwater vegetation, detailed trees, warm sunlight, and a polished shader-like finish. The document must distinguish visual treatment from generated content. Better light and water rendering can reveal existing shapes; additional ledges, caves, trees, stone profiles, and submerged vegetation require their own world or asset work.

### Regional experiences

**Bluewater Quarry Coast.** A sheltered coast places broken stone terraces beside clear blue shallows. Pale exposed rock, darker wet edges, reeds, submerged plants, and scattered trees create an inviting early expedition area. Sunlight reaches the water floor near shore; deeper water becomes harder to read. The player harvests ordinary stone and familiar ores, secures a descent into a quarry opening, and finds a submerged side chamber. Slippery-looking narrow edges and sudden depth teach caution. A dry quarry office platform offers an obvious first outpost.

**Rooted Uplands.** Forested hills conceal shallow caves beneath broad root systems. Soil, stone, fallen wood, moss, and root arches connect above and below. Daylight filters through occasional openings, and small streams disappear into visible sinks. Wildlife makes the surface feel settled; deeper movement hints at another habitat. Players track water, open a useful path, collect early building supplies, and discover a protected chamber suitable for storage. The reward is a convenient home-to-cave connection with enough shape to make improving it satisfying.

**Rivergate Country.** A wide river crosses farms, modest cliffs, gravel banks, and scattered settlement sites. Its underground story appears through springs and a navigable rock arch near a bend. Familiar plants and fish give the route everyday value. Flooded side channels require care, while high banks provide dependable shelter. Players can build a ferry landing, restore a short bridge, or connect farms to an expedition depot. Food production and travel make this region useful long after its first discovery.

**Windscar Heights.** A mountain district contains exposed faces, sheltered bowls, scree-like slopes, and passages where daylight reaches surprisingly far underground. Snow and cold belong to recognizable surface terrain; glowing subterranean life appears only near the lower transitions. Traversal emphasizes climbing, careful descent, and route marking. An old survey platform frames a route into the mountain. Players gain sightlines, stone varieties, and access to deeper mineral country, then return through a protected saddle rather than repeating an awkward cliff scramble.

**Rainwood Hollows.** A lush, wet woodland hides sinkholes, fern-lined openings, and shallow pools under a dense canopy. Dark soil and pale stone make openings readable. Dripping water, insects, and distant birds form the soundscape. The chief challenge is orientation: several harmless-looking hollows can connect underneath. Exploration yields decorative plants, cultivation stock, and a sheltered entrance toward the Deepwilds. Building raised paths and a modest field station turns confusing ground into a useful living landscape.

### Settlement authored route and continuing value

The proposed **Surface Expedition House** is an optional regional depot available after the first market. Old Valley's guesthouse remains the opening home and chapter anchor. The depot stands near a promising regional entrance and an ordinary buildable landscape. Its controller constructs practical stages: marked entrance, storage, map table, covered work area, and eventually a return-transport landing. It supports later surface expeditions without dictating the player's main house or repeating the guesthouse chapter.

Its first authored expedition follows a visible trail through an entrance, a useful resource pocket, a small traversal problem, and a dry underground shelter. The return opens a modest shortcut to the original trail. A player learns how SUBSTELLAR handles prepared routes and projects while retaining freedom to explore another opening.

The surface remains the agricultural, social, and construction center of the early game. Deeper discoveries bring plants to cultivate, materials to display, tools to manufacture, and new reasons to expand the settlement. Later orbital development should feel connected to this lived-in home.

### A sample expedition

Late sunlight reaches the quarry wall. The player follows a blue pool beneath a stone lip, finds a familiar ore seam, and notices roots behind it. A short cut opens a dry ledge above an underground stream. They leave a chest and lamp, return by a newly placed stair, and can still see their house across the water. The discovery is modest, useful, and unmistakably theirs.

**Later image subjects:** broad quarry-coast establishing view; first-person descent at the blue pool; Rooted Uplands surface-to-cave relationship; Rivergate settlement with ordinary farming; Windscar passage with lingering daylight; Rainwood exploration in wet weather; Expedition House before and after staged construction. Include a comparison of the accepted lighting target and the additional geometry it would require.

# Shallows

### Identity and first impression

The Shallows preserve contact with the surface while revealing that underground travel has its own geography. Roots, pale rock, damp shelves, small streams, and occasional daylight create a sense of invitation. Familiar resources are plentiful enough to support building. Danger comes from getting turned around, mishandling a crossing, or entering an obviously less forgiving branch.

Sound carries water and distant life between chambers. Routes are intimate enough for individual landmarks to matter: a split root, a pale pillar, a waterfall visible through a crack. This realm teaches observation and preparation before the stranger regions ask more of the player.

### Regional experiences

**Rootlace Galleries.** Broad roots follow chamber roofs and form occasional natural arches. Earthy stone, moss, exposed soil pockets, and pools distinguish this habitat from a generic cave. Scattered warm daylight gives way to player lighting along the inner route. Small harmless creatures shelter among roots; territorial nests occupy marked side pockets. Players collect renewable cultivation material, discover surface connections, and build hanging walkways. A broad dry ledge beneath the largest root system provides a dependable refuge.

**Chalkstep Terraces.** Pale mineral shelves descend around a shallow stream. Rounded pockets, small cascades, and contrasting dark seams help players read the landform from above. Mineral deposits catch torchlight without making the entire space glow. Wet ledges and concealed deeper basins create traversal choices. Players choose a direct descent or a longer dry rim, uncover familiar ores in terrace breaks, and obtain a useful pale building palette. Terrace alcoves make attractive workshops and supply stops.

**Copperwash Channels.** Warm-colored seams run through worn channels and modest chambers. Water stains, coarse stone, gravel banks, and hanging vegetation explain where the route continues. The place feels industrious before any settlement is built. Players trace an exposed seam into workable mining ground, clear a short transport path, and find a dry cut above the active stream. Branching water routes can disorient an unprepared traveler. Useful common metal and a naturally convenient mine site make the discovery immediately practical.

**Glasswell Pools.** Clear pools occupy a stepped pocket system with pale crystal growth near the waterline. Light travels through the openings above and reflects from small surfaces, leaving deeper passages distinctly darker. Fish and slow-moving cave life occupy the shallows. Players can collect decorative crystals, survey a submerged loop, or build a short dock and breathing station for later dives. The main rewards are a memorable water habitat, a shortcut, and access to a larger flooded district that initially remains optional.

**Drybell Vaults.** A comparatively dry region contains smooth roof domes, gravel fans, narrow chimneys, and broad undisturbed floors. Its sparse life and clear acoustics create relief after wet passages. Lighting comes almost entirely from the player and occasional entrance shafts. A few weak-looking slopes identify designated loose-material encounters; major load-bearing terrain remains stable under ordinary building. Players obtain aggregate and stone, practice surveying sound and shape, and establish a spacious refuge suitable for a communal workshop.

### Settlement authored route and continuing value

The signature anchor is a **Shallows Waystation**, a small authored refuge built into a dry junction near water. Its project block restores a platform, protected storage, a workbench area, route markers, and an optional cart landing. The structure teaches the value of a regional base. It never consumes the only attractive building ledge in the area.

The associated route is a **Broken Waterway Passage**: a washed-out crossing, a dry maintenance cut, and a small observation chamber overlooking the next habitat. Supplying materials rebuilds a controlled bridge and opens a safer return loop. The first view toward the Deepwilds should reveal a change in life and scale before the player commits to entering it.

Shallows sites remain useful as convenient mines, regional entrances, workshops, and cultivation rooms. Later tools help develop side pools and higher roof pockets. Fast return routes converge here, so earlier work acquires lasting transport value.

### A sample expedition

The player arrives with food, lamps, and timber. Following copper-stained stone brings them to a stream crossing whose far bank carries unfamiliar green light. They find the Waystation’s materials list, gather stone nearby, and build its first sheltered platform. The repaired bridge becomes the visible line home. Curiosity can now extend beyond the light they originally brought.

**Later image subjects:** root-filled arrival chamber; Chalkstep overlook showing both routes; copper seam and working channel; Glasswell above and below water; quiet Drybell base site; Waystation staging area; repaired bridge framing the first Deepwilds glimpse. Images should emphasize the transition from daylight to dependable player-made light.

# Deepwilds

### Identity and first impression

The Deepwilds deliver the first major revelation: the underground can feel like a living landscape. Caverns contain canopies, shorelines, clearings, animal paths, and vertical gardens. The player experiences discovery, abundance, and a need to learn a habitat rather than conquer it.

Growth varies with local moisture and shape. Dense cover occupies suitable pockets, while open water and exposed stone provide relief. Luminescence creates readable sources and patches of color. The desired impression is a hidden world with its own daily rhythms, expressed through local behaviors that remain practical to implement and understandable to players.

### Regional experiences

**Lanternroot Forests.** Tall root columns support hanging leaves and softly luminous growth. Dark trunks, broad stone shelves, damp soil, and clear pools create foreground and depth. Light gathers around fruiting clusters; unlit routes remain visibly separate. Small climbers and cautious grazers use established paths. Players collect cultivation stock, navigate the canopy, and seek elevated viewpoints. Territorial animals and obscured drops reward patient movement. A wide clearing beside a root column is a natural settlement site.

**Sporemeadow Basins.** Low fungal fields surround shallow water and scattered boulders beneath a vaulted roof. Soft amber and muted blue patches provide color without uniform brightness. Insects and small foragers move between growth clusters. Certain visibly dense spore patches briefly reduce clarity or require an alternate route; the ordinary meadow remains comfortable. Players harvest food and processing ingredients, learn cultivation conditions, and restore an authored growhouse. Managed production later makes this region a reliable supply partner.

**Hanging Gardens.** Vertical walls carry vegetation on stepped shelves above a narrow river. Mineral streaks, exposed rock ribs, hanging vines, and isolated platforms give the place a strong ascending silhouette. Light falls in irregular patches from plants and reflective wet stone. Nesting creatures occupy particular shelves. Traversal centers on climbing, bridging, and choosing a safe water-level route. Distinct plant varieties and roof access reward the effort. An upper balcony provides a refuge with a commanding view of the cavern network.

**Bluefen Groves.** A low, wet district contains dark shallow water, root islands, broad leaves, and luminous shoreline growth. The reflective surface makes depth deceptive until clear margins reveal the channel structure. Amphibious animals and occasional protective parents animate the waterline. Players build raised paths, collect wetland cultivation stock, fish, and search submerged roots for material pockets. Secure landing platforms matter more than heavy combat equipment. A central dry island supports a small dock settlement and an excellent visual landmark.

**Quietwood Hollows.** Dry stone bowls contain pale woody growth, leaflike litter, sheltered pools, and spacious gaps between trunks. Their restrained light and gentle local life offer a calmer Deepwilds experience. Thin edges of the forest open toward dark rock country, foreshadowing the Underreach. Players establish timber-like renewable production, explore concealed lateral exits, and uncover a protected seed store. Rewards support construction and settlement comfort. The challenge is maintaining orientation across connected hollows that look similar until their landmarks are learned.

### Settlement authored route and continuing value

The signature structure is a **Deepwilds Conservatory**, placed at the edge of a viable garden rather than in its densest growth. Its staged build provides a sheltered gathering area, seed storage, growing beds, a water station, and a canopy lookout. Local cultivation follows explicit conditions and player-controlled projects. The conservatory can become a comfortable home without turning the entire region into a mandatory farming system.

Its authored expedition, the **Canopy-to-River Circuit**, links a damaged upper walkway, a seed archive, a lower animal crossing, and a sheltered river landing. Restoring two short projects creates a loop through contrasting habitats. The narrative can reveal earlier inhabitants through practical objects, garden arrangements, and maintained routes instead of relying on a long text dump.

Players return for cultivation stock, food variety, decorative growth, local processing ingredients, and nearby exploration. Later equipment opens high canopy shelves and submerged roots. The conservatory becomes a source of living materials for settlements on other worlds, subject to each destination’s supported growing conditions.

### A sample expedition

A narrow passage opens above a forest whose lights move only when small animals brush the hanging plants. The player descends to a clearing, watches a creature use a shallow crossing, and follows at a distance. The route leads to an abandoned garden platform. Repairing it establishes shelter, and the return walkway reveals the cavern from above. The player leaves with seeds and a clear desire to build here.

**Later image subjects:** first forest reveal from a narrow entry; Lanternroot ground-level exploration; Sporemeadow harvesting and growhouse; Hanging Gardens climb with a visible lower alternative; Bluefen dock settlement; Quietwood building site; conservatory before and after restoration. Include living close-ups and a calm domestic scene, not only expansive glowing panoramas.

# Underreach

### Identity and first impression

The Underreach shifts attention toward scale, travel, and evidence of purposeful work. Long galleries, dark stone ridges, mineral country, dry channels, and selected inhabited sites suggest that the deep can support routes and livelihoods. Vegetation becomes more concentrated. Warm settlement lights acquire emotional weight against large cool spaces.

The realm should avoid making every discovery an abandoned ruin. Some places are damaged, others are incomplete, and some can become active through established characters and project systems. The player begins thinking in regional networks: where materials move, where travelers rest, and which connection would make several settlements more useful.

### Regional experiences

**Ironfold Ridges.** Broad folded-looking rock ribs divide parallel valleys and stepped mining faces. Dark gray stone, exposed metal seams, rubble fans, and sparse hardy growth create an industrial palette before construction. Light is mostly carried or settlement-made. Animals favor sheltered gullies; exposed ridges require careful traversal. Players survey seams, establish a measured excavation, and bridge short gaps. A protected shelf between ridges provides a mine camp with practical expansion room.

**Saltmirror Halls.** Pale mineral crusts frame still, dark pools beneath high, relatively clean vaults. Scattered reflective facets respond strongly to moving light, so the player can read pillars across the water. Life gathers at limited freshwater margins. Brittle-looking crust marks specific hazardous tiles or authored routes, with solid alternate shore paths visible. Players collect decorative mineral blocks, survey pool edges, and uncover a sealed storehouse. The reward is an unusual building palette and a navigable water route through otherwise difficult country.

**Blackriver Galleries.** A substantial underground river passes stone quays, natural gravel bars, rock arches, and dry former banks. Subdued water reflections and warm authored lights distinguish safe stops. Fish and shoreline creatures give the channel life. Players establish docks, repair a short towpath, and choose between boat travel and shelf routes. Currents or rapids belong to clearly bounded encounters. The river can support repeat logistics once crossings and landings are secured.

**Echoquartz Fields.** Pale outer crystal growth surrounds smoky cores with quiet internal lines, occupying fractures and isolated fans within dark rock. The proposed material, resonant quartz, gives selected interactions a soft audible response without turning the whole biome into a continuous chime. Crystal silhouettes reveal otherwise obscure steps and openings. Players trace signal changes, recover useful pieces, and protect larger formations when preferred harvesting methods become available. Exposed ledges and disorienting overlapping sound provide challenge. A plain stone pocket outside the densest field offers relief and refuge.

**Dustroad Expanse.** Broad dry floors, scattered pillars, shallow gullies, and distant wall shelves create one of the first places that feels like underground countryside. Drifting dust remains localized and readable. Sparse tough plants and moving animal groups occupy islands of shelter. Players establish route markers, restore a rest stop, and scout across meaningful distances. The rewards are room for controlled settlement projects, transport infrastructure, and resource satellites. Getting lost is mitigated by distinctive skyline forms and visible wayfinding structures.

### Settlement authored route and continuing value

The signature anchor is an **Underreach Junction**, a planned settlement framework positioned where two useful routes meet. Its controller builds approved stages for a receiving yard, workshop, common refuge, storage hall, and regional transport connection. The settlement develops through discrete jobs and supplied projects; it does not require unrestricted autonomous town generation.

The principal expedition is a **Three-Landing Supply Route**, linking the Junction, a river landing, and a ridge mine. Each stop solves a different practical problem. A broken crossing needs materials; a blocked storehouse needs a controlled route opened; a workshop needs a specialist capability acquired elsewhere. Finishing the route changes access and local production in visible ways.

Repeat visits concern useful operations: collecting a defined output, choosing a new construction project, supplying another expedition, or exploring an unconnected district. A repaired lift or connected transport hub shortens the return journey to the Shallows while preserving the Underreach as an active destination.

### A sample expedition

Across the Dustroad, the player sees a line of lamps that ends at a broken span. Beyond it lies a receiving yard with clearly marked unfinished foundations. Supplying the bridge reopens the first leg of the route. A later trip arrives by river with ore from Ironfold country. The geography now makes economic sense because the player has physically connected its places.

**Later image subjects:** Underreach Junction against a broad dark landscape; Ironfold survey and mine; Saltmirror shore with clear route cues; Blackriver dock arrival; Echoquartz close-up and navigable field; Dustroad wayfinding at expedition scale; supply route before and after its bridge project. Show people-sized functional spaces within the large environment.

# Abyss

### Identity and first impression

The Abyss introduces the strongest sensation of depth through voids, partial sightlines, suspended routes, and large dark water bodies. Its character is wonder edged with caution. The player should feel prepared enough to attempt the journey and aware that an exposed crossing deserves attention.

Darkness creates composition, not a constant inability to play. Near surfaces remain readable; distant walls emerge through mist, sparse lights, or deliberate vantage points. There are places to rest, beautiful scenes to observe, and useful discoveries beyond combat. The realm does not require gore, relentless pursuit, or a horror-game tone.

### Regional experiences

**Pillarfall Reaches.** Massive irregular columns and isolated wall shelves divide a deep cavity. Broken arches and hanging mineral shapes create a recognizable skyline. Pale deposits catch player light; moisture gathers on sheltered sides. Small gliding or climbing creatures demonstrate possible routes without serving as automatic guides. Players bridge short spans, descend through connected shelves, and secure observation points. Valuable seams and a route toward a lower basin reward exploration. Broad column shoulders provide reliable camps above the exposure.

**Stillsea Basin.** A large underground lake contains dark open water, quiet coves, exposed rock islands, and submerged terraces. Sparse luminous life defines portions of the shoreline rather than illuminating everything. The player learns the lake through docks, sound, and island silhouettes. Preparation supports diving routes, shore exploration, and boat travel. Rewards include submerged archives, mineral beds, and cross-region access. Deep water remains dangerous without appropriate supplies, while several islands offer comfortable staging sites.

**Moonmilk Shelves.** Pale flowing-looking mineral forms spread across dark walls and create terraces of contrasting texture. Cool soft light comes from occasional crystal pockets and the player's equipment. Water seeps through shallow grooves; small organisms gather in protected wet niches. Players climb deliberate shelf routes, collect selected mineral material, and uncover side passages concealed by unusual wall shape. Narrow crossings are the main hazard. A large pale balcony acts as a memorable refuge and a visible homeward landmark.

**Whisper Chasms.** Interconnected narrow clefts open unexpectedly onto larger spaces. Dark stone ribs, sparse crystals, mist caught in constrictions, and intermittent trickles make distance difficult to judge. The region uses directional environmental sound to support exploration. Players place markers, compare parallel routes, and locate a sheltered passage through the fracture network. Certain branches contain territorial creatures, clearly indicated by nesting material and movement. Useful mineral pockets and a major traversal shortcut reward systematic exploration.

**Drowned Stair Country.** Broken natural terraces descend through successive water levels and dry ledges. Old authored platforms can occupy suitable points, giving the impression of an earlier survey route. Water plants and small aquatic life inhabit the upper pools; lower chambers become sparse. Players alternate walking, controlled diving, and repairing short connections. Finite flooded rooms contain optional salvage and environmental stories. The route’s reward is a protected descent toward deeper thermal country and a newly secured return passage.

### Settlement authored route and continuing value

The signature structure is an **Abyss Beacon Refuge**, a compact and unmistakable safe place on a substantial dry shelf. Its staged construction establishes a protected interior, a visible lamp or beacon, reserve supplies, a survey balcony, and an eventual traversal connection. The beacon guides only across its local region. It does not magically reveal the entire underground map.

The authored expedition is a **Far-Shelf Survey**, taking the player from refuge to a visible distant platform through several route choices. They recover a practical survey component or record, secure an intermediate landing, and open a return link. The emotional payoff is looking back across the space and recognizing their own illuminated chain of safe places.

Later visits use better mobility, diving preparation, and survey equipment to reach optional islands, high shelves, and drowned rooms. The Abyss supplies distinctive materials and routes, while its restored refuge becomes a quiet retreat for players who enjoy building in extraordinary settings.

### A sample expedition

The player reaches the Beacon Refuge after a narrow descent. Across the cavity, a pale shelf appears whenever distant water catches the light. They follow the marked first crossing, add their own bridge at the second, and set up a supply point on a column shoulder. The return view reveals three lights where there was once only distance. The achievement is a route made understandable.

**Later image subjects:** first Abyss reveal with a readable foreground; Pillarfall route at player height; Stillsea boat approaching a refuge island; Moonmilk balcony; Whisper Chasms navigation; Drowned Stair surface-and-underwater encounter; Beacon Refuge seen from the far shelf. Include a warm interior scene to establish the emotional importance of shelter.

# Mantle

### Identity and first impression

The Mantle is SUBSTELLAR’s fictional thermal realm: heated stone country, active fissures, vents, dark cooling formations, and pockets of persistent life. The name communicates an environment and progression stage rather than a literal geophysical model.

The player feels the world becoming powerful and physically demanding. Warmth and danger have identifiable sources. Solid ground, protected work areas, and cooler pockets provide a steady rhythm between exposure and relief. Visual variety matters: glowing flows are a strong accent within broader stone landscapes, so every screenshot does not become a wall of orange.

### Regional experiences

**Basalt Steps.** Broad dark terraces and broken column formations descend beside clearly contained hot channels. Matte stone, fresh fracture faces, faintly lit cracks, and isolated mineral deposits create a restrained palette. Sparse heat-adapted life stays near cooler margins. Players choose broad safe stairs or shorter exposed crossings, collect abundant structural stone, and survey higher-value seams. A recessed terrace behind a thick rock rib offers a defensible workshop site.

**Ember Gardens.** Warm sheltered basins support tough, luminous growth around shallow mineral pools and small vents. Deep reds, gold accents, dark stems, and pale mineral rims distinguish this life from the Deepwilds. Local creatures browse in cooler pockets. Players cultivate useful ingredients, observe a vent’s readable cycle, and restore a protected garden enclosure. Hazards stay close to visible sources. The region rewards patient harvesting and supplies materials that support travel and habitation in thermal environments.

**Ashen Hollows.** Quiet dry chambers contain pale dust deposits, layered banks, dark rock islands, and the traces of inactive heat channels. Light is mainly player-provided, with occasional warm seams in the distance. Little life occupies the open ground. Designated soft banks can shift locally when disturbed, while stable ledges remain obvious. Players survey buried side rooms, recover mineral additives, and establish sheltered storage. The atmosphere offers deliberate quiet between more active districts.

**Redglass Margins.** Black glassy surfaces and red-brown fractured stone frame cooled flow shapes near active fissures. Bright reflections create strong edges under moving light. Steam collects only near specific water contacts, and life is sparse. Players collect volcanic glass for approved processing uses, investigate exposed mineral pockets, and plan routes across difficult angular ground. Active fissures are legible and bypassable. A high ridge gives a spectacular view and a safe camp with limited construction space.

**Steamvaults.** Large roof pockets enclose warm pools, mineral chimneys, wet stone bridges, and clearly readable vent openings. White mist creates shifting local views; cool light on wet rock balances nearby warm sources. Small organisms inhabit protected pools. Players observe vent cycles, restore a shielded passage, and collect region-specific processing ingredients. Alternate routes let cautious players trade time for reduced exposure. A sealed dry gallery suitable for a refuge anchors the district.

### Settlement authored route and continuing value

The signature anchor is a **Mantle Works**, an authored industrial shelter occupying a cooler rock pocket near useful thermal terrain. Its staged projects add protected access, a materials yard, workshop equipment, a controlled processing area, and a comfortable refuge. Any thermal-powered production uses explicit placed machinery and visible local connections; the whole realm does not function as an abstract free-power source.

The associated expedition is a **Thermal Survey Circuit** connecting an inactive channel, an active vent district, and a secure overlook toward the Heart approaches. Each site teaches a different environmental cue. A project can add shielding or a short protected walkway where the terrain supports it. The return route eventually reaches the Works without repeating the most demanding exposed section.

Players revisit for substantial building material, specialist processing, cultivation from Ember Gardens, and unfinished industrial projects. Better preparation expands comfortable operating time and route choice. Deep progress should also improve everyday construction and transport in earlier settlements.

### A sample expedition

The first warm chamber contains mostly black stone. A narrow orange reflection under the far ledge reveals the active channel. The player follows the broad outer stairs to a sheltered materials yard, then watches steam pulse across the shorter route. After restoring a shielding section, they carry a recovered component through a passage they helped make dependable. Thermal country becomes workable without losing its scale.

**Later image subjects:** broad Basalt Steps with restrained lava accents; Ember Garden harvesting; quiet Ashen Hollow survey; Redglass reflected light and footing; Steamvault route during two vent states; Mantle Works interior and exterior; protected return walkway above an active channel. Show usable cool pockets and varied palettes as clearly as the heat.

# Core

### Identity and first impression

The Core is the culmination of Earth’s underground journey: a fictional Heart region within the world’s deep-crustal adventure space. Its significance comes from what players discover, connect, and choose to build. It does not portray a planet’s physical center, nor require a hollow spherical world.

The atmosphere moves from strain toward profound stillness and strange beauty. Dark stone gives way to selected luminous material, suspended-looking mineral forms supported by visible terrain, unusually clear water pockets, and habitats whose relationship to the surface is mysterious. The realm needs ordinary footing and intelligible routes within its exceptional scenery. Players arrive to a place they can inhabit and investigate.

### Regional experiences

**Heartglass Groves.** Sparse mineral structures rise from dark ground in recognizable clusters. Heartglass is dark in thick formations and translucent at thin edges, with restrained warm internal planes and a few brighter nodes. Spaces between formations remain calm. Small pools and slow-moving life gather around protected bases. Players survey patterns, recover limited material through a deliberate harvesting process, and identify safe paths through fragile-looking clusters. Rewards support distinctive deep-world equipment and research projects. A plain stone clearing provides a naturally comfortable camp.

**Pale Resonance Fields.** Pale mineral ribs and crystal seams spread across broad shelves, creating a strong rhythmic landscape. Soft tones and visual responses occur at selected interactive formations, giving the player something to investigate without constant audiovisual noise. Water is limited to sheltered basins, and life remains sparse. Players compare responses, connect a small sequence of survey points, and recover information needed for an authored project. The hazard is exposed footing and occasional unstable local formations, clearly bounded in play.

**Stillwater Sanctuaries.** Exceptionally clear pools fill quiet chambers edged with pale stone and restrained luminous plants. Reflections reveal roof forms that are difficult to see directly. Peaceful aquatic life gives the place a feeling of continuity with earlier waters. Players cultivate an approved rare plant, document the habitat through in-game exploration systems, and establish a sheltered research landing. Difficult submerged side routes remain optional. The primary rewards are a secure home in the deepest region, distinct living materials, and an emotionally generous resting place.

**Blackroot Islands.** Dark rootlike mineral and biological structures occupy separated stone islands above a shallow glowing substrate or deeply recessed fissure system. Bridges and shorelike paths create different approaches. Light comes mainly from below and from sparse growth, making silhouettes memorable. Territorial life occupies specific nesting islands. Players follow a multi-stop expedition, restore short authored connections, and locate a protected archive chamber. Valuable materials and a new understanding of Earth’s hidden relationships reward preparation.

**The Heart Chamber.** An uncommon major regional landmark combines natural enclosing forms with space for the Earth chapter destination. At least one supported reachable campaign placement is required; uncommon does not mean absent from an unlucky world. A concentrated central formation provides visual focus, while surrounding shelves, quiet pools, and side chambers create actual exploration. Ambient light remains calm enough for player-built lamps to matter. The main route joins survey, practical restoration, and a meaningful discovery; combat may be one encounter type, not the definition of arrival. The outcome opens future ambitions while leaving Earth a continuing home.

### Settlement authored route and continuing value

The signature structure is a **Heart Observatory**, a modest, carefully placed expedition base with a view into the region. Its project stages provide a sheltered landing, survey instruments, protected storage, a living-material enclosure, and a reliable return connection. The structure should feel achievable through the network the player has already established. Building it is evidence that the long Earth journey produced a capable community and useful infrastructure.

The principal expedition, **The Heartward Route**, uses several contrasting habitats before reaching the major chapter destination. It brings together learned abilities: surveying a seam or signal, cultivating or carrying the right preparation, making a crossing, restoring a project, and returning with discoveries. Established story characters and chapters supply its emotional meaning when incorporated; this atlas does not invent replacements.

The Core supports optional research, distinctive construction materials, secluded homes, unusual cultivation, and unfinished lateral regions. Its discoveries may motivate later spaceflight, but the first launch should emerge from the complete surface-to-depth network rather than render that network obsolete.

### A sample expedition

After the Mantle’s active passages, the player enters a quiet chamber where pale forms reflect in clear water. The distant Heart formation is visible through a series of stone ribs. Their first task is simple: establish the Observatory’s safe landing and connect it to the route behind them. Later, returning from the Heart Chamber, they see familiar project-built lamps against the strange terrain. Earth now feels larger because they understand more of it.

**Later image subjects:** first quiet Core reveal; Heartglass Grove from player height and close up; Pale Resonance survey interaction; Stillwater Sanctuary with a small lived-in base; Blackroot multi-island crossing; Heart Chamber wide view and playable foreground; Observatory return arrival. The visual climax should express scale, beauty, and earned belonging without covering the screen in effects.

## Cross realm experience rules

### The boundary is a place

Transitions deserve specific design. The Shallows-to-Deepwilds boundary can follow increasingly dense roots into a living basin. Deepwilds-to-Underreach can pass through a dry forest edge overlooking a worked river landing. Underreach-to-Abyss can make a familiar transport gallery suddenly reveal open distance. Abyss-to-Mantle can follow warm seepage along a safe lower shelf. Mantle-to-Core can trade active sound and fractured ground for stillness, clearer water, and more deliberate forms.

These transitions occupy playable territory. Players gather clues, make camp, and decide whether to proceed. A realm title or ambient cue may confirm the change, but the terrain and experience should establish it first. More than one transition form should exist for each neighboring pair, preventing every seed from delivering the same entrance scene.

### Expeditions have a satisfying shape

A strong expedition starts with a reason to leave, offers a navigational question, reveals something worth the journey, and leaves the player with a useful change. That change can be a capability, a new material source, a restored service, a cultivated species, a secure route, or a place they want to live. A small discovery should be allowed to remain small and personal.

Long journeys need intermediate rest, visible progress, and practical recovery. Loss should create a comprehensible retrieval problem within ordinary game rules. Essential equipment should have replaceable paths. Completing a new transport connection is a substantial reward because it transforms the next journey without shrinking the world into a menu.

### Each region supports several kinds of player

Explorers seek views, routes, habitats, and unusual variants. Builders seek material palettes, stable sites, and structures they can grow around. Resource-focused players seek deposits and efficient local logistics. Guided-adventure players seek authored projects and a clear next purpose. Social groups seek bases with enough room and useful roles for several people.

The same region can serve these motivations through different spaces. A dramatic landmark can coexist with a plain building terrace and a practical mine. Free-building locations should appear in the atlas’s image set alongside authored structures so that the eventual visual direction does not imply the world is only meant to be admired.

# Settlements and authored adventures

## Direction and status

SUBSTELLAR should make a place worth returning to. Its progression is more satisfying when the player descends from a home they understand, brings back something useful, and sees that discovery change the lives and possibilities around them. Settlements give purpose to resources without reducing the world to a shopping list. Characters make routes and buildings memorable without requiring an uncontrolled social simulation. Authored projects let the player participate in beautiful, functional construction without making architectural skill a prerequisite for seeing the full experience.

This section preserves the approved Project Vanilla foundation within SUBSTELLAR: a guided survival adventure, useful player-developed settlements, a living world, connected adventures, optional free building, deterministic systems, and pausable regional activity. The five Old Valley chapters retain their established sequence and purposes. New structure examples, interface details, ownership rules, project states, and later adventures below are proposed product direction for review. Role labels preserve character functions; they do not replace names or biographies established elsewhere.

The player's central rhythm is to notice a possibility, learn what a place needs, choose a manageable project, gather or discover its requirements, help it take shape, and use the result to reach somewhere new. A repaired crossing changes actual travel. A workshop turns discoveries into new options. A refuge changes how confidently the player explores a difficult layer. An outpost makes a distant world inhabitable enough to understand. Progress should remain visible even when the player has forgotten the last conversation.

## What an authored settlement means

A managed settlement consists of a deliberately composed set of possible buildings, routes, spaces, residents, and project stages. Its landscape can differ between worlds, but the project knows the area in which it is allowed to operate. It has approved placement conditions and limited alternatives for adapting to terrain. It does not invent an entire town by interpreting whatever happens to exist nearby.

The Old Valley should feel like a valley discovered in this particular seed. Its bridge, quarry, guesthouse, work areas, and public gathering place nevertheless follow a legible authored relationship. Generation reserves enough space for those relationships to function. Where terrain cannot support an optional site safely, the system uses a supported alternative placement or omits that optional site. Required campaign anchors, including Old Valley and the intended Heart destination, must have at least one supported reachable placement in the playable campaign. A rare principal landmark can be regionally uncommon without being absent from an unlucky world. It must not bury a vital doorway, suspend a market over an accidental ravine, or solve an impossible slope by erasing the surrounding landscape.

Completed structures have recognizable silhouettes, interiors, practical access, and a consistent local building language. The player can see the difference between an unfinished frame and a working building. Construction stages are designed as scenes in their own right: foundation markers, stacked materials, exposed beams, occupied work areas, and finally the signs of everyday use. A completed workshop should contain an accessible workbench and useful services; its value cannot exist only in a journal checkbox.

The authored project is a foundation for participation. Free building remains a complete, valid way to live in the world. A player can build an unusual home, carve a personal workshop, establish farms, decorate a settlement's permitted areas, and connect places with their own infrastructure. Those creations remain theirs. Managed projects claim only clearly shown footprints and connections, and they never assume that every nearby player block is available to replace.

## Regional activity and the promise of pause

An authored region has a saved dimension, a horizontal circular boundary, and explicit lower and upper vertical bounds. This makes its activity envelope understandable while allowing surface and underground communities to occupy the same horizontal location without activating one another by accident. The exact radius and heights depend on the site's purpose and require later playtesting. They should appear in a region inspection view whenever a player needs to understand why a project is active.

A visible transitional band, provisionally about sixteen blocks wide, marks the approach to an activity boundary when boundary display is requested or a relevant transition is happening. It should be readable without permanently covering the landscape in lines. The journal can explain the same region in plain language. The band exists to communicate a transition; it must not hide an unpredictable delay before pausing. The exact activation threshold and any threshold smoothing remain tuning decisions.

When the last eligible participating player leaves that region's dimension or vertical and horizontal bounds, its authored activity pauses. Construction, production, visitor progression, settlement timers, and authored encounters retain their state. A partly assembled roof remains partly assembled. A market does not occur while everybody is away. Supplies are not silently consumed by a simulation the player cannot influence. Returning continues the same activity from a coherent point without granting a catch-up pile of products.

This is a promise about SUBSTELLAR's managed systems, not all Minecraft simulation. Ordinary world behavior, other players' activity, unrelated entities, and other systems do not become universally frozen. The interface must describe the actual guarantee accurately. If a managed refuge needs a stable power reserve to maintain its authored life-support service, that service must remain internally consistent with the pause model rather than depending on an unpaused timer that can destroy the refuge during absence.

For cooperative play, participation should be explicit. A player joins a regional project or settlement through its board or invitation. An owner can also enable a clearly explained shared-group participation mode. A nonparticipating visitor flying past must not unexpectedly resume a market, consume settlement inputs, or start an encounter for an absent owner. A participating player can intentionally keep the region active while others travel. Everyone with project access can inspect who is currently sustaining activity.

Pausing cannot be an automatic victory button during danger. When an authored encounter pauses, it preserves its opponents, objectives, and committed consequences; leaving and returning does not reroll its rewards or reset it to an easier favorable state. A retreat may return the encounter to a specifically authored safe checkpoint when that encounter calls for one, but this behavior is visible and consistent. No new attack, visitor loss, or resource debt accumulates in a paused region.

# Old Valley

The Old Valley teaches the player how SUBSTELLAR connects survival, construction, community, and exploration. It is an inviting beginning with signs of wear and unfinished work. Paths suggest a place that once functioned better. Smoke, lamplight, stored materials, and a handful of recognizable people create the feeling that life is already here. The player contributes to it rather than arriving as an administrator of an empty menu.

Its five chapters are a stable spine, not a requirement to follow an arrow every minute. The player can wander, mine, build a personal shelter, and return. Early exploration can reveal later landmarks without letting one premature interaction corrupt chapter order. Each chapter has a modest essential outcome and optional opportunities to make that outcome more personal. The settlement should remember contributions through visible results and occasional contextual dialogue, avoiding a constant barrage of congratulatory notifications.

### Chapter 1 A place to stay

The first need is understandable before anyone explains it: the player needs somewhere safe to spend a night and somewhere to put their belongings. The guesthouse offers that first anchor. Its innkeeper has a practical problem that the player can solve with materials available close by. A traveler provides the sense that roads continue beyond this valley and that the building once served more people than it does now.

The first project restores a small, useful portion of the guesthouse. The player inspects its controller, sees the exact footprint and finished purpose, and contributes a manageable set of ordinary materials. The earliest stage should finish quickly enough to teach the relationship between delivery and construction. A visible repair sequence brings back an entrance, room, or essential sheltered space; the player does not need to wait through an ornamental timer to use their first bed.

The experience introduces local gathering, material delivery, interaction with a named role, a project preview, a safe return point, and the choice to explore independently. The innkeeper can direct attention to timber, exposed stone, or a nearby resource patch without turning every gathering step into a separate quest. The traveler can mention the old crossing while the player is still deciding what to do next.

The persistent change is a working guesthouse with a reliable personal sleeping place, understandable storage arrangements, and a modest public place where people can later arrive. Additional rooms and comforts can remain optional. Staying at the guesthouse must remain useful even if the player builds a home immediately; it becomes the place of arrivals, news, and early coordination.

Failure is recoverable. Lost materials can be regathered locally, and deposited materials remain in project custody. If construction is blocked by the player's chest, the project explains the obstruction and waits. Death or a long absence does not cause the guesthouse to deteriorate. The first lesson is that taking on a project creates a dependable opportunity, not a deadline.

### Chapter 2 The old crossing

The repaired guesthouse introduces a journey whose difficulty can be seen in the landscape. A damaged crossing interrupts a useful route. The player can reach the far side awkwardly or inspect it from the near bank, but moving goods and ordinary visitors through it is impractical. The crossing makes infrastructure meaningful before the player has access to elaborate transport.

A mason helps explain what the bridge needs and why the existing remains matter. Surveying the supported site reveals the piers or anchor points, the intended deck, and a safe work area. Material requirements use resources the player has begun to understand. A short inspection or retrieval at the far end adds adventure to the job without demanding a completely different progression tier.

The bridge is assembled in readable stages. Stabilized supports appear first, then a partial span, then a walkable crossing, and finally the completion details required for its full transport role. Temporary access and blocked edges must communicate their actual safety. A player should never mistake a decorative ghost preview for a surface that can hold them.

The persistent change is a shorter, safer route and the opening of authored visitor or freight activity. A traveler can arrive from a direction that previously felt disconnected. A route board or local conversation points toward the quarry. The player sees why restoring the crossing mattered even if they personally could have jumped, swum, or built a dirt path around the obstacle.

Player ingenuity remains legitimate. A homemade bridge can make travel easier and stay in the world, but it does not automatically count as the authored crossing merely because certain blocks exist nearby. The chapter describes the specific supported project it is restoring. If a player construction intersects its reserved span, the preview shows the conflict before materials are committed. After construction begins, any newly introduced obstruction stops that stage safely until the conflict is resolved.

### Chapter 3 The quarry

Beyond the old crossing, the quarry gives the settlement a material identity and provides the first strong invitation downward. Cut rock faces, abandoned work surfaces, an incomplete hauling route, and a dark opening imply a history of use. This is a working landscape with a reachable practical goal, alongside hints of much larger geology below.

The mason needs a dependable place to obtain and prepare building stone. The player clears access, assesses a defined work area, and restores the quarry's essential handling equipment. A bounded exploration beat can locate missing tools, inspect an unstable-looking passage, or open a safer route to the active face. These tasks introduce reading the environment and returning with a finding, rather than asking only for another larger material stack.

The core chapter must be completable with early equipment. It should not force an expedition deep into SUBSTELLAR before the Old Valley can function. The quarry can reveal the first Shallows entrance, distinctive deeper material, or a route whose hazards clearly belong to a later trip. This is the moment the player understands that familiar stone is the beginning of a layered world.

The persistent change is a usable quarry project, a modest stone-processing service, and a practical source or exchange for common construction inputs. Managed quarry production follows explicit inputs and bounded output; it does not dig uncontrolled holes through the world while the player is absent. Player mining outside the managed footprint remains normal exploration and gathering.

The recovery path teaches preparation. If the player dies in the exploratory portion, the route back should be comprehensible and the deepest optional branch should not hold the sole irreplaceable chapter item. Critical findings can be recorded as knowledge or recovered through an authored replacement path. A collapsed-looking decorative area cannot become a soft lock because the player mined an unrelated block elsewhere.

### Chapter 4 A working settlement

With shelter, a crossing, and a quarry restored, the valley can support a connected group of useful services. This chapter includes the mill, workshop, and market preparations. Its purpose is to let the player experience a settlement functioning as a whole. It should also teach prioritization: several reasonable next actions are visible, and the player can choose which supported work package to advance first.

The proposed mill is a grain mill. It turns locally grown grain into meal used for staple food and expedition provisions. Stored grain, the milling mechanism, sacks of meal, and prepared supplies make that process visible. The workshop handles structural components, giving the two opening services different roles. The workshop converts prepared resources into project components and opens repair or fabrication services. Market preparations create a public place with stalls, access, storage, and the practical facilities needed for visitors.

Dependencies are shallow and legible. A mill upgrade might help supply the workshop, while the workshop prepares fittings for stalls. The player sees the chain before committing. There must be a modest manual or trade route around an incidental missing input so a single optional automation choice cannot strand the whole chapter. More efficient production is a reward, not permission to continue playing.

This is where authored routines begin to reinforce one another. A worker moves between the designated work area and storage during active hours. The mason responds to a finished workshop. A traveler notices that the market square is becoming usable. The innkeeper anticipates additional guests. These are bounded responses to actual milestones, not claims that every character is independently planning a life.

The persistent change is a working service network that supports the player's next stage of exploration. Common preparations become easier, local character positions become familiar, and the market has a visible sense of anticipation. Production queues show their inputs, capacity, and current reason for waiting. Output storage has a limit, preventing an unattended active region from becoming an infinite warehouse.

Recovery remains calm and local. An empty input store produces an idle workshop with a clear request. A blocked route causes a service to wait or use a supported alternative. No essential resident starves or abandons the valley because the player spent the evening building a tower. The player can enjoy the settlement between milestones instead of continuously servicing it.

### Chapter 5 The first market

The first market is the emotional payoff for the opening arc. People arrive along the restored route, occupy the prepared public space, and use the guesthouse. Goods associated with the player's work appear in stalls or displays. Familiar residents have a reason to stand somewhere new and speak about something that happened. The event turns several small projects into a place with a shared occasion.

The player chooses when to declare the preparations ready. The event board gives a concise statement of what will happen, which participants can start it, and what persists if everyone leaves. Its essential requirements concern the established chapter outcomes, while optional preparations add variety or comfort. A player who completed only the main path receives a complete first market; optional decoration should enhance it rather than rescue an intentionally disappointing version.

During the event, the player can trade, listen, inspect displays, meet a specialist, and discover a lead toward the next adventure. The event does not demand attendance at every conversation in a narrow timed window. A short authored arrival sequence can open into a stable activity phase, with the closing moment triggered through an understandable interaction. Departing the region pauses its managed progression under the regional rules.

The proposed exchange model uses simple barter and familiar currency with visible bounded stock. Restocking occurs during active regional activity and requires the stall's stated supply or visit condition. Player contributions can open specific additional offerings. Prices are readable and stable enough to plan around; speculative pricing, debt, and an unattended financial simulation are outside this direction. Exact prices remain a balancing task.

The persistent change is a proven gathering place, a useful recurring market framework, broader visitor possibilities, and a clear transition from settling in to deeper discovery. One visitor may recognize a find from the quarry; another may describe an inaccessible route. The valley's next opportunities grow from what the player has built and found. It does not empty out immediately after the celebration or become irrelevant as soon as better equipment appears.

Failure should primarily mean incomplete optional preparations or an interrupted trip, not the destruction of the celebration. A player who loses a trade item can return with another. Event-specific essentials cannot be sold accidentally without recovery. Repeated markets may vary within an authored selection, but the first market's main story completion is recorded once. Restarting or repeatedly leaving the region must not duplicate milestone rewards.

# Residents and settlement systems

The initial cast should be small enough for the player to recognize each person's role and normal locations. The innkeeper, traveler, mason, mill worker, workshop specialist, and market organizer are useful role references for planning, subject to the established cast. One character can serve compatible roles where that creates a stronger personality and reduces clutter. A new building does not automatically need a new resident if an existing character can make it feel connected.

A resident's routine is authored around a few meaningful states: working, available for conversation, resting, attending an occasion, responding to a milestone, and waiting when a service is blocked. A routine gives the settlement texture without hiding essential functions behind a strict appointment simulator. If a workshop specialist is resting, the project board can still accept materials and explain the next step. Important quest interactions have forgiving availability.

Personality comes from interests, priorities, familiar details, and reactions to the player's choices. A mason might appreciate a particularly difficult repaired passage. The innkeeper notices new travelers. A deep-field specialist discusses how the place below differs from the surface. These responses should be selective and grounded in actual events. Unrestricted generated dialogue is not needed to make them memorable.

Visitors are bounded arrivals associated with conditions the player can understand: a usable route, spare lodging, a market being ready, a discovered location, or an invited specialist. Their progress pauses with the region. Long journeys outside the player's active surroundings can be represented through a departure, a visible status, and an arrival condition instead of simulating a vulnerable traveler across the entire world. A route matters because its condition changes the service it provides.

Consequence should create new possibilities more often than maintenance pressure. A supplied workshop can support a useful expedition preparation. A restored refuge attracts a surveyor with knowledge of a route. A market with an additional supported stall can offer another category of exchange. Where a shortage matters, it changes an output or invitation clearly and reversibly. The settlement must not become a machine that punishes the player for pursuing the exploration it was built to support.

## Settlement and structure catalog

The following catalog establishes functional families. Individual sites require their own placement, visual, narrative, and dependency sheets before they become roadmap items.

| Region or stage | Managed structures | What the player gains | Principal dependencies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Valley | Guesthouse, crossing, quarry works, mill, workshop, market square | A recognizable home region, early services, travelers, and an introduction to project construction | Local common materials and the five opening chapter outcomes |
| Surface routes | Wayside shelter, trail crossing, lookout, small landing or freight area where appropriate | Safer journeys, navigation, supplies, and meaningful links between communities | A surveyed supported site and an established route |
| Shallows | Mine entrance station, lift landing, equipment store, first survey post | A clear transition underground and a place to prepare or recover | Surface support and a safely accessible entrance |
| Deepwilds | Ecological field station, protected growing area, water-service shelter, observation walkway | A community that learns from the living underground and makes sustained visits practical | Careful site boundaries, suitable environmental conditions, and a return route |
| Underreach | Freight exchange, mechanical workshop, transit station, survey archive | A regional working hub that connects expeditions and turns specialist discoveries into services | Reliable access, supported transport links, and later fabrication inputs |
| Abyss | Refuge, signal station, rescue cache, anchored observation platform | Orientation, recovery, and the confidence to travel between otherwise isolated safe points | A verified route, appropriate protection, and tightly bounded placement |
| Mantle | Thermal research shelter, guarded transfer station, specialist materials workshop | A limited foothold near extreme conditions and support for focused expeditions | Environmental protection, compatible equipment, and explicit operating limits |
| Core | Final expedition staging site, survey chamber, return-support installation | A deliberate place from which to attempt the deepest objectives | Completion of the required descent capabilities and an established recovery route |
| Lunar or planetary frontier | Landing area, habitat, utility module, field laboratory, greenhouse where suitable, communications point | A functioning base for understanding a new world | Safe arrival, appropriate habitat services, and a planned return capability |
| Established space network | Freight depot, transfer station, specialized outpost, expedition preparation area | Repeatable travel, useful specialization, and links between planetary communities | Previously established destinations and the matching transport capabilities |

Depth should change the meaning of a settlement. Surface communities can spread into public space. Deep communities make careful use of protected cavities and reliable routes. At extreme depths, even a small staffed shelter can feel like a major achievement. Planetary bases reveal their purpose through airlocks, utility connections, protected rooms, and the evidence of life adapting to an unfamiliar landscape. Repeating the same village under different ceilings would weaken the journey.

## The project controller as a real object

Every managed structure has an interactable project or controller block that represents a specific authored project. Its physical design belongs to the location: a work board, survey marker, workshop control, or outpost terminal. Whatever its appearance, it has a consistent basic interaction. The player can understand the purpose, inspect the approved construction area, see requirements, contribute materials, and know why work is or is not proceeding.

Its conceptual states should be explicit:

| State | Player meaning |
|---|---|
| Discovered | The site or opportunity is known, but the player has not committed to it. |
| Preview | The supported footprint, result, stages, costs, and known conflicts can be inspected. |
| Claimed or assigned | A player or cooperative group has authority over this project under the world's ownership rules. |
| Awaiting requirements | The project clearly identifies missing materials, knowledge, earlier services, or a required local action. |
| Ready | The next stage can begin when an authorized player chooses to proceed. |
| Building | An authored construction stage is progressing while its region is active. |
| Paused | Eligible participants are absent or an authorized player has manually paused supported work. |
| Blocked | A specific obstruction or invalid condition requires attention; supplies and progress remain safe. |
| Complete | The finished structure provides its described function. |
| Upgrade available | A separate optional or required extension can be previewed without undoing the completed structure. |

These are product states, not necessarily ten separate screens. The ordinary view should show only the current purpose and next useful action. Detailed contribution records, boundaries, and stage history belong behind inspection controls.

Materials go into visible project custody. A contribution transfers real items out of the player's inventory; a progress counter alone never creates the supplied materials. Delivery is credited once, and the interface distinguishes supplied, committed to the current stage, and still required. Cancellation before irreversible assembly returns recoverable stored supplies under clear rules. Later cancellation cannot conjure back components already built into a completed section. Upgrades have their own requirements so players are not asked to pay again for the same foundation without a stated reason.

## Construction interruption and protection

Scripted construction uses approved stages and bounded terrain adaptation. A project may level a designated pad within a permitted depth, use one of several supported foundations, or select an authored stair connection. It must reveal material terrain changes in its preview. It cannot decide to tunnel an unbounded new route, drain an entire lake, or move a player's home to make its layout fit.

Before each meaningful stage, the project verifies its reserved space and required access. A new chest, machine, player block, or other protected obstruction causes a clear blocked state. Dangerous collisions stop work. The player sees the precise issue in the world and can move the obstruction, choose a supported alternative where available, or leave the project paused. Project construction must not silently overwrite valuable belongings or trap an occupied player inside a new wall.

Interruption saves the last coherent stage and its committed materials. Leaving the region pauses further progress. Returning resumes from that state without repeating costs or awarding the same completion twice. If the world closes during a stage, the recovered scene must correspond to a known valid state. The requirement is consistent player-visible outcomes; the final engineering design can choose an appropriate persistence method later.

Damaging a finished managed structure should have a stated relationship to its services. Replaceable decorative details can be more permissive than an essential airlock or lift. If meaningful player damage is allowed, the controller reports the missing supported component and offers a finite repair project. It does not award unlimited new construction credit every time a player breaks and replaces the same block. Destruction rules and permissions must be established before a project enters a shared world.

## Ownership contribution and cooperative milestones

A project records its owner or owning group, who may change permissions, who may start stages, and who may contribute. Visitors can inspect a public-facing purpose without receiving authority to cancel construction or empty its materials. Contributors receive acknowledgment for their actual deliveries and agreed project actions. These records support clarity between friends; they should not turn cooperative play into a competitive accounting exercise.

Major world changes are shared facts. Once a crossing is restored, everyone can see it. Personal journal completion and rewards can still depend on participation or a brief catch-up interaction. A newcomer should be able to understand the completed Old Valley and join the next stage without being forced to reconstruct a second bridge. Conversely, a player flying past during completion should not automatically receive every personal discovery reward.

The group can decide who starts a major event, and the ready screen shows whose participation is currently expected. The product should support an ordinary small group without requiring unanimous votes for every delivery. More consequential actions, such as initiating a one-time story scene, replacing a project variant, or dismantling managed work, need appropriately stronger ownership controls. Those permissions remain visible rather than hidden in technical configuration.

Resources and project knowledge must be distinguished. A player may discover a route personally while their group shares the ability to build the associated station. A region may record a shared milestone while each player retains their own travel history. This separation lets cooperative worlds remain coherent when people play at different times. The journal explains what is already complete, what the group can do next, and what the individual has not yet experienced.

## Personal homes free building and useful logistics

The player's personal home should remain relevant throughout the game. It can be a guesthouse room, a freely built cottage, a deep workshop, a shared base, or a room within a supported outpost. It is where trophies, maps, favorite materials, and equipment tell the story of the player's choices. Managed settlement progression should create more options for home life, not replace personal ownership with compulsory standardized housing.

Provide deliberate space around authored projects for additions that do not interfere with their function. A settlement might expose several supported attachment points for terraces, gardens, or decorative frontage while leaving a broader nearby area available for completely free construction. Clearly distinguish optional supported upgrades from player builds. A beautiful handmade tower needs no fictional productivity score to justify its existence.

Logistics should grow from journeys the player has already learned. Early carrying and local storage teach the landscape. A repaired route, freight service, or transit link can later reduce repetitive transport between established points. Unlocking convenience feels earned when the player has surveyed the route and constructed its endpoints. Transport cannot move arbitrary cargo to an undiscovered destination simply because a menu can name it.

Production chains should stay readable. A local input becomes a prepared material, which supports a project component or useful service. Deeper specialization can add choices, but long chains need a clear player-facing reason. Storage capacity and queued work should be visible. Small amounts of ordinary maintenance can create texture; constant fuel shuttling between a dozen finished sites would undermine the intended exploration experience.

Ecological stewardship should also express understandable local choices. A Deepwilds field station can offer a protected harvesting area, cultivated alternatives, or a restoration project after deliberate clearing. The consequence is visible habitat and access to useful resources. Avoid an invisible universal ecological score that punishes ordinary gathering. A player should know which site is protected, what action changes it, and how to repair an unintended local consequence without a prolonged grind.

# Connected adventures and player experience

These episodes are detailed projects within the atlas anchors, rather than three additional mandatory settlements. The sheltered water develops a Conservatory water-service project within the Canopy-to-River Circuit. Freight through the dark develops an Underreach Junction project within the Three-Landing Supply Route. A light across the gap develops the Abyss Beacon Refuge and its Far-Shelf Survey. Their art and future roadmap references should point to those shared places.

### The sheltered water Deepwilds

The player finds a promising refuge site near a striking living water system. A field specialist wants to study the area without turning the entire cavity into a construction zone. The first task is observation: inspect a few authored points, identify a safe water-service location, and mark the path back. A small material delivery then constructs a sheltered station on a supported footprint.

Its second stage creates a walkway or controlled access point and a practical water service. The player chooses between approved placements or service variants where the site's topology supports them. Completing the project improves expedition preparation and opens a local cultivation or research opportunity. The original environment remains the dominant experience. If the player blocks a required connection, the station explains the local conflict rather than attempting to reshape the whole cavity.

### Freight through the dark Underreach

A partially connected transit site suggests that useful routes once converged here. The adventure asks the player to survey two supported approaches, retrieve information or a component from a nearby authored structure, and restore a central handling area. The player encounters the surrounding Underreach through a purposeful loop: outward by one route, an informative landmark, and a return that reveals why the hub matters.

The completed exchange connects already reached places and supports a bounded freight service. A specialist or visitor can use it once its local conditions are satisfied. The reward is a changed journey and a working regional hub. Optional expansion adds storage or another supported connection. It does not automatically lay rails through unexplored terrain or transport cargo through a route that has never been established.

### A light across the gap Abyss

From a secure ledge, the player can see a dormant refuge signal across an unsettling expanse. Reaching it is a navigation and preparation challenge with authored rest points and readable route clues. The first visit restores only emergency shelter and the signal. A later project brings in the materials for a more capable refuge, allowing a deeper expedition to begin from a reliable foothold.

This story should respect the scale and danger of the Abyss. The refuge is small, purposeful, and visibly anchored. A complete project might provide orientation, a recovery cache, and an expedition staging service, while leaving the surrounding world demanding. Reaching the opposite side changes the player's emotional map of the layer: a distant light becomes a place they know. Failure returns them to an understandable recovery problem rather than deleting the only route forward.

## Planetary outpost adventure examples

### The first sealed room the first lunar outpost

Arrival begins with a safe foothold provided by the expedition's landing capability. Immediate survival equipment, transit shelter, and return supplies arrive with the expedition. The player surveys a supported base site and deploys the first habitat project. The construction sequence makes shelter comprehensible: foundation or anchoring, enclosure, utility connection, and a working entrance appropriate to the environment. Completing the project creates a larger, more useful place where the player can stop, organize, and look out at the world they have reached.

Further stages add a laboratory or local survey service and a deliberate supply link. The objective is to learn how this world's needs differ from the Old Valley without repeating the entire surface opening. A return capability is part of expedition planning; failure to find one incidental material should not strand the player permanently. Managed habitat services obey regional pause rules and cannot kill absent residents through hidden consumption.

### A garden with a purpose a dusty frontier outpost

A later destination offers a protected growing project as part of a larger settlement. The adventure links field observations, an appropriate local resource, and a supported environmental module. Its payoff is a lived-in place with a useful preparation or supply service. The garden provides color and daily activity against an exposed landscape, giving the outpost an identity beyond rows of storage.

Optional stages expand the range of supported crops or improve expedition provisions, subject to the final planetary design. The important choice is how this base contributes to the network: a scientific stop, a supply station, or a more inhabited community where supported variants exist. No base is required to contain every service. Specialization gives travel a reason after the initial discovery.

### The long return a distant ice outpost

A remote expedition benefits from establishing a reliable transfer and recovery point. The player first restores a modest shelter, then a signal or communications function, then a freight or return-support service compatible with the transport progression. The expedition retains its prepared route home throughout the project. Environmental beauty and distance provide the atmosphere; authored tasks make the location learnable.

The completed outpost changes future expeditions by making a previously intimidating journey repeatable. A follow-up visitor or research project can arrive only after that capability exists. Its story concerns human-scale persistence in a remote place, not an endless emergency alarm. The paused base keeps its authored supplies and state intact when the player goes home.

## Discovery quests journals and cartography

Adventure information should begin in the world. A damaged road invites inspection. A light suggests a destination. A resident mentions a landmark visible from the settlement. A specimen raises a question about a deeper layer. The journal records those invitations so the player can take a break without losing their place; it should not replace noticing the environment with a list of map pins.

Use three useful categories of activity: the main chapter path, optional local projects, and personal discoveries. The main path describes the current purpose and next substantial step. Optional projects explain their resulting service or experience before the player invests. Discoveries preserve observations, routes, and questions even when they have no immediate quest reward. This keeps exploration valuable outside the authored spine.

Quest tasks should ask for varied actions: inspect, travel, compare, recover, survey, construct, prepare, demonstrate, and return with a finding. Gathering has a place, especially when introducing a new material, but every chapter should contain a memorable activity beyond delivering a larger quantity of something familiar. Project milestones should expose new decisions or experiences rather than merely raising the next delivery number.

The journal needs a concise return-to-play view: where the player was working, what changed, what is waiting, and the nearest sensible next action. Project entries show the site's purpose, stage, needed inputs, activity state, and access. Character entries preserve useful relationships and discoveries. Completed chapters remain readable as the history of this world instead of disappearing from the interface.

Maps distinguish known routes, personal markers, surveyed sites, and unexplored possibilities. Underground navigation needs layer and height context, recognizable entrances, and a way to understand transitions between connected places. Planetary maps need landing sites and return points. A player should be able to name a discovered location for personal use without overwriting the shared identity of an authored settlement. Exact map sophistication can scale with progression, while basic orientation remains accessible.

## Interaction accessibility danger and recovery

The presentation should make important state readable in more than one way. A project cannot communicate its only obstruction through red versus green coloring. Paused and active states need text or an icon with an explanation. Essential directions should survive reduced particles, reduced visual effects, and quieter audio settings. Dialogue should remain reviewable after it closes, and a missed ambient line must not contain the sole instruction needed to progress.

Construction previews need strong but adjustable readability against rock, foliage, and dark spaces. A compact ordinary display should reveal current stage and remaining materials; players who need it can open a detailed view. Repetitive confirmations should be minimized for ordinary deliveries. Consequential actions need clear descriptions, especially when shared projects or irreversible construction stages are involved.

Combat should support a place's experience and the player's preparations. An authored encounter can defend a route, dramatize an abandoned site, or test a new expedition capability. It should have an understandable beginning, objective, and recovery state. Random interference must not repeatedly interrupt long conversations or trap a player inside a project interface. Safe settlement areas and dangerous approaches need readable boundaries and behavior.

Death recovery should protect the adventure's continuity while allowing the surrounding survival game to retain stakes. Essential knowledge stays recorded. Unique progression objects need an explicit recovery path. The player should understand where their expedition failed and how to attempt recovery with available equipment. A failed first attempt must not require the lost equipment to obtain the only replacement for that equipment.

Difficulty options should separate environmental and combat pressure from the basic ability to enjoy the authored settlement story. Supported settings can change encounter intensity, recovery generosity, or resource demand within designed bounds. They should not silently disable entire chapters. Cooperative scaling must consider the actual participating group and avoid counting distant or nonparticipating players as if they were helping in the encounter.

## What completion should feel like

The Old Valley is successful when the player can walk through it and remember why each main place works, recognize the people who use it, and identify a natural next journey. Its structures must remain useful after the first market. A late-game return should reveal a familiar home with optional room to grow, rather than an obsolete tutorial village.

The underground settlement sequence is successful when each new foothold changes how the player understands its surrounding layer. A Shallows station introduces descent. A Deepwilds field site makes a living environment approachable. An Underreach hub connects work and movement. An Abyss refuge gives meaning to a distant light. Mantle and Core support remain limited and deliberate so the extremes retain their scale.

Planetary communities are successful when the player's network contains places with distinct purposes, appearances, and memories. Home remains a choice. The player can prefer the valley, build a life below it, settle on another world, or maintain several personal spaces. SUBSTELLAR gives those choices functional support and a coherent authored journey while preserving the freedom to spend an entire evening building something simply because they want it there.


# Life ecology and encounters

Life should make a region more understandable and worth returning to. A creature can reveal a path, occupy a recognizable territory, provide a renewable product, or make a settlement feel inhabited. A plant can connect food, materials, light, and cultivation. Many discoveries should reward observation and careful gathering. Every essential biological supply needs a practical source that does not depend on repeatedly killing a rare creature.

## Creature roster

### BIO01 Pebbleback

A squat, broad-footed amphibian with a rounded, stone-colored back lives around Bluewater Quarry Coast and Glasswell Pools. Pebblebacks move between shallow feeding patches and dry basking stones, making safe water margins easier to recognize. Their foraging occasionally exposes an existing plant cutting or loose specimen; it never generates fresh ore. Players can watch, feed, or gently redirect them. Sudden movement makes them retreat into water. They are an approachable first wildlife encounter, with observation and a useful shoreline route as the main rewards.

### BIO02 Wickmoth

Pale, broad-winged moths gather in Rootlace Galleries and near damp Deepwilds entrances. Their folded silhouette resembles a small leaf against stone. They settle near particular luminous colonies and become active when local light changes, suggesting where biolume sources may be found. A portable lamp can attract them briefly; a covered lamp or slower approach keeps a sample site clear. Their reward is discovery and atmosphere. Wings are not a compulsory crafting ingredient, and settlement lighting should not produce an uncontrolled swarm.

### BIO03 Tunneltuft

A compact burrowing mammal with strong forefeet and a conspicuous tufted tail inhabits Copperwash Channels and Drybell Vaults. It works designated loose-material pockets, leaving small scrape patterns that can point toward an existing resource exposure. Players observe its preferred food and establish a feeding spot away from a work route. Approaching a den causes warning taps and retreat. It cannot excavate player foundations or tunnel through arbitrary walls. Field notes, recovered loose samples, and a more readable mining area reward attention.

### BIO04 Mossback

Heavy, gently rounded grazers move through Lanternroot Forests and Sporemeadow Basins. Low vegetation clings to their broad backs, giving the herd a recognizable moving silhouette. They follow a few local feeding paths and rest in clearings. Calm animals leave recoverable plant cuttings and compostable material; rare decorative variation can reward observation. Adults defend young with a warning posture before a short charge. Players use distance, alternate paths, or a prepared feeding clearing. A Mossback habitat can become a valued neighbor to a conservatory.

### BIO05 Canopy Skimmer

A slender climbing animal with broad side membranes lives in Hanging Gardens. It travels between approved perches by short glides, revealing local connectivity without automatically guiding the player to every secret. Its outline is readable against the cavern roof, while movement remains uncommon enough to notice. Players can observe from a balcony or place a feeding perch near a garden. Disturbing a nest triggers loud warning calls and withdrawal. The reward is a journal discovery, route knowledge, and optional wildlife activity near a well-sited settlement.

### BIO06 Fenpaddle

A long-bodied swimmer with a flat tail and reedlike whiskers occupies Bluefen Groves. It gathers floating plant fragments into small resting platforms along sheltered banks. Watching those platforms helps players distinguish quiet coves from deeper channels. Loose cuttings provide a renewable gathering reward when collected outside an occupied nest. Players can offer a separate resting platform or leave a clear passage beneath their dock. Crowding a nest causes splashing and a defensive tail sweep. Routine behavior never dismantles player buildings or steals storage contents.

### BIO07 Slateback

A large, low reptile with overlapping dark plates inhabits Ironfold Ridges and selected Underreach route junctions. It rests against warm stone and patrols a compact territory. Ground scrapes, polished resting patches, and a repeated warning call identify its presence. A threatened Slateback lowers its head before committing to a straight charge, leaving time to reach shelter. Players can take another route, redirect its attention, or fight if desired. Securing passage is the principal reward; no unique progression ingredient requires killing it.

### BIO08 Rillfin

A sturdy river fish with a tall dorsal fin inhabits Rivergate Country, Blackriver Galleries, and suitable connected pools. Small groups favor particular depth edges and shaded banks, creating recognizable fishing spots. Different bait categories and quieter landings improve fishing choices without requiring a large tackle system. Rillfin can provide ordinary food or be released after recording a specimen. Visible feeding activity helps players locate fish. Local recovery rules keep managed fishing useful while preventing one small pool from becoming an endless instant supply.

### BIO09 Veilray

A broad-finned aquatic creature moves slowly through Stillsea Basin. A restrained pale edge makes its shape visible near a lamp; its body remains dark and animal-like. Veilrays follow deeper channels and sweep sediment at existing mineral beds, offering clues for prepared divers. Players gain route knowledge and access to already generated loose material. Keeping distance or waiting for a pass is safe; crowding one causes a readable fin sweep. It is a memorable encounter in open water, not a mandatory underwater enemy.

### BIO10 Shelfstalker

A lean climbing predator with broad gripping feet occupies selected Pillarfall Reaches and Whisper Chasms. It watches from exposed perches whose claw marks and discarded feeding remains are readable without graphic detail. The animal tracks a target briefly, gives a low call, and commits to a short leap with a clear recovery period. Players can use cover, a distraction, steady light, or a different shelf. Fighting remains available. The reward is access to a route or den-side discovery, with no compulsory trophy collection.

### BIO11 Emberback

A stocky, dark salamander-like animal shelters around Ember Gardens and cooler Steamvault pools. Small warm markings are brightest near active vents. Emberbacks move toward protected ground before a local vent cycle, providing a useful cue that also appears through sound and environmental signs. Players observe, avoid crowding, and cultivate nearby growth without domesticating the entire habitat. A defensive warning comes before contact damage. Knowledge, a cultivation observation, and safer timing reward the encounter; harvested bodies do not substitute for thermal preparation.

### BIO12 Stillhorn

A tall, quiet grazer with low branching horns appears in selected Stillwater Sanctuaries and sheltered Core shelves. Its horns resemble local mineral forms without being presented as literal crystals to mine. It follows gentle feeding circuits, pauses beside clear water, and yields space when approached patiently. Observing its preferred plants helps identify a cultivation site. A threatened animal retreats toward a visible refuge. The reward is a rare peaceful encounter and a habitat record. Its origin remains open, without making it a messenger or cosmic authority.

## Plant and fungal roster

### FL01 Tideleaf

Broad submerged leaves and fine waving stems define the blue water of Quarry Coast shallows. Tideleaf provides ordinary underwater vegetation, a modest cooking ingredient, and a decorative plant. Harvesting a portion leaves the rooted base intact. Cultivation asks for shallow water and an appropriate bed. Players learn depth by observing its distribution; dense-looking patches should never secretly immobilize them. Its visual priority is clear form beneath water, including in the baseline renderer.

### FL02 Springfern

Layered fern fronds occupy Rainwood Hollows and damp Shallows entrances. Tender growth supports a simple cooked-food use; mature plants provide decoration and propagation stock. A shaded, damp bed is sufficient for cultivation. Harvestable growth has a distinct shape, with journal guidance preventing guesswork about edible forms. Springfern connects the familiar surface garden to the first underground garden and stays useful through ordinary cooking.

### FL03 Lanternroot

Large natural root structures support a smaller harvestable growth family in Lanternroot Forests. Mature points provide **Root resin, MAT10**, using visible amber beads and bounded regrowth. Limited luminous growth contributes to the habitat without lighting every surface. Players cultivate manageable root frames in suitable damp beds; the cultivated form need not reproduce an entire giant cavern column. Cutting every visible root should not be necessary to obtain routine seals and repairs.

### FL04 Breadcap

Thick, pale-capped fungi gather in Sporemeadow Basins. Their broad caps and stout stems make the food source recognizable at a distance. Breadcap supports soups, cooked portions, and preserved expedition meals through shared food systems. Prepared mycelial loam and shade provide understandable growing conditions. A mature cap can be harvested while its bed remains productive. Unharvested beds may gain decorative variation without requiring a hidden spoilage simulation.

### FL05 Threadmoss

This fictional fungal mat forms pale looping strands across sheltered Deepwilds beds. It is the primary clear living source of **Spore fiber, MAT11**. A combing interaction or simple cultivation tool gathers mature strands while preserving the base. Controlled moisture and a suitable substrate support growth. Dense natural patches may share a visibly marked spore hazard with nearby fungi; cultivated textile beds should provide a practical, comfortable renewable supply.

### FL06 Ironbark

Dark woody growth in Quietwood Hollows and selected Hanging Gardens has long, fibrous grain and modest foliage. Carefully marked bark strips yield **Ironbark fiber, MAT18**. Cultivation uses managed growth frames or modest trees, giving players a renewable rope and panel supply without requiring full natural canopy generation. A recovered cutting unlocks the growing method. Decorative wood forms should share the same grain language as processed material.

### FL07 Loamweave

A restrained pale fungal network binds healthy dark soil beneath Deepwilds growth. Gathering suitable patches or maintaining an approved compost bed produces **Mycelial loam, MAT17**. The living network is visible at exposed edges and in prepared beds. Players combine ordinary organic input with a starter culture through a bounded cultivation process. Loamweave never spreads indefinitely across arbitrary blocks; healthy plots have explicit size and input requirements.

### FL08 Glowcup

Small cup-shaped colonies cling to damp stone near Deepwilds water and selected Abyss shores. Their protected interior supports **Biolume culture, MAT19**, collected using a sample container. Cool light is concentrated inside each cup. Cultivation provides route markers and low-intensity living lamps, with a dependable early Deepwilds source. Harvesting an entire rare natural colony is unnecessary. Alternate shapes and placement cues preserve navigation when color or bloom is reduced.

### FL09 Emberreed

Stiff dark reeds with warm seed heads occupy protected Ember Gardens and Steamvault margins. They provide regional cooking ingredients, decorative growth, and optional supports for cultivation projects. A warm, wet managed bed reproduces their needs. Natural harvesting rewards observing nearby vent cycles; the plant itself does not grant unexplained heat immunity. Its silhouette should differ clearly from Tideleaf and Springfern, making a thermal garden recognizable before its equipment is examined.

### FL10 Glassleaf

Broad, faintly translucent leaves grow around selected Stillwater Sanctuaries. Their pale veins catch existing light, with little self-emission. Glassleaf is an optional Core cultivation and display reward, supporting a distinctive garden and a recorded research observation. Clear-water beds and protected diffuse light are sufficient conditions. Samples travel in the existing living-sample kit. Cultivating one does not automatically reveal a cosmic secret or create an additional compulsory consumable.

## Food farming fishing and a useful home

Surface crops and ordinary animal husbandry remain dependable. Underground food adds variety, location, and social life. A player can support a long journey with familiar food, while local ingredients create attractive regional dishes and convenient outpost production. The design should avoid requiring ten different nutrition meters or a unique meal for every hazard.

Meals can emphasize a small number of clear benefits: convenient stackable travel food, a satisfying base meal, or a modest specialist preparation. Protection equipment remains responsible for serious environmental exposure. Cooking uses a shared set of techniques—simple preparation, cooking, drying, and preserving—so Breadcap, Rillfin, and Springfern can contribute to recognizable recipe families.

Cultivation begins small. The player returns with a viable sample, learns one or two growing conditions, and prepares a bed. A later cultivation house can maintain approved conditions and fulfill bounded production orders. Growth pauses with the regional simulation when appropriate. Established crops do not die because the player spends several real-world days away.

Fishing supports rest, observation, and supplies. Shore shape, visible activity, and water habitat help locate fish. Bait categories and optional improved equipment create a few meaningful choices. Catch-and-release recording supports collectors, while cooking supports ordinary survival. Decorative tanks or approved ponds can display collected species without requiring a full independent aquatic simulator.

Settlements can express these systems through visible work: drying racks, prepared beds, seed shelves, a kitchen, a fish landing, and shared meals. Material outputs should consolidate where appropriate. Ten plant families do not require ten unrelated crafting currencies or ten separate processing machines.

## Four signature encounter proposals

### ENC01 The Canopy Crossing

**Deepwilds; cooperative construction and wildlife encounter.** A damaged route crosses a Mossback feeding path below a conservatory. The player surveys an upper walkway, prepares a small alternate feeding clearing, and restores a safe crossing through a staged project. The herd responds through a few readable states: resting, moving, warning, and settled. There is no need to herd an animal across arbitrary terrain. Completion opens a useful loop and gives the conservatory a visible living neighbor. This optional encounter can explicitly support a bounded commissioned alternate crossing for players who prefer free building. That local rule does not automatically extend to the five authored Old Valley chapter projects. The encounter ends with a calmer, more useful place.

### ENC02 Slateback at the Landing

**Underreach; boss-style territorial encounter.** A large Slateback occupies a landing beside an old supply route. Broad cover, clear lanes, and two exit paths support observation before commitment. Warning, charge, recovery, and withdrawal states give the encounter a memorable rhythm. Players can repair a bypass, redirect the animal toward another suitable resting pocket, or fight. The valuable outcome is a secured transport connection and recovered supplies; unique progression materials are available independently. Defeating the animal should not be the mechanically superior answer to every later specimen. The set piece concludes a local route problem rather than declaring war on a species.

### ENC03 The Far Beacon Recovery

**Abyss; navigation, water, and rescue preparation.** A survey platform across Stillsea holds equipment needed to complete the local refuge connection. The player identifies a sheltered approach, secures an intermediate landing, and crosses a bounded flooded section with a clear dry alternative. Veilray movement can hint at a submerged shelf, supplementing visible terrain cues. A damaged local sluice or pump introduces a controlled water problem within the authored site. Progress persists at safe stages; a failed attempt does not reset the whole expedition. Completion lights the far beacon and creates a practical return route visible across the water.

### ENC04 The Thermal Relay

**Mantle approaches; environmental climax with boss-style phases.** An old survey connection passes through several active vent chambers. The player restores protective panels, brings known equipment into service, and moves between secure stages while observing readable vent cycles. Each phase changes one local problem: access, shielding, or power connection. Safe rest points allow preparation and cooperative roles without demanding constant reflex play. Emberback behavior provides an optional extra clue. Completion restores an ordinary but valuable refuge link and opens a quiet outlook toward the Heart approaches. The climax demonstrates accumulated expedition skills without introducing an unexplained ancient superweapon.

## Lore and storytelling direction

The central story is the growth of a capable community through exploration. The player is someone who observes, returns, helps, and builds. Established characters retain their names and histories; new scenes use roles until that continuity is incorporated. A field guide can interpret a route, a gardener can explain a viable sample, and a workshop specialist can turn a discovery into a project.

History appears at several scales. Personal traces include a repaired tool, a marked lunch shelf, a maintained garden, or a practical note about a crossing. Regional history appears through old survey routes, mines, depots, and projects that outlasted their original workers. These traces can be recent, interrupted, or still useful. Every ruin does not require a vanished civilization.

Deeper mysteries occur at selected locations and retain their uncertainty. An unusual formation, an incomplete record, or a phenomenon outside current understanding can support curiosity without becoming the explanation for all life and geology. Connections to later cosmic discoveries remain open for the planetary story. The Earth chapter should not settle those questions prematurely.

Story advances through meaningful changes in places: a workshop opens, a crossing works, a garden grows, an expedition returns, or a settlement can support another journey. Dialogue and journal entries explain significance and choices. Optional records reward interested players, while the immediate purpose remains understandable from the environment and project interface. Multiplayer participants should share important discoveries without requiring one chosen protagonist.

## Audio music weather and visual identity

Each realm needs a recognizable sound balance. The Overworld carries open air and familiar weather. Shallows routes emphasize nearby water and fading surface sound. The Deepwilds add localized living activity. Underreach spaces distinguish working settlements from open mineral country. The Abyss uses distance, quiet, and isolated events. The Mantle introduces identifiable vents and thermal movement. Core sanctuaries allow stillness and a few carefully placed unfamiliar sounds.

Music should arrive in phrases, discoveries, and returns, leaving environmental listening possible. A restrained recurring expedition theme can change instrumentation or texture as the journey expands. Settlements deserve warm, lived-in musical moments. Danger cues should describe an actual event and end when it ends. Continuous ominous drones would flatten the emotional range.

Surface rain, fog, snow, sunlight, and wind remain familiar. Underground atmosphere appears through local seepage, mist, dust, spores, and heat shimmer. A storm may be audible near an entrance, but every deep region does not need a synchronized weather system. Atmospheric effects remain bounded, readable, and optional where they obscure play or strain performance.

Visual design starts with block-compatible silhouettes and materials that remain identifiable under ordinary lighting. Creatures need clear poses, footprint scale, and movement cues. Plants need distinct mature and harvestable states. Warm maintained lights signal useful shelter; living light stays associated with identifiable organisms. Rich blue quarry water, underwater vegetation, detailed trees, and warm sun retain their place as an accepted surface target.

Advanced rendering can enrich that foundation with shadows, reflections, atmosphere, and material response. It must not be credited with generating missing terrain, cave forms, plant geometry, or structures. Image concepts should show baseline-playable space and identify additional assets implied by their appearance. Critical cues use shape, motion, sound, and placement together; no encounter depends solely on color, flashing light, or precise stereo hearing.


# Materials and the crafting economy

## Materials should change decisions

A new material deserves a place when it enables a recognizable use, changes a practical choice, supports a distinctive building language, or rewards learning a region. Ore depth alone is an insufficient identity. Two resources that make nearly identical pickaxes should usually become one material with different appearances, or one material and a decorative variant.

The catalogue below proposes the initial vocabulary for the complete creative vision. Familiar Minecraft resources remain useful. New natural deposits, biological materials, and processed products have separate identities so the player can understand what was found, what was made, and why the transformation matters. Exact recipes, stack sizes, yields, durability, mining speeds, and numerical hazard protection belong to later balancing.

Materials are assigned a first useful source rather than an exclusive universal depth. Related deposits may appear elsewhere when geology or planetary identity supports them. Early sources should teach the material clearly; later sources can improve quantity, convenience, or quality. Progression should never depend on a single destructible specimen in one structure.

## Familiar resources that remain useful

Iron remains the practical structural metal for frames, rails, workstations, tools, and replaceable components. Copper gives early systems a recognizable electrical and fluid-handling language. Coal and charcoal support the beginning of processing and remain useful where power infrastructure is inconvenient. Redstone becomes a readable control material for machines and devices while retaining its ordinary building role.

Gold supports delicate contacts and instruments. Quartz and glass support lenses, observation, and windows. Diamond retains a role in durable cutting surfaces and specialist tools. Lapis, emeralds, and other familiar resources can contribute to decoration, trade, and optional craft identities without becoming mandatory ingredients in every machine.

Existing Nether and End resources should retain their identities if players visit those dimensions. The main SUBSTELLAR progression should not require defeating the vanilla End sequence merely to begin the Earth adventure. A later compatibility and balance pass can recognize exceptional vanilla equipment without making one unrelated dimension the universal solution to environmental challenges.

## Proposed Earth resource catalogue

The following names are proposed content vocabulary. References such as MAT01 are stable design identifiers for the future content and illustration registers. A deposit appearance and a held sample should be illustrated separately whenever the two are visually different.

| ID | Resource and first useful setting | Main role | Appearance and player recognition |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MAT01 | Tin in shallow worked stone and sedimentary seams | Bronze fittings and approachable early machinery | Small pale metallic flecks in a dull brown matrix; recognizable without bright emission. |
| MAT02 | Nickel in deeper dense rock and certain planetary deposits | Durable alloys, heat-resistant fittings, long-lived components | Muted warm silver inclusions with a coarse irregular seam. |
| MAT03 | Alumina clay in weathered stone pockets and layered deposits | Lightweight metal processing and ceramic precursor | Chalky cream and rust bands; soft-looking material clearly distinct from metal ore. |
| MAT04 | Titaniferous ore in deep intrusive rock | Advanced load-bearing frames and specialist tools | Dark granular stone with subdued metallic streaks; exposed in broad veins rather than tiny glowing dots. |
| MAT05 | Graphite in dry dark seams | Conductive components, lubricated machinery, advanced processing | Charcoal plates with a restrained sheen and visible layered fracture. |
| MAT06 | Clear quartz in ordinary and deeper crystal pockets | Optical instruments, early electronics, surveying | Transparent or milky block crystals; shape and clarity communicate quality. |
| MAT07 | Sulfur around selected dry vents and mineral basins | Processing reagents and specialist consumables | Powdery yellow crusts clustered near a clearly signaled environmental feature. |
| MAT08 | Rock salt in dry basins and evaporated passages | Preserved supplies, chemical processing, decorative blocks | Pale granular layers and cubic deposits, with variants kept visually related. |
| MAT09 | Ceramic clay in quiet water deposits and protected shelves | Kilns, insulating components, heat equipment, household blocks | Smooth warm gray or reddish banks with fine horizontal layering. |
| MAT10 | Root resin in mature Deepwilds growth | Seals, repairs, early waterproofing, flexible fittings | Translucent amber beads on living roots; harvesting marks a limited regrowth point. |
| MAT11 | Spore fiber in cultivated fungal mats | Filters, cloth, soft insulation, decorative textiles | Pale strands within a broad fungal substrate; never read as a metallic ore. |
| MAT12 | Shellstone in old aquatic deposits | Tough decorative masonry and certain composite products | Pale shells and curved fragments inside dense stone. |
| MAT13 | Lens crystal in clear-water or dry crystalline pockets | Improved instruments and precision surveying | A compact clear center with a distinctive faceted surrounding growth. |
| MAT14 | Resonant quartz in restricted deep formations | Reading ancient devices and locating specific buried features | Pale outer growth around a smoky core with quiet internal lines; interaction gives a readable pulse. |
| MAT15 | Heartglass in rare Core formations | Specialized optical and thermal components for advanced exploration | Dark glass in thick formations, translucent at thin edges, with warm internal planes; carried as solid fragments. |
| MAT16 | Thermal salt in selected Mantle margins | Compact heat-storage products and advanced thermal preparation | Rust-white clustered crystals beside mineral crusts; low flicker only when charged in a device. |
| MAT17 | Mycelial loam in healthy underground ecosystems | Cultivation, soil improvement, restoring damaged plots | Dark organic soil with a restrained pale root network. |
| MAT18 | Ironbark fiber in established underground woody growth | Tough ropes, composite panels, strong textiles | Deep brown strips with a long fibrous grain and a clear living source. |
| MAT19 | Biolume culture from identified underground organisms | Cultivated lamps, route markers, low-intensity living displays | A small protected colony in a jar or growth block, with controlled cool light. |

The catalogue does not require nineteen separate mining tiers. Several materials appear together, and their uses diverge. Clay, resin, and fiber can improve an expedition without replacing the player's pickaxe. Dense metallic ores support a narrower chain of stronger machinery. Crystal resources primarily expand knowledge and specialized equipment.

## Deposit design and the act of finding ore

Deposits should tell the player something before they mine them. A seam can follow a fracture, sit between two rock types, cluster around a dried basin, or appear in boulders transported by water. A small surface exposure can imply a larger body inside the rock. The exact distribution remains a generation task, but the creative rule is that exploration and observation should improve a player's chance of finding what they need.

Common materials need accessible examples. Early iron and copper should not disappear because the new world has more vertical room. New ores should be added with awareness of the familiar progression. If a player's first useful ore lies far below a difficult expedition route, the opening has failed to support ordinary survival.

Large deposits create a second kind of reward: a reason to build infrastructure. A rich nickel body might justify a cart route, safe working floor, and storage depot. Such deposits should be uncommon enough to matter while having more than one discoverable example. A specialist survey tool can guide the search within a region without revealing every exact ore block through walls.

Ore extraction should distinguish excavation from mass destruction. Hand tools allow careful mining. Later drills can work a limited, previewed volume and stop at protected structures, unexpected fluids, or player-defined exclusions. A large machine should have visible limits and a useful reason to install it. It should not erase the world's most memorable features by default.

Decorative samples remain valuable after the functional demand is satisfied. Polished stone, natural ore display blocks, crystal clusters, and geological specimens can be used in homes, museums, schools, or observatories. The interface should make it easy to preserve a specimen intentionally rather than accidentally consume the only interesting sample in a bulk recipe.

## Biological gathering and cultivation

Biological resources create a different relationship to place. A resin tree or a luminous colony should be recognizable as a living source that can be revisited. A careful first harvest yields useful material and knowledge about cultivation. Excessive collection can temporarily reduce yield inside a bounded local system, but it should not make a main progression resource permanently unavailable.

Cultivation begins with an observed condition. The player learns that a species prefers damp stone, shaded soil, moving water, or a particular substrate. Later, an appropriate cultivation bed can reproduce those conditions at a base. Each species should ask for one or two meaningful conditions rather than a long hidden chemistry simulation.

The first usable fibers and resin are obtainable from safe habitat fringes, ordinary cultivation, or a surface substitute, before a filter is needed. Cultivated sources provide renewable supplies for ordinary filters, resin seals, food, cloth, and living light. Rare natural specimens can retain unique decorative forms or unlock research, but repeated expedition consumables should become practical to produce. This gives settlements a reason to maintain gardens and gives early ecosystems continued relevance after mining advances.

Planetary ecology follows the same principle when life is part of the proposed fiction. Samples are carried in suitable containers, examined, and cultivated only where their requirements can be met. The design should avoid accidental unlimited spread from one placed block. A protected greenhouse or managed habitat provides a clear boundary for unfamiliar life.

## Processed products and the workshop sequence

| Product family | Inputs and process direction | What the player gains |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bronze fittings | Copper and tin at an approachable early furnace | Repairable pumps, valves, simple tools, and workshop fixtures. |
| Structural steel | Iron, carbon supplies, and a controlled furnace process | Reliable frames, lifts, larger projects, and better expedition equipment. |
| Sealed cloth | Fiber, resin, and a textile workstation | Water-resistant bags, simple filters, and practical protective clothing. |
| Technical ceramics | Selected clay and a kiln | Insulating tiles, durable vessels, furnace parts, and thermal equipment. |
| Lightweight plates | Refined alumina material with an electrical processing station | Less burdensome tanks, expedition frames, and early spacecraft panels. |
| Reinforced alloy | Nickel-bearing and other selected metals in an improved furnace | Higher-duty mechanical parts and more resilient equipment. |
| Titanium frame stock | Titaniferous material processed with established high-temperature equipment | Advanced load support and specialist craft structures. |
| Optical assemblies | Quartz or lens crystal, metal fittings, and careful workshop assembly | Improved navigation, surveying, instruments, and observation. |
| Resonant components | Carefully prepared resonant quartz and instrument housings | Reading a defined family of unusual machines and traces. |
| Heartglass assemblies | Heartglass combined with established optical or thermal hardware | Advanced protection and instruments for the wider expedition arc. |

These are game-recipe directions rather than real manufacturing instructions. Their purpose is to organize understandable dependencies. Detailed numerical recipes should be balanced after the corresponding activity is playable.

The first electrical processing capability must use materials available before aluminum and advanced alloys become necessary. A small copper-and-redstone workshop supply can support early experiments. A settlement power installation later handles repeated production. This avoids requiring a material to manufacture the machine that first produces it.

The first thermal equipment must be made from accessible ceramics, steel, cloth, and a serviceable cooling supply. It allows a limited visit to the edge of hotter environments. Materials recovered there improve duration and convenience. The complete advanced suit must never be required to obtain its own first essential ingredient.

Likewise, the first lunar mission must bring life support, a working cabin, fuel for the planned return, tools, and a safe starter shelter from Earth. Lunar materials improve later missions. The player should not need to find an uncertain local resource before they can breathe, refuel, or leave the first landing site.

## How new planetary materials enter the economy

Each planetary profile defines its own material contribution. The general rule is that the first landing exports capability, the first successful expedition imports a useful improvement, and an established outpost eventually supports local convenience. A planetary resource may improve shielding, preserve a sample, support a specialist sensor, or open an unusual building palette.

The economy should tolerate substitutes for routine uses. If both Earth and Mars can provide a common structural ingredient, either can fill that need. A distinctive planetary material should be required only where its specific property is relevant. This prevents the logistics network from becoming a string of compulsory trips for otherwise interchangeable ingredients.

The discovery of a more efficient resource should improve choices without making every existing installation worthless. A player can retrofit a frame, change a module, or continue using a dependable older tool. A beloved workshop should remain a useful place when its equipment improves.

## Research through observation and useful work

Knowledge progression starts with doing something meaningful: identifying a deposit, repairing a device, returning a sample, mapping a water route, or observing a creature's behavior. A field journal records the result. Workstations turn relevant knowledge and materials into a practical design.

Research should not require arbitrary waiting in a menu. Some processes can take active-region time when a visible machine is doing recognizable work. The player should know what is happening, what is still required, and whether leaving will pause it. A repeated research task should unlock a function once, with later repetition serving optional production or collection.

A settlement specialist can interpret a find and connect it to a possible project. Their role is to make the discovery legible and socially meaningful. The player still needs a usable record when the specialist is away, and an essential progression path needs a recoverable alternative if the character's normal schedule is interrupted.

## Scarcity and the removal of repetitive work

Early scarcity makes materials recognizable. Later infrastructure should reduce routine burden. Workshops can prepare approved loadout supplies, storage can accept clear categories, and a secured transport line can move bounded orders. The player continues making important decisions while the settlement handles work they have already mastered.

Automation requires an explicit source, destination, batch size, and stop condition. A production order should reveal its inputs and output before it runs. It should stop safely when storage is full or inputs run out. Offline progress follows the regional rules rather than a separate hidden catch-up simulation.

The creative target is a world where finding a material is exciting, putting it to use is visible, and renewing ordinary supplies eventually becomes convenient. A long progression should accumulate possibilities instead of accumulating chores.

# Tools equipment and preparation

## Capability comes before a universal gear score

Equipment is organized around tasks. A mining tool, a climbing kit, a lamp, a protective garment, and a survey instrument solve different problems. The player should be able to carry a preferred mining tool for a long time while changing the support equipment suited to the next expedition.

Major capabilities have an understandable first version and later improvements. A rope line teaches anchor placement before powered lifts arrive. A filtered mask supports brief work around spores before sealed equipment is available. A ceramic shield allows a cautious visit to heat before longer-duration thermal systems exist. These steps provide visible progress while keeping the number of independent equipment tiers manageable.

The proposed capability families below are progression vocabulary, not mandatory chapter locks. Players may acquire some in a different order through exploration or cooperation.

| Family | Representative equipment | New practical opportunity |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Field exploration | Good lamp, repair supplies, journal, route markers | Reliable short descents and a clear return route. |
| Vertical travel | Rope, anchors, harness, improved carrying frame | Crossing shafts and moving supplies through awkward terrain. |
| Living environments | Filtered mask, sample jars, cultivation tools | Working in spore-rich areas and bringing useful life home. |
| Engineering expeditions | Pump, field battery, deployable bridge, survey instrument | Restoring routes and working around water or damaged infrastructure. |
| Extreme environments | Thermal protection, sealed supplies, specialist sensors | Longer visits to exposed deep areas and concentrated hazards. |
| Planetary survival | Sealed suit, tanks, communications, portable shelter | Leaving a spacecraft and operating in an unfamiliar environment. |
| Outer-world specialization | Destination-specific modules and expedition craft | Handling the unusual constraints of later moons and worlds. |

## Hand tools and excavation

The familiar pickaxe remains the baseline interaction with rock. New tool heads can improve durability, precision, or effectiveness on a particular material family. Their appearance should make the working surface readable at inventory size. Huge decorative blades and constant glow would undermine the practical visual identity.

A geological hammer supports careful sample recovery and inspection. It is slower for bulk mining but preserves certain specimen forms. A field chisel shapes decorative stone and helps recover designed architectural details where permitted. Both give collectors and builders a reason to participate in geological exploration.

A powered hand drill extends excavation capability at the cost of charge, repair needs, or weight. It can work a small chosen pattern after the player previews the direction. It should stop at protected content and newly exposed hazards. The player retains control over what is excavated.

A stationary drill belongs to an established site. Its scaffold, power supply, collection point, and operating boundary are visible. A useful design might clear a planned shaft or work a known deposit in stages. Fully autonomous tunneling through arbitrary unknown terrain would introduce a much larger simulation and safety burden; it remains outside the default creative implementation direction.

## Traversal and carrying equipment

Ropes and anchors turn vertical terrain into something the player can work with. Placement must show whether an anchor is supported and where the line will reach. The first version can use simple fixed lines and predictable climbing. The visual target emphasizes ordinary rope, metal fittings, and visible attachment points.

A harness reduces risk while using approved lines. Later winches move modest cargo and support expedition partners. A deployable crossing provides a temporary route over a bounded gap, while a permanent bridge project improves a regularly traveled connection. These solve different travel problems and should remain distinct in appearance and use.

The carrying frame helps the player transport samples or construction supplies. Its benefit should be balanced against the space or movement costs it introduces, without requiring a punitive encumbrance simulation. A few clear loadout slots or cargo attachments are preferable to many hidden weight thresholds.

Gliding or assisted movement may become appropriate in selected large spaces, but it should not trivialize every underground obstacle. Environmental limits can come from available clearance, landing areas, line of sight, and the need to move cargo. New movement must be introduced with terrain that makes its possibilities and limits understandable.

## Light and navigation

The basic expedition lamp should create a dependable readable area and a clear visual identity. A helmet or shoulder attachment frees the player's hands. A deployable work light serves construction, while small route markers communicate the way home. These tools should work with the baseline visual presentation; optional shaders can enrich their appearance.

Light is also a way to describe settlement ownership and activity. Warm lamps identify maintained refuges. Cooler cultivated light can mark underground gardens. A damaged lamp or an extinguished route marker can signal a local problem. Critical navigation should use shapes and placement as well as color.

A survey instrument begins by recording observations the player makes. It can identify a region, estimate direction to a recorded landmark, or display a coarse resource tendency. Upgrades can improve useful resolution, but the device should not erase exploration by exposing every room and object automatically.

The journal connects maps, routes, specimens, and projects. A useful entry answers where something was observed, what remains uncertain, and what would help on the next visit. It should distinguish a personal note, a confirmed discovery, and a shared party waypoint without overwhelming the player with a technical database.

## Protection and consumables

Protection should be legible in layers of capability. Work clothes provide ordinary durability and carrying options. A filtered mask addresses specific airborne hazards. Insulated equipment extends time near heat or cold. Sealed planetary equipment supports operation where breathable conditions are absent in the game fiction.

The interface should show an understandable reserve for the active hazard and give warnings early enough to turn back. A failing filter, hot suit, or low tank needs a visual and optional audio signal. The player should be able to assess the problem without opening several menus during danger.

Consumables should be specific and reasonably few: food, a relevant filter or breathing supply, a power reserve, repair materials, and a destination-specific item when necessary. Stacking many independent consumable bars would make the expedition difficult to read. Established settlements should offer saved loadout preparation so a familiar trip does not require repeated manual sorting.

Emergency supplies buy recovery time rather than erase every consequence. A small breathing reserve can support a retreat to shelter. A patch kit repairs a defined fault. A signal device records a recovery location or helps a cooperative rescue. Their purpose is to turn a mistake into a tense solvable situation.

## Proposed equipment register

| ID | Equipment | First useful role | Image requirements |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| EQ01 | Expedition pickaxe | Familiar, maintainable mining tool | Held scale, head detail, material variants. |
| EQ02 | Geological hammer | Preserve and collect specimens | Side view and a specimen-recovery action. |
| EQ03 | Field chisel | Recover or shape selected stone details | Handle, cutting edge, and block-scale use. |
| EQ04 | Powered hand drill | Controlled small-volume excavation | Working head, battery position, and readable held silhouette. |
| EQ05 | Stationary drill frame | Work a bounded excavation project | Full installation, worker access, output bin, safety boundary. |
| EQ06 | Rope and anchor kit | Establish a climb and return route | Components and an anchor mounted in real block geometry. |
| EQ07 | Expedition harness | Use secured vertical routes | Front and back worn views with attachment points. |
| EQ08 | Cargo winch | Move supplies through vertical terrain | Frame, drum, power input, and suspended load. |
| EQ09 | Deployable crossing kit | Bridge a limited temporary gap | Packed state, placement preview, deployed span. |
| EQ10 | Carrying frame | Carry a sample or expedition cargo | Worn silhouette, cargo attachments, loaded variation. |
| EQ11 | Expedition lamp | Provide dependable mobile light | Off, on, and equipped views. |
| EQ12 | Work light | Illuminate a construction or sampling area | Deployed stand and coverage context. |
| EQ13 | Route markers | Mark a route and communicate direction | Shape set, arrows, symbols, and color-independent reading. |
| EQ14 | Survey instrument | Record terrain and locate known targets | Held tool, field use, and screen information hierarchy. |
| EQ15 | Field journal | Connect discoveries and next actions | Open pages or screen, map relationship, annotation example. |
| EQ16 | Sample kit | Preserve mineral and biological finds | Containers for dry, wet, fragile, and living samples. |
| EQ17 | Cultivation tools | Establish controlled underground growth | Hand tools, prepared bed, and a healthy sample. |
| EQ18 | Portable pump | Clear or control a bounded water problem | Intake, outlet, hose route, and powered installation. |
| EQ19 | Field battery | Support portable equipment | Connector language, charge indicator, transport state. |
| EQ20 | Filtered work mask | Enter a specifically signaled airborne hazard | Worn fit, replaceable filter, and readable condition indicator. |
| EQ21 | Thermal expedition suit | Extend time in hot or cold regions | Worn silhouette, insulated joints, cooling or heating module. |
| EQ22 | Ceramic heat shield | Support a short controlled hot-zone crossing | Surface pattern, carry position, interaction with a route. |
| EQ23 | Sealed expedition suit | Support extravehicular planetary exploration | Front, rear, helmet, gloves, boots, and tank connection. |
| EQ24 | Breathing supply | Provide a clear reserve and refill system | Tank, portable refill connection, and mounted version. |
| EQ25 | Shelter kit | Establish a reliable small expedition refuge | Packed cargo, assembly stages, interior, and entrance. |
| EQ26 | Communications beacon | Record a site, coordinate return, and support planetary recovery mode | Deployed beacon, recovery mode, indicators, map association. |
| EQ27 | Repair and patch kit | Recover from a limited equipment fault | Contents, distinct material uses, and practical repair scene. |
| EQ28 | Aquatic survey kit | Explore an approved underwater route | Mask or helmet module, tether, light, and sample storage. |
| EQ29 | Radiation shielding module | Prepare for specified planetary exposure | Worn or installed module and protected refuge relationship. |
| EQ30 | Resonance reader | Interpret a defined family of deep traces | Probe, display, and interaction with an unusual formation. |
| EQ31 | Cargo sled or field cart | Move supplies along a suitable route | Empty and loaded forms, hitch, route context. |
| EQ32 | Expedition cutting tool | Clear vegetation and utility obstacles | Held silhouette and practical utility use. |

The equipment register is a set of visual and functional families. It should not produce a separate inventory item for every pictured variant unless that variant changes a meaningful choice. Material skins, installed modules, and upgraded components can share a stable equipment identity.

## Combat equipment and the role of fighting

Combat should support the environments and existing Minecraft feel. Familiar melee weapons, shields, and ranged tools provide an approachable baseline. Specialist equipment can improve control in a particular situation: a reliable shield against a charging creature, a light source that reveals movement, or a utility tool that clears a retreat.

New weapons should earn their complexity through a distinct action. A heavy weapon might trade speed for interruption, while a compact expedition weapon leaves room for other equipment. The initial direction should avoid many weapons that differ only by damage numbers or a long mandatory succession of fantasy metals.

Hostile encounters should have a readable territory or behavior. Combat is one way to solve certain situations, but navigation, timing, barriers, light, or noise can create alternatives. Essential resources should not routinely require exterminating every living thing in a biome.

Major encounters are strongest when they conclude a local situation: restoring a machine while avoiding its active hazards, securing a route occupied by a territorial creature, or navigating a hazardous chamber to retrieve an instrument. A large health bar alone does not create a memorable chapter.

## Loadouts and preparation as a clear decision

The preparation screen should start with the chosen destination and known hazards. It then shows the relevant carried equipment, reserves, and cargo capacity. Missing essentials are explicit. Optional improvements remain visibly optional. Players can save a preferred loadout and replenish it from authorized settlement supplies.

A first Deepwilds trip might emphasize light, filters, sample containers, and a return line. A Mantle margin trip adds heat protection and a conservative reserve. A lunar surface trip needs a sealed suit, breathing supply, navigation, and a dependable shelter or return to the cabin. These loadouts should feel different without becoming separate games.

Preparation should support informed risk. A player can intentionally carry less or take a difficult route, but the game must distinguish that decision from an unclear interface. The default product should explain what it knows and what remains uncharted.

# Production transport and settlement technology

## Technology grows out of visible work

Early installations use timber frames, stone, rope, water, and accessible metal fittings. Their function should be readable from their parts. Later workshops introduce steel frames, ceramic insulation, copper connections, glass observation points, and standardized cargo fittings. Planetary systems inherit this language with more sealed joints and modular components.

Machines should occupy useful places. A kiln belongs near material handling and storage. A pump connects a water problem to a visible outlet. A lift has a clear upper and lower landing. An observatory points toward a view. Their arrangement can make a settlement look productive before the player opens a menu.

The following installations define creative scope for future projects. They do not all need to exist in an initial content release.

| ID | Installation | Purpose | Visible changes as it becomes useful |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| TEC01 | Carpenter and repair bench | Maintain ordinary tools and produce structural parts | Work surfaces, racks, stored materials, and finished orders. |
| TEC02 | Kiln and ceramics station | Produce durable vessels and insulating parts | Fuel area, chamber, cooling shelves, and glazed products. |
| TEC03 | Smithy and alloy furnace | Make metal parts and improved equipment | Charge area, furnace, work surface, and standardized stock. |
| TEC04 | Textile and seal workshop | Produce filters, cloth, bags, and flexible seals | Fiber storage, drying racks, work tables, and finished bundles. |
| TEC05 | Cultivation house | Grow food and useful biological materials | Prepared beds, moisture control, mature crops, and sample records. |
| TEC06 | Pump and water station | Support bounded drainage and reliable local water | Intake, pipes, service path, outlet, and maintenance access. |
| TEC07 | Power workshop | Support electrical processes and field charging | Generator or source connection, storage, visible distribution, and shutoff. |
| TEC08 | Refinery and materials lab | Process advanced materials and examine finds | Input bins, process stations, sample windows, and product storage. |
| TEC09 | Survey office and observatory | Connect field records to future expeditions | Map tables, instruments, specimens, and observation equipment. |
| TEC10 | Lift and transfer station | Move players and cargo through a known vertical route | Landings, hoist, loading areas, and route signage. |
| TEC11 | Rail or cart depot | Organize repeated local transport | Track or prepared path, loading points, storage, and arrival indicators. |
| TEC12 | Habitat and life-support workshop | Prepare sealed expedition systems | Tested cabin modules, tanks, refill points, and service connections. |
| TEC13 | Vehicle assembly hall | Build and maintain recognized craft designs | Jigs, staged hull sections, tools, cargo lanes, and completed craft. |
| TEC14 | Launch and recovery complex | Prepare spacecraft and receive returning expeditions | Pad, service gantry, supply connections, briefing area, and recovery storage. |

## Transport should preserve the first journey

The first trip through a region should involve reading it. A later transport improvement should reward understanding and investment. Lifts, carts, prepared crossings, and surveyed travel links therefore belong at different points in the area's life. A route that becomes convenient still retains places where the player can choose to stop and explore.

Routine cargo movement can use bounded scheduled transfers between established endpoints. The player authorizes what moves and sees why a transfer is waiting. A transfer reserves already-produced goods at its source. Its finite arrival process progresses when an eligible player activates the receiving region, and completes once. Both endpoints need not be occupied simultaneously. This permission moves reserved cargo; it does not restart remote factories, create goods, or consume new production inputs in an absent region. The design should not simulate a convoy across every unloaded chunk merely to deliver a stack of supplies. Where a visible arrival matters to a scene, it can occur as a controlled event within an active settlement.

Player travel should remain clear about destination and arrival conditions. A late convenience system can connect already surveyed and secured places. It should not accidentally strand a player at an outpost whose shelter or breathing support has been removed. A destination can be listed as unavailable for routine convenience transport until its required services are restored. A self-sufficient expedition carrying its own survival equipment can still reach a supported landing or approach to repair the damaged outpost.

## Construction and free building share a visual vocabulary

Authored buildings supply strong examples of how materials work together. Their palettes should be available to the player. Roofs, beams, railings, windows, floors, lamps, stairs, slabs, and appropriate trims should make it possible to extend a settlement naturally.

Decorative breadth is most useful when organized into complete building families. A new stone that has a full set of practical construction forms is more valuable than many isolated blocks. Underground and planetary palettes should include enough warm and neutral options for comfortable interiors alongside the more unusual exterior materials.

Machines and structures also need repairable states. Damage should have a visible local meaning, such as a missing rail section or a failed pump component. Repair restores a known function. Ordinary free-built architecture should not become a maintenance chore unless the player deliberately chooses a mode that adds it.

## A clear boundary for advanced simulation

Atmosphere, electrical networks, structural support, ecology, logistics, and NPC routines can each become enormous systems. The recommended product direction uses bounded models wherever those models satisfy the experience. A known habitat module can provide a dependable sealed room. An authored foundation can support a bridge. A managed cultivation bed can support an ecosystem.

A proposed later commissioning process can recognize a limited supported function in a player-built structure, using a visible boundary and readable checks. Generic shelter, cultivation, and a supported workshop are candidate functions. This does not automatically grant completion credit for a specific authored chapter project. The approach should be proved one function at a time. It is not a promise to simulate pressure, heat, power, load, and biology across every possible block arrangement.

Complexity should be added when a playable experience needs it. The creative vision remains broad, while individual systems remain understandable enough that a player and a small development team can both reason about what should happen next.


# Power fuel and the cost of travel

## A small set of understandable supplies

The proposed energy system should use a few recognizable supply families. Ordinary heat supports early cooking, kilns, and metalwork. Mechanical power supports the mill and simple hauling. Electrical power supports instruments, pumps, workshops, field equipment, and habitat services. Propellant supports travel. Advanced transit adds a defined late-game navigation and drive capability without turning every machine into a consumer of a new universal crystal.

Early electrical work can use a small installation assembled from familiar resources. A later settlement power workshop expands storage and distribution. Local generation choices can differ aesthetically and practically across sites, while the equipment connection remains consistent. A player should be able to understand where a machine receives power and why it has stopped.

Portable devices use serviceable field cells or batteries. Charging replaces repeated crafting of disposable components where that would become tedious. Expedition stations can maintain a bounded reserve and show it in the preparation view. A stored battery does not silently decay during a player's absence under the default direction.

## Propellant and the first flight

The first orbital and lunar craft use a standard game propellant manufactured at an Earth preparation installation from accessible feedstocks. The exact fictional recipe and storage scale belong to balancing, but its dependencies must be available before space travel. A lunar mineral, a Mars reagent, or an outer-world sample cannot be required for that first round trip.

Longer voyages improve efficiency, storage, servicing, and available reserves. They need not add a wholly separate branded fuel for every destination. Established workshops can prepare ordinary propellant, and suitable developed outposts can eventually use local processing alternatives. Optional Ceres or Io discoveries can make selected routes more convenient while leaving the main route viable without them.

A mission plan states the travel segments, expected operating reserve, and return allocation. Cargo and craft configuration can alter the supported envelope through a small number of understandable budgets. The interface should show the consequence directly when a heavier payload reduces reserve. Exact distances, acceleration, burn calculations, and real chemistry are outside this creative specification.

The recommended default prevents ordinary crafting and automated processing from consuming a protected return allocation. A player may deliberately revise the mission and reserves through an explicit action with a clear consequence. An unexpected shortage should have a recovery path consistent with the chosen difficulty, rather than permanently maroon the only copy of the campaign.

## Manufactured supplies and their visual references

| ID | Supply or service | First available source | Illustration coverage |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SUPPLY01 | Standard spacecraft propellant | Earth preparation installation using accessible feedstocks and established power | Feedstock handling, sealed transport container, refill connection, protected return allocation. |
| SUPPLY02 | Breathing-supply refill | Earth habitat workshop with a defined water or atmosphere-processing input | Processing station, filled tank, suit connection, reserve indicator. |
| SUPPLY03 | Charged field cell | Earth power workshop before planetary travel | Uncharged and charged cell, charging rack, installed device. |

These three families use the same physical forms in storage, mission preparation, and field equipment. Later discoveries can improve their production or storage without making the first departure circular. Refilling breathing supplies is a supported game process with explicit inputs and outputs, not a claim to reproduce real life-support chemistry.

## Advanced transit and its limits

The first Interstellar capability combines a mature vessel, independent survival, Pluto navigation data, and a transit system that can be built using previously reachable resources. Its extraordinary operation is game fiction. Cairn's Phase Tine and Palimpsest Plate are later improvements for local instruments and archive work, not prerequisites for reaching Cairn.

The transit system follows surveyed routes and a small set of understandable operating states. It does not supply free energy to every settlement, teleport arbitrary buildings, or manufacture matter. Its boundaries should remain legible in the story and in the mission display. Expanding the map requires a new discovery or calibrated route rather than an unlimited coordinate field.

Long travel can be represented by an inhabited passage state, a short authored sequence, or an established-route shortcut. Players can spend time in the cabin when they enjoy it, but a journey should not demand hours of passive waiting. Essential mission events occur when their participants are present and ready under the saved-state rules.

## Habitats while occupied and while parked

An occupied habitat needs readable life-support status and a fair warning before any failure. A maintained refuge should not turn into a surprise lethal room because an unrelated production queue consumed its last reserve. Essential services have protected operating allocations and clear priority over optional work.

A managed habitat with no eligible participating occupants enters the stable parked state. Authored production, visitors, consumption, and events pause coherently. Goods and supplies already present remain recorded. Returning resumes the supported local state instead of calculating an absence penalty. Ordinary Minecraft systems outside the managed habitat retain their normal behavior.

This creates a practical distinction between an active expedition, a working occupied outpost, and a safely parked destination. It gives energy and preparation a meaningful role during play while allowing the player's network of homes to grow without becoming a real-time maintenance obligation.


# Space exploration

### A readable route with optional branches

The recommended principal route is **Earth → Moon → Mars → Europa → Titan → Pluto**. Pluto resolves the first broad Solar System expedition arc. **Ceres** and **Io** offer substantial optional expeditions that change the player's industrial and exploration options without becoming mandatory toll booths. **Cairn → Morrow**, in the fictional **Afterlight System**, forms a proposed Beyond Sol continuation. Reaching it should feel like opening the next frontier, while leaving the player with a satisfying stopping point at Pluto.

| Destination | Narrative role | First reliable access | Contribution to future expeditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon | Pale Horizon; first independent extraterrestrial foothold | Lunar | Vacuum construction, compact thermal management, observatory practice |
| Mars | Red Frontier; first sustained planetary campaign | Interplanetary | Field maintenance, mobile exploration, stronger life-support logistics |
| Ceres | Optional industrial and navigation branch | Interplanetary | Cargo efficiency, anchors, resource processing, low-gravity construction |
| Europa | Outer Worlds; first deep alien ecosystem | Deep-Space | Ice access, pressure discipline, submersible exploration, sensitive sampling |
| Io | Optional high-energy engineering branch | Deep-Space | Heat recovery, temporary industrial operation, active-terrain navigation |
| Titan | Outer Worlds; atmosphere, weather, and chemical landscapes | Deep-Space | Flight envelopes, environmental sensing, efficient closed-loop machinery |
| Pluto | Outer Worlds culmination; distance, silence, navigation | Deep-Space | Interstellar route calibration and long-duration autonomy |
| Cairn | Beyond Sol; interpret a place outside familiar history | Interstellar | Bounded anomaly tools and access to a second destination in Afterlight |
| Morrow | Beyond Sol; apply knowledge to a living frontier | Interstellar | Ecological construction, optional restoration, meaningful endgame stewardship |

These are capability gates, not nine versions of “find a stronger ore.” The player can build the vehicle, arrival equipment, initial habitat, and safe return capability for a destination using knowledge and supplies already available. A destination's discoveries improve later expeditions or open its deeper regions. They never create a circular demand to mine beneath lethal conditions before the protection against those conditions can be crafted.

### An expedition should change its shape

A first landing is compact: establish shelter, read the terrain, make one descent, return with a discovery. A second visit grows outward through a meaningful project such as a borehead, tether mast, weather station, or tram. Later visits support settlement, specialized industry, unusual variants, and optional mastery challenges. Mature outposts reduce repeated travel chores and expose new decisions. The landing sequence remains available for atmosphere and role-play, but established routes can use a shorter travel option.

The first two space destinations should each support a memorable campaign, rather than being tutorial rocks passed through in an hour. The Moon teaches exposure and deliberate movement; Mars teaches distance, route planning, and maintaining an expedition beyond the immediate lander. Europa and Titan broaden the game's ecology and traversal language. Pluto tests preparation and interpretation without simply maximizing damage numbers.

# Moon

### Identity and arrival

The Moon should feel astonishing because Earth is visible and help is suddenly far away. The soundscape moves inside the suit: breath, transmitted steps, tool contact, radio clicks, and machinery touching the ground. Its intended population is overwhelmingly lifeless. Tension comes from terrain, exposure, visibility, and one's own engineering. It should not acquire a standard crowd of reskinned hostile creatures merely to fill empty space.

The first Lunar lander brings an airlocked refuge, enough protected supplies for a complete round trip, portable lighting, a tether kit, dust seals, and a basic survey instrument. The player chooses among safe candidate landing sites described in plain language. More dramatic sites remain available to experienced expeditions. The first descent entrance sits within a feasible walking loop, while the skyline invites longer excursions after the foothold is secure.

### Generation grammar and named experiences

**MO-S1 — Earthrise Rim.** Crater rims, shallow ridges, and broad regolith shelves create readable silhouettes. Earth appears through gaps in the rim during the expedition's authored viewing conditions. Survey lines, flag sites, and shielded habitat pockets make this the emotional home of the first landing. Surface generation must preserve long sightlines and occasional startling drops rather than producing an ordinary rolling Overworld with gray blocks.

**MO-S2 — Shadow Basin.** Permanently shaded-looking crater pockets offer a contrasting dark route within the game's stylized lighting model. Reflective markers and mobile lights reveal paths across slumped dust. A long surface journey might enter darkness, cross sheltered shelves, and emerge beside a bright rim. This is a navigation experience; it should not be reduced to an invisible temperature damage zone.

**MO-L1 — Regolith Hollows.** The shallow underground comprises small voids, compressed dust shelves, fractured impact deposits, and buried blocks. Paths are tight enough for careful suit movement and teach bracing unstable surfaces. Sound transmitted through tools can hint at an adjacent void. Different hollows favor crouched surveying, gentle extraction, or short tethered drops. Not every crater hides an entrance, and repeated geological motifs give experienced players clues.

**MO-L2 — Basalt Galleries.** Long, sweeping lava-tube-inspired passages open into immense dark chambers. Collapsed roofs connect some galleries to the surface, creating shafts of light and alternate exits. Routes alternate between smooth walking floors, boulder chokes, vertical tube junctions, and bridges the player constructs. Broad stable sections become attractive pressurized construction sites once a gallery's boundaries are surveyed.

**MO-L3 — Glassfall Vaults.** Deeper chambers contain fictional impact-glass seams, delicate hanging fragments, and steep polished fractures. Light travels across surfaces in surprising but readable ways. The signature challenge is moving instruments through narrow ledges without disturbing every seam. Rare chambers might contain an unusual pattern related to Earth's deeper mysteries, but most remain geological places without built ruins or implied inhabitants.

### Counterplay resources and projects

Dust contamination is visible on seals and exposed machinery and can be cleared at a service station. Shadowed routes advertise cold through instruments, suit feedback, and obvious lighting changes; insulation and batteries are brought from Earth. Tethers and anchors answer low-gravity falls and awkward jumps. Cavities that can collapse show cracks and falling particles before a local, bounded event. No world-spanning simulation silently destroys the first base.

**Lunar Glass Filament** is a proposed fictional refined material for sensors, light guides, and compact instrument housings. **Regolith Ceramic** uses abundant surface feedstock to improve vacuum habitat panels and thermal shielding. Both support construction and observation; neither becomes a universally stronger sword. Common structural ingredients remain obtainable through more than one local region.

The **Lunar Shelter Controller** begins with a powered airlock and protected sleeping cell, then adds a dust porch, workshop, storage, and optional gallery enclosure. The **Rim Observatory Controller** creates a visible landmark and improves regional survey maps. The flagship expedition, **A Light Across the Basin**, asks the player to connect two natural vantage points with a sequence of reflectors and protected relay instruments. Its goal is accurate observation and route-making, not activating an ancient lunar temple.

### A representative expedition and lasting value

An early expedition lands at Earthrise Rim, establishes the shelter, walks to a known tube opening, descends through Regolith Hollows, and reaches a Basalt Gallery. The player returns with filament feedstock, a cave survey, and a photograph of Earth through the collapsed roof. A later trip approaches the same system through Shadow Basin and reaches Glassfall Vaults using improved anchors.

Home benefits include compact cave lighting, sealed workshops, observatory furniture, and more reliable survey instruments. Repeat visits offer new tube layouts, distant crater chains, unusual glass compositions, and outpost construction. The Moon should remain a useful and beautiful place to live after Mars opens.

**Illustration subjects:** Earthrise Rim lander vista; Shadow Basin light trail; cramped Regolith Hollows traversal; Basalt Galleries habitat; Glassfall Vaults extraction; lunar shelter stages; observatory and reflector mission; both material specimens.

# Mars

### Identity and arrival

Mars expands the feeling of expedition from one shelter to a connected region. Its surface offers distant escarpments, dry channels, sediment shelves, wind-carved forms, and weather that can change a familiar route. The player can see where they want to go long before they can reach it conveniently. The underground offers preserved water-shaped spaces, mineral growth, and a deep contrast between dry exposure and sheltered pockets.

Arrival equipment includes appropriate atmospheric protection, dust filtration, insulation, repair supplies, a weather reader, and a rover or materials for a small rover assembly project. It comes from Earth and the Moon. Early gameplay does not demand local life, drinkable liquid, or a functioning ancient machine to keep the expedition alive. Sparse fictional microbial or mat-like life can appear later in protected depths; this is a creative choice for review, not a claim about actual Mars.

### Generation grammar and named experiences

**MA-S1 — Windcut Tablelands.** Layered mesas and broad benches make a clear stepping pattern between landing flats and high viewpoints. Routes follow terraces, cross narrow saddles, or take slower gullies. Dust accumulates around the lee sides of terrain and structures, giving weather direction a visible geography. The region suits rover exploration, roadside shelters, and player-built lookout towers.

**MA-S2 — Buried Delta.** A branching dry channel network reveals the shapes of former flow. Some channels descend into fissures, others terminate beneath sediment, and isolated basins create natural expedition loops. From above, the player can read where connected deposits may lie. Small survey projects uncover a route; they do not overwrite the landscape with quest markers everywhere.

**MA-L1 — Ochre Galleries.** Sheltered shallow tunnels follow cracked sediment layers. Thin partitions, window-like openings, and sloped galleries invite mapping across multiple elevations. Visible grain direction and bedding guide prospecting. Sites include concealed wind shelters, exposed cross-sections, and chambers where the player's footsteps disturb colored dust. They are hospitable places for an initial underground field camp once secured.

**MA-L2 — Brine Scarps.** Fictional isolated brine pockets cut into stepped mineral cliffs. Pale crusts, damp traces, and slow deposits distinguish them from Earth's abundant water caves. Players follow channels, place sampling stations, and cross shelves where corrosive material threatens equipment more than health. Optional living mats occupy a few sheltered niches and respond to light or vibration without turning the entire layer into a forest.

**MA-L3 — Rootstone Chambers.** Dense branching mineral formations create a misleadingly organic geometry: roots, ribs, woven walls, and arches that remain predominantly geological. Some networks carry detectable pulses through rock, tying planetary investigation to Earth's deeper observations. Traversal combines winding passages with open negative spaces between enormous formations. The player learns to identify a continuous structure across separated chambers instead of digging a straight staircase.

### Counterplay rewards and a campaign project

Dust fronts are telegraphed by sky changes, wind direction, and forecasts. A player can wait in a shelter, take protected channels, or use a marked rover route. Filters show remaining service life, and a reserve cartridge is ordinary expedition equipment. Brine damages unprotected tools gradually and visibly; sleeves and remote sampling arms are available before this layer opens. Dark mineral walls can interrupt survey readings, but physical markers remain dependable.

**Ferric Lattice** is a proposed processed composite for repairable frames, rover components, and rugged machinery. **Brine Catalyst** is a fictional reagent for compact processing and closed-loop habitat equipment. Their key benefit is sustained operation far from the primary workshop. Mars should make field engineering better without making every Earth structure obsolete.

The **Frontier Yard Controller** grows from service pad and shelter into rover bay, repair gantry, weather mast, greenhouse module, and regional supply depot. **The River That Isn't There** is the signature mission: reconstruct a buried drainage route using surface shape, core samples, and underground landmarks, then install a survey instrument in a Rootstone Chamber. The reward is both a new route and useful knowledge about the planet. The discovery does not need a second abandoned alien city.

### Expedition rhythm and return home impact

A sample sortie starts at Windcut Tablelands, drives through Buried Delta, shelters from a dust front in Ochre Galleries, and follows mineral traces to Brine Scarps. The team establishes a sample camp, returns with a catalyst batch and terrain data, then builds equipment for the deeper Rootstone route. The same campaign later opens a distant regional yard, making a formerly difficult journey routine.

Mars contributes mobile workshops, improved settlement logistics, durable frames, weather systems, and a strong dusty frontier building palette. Repeatability comes from distinct channel basins, expedition routes, research samples with multiple uses, rover trials, and player-chosen outpost networks. A mature Mars settlement can become a second home with its own visual identity.

**Illustration subjects:** Windcut Tablelands rover panorama; Buried Delta overhead; Ochre Galleries field camp; Brine Scarps sampling; Rootstone Chambers traversal; dust-front shelter scene; frontier yard stages; both material specimens.

# Ceres

### Identity and generation

Ceres offers the pleasure of understanding a small, fractured world well enough to work with it. It is an optional industrial expedition, reached with Interplanetary capability. The main Moon–Mars route remains valid without it. A player who visits gains more efficient cargo handling, anchoring systems, processing options, and striking low-gravity construction sites. The destination is largely lifeless and should feel like a place the player is claiming through careful work.

**CE-S1 — Broken Crown.** An irregular chain of ridges and exposed blocks forms a natural route around the landing region. Long jumps and tethered crossings are possible, but dependable walking and anchor routes also exist. Resource exposures appear as readable broken faces and seams, not every surface covered with convenient ore. The skyline is angular, compact, and visually distinct from the Moon's broad crater language.

**CE-L1 — Rubble Mazes.** Shallow interlocking voids weave between huge fractured masses. Instead of a normal cave corridor, the player crosses gaps, circles blocks, and reads the same chamber from different angles. Some surfaces need braces before tools can be safely used. Tethers turn empty space into a route network. A useful generated variant is a stable central shaft surrounded by many incomplete side routes, allowing several styles of player-made access.

**CE-L2 — Ice Pockets.** Enclosed dark chambers contain localized fictional volatile-bearing deposits, reflective ice, and sealed fractures. Work changes the local atmosphere inside temporary containment equipment, making surveying and staged extraction more interesting than swinging a pick indefinitely. Smaller pockets reward a single visit; larger ones justify a modular processing rig. Material distribution encourages choosing a site rather than converting the whole moon-sized body into one quarry.

**CE-L3 — Anchorstone Spine.** Deep competent-looking rock forms long structural ribs amid the fractured surroundings. The challenge is tracing a continuous bearing surface for a tether terminal or excavation platform. Some ribs emerge at distant surface ridges, allowing the player to establish an elegant through-route. This creates an underground engineering landmark without requiring ancient machinery or a boss arena.

### Counterplay and rewards

Loose blocks, drifting debris, and traction loss produce movement problems. Anchors, handrails, bracing foam, controlled tools, and enclosed cargo pods are the answers. All essential vacuum and temperature protection arrives aboard the ship. Equipment may lose alignment or need resetting after a clearly signaled local disturbance; the player's whole base does not tumble into space because of a background simulation.

**Dark-Ice Concentrate** is a fictional processed feedstock that improves storage and selected manufacturing routes. It is not a mandatory source of all spacecraft return fuel. **Porous Nickel Matrix** is a fictional light structural medium for cargo racks, equipment frames, and vibration-isolated instruments. Alternative recipes elsewhere keep the principal journey open.

The **Tetherworks Controller** builds anchor footings, a supported work deck, cargo capture rails, a small processor, and an optional orbital transfer interface. **Holdfast** is the signature engineering mission: map a stable route through Rubble Mazes to the Anchorstone Spine, install a sequence of verified anchors, and move a bulky instrument or cargo module through the completed route. Success depends on the route's quality and safety, not placing a fixed number of arbitrary quest blocks.

### Expedition and ongoing use

A first crew arrives at Broken Crown with a compact lander and tether kit, samples an Ice Pocket, and returns before committing to a larger plant. A second expedition builds the Tetherworks and creates a dependable path through the Rubble Mazes. Ceres then supplies efficient cargo modules and industrial feedstock while providing a satisfying construction sandbox.

Its repeatable value includes surveying alternative anchor lines, discovering unusually shaped pockets, expanding processing choices, and building dramatic suspended facilities. Outpost operations settle into a safe parked state when the player leaves. The location helps players who enjoy engineering; players focused on exploration can continue outward without a permanent extraction obligation.

**Illustration subjects:** Broken Crown tether crossing; Rubble Mazes navigation; Ice Pockets containment rig; Anchorstone Spine survey; Tetherworks assembly sequence; Holdfast cargo transfer; both material specimens.

# Europa

### Identity and arrival

Europa reverses the familiar relationship between land and sky. The player begins on an exposed frozen surface, descends through the ceiling of an alien sea, and eventually looks upward at ice instead of daylight. Its signature feeling is immense life and motion beneath an apparently spare exterior. The proposed ecology is overt game fiction, with a limited number of coherent families rather than every Earth ocean creature recolored.

A Deep-Space vessel arrives with surface shielding, thermal reserves, a protected habitat, ice survey equipment, and a pressure-rated initial descent package manufactured earlier. The first underwater zone is within that equipment's certified game capability. Better locally crafted equipment opens deeper or more specialized routes. A basic vessel can always retrieve the initial package; the player is not obliged to discover a miracle sealant while already drowning.

### Generation grammar and named experiences

**EU-S1 — Fracture Plains.** Long dark seams divide broad fields of pale ice, with displaced ridges creating corridors and blind corners. Surface routes teach players to read safe crossing spans, active fractures, and survey sites. The generator ensures a useful initial bore location near the landing zone while leaving remote deep access sites for later. Jupiter can dominate selected vistas without becoming a landable background planet.

**EU-L1 — Blue Pressure Halls.** Thick ice contains galleries, sloped fissures, trapped cavities, and opaque walls that hint at movement beyond them. Instrument surveys reveal possible links before the player excavates. Some rooms are dry and shelter machinery; others contain water interfaces and require controlled openings. The architectural feeling is compressed, blue, and strangely quiet. Pressure doors and bracing projects turn precarious discovery into dependable access.

**EU-L2 — Lantern Ocean.** Beneath the main ice barrier, vertical water columns surround immense ice keels and scattered rock prominences. Proposed luminous drifters, grazing ribbons, and slow filter organisms make light itself a navigation language. Players follow currents, shelter behind terrain, and use tether reels or a compact submersible. Routes should have identifiable local landmarks; endless featureless open water is reserved for edges and atmosphere, not routine navigation.

**EU-L3 — Vent Gardens.** The deepest campaign region centers on warm-looking vent fields and richly patterned fictional colonies. Different gardens respond to light, vibration, flow, or mineral supply. Some seal routes during disturbance and reopen after calm conditions return. These are comprehensible ecological puzzles with fallback paths, not opaque multi-variable simulations. There can be defensive organisms and territorial hazards, but combat is only one part of the experience.

### Counterplay materials and the descent project

Exposure at the surface is addressed through brought shielding and clearly designated shelter. In water, pressure, cold, current, and visibility each have a readable instrument and a distinct equipment response. Current arrows on instruments supplement physical particles; no single interface becomes mandatory for players who prefer environmental reading. Damaged underwater equipment offers a recovery interval and emergency ascent to a known refuge where possible.

**Cryoseal Gel** is a fictional biological or bio-inspired processing material for flexible cold-resistant seals and repair patches. **Resonant Silica** comes from specific mineral-and-colony interfaces and improves acoustic sensing. It forms pale porous laminae with fine ribbed structure, visually distinct from Earth's pale-shelled, smoky-core resonant quartz. Earth quartz reads the established unusual trace family; Europa silica is an acoustic medium. Neither automatically replaces the other. First useful samples occur at an accessible upper-ocean interface within the imported equipment's operating envelope. Cryoseal feedstock can be cultivated in contained modules, while managed mineral substrates support the defined silica-growth process after discovery; the two sources remain distinct.

The **Ice Descent Controller** stages a shielded surface hut, instrumented bore, protected shaft, pressure lock, submerged dock, and optional deeper refuge. **Where the Ceiling Glows** is the signature mission: trace a pulsing illumination pattern through Lantern Ocean, learn which disturbances alter it, and place a non-destructive observatory beside a Vent Garden. The payoff is discovering a relationship among currents, organisms, and safe routes, with new sensing tools as the practical reward.

### Expedition and return home impact

The first major expedition establishes the bore, enters Blue Pressure Halls, and reaches a small anchored dock overlooking Lantern Ocean. A later sortie follows a mapped current corridor, samples a quiet garden, and returns before a predictable vent-cycle change. This sequence makes the first sight of the ocean a substantial milestone.

Europa brings stronger aquatic exploration, cold-region habitats, sonar-like survey options, living research displays, and a blue luminous material palette back to Earth. Repeat visits explore different garden behaviors, vertical cave geometry, rare sensory organisms, and additional refuge sites. Ecological restoration and observation should be equally legitimate late activities beside harvesting.

**Illustration subjects:** Fracture Plains with Jupiter; Blue Pressure Halls breach; Lantern Ocean reveal; Vent Gardens research encounter; compact submersible and submerged dock; Ice Descent stages; representative drifter, ribbon grazer, and filter colony; both material specimens.

# Io

### Identity and arrival

Io is a high-energy optional branch for players who enjoy engineering under changing conditions. Its central verb is **time**: time a crossing, schedule extraction, open a heat path, retreat before a clearly forecast event. It is predominantly lifeless. Awe comes from volcanic motion, glowing fissures, vast plumes seen at safe distances, and the player building a precise pocket of order in a hostile landscape.

The Deep-Space approach carries heat protection, chemical shielding, filtered equipment enclosures, a hardened lander, and replaceable exposed tool parts. Local discoveries improve energy systems after the first successful expedition. The main route through Europa and Titan remains possible without Io materials, and a player should not need to own a remote industrial complex here to reach Pluto.

### Generation grammar and named experiences

**IO-S1 — Sulfur Terraces.** Wide colored shelves surround fissure fields, with channels and hardened ridges defining movement. Safe initial landing shelves sit away from active fronts. Remote viewpoints reveal slow changes across the field, so an expedition can plan its route before departing. Surface palettes use restrained yellow, charcoal, ash-white, and localized orange glow; uniform neon ground would reduce clarity.

**IO-L1 — Cooling Galleries.** Recently cooled-looking passages alternate smooth walls, brittle crusts, and hollow flow channels. Thermal readings identify sections that can be crossed now and areas best left alone. Some corridors briefly vent along marked seams; players construct shielded pauses between them. These events are authored and local, with stable bypasses around critical access routes.

**IO-L2 — Pressure Orchards.** The name refers to branching mineral chimneys, not plant life. Tall forms release periodic plumes and resonate before an event. Routes weave between chimney bases, climb insulated gantries, or cross overhead shelves. The player's task is to understand the pattern, record it, and build within safe intervals. Repeated layouts can vary timing families and branch geometry without generating impossible combinations.

**IO-L3 — Furnace Wells.** Deep vertical chambers expose a concentrated heat source behind thick, readable barriers. The player reaches viewing and maintenance shelves around the active center rather than swimming through arbitrary instant-death lava. Mechanical shutters, heat exchangers, and shielded service routes produce a visually dramatic industrial challenge. A natural return chimney connects some wells to distant surface ridges.

### Counterplay and project structure

Thermal buildup is shown through suit instruments, visible machinery discoloration, and environmental sound before failure. Chemical exposure affects exposed components with understandable service needs. Eruption events obey a bounded local calendar and announce their danger zones; terrain critical to the lander and sole exit does not vanish unpredictably. Offworld absence pauses active extraction campaigns or parks the facility in a stable state.

**Thermal Spine Crystal** is a fictional mineral that stabilizes selected heat-transfer equipment. **Sulfur Ceramic** is a fictional processed shielding material for industrial enclosures and decorative panels. Their advantage is better use of heat and harsher operating envelopes, not infinite power or universal invulnerability.

The **Heatworks Controller** creates a survey mast, shielded workshop, heat-exchanger foundation, protected extraction arm, and safe storage modules. **Borrowed Fire** is the signature operation: chart a Furnace Well, install equipment in stages during known safe windows, then run a short commissioning cycle and withdraw with the first product batch. Later automation reduces manual supervision while the region is active. It follows the same participant-based pause rules as other production. The initial feat remains an expedition involving terrain and timing.

### Expedition and ongoing relevance

A sample sortie crosses Sulfur Terraces during a quiet period, surveys a Cooling Gallery, establishes two shielded pauses, and observes Pressure Orchards without extracting anything. After preparing the route, the player brings a compact Heatworks kit and completes the first Furnace Well cycle. Survey knowledge matters as much as the cargo brought back.

Io rewards Earth and planetary settlements with heat reclamation, efficient foundry attachments, industrial lighting, and durable service modules. Repeatability comes from different operating windows, more elegant routes, alternative well geometry, and optional advanced machinery. Its completion is a proud engineering achievement; its existence does not force every player into continuous hazard maintenance.

**Illustration subjects:** Sulfur Terraces approach; Cooling Galleries protected crossing; Pressure Orchards plume cycle; Furnace Wells service gantry; Heatworks stages; Borrowed Fire commissioning scene; both material specimens.

# Titan

### Identity and arrival

Titan offers a dense atmospheric mood after the starkness of vacuum destinations. The intended palette is amber haze, dark liquid, pale frost, and occasional luminous life below. Landforms reveal themselves in layers through changing visibility. Movement alternates among shoreline travel, supported flight, sheltered passages, and deep hollow terrain. The proposed liquids, living systems, and usable materials are fictional gameplay interpretations.

The arrival ship brings environmental protection, appropriate seals, instruments that function in limited visibility, and a shelter able to handle the local atmosphere. First excursions use safe shoreline shelves and mapped ground routes. Specialized atmospheric craft become useful after a landing base exists, but there is always a viable first-landing route without a locally built flying machine.

### Generation grammar and named experiences

**TI-S1 — Amber Littoral.** Dark lakes and branching shorelines meet ridges that fade into orange distance. Natural harbors and high shelves invite outposts, while separated peninsulas create meaningful travel choices. The liquids have specific visible identities and interaction rules; players should never mistake a hazardous lake for ordinary drinking water. Weather changes sightlines and available routes without constantly destroying bases.

**TI-L1 — Waxstone Canyons.** Soft-looking, sculpted underground passages curve beneath the shores. Layered deposits create ridges, alcoves, and narrow slots where sound and instruments help navigation. Material textures suggest wax and resin without implying every wall is flammable. The first underground campaign uses recognizable channel junctions, relief camps, and mapmaking. Some canyons open into sheltered surface depressions that become secondary entrances.

**TI-L2 — Hollow Weather.** Enormous enclosed voids contain local fog banks, drips, suspended particles, and thermal-looking circulation. The player climbs between ledges or uses a compact supported flight craft in certified local volumes. Visibility can clear along currents, exposing distant anchor sites. This layer turns weather into a spatial puzzle: discover the observation point, predict a clear interval, place a relay, then create a dependable route.

**TI-L3 — Slow Gardens.** Fictional mat colonies, membrane fans, and drifting seed-like bodies occupy sheltered mineral interfaces. Their response to player activity is slow but clearly previewed: a colony folds, releases vapor, or redirects a small flow. Sampling requires patience, lighting choices, and collection tools. The world should avoid another Earthlike jungle with ordinary trunks and grass; its life is low, suspended, folded, and distributed across surfaces.

### Counterplay and rewards

Low visibility is addressed through shore markers, radar-like readings, local beacons, and durable physical routes. Hazardous liquids use clear material cues and suit warnings. Cold and chemical exposure are managed with equipment brought from prior destinations. Weather creates detours and shelter decisions; reliable forecasts bound the risk. Taking shelter should feel like sensible expedition play, not lost time imposed by an arbitrary timer.

**Amber Polymer** is a fictional flexible material for cold-environment housings, seals, and lightweight structures. **Liftweave Membrane** supports specialized balloonlike or buoyant local craft and selected habitat skins within the game's simplified engineering. Neither requires an unsupported claim about real Titan chemistry. Both offer new shapes and movement options instead of a straight armor-stat escalation.

The **Harbor Lantern Controller** constructs a raised refuge, shore beacon, sealed dock, weather mast, sample lab, and later an atmospheric craft hangar. **A Route Through the Haze** asks the player to connect several observation stations from Amber Littoral into Hollow Weather, then use the improved route to study a Slow Garden. Completing it makes a whole region more intelligible and traversable.

### Expedition and homecoming

A first trip follows the shoreline to a sheltered canyon entrance, sets a waypoint camp, and returns with polymer feedstock. The next trip enters Hollow Weather during a known clear interval and deploys a small mapping instrument. With the Harbor Lantern expanded, the player explores a Slow Garden and commissions a local atmospheric vehicle.

Titan contributes lightweight field structures, flexible equipment, weather mapping, unfamiliar decorative materials, and a fresh approach to local flight. Repeat visits reveal different shore networks, fog behaviors, colony interactions, and ideal harbor sites. An established Titan town should look like something built for Titan, with raised decks, glowing markers, enclosed walkways, and carefully sheltered gathering spaces.

**Illustration subjects:** Amber Littoral harbor; Waxstone Canyons route; Hollow Weather traversal; Slow Gardens sampling; supported atmospheric craft; Harbor Lantern stages; mat colony, membrane fan, and drifting seed form; both material specimens.

# Pluto

### Identity and arrival

Pluto should feel far away through composition and routine, not through forcing the player to watch hours of travel. Sunlight is represented as distant and restrained; the sky, silence, long shadows, and careful use of artificial warmth carry the experience. The destination asks what a self-contained expedition really needs and gives the player time to notice subtle patterns.

A Deep-Space craft arrives with long-duration power, insulation, redundant essential supplies, a portable refuge, and complete return capability. No mysterious local material is required to keep that equipment operating on arrival. Pluto's campaign can end satisfyingly with a completed distant observatory and a return to Earth. The proposed Afterlight route is a major further choice, not a mandatory final errand appended to the moment.

### Generation grammar and named experiences

**PL-S1 — Long Shadow Plain.** Broad quiet expanses are interrupted by low ridges, frozen textures, and isolated dark protrusions. Lighting and silhouettes identify landmarks over distance. Small differences matter: a ridge with a continuous shadow, a reflective seam, a hollow that does not accumulate the same surface texture. The generator uses restraint; filling every vista with huge towers would undermine the remoteness.

**PL-L1 — Frost Fold.** Shallow layered cavities resemble overlapping sheets and compressed folds. Routes follow broad planes that suddenly tighten into thin passages, then open around preserved voids. Sheltered chambers become warm visual islands around lamps and expedition equipment. The player reads fold orientation to anticipate how passages connect, making patient observation more useful than random tunneling.

**PL-L2 — Nightglass Rifts.** Deep dark fractures contain reflective fictional material with subtle directional effects. Survey beams split or disappear at particular surfaces, creating an optical route-finding challenge with physical clues and manual alternatives. Ledge systems emphasize careful lighting and anchors. Occasional openings align with a distant surface exposure, allowing a striking line of sight across several levels.

**PL-L3 — Quiet Lens.** A rare chamber system forms a natural-looking alignment of reflective faces and preserved deposits. It appears to focus or organize faint signals associated with the broader SUBSTELLAR mystery. This is not another ruined city. The player's installation is the visible machinery: instruments, mounts, calibration targets, and a protected observation room. The structure's origin and meaning can remain uncertain until the wider narrative decides.

### Counterplay discoveries and the campaign resolution

Cold and power discipline are visible and planned, with shelter intervals and instruments that announce remaining range. Long-distance navigation uses marked ridges, beacons, and the lander's map. Survey distortion is localized and recognizable; it never erases the player's basic ability to return. The destination's tension is precision and distance rather than a larger set of invisible lethal modifiers.

**Nightglass** is a fictional optical material for low-light instruments and navigational arrays. **Memory Frost** is a fictional sample medium whose layered pattern can preserve a record for analysis. It is a research material rather than an infinite data crystal. Once properly studied, its key findings remain in the expedition archive; losing a later physical sample does not erase the completed campaign.

The **Far Observatory Controller** stages a refuge, power module, alignment plinths, optical instruments, and a deep observation annex. **The Last Familiar Sky** asks the player to compare surface observations with the Quiet Lens and solve a bounded alignment sequence. Completion produces a trustworthy route hypothesis toward Afterlight and a compelling scientific-looking landmark the player built. A route alone does not instantly conjure an Interstellar ship.

### Expedition and repeatability

A first sortie crosses Long Shadow Plain to a shelter site, descends through Frost Fold, and locates the edge of Nightglass Rifts. The player returns, commissions improved optics from samples, and prepares the Quiet Lens investigation. Completing the observatory then creates a deliberate choice: return and celebrate the Solar System campaign, or begin the substantial Interstellar construction project.

Pluto adds long-range instrumentation, remote outpost autonomy, dark reflective construction accents, and a personal landmark at the familiar system's edge. Repeat value comes from additional lens configurations, distant mapping, observatory construction, and quiet exploration. Its emptiness must feel intentional and rewarding, with enough authored discoveries to justify the journey.

**Illustration subjects:** Long Shadow Plain refuge; Frost Fold camp; Nightglass Rifts optical survey; Quiet Lens instrument chamber; Far Observatory stages; The Last Familiar Sky alignment; both material specimens.

# Afterlight

### Role in the larger story

**Afterlight** is a proposed working name: light arriving after its source has moved beyond the familiar horizon, and the continued work that follows an apparent ending. Its existence should be hinted at through a consistent set of observations, with Earth as the beginning of the mystery. The same visual motif can recur sparingly in Earth's deepest upper-crust regions, on selected space instruments, and in Pluto's signal data. This does not redefine Earth's deepest region as the literal planetary core.

The system contains two proposed playable worlds, **Cairn** and **Morrow**. Cairn concerns interpretation and memory; Morrow concerns life and what the player chooses to build. The transition expands the palette while preserving Minecraft legibility. Block forms, tools, gravity cues, and cause-and-effect remain understandable even when the scenery becomes strange.

An Interstellar voyage requires a commissioned vessel, route calibration, independent survival modules, and an abort or return plan established before departure. Cairn provides knowledge needed to chart a safe local approach to Morrow. That is a destination-navigation discovery, not a requirement to build emergency life support from materials found only on Morrow. Afterlight should be developed only when the earlier game already earns the grandeur of this reveal.

# Cairn

### Identity and generation

Cairn is a fractured, mostly lifeless world with monumental negative space. It is the first destination where an unmistakably authored anomalous structure may be appropriate, because previous worlds have not all spent that device. The mood is neither generic magical purple terrain nor constant ruin tourism. Natural strata occupy most of the world; one coherent family of extraordinary structures becomes the focus of the campaign.

**CA-S1 — Shard March.** Vast tilted plates and long broken corridors interrupt a pale, spare surface. Some plates align across impossible-looking distances while still yielding readable walking paths, ramps, and tether routes. The first safe landing sits in a broad stable pocket with a clear view of the return vessel. Optional routes climb the edges of plates to reveal the world's larger geometry.

**CA-L1 — Inverted Terraces.** Caves open around enormous stepped overhangs, with ceiling geometry echoing the terrain below. Gravity remains consistent for ordinary movement; the visual surprise does not require a fully dynamic gravity simulation. Surveying finds places where ledges line up through separated rooms. Bridges, lifts, and careful excavation create continuous routes through a landscape that initially seems disjointed.

**CA-L2 — Palimpsest Halls.** Deep chambers contain layered markings and built-looking surfaces whose patterns overlap rather than presenting a convenient wall of exposition. The player compares records from different rooms, notices repeated absences, and reconstructs a sequence through bounded puzzles. Most of the environment remains touchable and mineable under normal rules, while clearly distinct protected components preserve important authored logic.

**CA-L3 — Witness Engine.** One major anomalous installation is proposed for the first campaign region. Its “engine” name is an explorer's interpretation, not a confirmed origin claim. It reacts to instruments and physical alignments with comprehensible local changes: opening a shutter, exposing a channel, redirecting a beam, or revealing a navigation pattern. It does not give the player omnipotent matter creation.

### Counterplay and discovery

Unstable-looking geometry is separated from truly active puzzle machinery through sound, material treatment, and readable instruments. A bounded anomaly can interfere with one instrument type at a time while ordinary lights, markers, and movement remain reliable. Essential arrival shelter uses conventional systems already proven in the Solar System. There is no surprise rule that invalidates every familiar item once the player lands.

**Palimpsest Plate** is a fictional recoverable structural medium from designated fragments and deposits, useful for archival interfaces and selected precision equipment. **Phase Tine** is a fictional resonant component for tightly scoped mechanisms such as anomaly sensors or local alignment devices. Both need explicit rule limits. Neither becomes an excuse for free teleportation, infinite energy, or arbitrary terrain rewriting.

The **Witness Camp Controller** stages an ordinary refuge first, then a comparison lab, secure sample store, observation deck, and interface gantry. **What Remains in the Gaps** asks the player to assemble a sequence from incomplete environmental observations, operate the Witness Engine safely, and derive a local route to Morrow. The encounter can incorporate the established story's characters through messages or companions without inventing a replacement cast here.

### Expedition and homecoming

A first trip establishes Witness Camp in Shard March and surveys Inverted Terraces. A second visits Palimpsest Halls using observations from Earth and Pluto, then returns with a recoverable fragment and a better model of the place. The final local mission commissions an interface to the Witness Engine and charts Morrow while preserving an independent route back to the Solar System.

Cairn brings optional precision tools, archival furnishings, unusual structural palettes, and a new understanding of prior mysteries. Repeat sites should explore a small, consistent mechanism vocabulary in different configurations. Endless unrelated alien devices would dilute the first discovery. A player may leave the world substantially undisturbed and still complete its central story.

**Illustration subjects:** Shard March arrival; Inverted Terraces bridging; Palimpsest Halls interpretation scene; Witness Engine full chamber; Witness Camp stages; instrument interaction close-up; both material specimens.

# Morrow

### Identity and arrival

Morrow is the proposed living answer to Cairn's preserved memory. The world contains ecological relationships that invite careful participation, useful construction, and optional restoration. Its emotional promise is earned hope after long descent and travel. It should preserve danger and exploration while giving the player something worth tending beyond the next machine tier.

The Interstellar vessel arrives with standard independent survival capability and known safe landing choices charted from Cairn. Local life is not immediately edible, breathable, tameable, or safe. Protective equipment and a conventional refuge allow patient study. The proposal is not a final perfect paradise that removes survival; it is a world where the player can understand local rules well enough to become a constructive presence.

### Generation grammar and named experiences

**MR-S1 — Dawn Canopy.** Broad sheltering growths and stone ridges alternate open sky with pools of colored shade. The forms are unmistakably fictional and use a limited silhouette family: fans, terraces, hanging membranes, and bundled pillars. Traversal follows natural clearings and elevated ridges. Safe landings occupy bare shelves so the first touchdown does not destroy a unique organism or demand a magical hover capability.

**MR-L1 — Rooted Vaults.** Near-surface caverns contain large structural growths threaded through stone. They create ladders, ramps, suspended platforms, and partially blocked routes. Players learn which surfaces tolerate climbing and which react to cutting or bright light. Useful resources occur around renewably managed growth edges. A heavy extraction route remains possible in ordinary deposits, while sensitive chambers make the tradeoff visible.

**MR-L2 — Tide Orchards.** Deeper enclosed basins contain fictional periodic flows and clustered organisms that open or fold in response. The cycle is legible and bounded, providing alternate traversal routes at different phases. Players can observe, install harmless markers, build raised crossings, or redirect a small local flow with an approved project. The experience is a living landscape puzzle, with grounded fallback paths and no requirement to simulate an entire planet's hydrology.

**MR-L3 — Hearthsea.** A vast sheltered region brings luminous waters, mineral islands, and expansive colonies together in the game's most mature ecological landscape. The goal is not to collect one final ore from its bottom. The player chooses where to establish a research refuge, which routes to open, and whether to undertake a local restoration project. Several equally valid beautiful sites prevent one correct base location from dominating every playthrough.

### Counterplay resources and a capstone project

Ecological hazards communicate through posture, light, movement, and repeated local patterns. Disturbed growth may close a passage or release a visible irritant cloud, with retreat routes and a settling period. Instruments explain observed relationships after sufficient study. Tools for sensitive sampling come from earlier worlds, so players are able to behave carefully on the first visit. Combat may occur around territorial organisms, but it does not become the universal language of first contact with life.

**Living Ceramic** is a fictional cultivated construction medium that matures into durable inert panels after controlled processing. **Tidelace Fiber** is a fictional flexible filament for responsive habitat screens, ecological sensors, and lightweight tools. Exported versions have bounded, ordinary item behavior; the player does not accidentally transport an uncontrolled infestation home. Once studied, contained cultivation can supply routine demand.

The **Hearthsea Conservatory Controller** creates a conventional shelter, isolated sample lab, raised walkways, observation niches, managed cultivation beds, and optional community spaces. **A Place for Tomorrow** is the proposed capstone: study a damaged or blocked local ecological route, select among a few authored restoration plans, supply the required materials, and build a useful settlement that respects the chosen site. The player sees concrete changes in accessibility, colony health cues, and community use.

### Expedition choice and ongoing play

A first expedition surveys Dawn Canopy and samples the edges of Rooted Vaults. A second maps a Tide Orchard cycle and establishes a temporary platform. The final campaign descent reveals Hearthsea, where the player chooses an outpost site and a restoration or observation charter. The story can conclude with the expedition returning home, establishing a new community, or maintaining both worlds as connected homes.

Morrow adds ecological construction, living visual accents, observation-driven exploration, and a final set of useful settlement projects. Its repeatable endgame includes new conservatory sites, alternate restoration approaches, specimen cultivation, local stories, and beautiful free building. A grand finale should leave the player with reasons to inhabit their world, not only a credit sequence and a stronger pickaxe.

**Illustration subjects:** Dawn Canopy landing; Rooted Vaults traversal; Tide Orchards contrasting cycle states; Hearthsea first reveal; conservatory stages; A Place for Tomorrow before-and-after; fan growth, membrane growth, and basin colony; both material specimens.

# Spacecraft and orbital places

### Capability classes and proposed representative hulls

The six inherited classes define capability, not a mandatory set of six disposable vehicles. Players may retain, refit, specialize, and display earlier craft. Later hulls can inherit learned construction methods without requiring every flight to pass through every former class. The proposed hull names below are examples of visual and product direction, not approved brand names or final recipes.

| Capability class | Proposed representative hull | Silhouette and internal identity | Practical role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atmospheric | **Lark** | Compact body, broad stabilizing forms, exposed landing feet, visible cargo rack; close cockpit and service access | Local surveying, surface transport, supported flight on appropriate worlds |
| Orbital | **Keel** | Upright launch body with a clean spine, distinct capsule, service section, and separable-looking equipment zones | First orbital missions, station access, instrument deployment |
| Lunar | **Pilgrim** | Squat lander with broad feet, low center of visual mass, side airlock, accessible equipment shelves | Moon landing, short expedition living, cargo return, local shelter |
| Interplanetary | **Peregrine** | Longer craft with distinct cabin, workshop, cargo body, propulsion section, and deployable service surfaces | Mars and Ceres campaigns, rover carriage, extended field operations |
| Deep-Space | **Hearth** | Protected central habitat surrounded by specialized service modules and strong structural framing | Outer-world expeditions, multiple shelters, laboratory work, rescue capability |
| Interstellar | **Far Lantern** | Large coherent expedition vessel with an unmistakable forward habitat, central structural span, and bounded anomalous navigation assembly | Afterlight voyage, independent operation, significant modular payload |

**Lark** is a practical work vehicle rather than a miniature starship. Its visible skids, cargo attachments, and instrument nose explain its purpose. Interior access is compact: one cockpit, a small service locker, and a rear load area. Variants may trade survey instruments for two passengers or a sample rack. Its value continues after spaceflight, especially on Mars-like routes and Titan-specific versions using an appropriate local flight system.

**Keel** gives the first launch a strong authored shape. The player can walk around the assembled vehicle, see the capsule above the service body, and understand where boarding, power, cargo, and propulsion belong. Orbital modules are small and purposeful. A payload fairing might hold an instrument package or starter station component. It should make orbit feel like an achievement without demanding a detailed real aerospace certification simulator.

**Pilgrim** is the first ship the player expects to live beside. Its airlock, ladder, lamps, landing feet, and exterior racks are recognizable from a distance. Inside, a compact cockpit connects to sleeping, suit service, sample storage, and a tiny working surface. A wide landing stance and accessible underside give it a home-like presence. Different cabin and cargo options support solo expeditions, a companion, or a heavier shelter kit.

**Peregrine** separates flight and expedition living more clearly. It carries a rover or equivalent local equipment in a defined bay, has a repair bench, and provides space to organize samples. Modular length and attachment choices should change its profile within an authored family. Windows frame a destination; warm interior materials and personal objects prevent every cabin from feeling like identical white laboratory cubes.

**Hearth** is a traveling base in the sense of service and shelter, with its mobile representation deliberately scoped. It carries redundant essential systems, a configurable laboratory, rescue equipment, and detachable-looking lander or expedition modules. The player can choose a cargo-heavy industrial expedition or a research-oriented campaign. A recognizable shared room, observation niche, and galley make it a place to inhabit between destinations.

**Far Lantern** is a substantial construction achievement with a visible relationship to everything learned before. Familiar structural frames, shielding, habitat modules, optics, and logistics surround one carefully bounded new interstellar mechanism. Its silhouette should suggest a long expedition and a protected community rather than simply a bigger missile. The interior includes a navigational observatory, archive, workshops, crew space, and clearly organized reserve systems.

The shared material language develops visibly across these craft. Lark and Keel emphasize familiar metal frames, dark service housings, bolted-looking joints, and warm practical cabin fittings. The first Pilgrim uses Earth-made technical ceramics and established glass; lunar refits can add pale Regolith Ceramic panels with dusty edge wear and Lunar Glass Filament instruments. The first Peregrine uses previously available reinforced frames; Mars refits can expose repairable Ferric Lattice and interchangeable external service boxes. Hearth begins with Solar System components available before its first outer-world voyage, then accepts destination-specific seals and shielding as improvements. The first Far Lantern combines established frames, Heartglass assemblies, Nightglass optics, and a calibrated transit system developed from Earth and Pluto observations. Cairn components are optional later instrument refits and cannot be required for the first journey to Cairn. These materials are visual and functional choices; paint, lighting, and trim remain personal, and later hulls need not become uniformly glossy white or neon purple.

### Modular choices that produce real decisions

The **cockpit** changes observation and control options: panoramic survey cabin, compact industrial cabin, or instrument-dense navigation room. It should not make ordinary flight impossible if a player prefers one visual style. Critical information remains consistently located across layouts.

The **cabin** trades crew or companion spaces, personal storage, rest quality, and common-room capacity within the settlement system's actual scope. Decorative freedom matters because the user may spend substantial time here. Beds, shelves, display specimens, plants in sealed modules, and trophies from earlier expeditions should fit designated safe interior areas.

The **cargo system** distinguishes loose resource holds, secure sample lockers, vehicle bays, externally mounted equipment, and reserved emergency supplies. Manifesting cargo is a planning tool: the player can see the shelter kit, spare filters, sample containers, and rover allocation before launch. Cargo mass or capacity should use understandable module budgets instead of simulating the physics of every decorative block.

The **life-support module** establishes expedition duration, environmental capability, redundancy, and service needs. It comes with an explicit destination readiness summary. A larger module can support more occupants or longer work, while a research or cargo module competes for the same finite space. Crucial reserves remain protected from ordinary crafting and automatic processing.

The **laboratory and workshop** define what can be done away from Earth. A survey lab identifies samples, a biology enclosure safely contains fictional organisms, and a field workshop repairs bounded equipment classes. Full industrial processing remains an outpost or home-base advantage. This preserves the value of settled places while still letting an expedition adapt.

## Authored construction with room for the player taste

Ships use the same material-fed project logic as managed settlements. The player places a **Shipyard Controller**, selects an unlocked hull family, previews the footprint and clearance envelope, and chooses a configuration. A ghosted or otherwise clearly readable plan shows foundations, boarding access, module slots, and required working space. The controller checks conflicts before construction starts.

Assembly has visible stages: **foundation and gantry → frame and landing gear → propulsion and service systems → habitat and cargo modules → outer shell and fittings → interior choices → commissioning**. Materials supplied to each stage produce an authored construction sequence. Scaffolds rise, components lock into place, and workers or machines use designated routes where the relevant community systems support them. The sequence can be paused safely and resumed without losing work.

The player retains expression through paint, surface finishes, lighting, selected silhouette variants, interior layouts, attachment choices, and designated free-build zones. A lunar freighter and lunar research vessel can share a reliable structural family while looking and feeling different. Cosmetic choices must not conceal the location of the airlock, remove a critical indicator, or silently violate the flight envelope.

Completed craft have a **commissioning checklist** within the product flow: route capability, power, environmental protection, essential supplies, cargo allocation, navigation data, and protected return reserves. It is presented as a concise readiness display with direct links to missing components. It should help a player launch confidently, not expose implementation jargon or repeat a bureaucratic approval ritual before every trip.

Upgrading a ship happens at a supported dock or shipyard. The system previews what will be replaced, which cargo needs relocation, and where personalized fittings will be stored. It never eats the player's cabin decorations because the next hull tier expects a different wall. Earlier ships can be parked, displayed, used for local journeys, or assigned to supported logistical jobs once those jobs exist.

## Recommended flight scope

The recommended experience combines authored launches and landings, meaningful local movement, bounded docking, explorable parked vessels, and destination-based interplanetary travel. It does not require a seamless physically simulated universe before the user can enjoy the Moon. The most valuable moments are boarding a craft that the player built, seeing home recede, navigating the destination's local space, making a first landing, and stepping outside.

Local flight can operate in defined surface or orbital volumes with clear boundaries and approachable controls. Docking begins with generous capture zones and understandable alignment feedback. A player may perform a short manual approach or use an established-route assistance option. Long journeys transition through an inhabited travel state or a shorter confirmed passage; neither demands hours of passive waiting.

When landed or docked, the vessel is a stable explorable construction with dependable collision and designated editable areas. During flight, it can use a controlled vehicle representation derived from the chosen authored configuration. Supporting arbitrary moving player-built voxel megabases should remain a separate future decision. The product should promise ships with personality, useful modularity, and reliable travel before promising unrestricted mobile architecture.

The Solar System view is a useful expedition planning interface: discovered worlds, known hazards, available landing sites, established outposts, cargo needs, and return readiness. Route lines tell a story of what the player has opened. The interface should let a mature expedition depart efficiently while retaining a deliberate first-arrival sequence for a new destination.

## Orbital places stations and support craft

**Home Orbit Anchorage** is a proposed first station: a compact dock, panoramic Earth observation room, storage spine, workshop, and instrumentation platform. Its function is visible. It supports vehicle service, small assembly projects, and expedition preparation without becoming a mandatory bureaucracy between every Earth task and the surface.

**Transfer Yard** is a proposed station family that can be built at selected useful route nodes. Cargo modules, docking arms, fuel-service equipment, and refuge cells attach to authored expansion points. A station near a gas giant offers enormous views and meaningful planning for its moons. It does not imply that the giant has a conventional surface region.

The **Station Controller** feeds staged assembly in the same language as settlement projects. Shared station parts include docking collars, pressure corridors, window rooms, storage racks, solar-looking or other approved power modules, radiator-like service panels, and visible emergency refuges. Players choose a recognizable architectural family and then personalize interior and exterior zones.

Support craft include a **Survey Rover**, **Cargo Crawler**, **Ice Submersible**, and **Atmospheric Survey Skiff**. These are proposed functional families, not additional spacecraft capability classes. Each answers a specific terrain problem. A rover carries tools and shelter across Mars; a crawler moves bulky equipment through prepared routes; the submersible explores Europa; the skiff navigates supported atmospheric environments such as Titan's local volumes.

## Return rescue and permanent progress

Every first expedition begins with an independently viable way home. Return supplies are reserved and visibly separated from ordinary cargo. When a lander and orbital carrier are both used, both ends of the route are checked. A destination's key material is never needed to manufacture the first return propellant. If players voluntarily change their loadout, the interface explains the resulting range or shelter limit before departure.

The first landing zone contains a dependable deployment footprint, a protected arrival interval, and a route to nearby initial content. This does not mean every destination is gentle. It means the player gets a fair chance to deploy the equipment that preparation earned. More difficult landings are explicit expedition choices after suitable instruments and experience exist.

The **Expedition Recovery Beacon** is the supported planetary recovery mode of the EQ26 Communications beacon, rather than a separate required device. It provides a bounded recovery option if a craft is disabled or a player loses the normal route. Depending on game mode, recovery may consume emergency stores, take an in-game interval, move the player to a safe shelter or established base, and leave some nonessential cargo for a later salvage mission. It should never erase discovered navigation, learned recipes, completed story milestones, or the only source of a unique progression item.

In multiplayer, another player can perform a supported rescue with spare capacity and the correct equipment. In solo play, a recovery service or automated expedition contingency provides an equivalent escape from permanent stranding. The exact fiction should match the wider settlement and faction design. Rescue preserves consequence without turning a failed expedition into an unrecoverable save.

Remote habitats enter a stable parked state when no eligible participating player is present. Flavor records can describe ordinary life, but they cannot consume actual inventory, advance production, or create absence debt while paused. Critical air, heat, and inhabitants remain stable during the player's absence. Active mission events, heat extraction windows, and ecological puzzles resume under clear local rules. A player's outward empire should expand their choices, not create a growing list of punishments for being elsewhere.

# Planetary materials and reference catalogue

All names in this inventory are new creative proposals except the real destination names, the five inherited arc titles, and the six inherited spacecraft capability classes. The identifiers are working references for the document and later illustration commissioning, not implementation IDs. Materials below are fictional game materials; names inspired by common substances do not assert specific real deposits or engineering properties.

### Places and projects

| World or location | Named surface and underground subjects | Controller projects | Signature mission or structure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon | MO-S1 Earthrise Rim; MO-S2 Shadow Basin; MO-L1 Regolith Hollows; MO-L2 Basalt Galleries; MO-L3 Glassfall Vaults | Lunar Shelter Controller; Rim Observatory Controller | A Light Across the Basin; reflector route |
| Mars | MA-S1 Windcut Tablelands; MA-S2 Buried Delta; MA-L1 Ochre Galleries; MA-L2 Brine Scarps; MA-L3 Rootstone Chambers | Frontier Yard Controller | The River That Isn't There; buried drainage survey |
| Ceres | CE-S1 Broken Crown; CE-L1 Rubble Mazes; CE-L2 Ice Pockets; CE-L3 Anchorstone Spine | Tetherworks Controller | Holdfast; anchored cargo route |
| Europa | EU-S1 Fracture Plains; EU-L1 Blue Pressure Halls; EU-L2 Lantern Ocean; EU-L3 Vent Gardens | Ice Descent Controller | Where the Ceiling Glows; non-destructive garden observatory |
| Io | IO-S1 Sulfur Terraces; IO-L1 Cooling Galleries; IO-L2 Pressure Orchards; IO-L3 Furnace Wells | Heatworks Controller | Borrowed Fire; heat-exchanger commissioning |
| Titan | TI-S1 Amber Littoral; TI-L1 Waxstone Canyons; TI-L2 Hollow Weather; TI-L3 Slow Gardens | Harbor Lantern Controller | A Route Through the Haze; connected observation route |
| Pluto | PL-S1 Long Shadow Plain; PL-L1 Frost Fold; PL-L2 Nightglass Rifts; PL-L3 Quiet Lens | Far Observatory Controller | The Last Familiar Sky; lens alignment |
| Afterlight System / Cairn | CA-S1 Shard March; CA-L1 Inverted Terraces; CA-L2 Palimpsest Halls; CA-L3 Witness Engine | Witness Camp Controller | What Remains in the Gaps; bounded anomalous installation |
| Afterlight System / Morrow | MR-S1 Dawn Canopy; MR-L1 Rooted Vaults; MR-L2 Tide Orchards; MR-L3 Hearthsea | Hearthsea Conservatory Controller | A Place for Tomorrow; selected local restoration |
| Orbital hubs | Home Orbit Anchorage; Transfer Yard | Station Controller | First docking; cargo transfer; gas-giant observation |
| Spacecraft construction | Shipyard; assembly gantry; outfitting deck | Shipyard Controller | Frame-to-flight staged construction; commissioning |

### Raw resources processed materials and object subjects

The eighteen named entries are a compact material catalog, not eighteen additional conventional ore blocks. The raw sources described here use ordinary descriptive names. This avoids creating a second naming layer that the player must memorize before crafting. Where a mineral or artifact is itself the useful item, its raw and prepared forms keep the same family name.

| World | Raw source or collection method | Named output or sample |
|---|---|---|
| Moon | Common surface regolith; mapped impact-glass seams | Process regolith into Regolith Ceramic; refine glass into Lunar Glass Filament |
| Mars | Familiar iron-bearing deposits and common structural ingredients; contained brine samples | Manufacture Ferric Lattice; concentrate Brine Catalyst |
| Ceres | Surveyed volatile-bearing ice pockets; familiar metal-bearing fragments | Produce Dark-Ice Concentrate; manufacture Porous Nickel Matrix |
| Europa | Limited renewable colony secretions or contained cultivated feedstock; mapped mineral-and-colony interfaces | Prepare Cryoseal Gel; collect and refine Resonant Silica |
| Io | Identified crystalline formations; gathered sulfur-bearing feedstock plus familiar binders | Collect Thermal Spine Crystal and prepare exchanger inserts; process Sulfur Ceramic |
| Titan | Surveyed chemical deposits and selected renewable samples | Process Amber Polymer; fabricate Liftweave Membrane |
| Pluto | Identified dark reflective seams; preserved layered frost samples | Collect and refine Nightglass; retain Memory Frost as a research sample |
| Cairn | Designated recoverable fragments outside protected puzzle cores; resonant components from repeatable secondary sites | Recover Palimpsest Plate; prepare Phase Tine components without consuming the unique mission structure |
| Morrow | Controlled cultivation of studied local growths; renewable fibers at managed growth edges | Mature and process Living Ceramic into inert panels; refine Tidelace Fiber |

The earlier recipe and source rules still apply: essential first-arrival equipment uses previously available ingredients, alternative construction recipes keep optional worlds optional, and a renewable or repeatable source supports routine use after the first discovery.

| Ref. | Name | Visual commission should include | Gameplay purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| PM01 | Regolith Ceramic | Feedstock, finished panel, habitat application | Vacuum habitat panels and thermal management |
| PM02 | Lunar Glass Filament | Raw glass seam, fiber spool, illuminated instrument | Sensors and compact light guides |
| PM03 | Ferric Lattice | Composite sample, frame member, rover application | Rugged repairable frames |
| PM04 | Brine Catalyst | Deposit context, sealed sample, processing cartridge | Compact processing and closed-loop equipment |
| PM05 | Dark-Ice Concentrate | Ice pocket, extraction container, storage module | Alternative industrial feedstock and storage efficiency |
| PM06 | Porous Nickel Matrix | Cross-section, lightweight frame, cargo rack | Cargo structures and isolated instrument mounts |
| PM07 | Cryoseal Gel | Safe sample, gel cartridge, flexible seal | Cold-resistant sealing and repairs |
| PM08 | Resonant Silica | Porous ribbed laminae at a garden interface, refined element, sensor assembly | Acoustic sensing, distinct from Earth resonant quartz |
| PM09 | Thermal Spine Crystal | Native formation, protected sample, exchanger insert | Bounded heat-transfer equipment |
| PM10 | Sulfur Ceramic | Processed sample, shielding panel, industrial application | Chemical and thermal equipment enclosures |
| PM11 | Amber Polymer | Feedstock, flexible sheet, sealed housing | Cold-environment housings and lightweight structures |
| PM12 | Liftweave Membrane | Raw membrane, fabricated envelope, craft application | Specialized supported atmospheric movement |
| PM13 | Nightglass | Rifts formation, optical element, navigation array | Low-light optics and route calibration |
| PM14 | Memory Frost | Layered sample, containment case, analysis image | Preserved-pattern research medium |
| PM15 | Palimpsest Plate | Recoverable fragment, layered surface, archive interface | Precision and archival equipment |
| PM16 | Phase Tine | Resonant component, protective housing, local device | Bounded anomaly sensing and alignment |
| PM17 | Living Ceramic | Cultivated growth, inert finished panel, habitat application | Controlled ecological construction |
| PM18 | Tidelace Fiber | Growth source, filament spool, responsive screen | Lightweight tools and ecological instruments |

# Visual direction and the illustrated edition

## The purpose of the images

The illustrated edition should make the intended game easy to imagine and difficult to misinterpret. Images need to explain scale, shapes, materials, variation, activity, and the relationship between places. A beautiful distant panorama is useful, but it cannot explain how a player crosses a room, uses a tool, enters a building, or recognizes an ore seam.

This text edition defines the image programme without generating it. Once the text is confirmed, production can proceed through the complete register using one consistent visual language. Each image should refer to its corresponding content identifier and approved description. New inventions introduced while drawing or generating an image remain proposed changes until reconciled with the text.

The illustrated document should place images beside the relevant environment or system, with complete environment and object indexes at the end. It should retain the full text rather than shrink into a brochure. Images make the content more legible; they do not replace the design relationships that a later roadmap needs.

## Minecraft geometry and a richer atmosphere

The visual direction uses recognizable block construction, readable material boundaries, and a world the player can plausibly navigate and modify. Surfaces can be textured and detailed, but the major forms must still read as blocks and designed block arrangements. Tools, creatures, plants, machinery, and spacecraft should belong to that world at the scale of an ordinary player.

The accepted surface target provides a useful starting point: rich blue water, visible growth beneath clear shallows, expressive trees, warm sunlight, shaded stone, and enough contrast to reveal depth. That treatment should extend into the underground through more specific local palettes. Deepwilds emphasizes living light and dark organic structure; Underreach emphasizes stone mass and warm working areas; Abyss emphasizes selective visibility and secure points of light; Mantle emphasizes mineral heat without bathing every surface in red; Core emphasizes restraint around unusual materials.

Art must identify which quality comes from terrain and assets and which comes from presentation. A new shelf, river bend, root arch, tree silhouette, ruin, or cave opening requires content. Shadow softness, water reflection, color grading, atmospheric haze, and light bloom are presentation choices. The later implementation plan can then assign the correct kind of work.

The baseline game must remain attractive and readable without optional shaders. Material colors, block silhouettes, landmarks, hazard markings, and route indicators carry the experience. Enhanced presentation can add depth and mood after those elements work. Generated art should not imply a shader alone can create all the pictured terrain or make missing gameplay appear.

## Palette and composition by realm

| Realm | Dominant material and color direction | Light and composition rule |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Overworld | Familiar greens, blue water, pale exposed stone, warm timber | Daylight establishes clear foreground, useful middle distance, and a readable route. |
| Shallows | Earth browns, chalk, copper stains, wet gray stone | Daylight fades gradually; player light becomes increasingly important. |
| Deepwilds | Dark organic forms, moss, restrained amber and blue living accents | Bright habitats are separated by darker usable paths and clearings. |
| Underreach | Dense gray rock, mineral white, dark water, warm constructed timber and metal | Large natural masses frame inhabited working places. |
| Abyss | Near-black rock, pale mineral shelves, dark water, sparse cool accents | Readable foreground and selected landmarks give darkness an understandable geography. |
| Mantle | Basalt, rust, ceramic white, limited molten orange | Heat has a source and a boundary; safe shelves remain visually distinct. |
| Core | Dark glass, pale crystal, quiet water, rare warm internal planes | Extraordinary formations receive space and restraint rather than universal glow. |

Planetary palettes follow each destination profile. Reusing a resource or tool should preserve its visual identity under different lighting. A copper fitting remains recognizable in a lunar cabin and an Earth workshop. The same approach ties spacecraft and settlements into a coherent product.

## Required views for an environment

Every Earth realm needs an establishing view, one separate view for each of its five named experiences, a refuge exterior, a useful interior, and a scene showing an expedition in progress. At least one view should include an ordinary player or recognizable object for scale. One of the experience views should deliberately show a quiet or domestic activity, where appropriate.

Every playable celestial destination needs an arrival view, both a wide identity view and a closer activity view for every named surface or subsurface experience, an outpost exterior, an interior, and a practical fieldwork scene. A clearly separated plate can hold the paired regional views. A moon's orbital silhouette and a cave beneath its surface answer different questions and need distinct coverage. Gas giants can receive orbital and sky views without implying a solid landing surface.

Transitions deserve their own treatment. The illustrated edition should show the Shallows becoming Deepwilds, Deepwilds giving way to more exposed Underreach, the approach to Abyss water or void, the first thermal margins, and the arrival in the Heart region. The goal is to explain natural overlap, not to draw flat stacked floors.

Exact cross-sections, route maps, comparative scale sheets, UI layouts, and dependency diagrams should be drawn with conventional layout or diagram tools. Generated concept imagery supplies atmosphere and design exploration. It should not be trusted to label exact heights, draw accurate graph connections, count inventory items, or produce a functional interface.

## Required views for objects and structures

Ore and material plates show the natural source, a recoverable sample, and the main processed appearance where relevant. A material may be covered by a clearly separated panel on a shared plate, provided it has an individual label and sufficient visual space. An indistinct pile containing several ores does not count as coverage of each material.

Tool plates show the complete silhouette, grip or attachment, working surface, and relevant alternate state. Equipment worn by a player needs front and rear reference views. Devices with important indicators need separate state references. A functional action scene explains how the object is used in the environment.

Creature sheets show scale, silhouette, ordinary posture, and the behavior that matters to play. Hostile or territorial behavior needs a distinct warning pose. Plants and fungal growth need source habitat, growth form, harvestable element, and cultivated form where applicable. These references should support later modelling rather than present only a dramatic portrait.

Structure coverage shows the site before work, at least one understandable intermediate stage, and the functioning result. Interiors must connect to the exterior geometry and contain the services described in text. Spacecraft need exterior proportions, access, landing configuration, cockpit, occupied interior, cargo handling, and the main module relationships. Cutaways used to establish an exact layout belong to the drawn-reference set.

## Image identifiers and coverage rules

The visual register uses stable content prefixes. EAR identifies Earth realms; DST identifies celestial destinations; HUL identifies representative spacecraft; MAT identifies Earth materials; PM identifies planetary materials; EQ identifies tools and equipment; TEC identifies installations; BIO and FL identify living content; ENC identifies major encounters; NPC identifies character roles; and UX identifies exact interface or information views.

Image suffixes identify the view. H is an establishing image, V is a numbered experience variant, S is an exterior structure, I is an interior, A is an action scene, and X is an exact drawn reference. For example, EAR03 V04 depicts Bluefen Groves within the Deepwilds, while EAR03 I depicts a useful interior associated with the Deepwilds Conservatory. The identifier belongs in the caption and production record, not in generated scenery.

The register is a coverage commitment for the illustrated edition, not a requirement to commission a separate file for every possible crop. A coherent plate can cover related views. Every named subject must remain individually findable, and a single image cannot silently stand in for several visibly different biomes or objects.

## Earth environment image register

For every row below, create H, V01 through V05, S, I, and A coverage. Create a separate X sheet for the realm's intended shapes and route relationships when exact spatial explanation is needed. The five V images must depict different experiences rather than variations of one generic cave.

| ID | Realm | V01 to V05 in order | Refuge or settlement reference |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| EAR01 | Overworld | Bluewater Quarry Coast; Rooted Uplands; Rivergate Country; Windscar Heights; Rainwood Hollows | Optional Surface Expedition House after the first market; Old Valley guesthouse remains the opening home. |
| EAR02 | Shallows | Rootlace Galleries; Chalkstep Terraces; Copperwash Channels; Glasswell Pools; Drybell Vaults | Shallows Waystation. |
| EAR03 | Deepwilds | Lanternroot Forests; Sporemeadow Basins; Hanging Gardens; Bluefen Groves; Quietwood Hollows | Deepwilds Conservatory. |
| EAR04 | Underreach | Ironfold Ridges; Saltmirror Halls; Blackriver Galleries; Echoquartz Fields; Dustroad Expanse | Underreach Junction. |
| EAR05 | Abyss | Pillarfall Reaches; Stillsea Basin; Moonmilk Shelves; Whisper Chasms; Drowned Stair Country | Abyss Beacon Refuge. |
| EAR06 | Mantle | Basalt Steps; Ember Gardens; Ashen Hollows; Redglass Margins; Steamvaults | Mantle Works. |
| EAR07 | Core | Heartglass Groves; Pale Resonance Fields; Stillwater Sanctuaries; Blackroot Islands; The Heart Chamber | Heart Observatory. |

Earth transition subjects are the quarry opening into the Shallows; the first living cavern beyond a repaired waterway; the forest thinning into Underreach rock; a working route reaching the Abyss; water terraces giving way to thermal margins; and the approach from Mantle to the quieter Heart environment. Each should show traits from both sides and a navigable route.

## Cosmic visual commissioning register

This register covers every named planetary region, hull, support vehicle, and supplementary living or equipment family. Production follows confirmation of the text direction. The destination profiles define the intended activities and conditions.

Each destination entry has a stable destination ID and retains its existing regional reference. For every regional subject below, commission **-W** for the wide identity image and **-A** for a distinct activity image. For example, **DST01-MO-S1-W** is the Earthrise Rim panorama; **DST01-MO-S1-A** is the first-landing activity. These suffixes create separate image subjects, not alternative names for one image. Composition, scale cues, geology, lighting, equipment, and fictional ecology should agree across a region's views.

### Destination regions 38 named subjects

| Destination / region reference | Exact named subject | Wide identity / distinct activity |
|---|---|---|
| DST01 / MO-S1 | Earthrise Rim | Earth above crater rim / first lander refuge deployment |
| DST01 / MO-S2 | Shadow Basin | Dark crater shelves / illuminated marker-and-tether route |
| DST01 / MO-L1 | Regolith Hollows | Tight dust-and-fracture cavities / braced extraction beside a small void |
| DST01 / MO-L2 | Basalt Galleries | Immense sweeping tube / pressurized gallery habitat construction |
| DST01 / MO-L3 | Glassfall Vaults | Polished fractures and hanging glass / careful ledge sampling |
| DST02 / MA-S1 | Windcut Tablelands | Terraced escarpments / rover convoy approaching a shelter |
| DST02 / MA-S2 | Buried Delta | Overhead branching dry channels / interpreting a channel-to-cave junction |
| DST02 / MA-L1 | Ochre Galleries | Layered sheltered passages / compact underground field camp |
| DST02 / MA-L2 | Brine Scarps | Stepped mineral cliffs and isolated pools / protected sampling |
| DST02 / MA-L3 | Rootstone Chambers | Branching geological ribs / instrument survey through linked chambers |
| DST03 / CE-S1 | Broken Crown | Angular ridges and exposed masses / tethered gap crossing |
| DST03 / CE-L1 | Rubble Mazes | Interlocking voids around giant blocks / establishing a braced route |
| DST03 / CE-L2 | Ice Pockets | Enclosed reflective deposit chamber / staged containment extraction |
| DST03 / CE-L3 | Anchorstone Spine | Continuous structural ribs / bulky cargo following verified anchors |
| DST04 / EU-S1 | Fracture Plains | Ice ridges beneath Jupiter / selecting and securing a bore site |
| DST04 / EU-L1 | Blue Pressure Halls | Compressed blue ice galleries / controlled water-interface opening |
| DST04 / EU-L2 | Lantern Ocean | Ocean beneath hanging ice keels / tethered submersible exploration |
| DST04 / EU-L3 | Vent Gardens | Luminous vent-centered ecology / non-destructive acoustic observation |
| DST05 / IO-S1 | Sulfur Terraces | Colored shelves and active fissures / sheltered approach route |
| DST05 / IO-L1 | Cooling Galleries | Hardened flow passages / moving between shielded pauses |
| DST05 / IO-L2 | Pressure Orchards | Branching mineral chimneys / timed crossing beside a plume cycle |
| DST05 / IO-L3 | Furnace Wells | Deep heat chamber / exchanger commissioning from protected gantries |
| DST06 / TI-S1 | Amber Littoral | Hazy shoreline and dark lakes / raised harbor operations |
| DST06 / TI-L1 | Waxstone Canyons | Sculpted underground channels / beacon-assisted route mapping |
| DST06 / TI-L2 | Hollow Weather | Cavern-scale fog and circulation / supported flight between observation ledges |
| DST06 / TI-L3 | Slow Gardens | Folded membrane and mat ecology / patient selective collection |
| DST07 / PL-S1 | Long Shadow Plain | Restrained landscape and distant light / refuge navigation by landmarks |
| DST07 / PL-L1 | Frost Fold | Overlapping frozen planes / warm expedition camp in a sheltered fold |
| DST07 / PL-L2 | Nightglass Rifts | Dark reflective fractures / optical survey along anchored ledges |
| DST07 / PL-L3 | Quiet Lens | Aligned natural-looking reflective faces / player-built instrument calibration |
| DST08 / CA-S1 | Shard March | Vast tilted plates / first conventional refuge beneath monumental terrain |
| DST08 / CA-L1 | Inverted Terraces | Echoing ceiling and floor terraces / constructed bridges joining separated ledges |
| DST08 / CA-L2 | Palimpsest Halls | Overlapping markings and built-looking strata / comparing incomplete records |
| DST08 / CA-L3 | Witness Engine | One coherent anomalous installation / bounded shutter-and-beam interaction |
| DST09 / MR-S1 | Dawn Canopy | Sheltering growth and open stone shelves / cautious first surface survey |
| DST09 / MR-L1 | Rooted Vaults | Structural growth threaded through rock / careful climbing and sampling |
| DST09 / MR-L2 | Tide Orchards | Living basins and periodic flows / raised crossings at a changing route |
| DST09 / MR-L3 | Hearthsea | Luminous waters, islands, and expansive colonies / conservatory community at work |

Destination mapping: **DST01 Moon; DST02 Mars; DST03 Ceres; DST04 Europa; DST05 Io; DST06 Titan; DST07 Pluto; DST08 Cairn; DST09 Morrow**. Cairn and Morrow belong to the proposed Afterlight System.

Additional state subjects use the same region ID: **DST02-MA-S1-ST1/ST2**, approaching dust front and sheltered aftermath; **DST05-IO-L2-ST1/ST2**, quiet and active Pressure Orchards; **DST06-TI-L2-ST1/ST2**, obscured and clear Hollow Weather; **DST09-MR-L2-ST1/ST2**, closed and open Tide Orchards. These paired images must preserve viewpoint and landmarks so changes can be compared.

### Spacecraft six hull families

| ID | Inherited class | Proposed hull | Distinguishing visual requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| HUL01 | Atmospheric | Lark | Compact work craft, broad stabilizing forms, landing feet, visible load rack |
| HUL02 | Orbital | Keel | Upright launch spine, distinct capsule, service body, clearly legible payload zone |
| HUL03 | Lunar | Pilgrim | Squat broad-footed lander, side airlock, lamps, accessible equipment shelves |
| HUL04 | Interplanetary | Peregrine | Long expedition body, rover bay, repairable frame, separated cabin and workshop |
| HUL05 | Deep-Space | Hearth | Protected habitat, specialized service modules, laboratory, rescue and cargo options |
| HUL06 | Interstellar | Far Lantern | Coherent expedition vessel, substantial habitat, observatory, bounded navigation assembly |

Commission the following individually identified views for **each** HUL01–06:

- **-EXT:** three-quarter exterior with player-scale reference and boarding path.
- **-ORT:** aligned front, side, and top concept views for consistent later imagery; these are design references, not engineering drawings.
- **-INT:** inhabited cutaway showing cockpit, cabin, cargo, service access, and appropriate support spaces.
- **-COC:** pilot-eye cockpit view with consistent location of essential status information.
- **-MOD:** module sheet showing applicable cockpit, cabin, cargo, life-support, workshop, and laboratory options within that hull's actual size.
- **-ASM:** seven-stage construction sheet: foundation/gantry; frame/gear; propulsion/services; habitat/cargo; shell/fittings; interior; commissioning.
- **-OPS:** characteristic operating scene: Lark surveying, Keel launching, Pilgrim landing, Peregrine unloading a rover, Hearth supporting an outer-world expedition, Far Lantern departing for Afterlight.

Add **HUL04-V1/V2** and **HUL05-V1/V2** for cargo-heavy and research-heavy variants. Personal finishes, lighting, and interior choices remain visible within a consistent hull family. Life-support, protected reserves, cargo, and boarding access must remain identifiable.

Reserve **HUL02-SEP** for the launch/capsule/service relationship and **HUL05-SEP**, **HUL06-SEP** for carrier-to-lander arrangements only where the confirmed configuration includes mechanical separation. Show before, detached, and docked states with matching joints. Do not imply universal boosters, detachable cabins, or arbitrary moving player-built bases through decorative seams. These conditional sheets illustrate the chosen text design; they do not introduce additional vehicle systems.

### Support vehicles

| ID | Exact family | Required subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SUP01 | Survey Rover | Exterior, cockpit, sample/tool loadout, Mars route operation |
| SUP02 | Cargo Crawler | Exterior, payload interface, prepared-route traversal, parked loading |
| SUP03 | Ice Submersible | Exterior, cockpit, pressure-boundary cutaway, Lantern Ocean operation |
| SUP04 | Atmospheric Survey Skiff | Exterior, pilot position, flight-support structure, Hollow Weather operation |

Use **-EXT, -INT, -LOAD, -OPS** for each support family; adapt -INT to an exposed pilot or service layout where there is no enclosed cabin. Vehicle images must show how occupants board, how cargo is secured, and how the craft returns to its supporting refuge.

### Fictional ecology eleven exact subjects

Each **CEC** subject receives **-FORM**, a clear anatomy/silhouette reference; **-HAB**, an in-habitat image; and **-ACT**, its characteristic response or interaction. These are family descriptions, not approved species names.

| ID | Destination | Exact proposed family | Characteristic activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEC01 | Mars | Optional brine mat | Localized light or vibration response |
| CEC02 | Europa | Luminous drifter | Suspended movement and light communication cues |
| CEC03 | Europa | Ribbon grazer | Feeding movement across sheltered terrain |
| CEC04 | Europa | Filter colony | Flow-linked opening and filtering |
| CEC05 | Titan | Mat colony | Slow folding or surface response |
| CEC06 | Titan | Membrane fan | Folding and controlled vapor release |
| CEC07 | Titan | Drifting seed form | Slow transport through sheltered air |
| CEC08 | Morrow | Fan growth | Shelter and light-responsive posture |
| CEC09 | Morrow | Hanging membrane growth | Suspended surfaces and disturbance response |
| CEC10 | Morrow | Bundled pillar growth | Structural growth and safe traversal relationship |
| CEC11 | Morrow | Basin colony | Tide-linked opening and route changes |

Moon, Ceres, Io, Pluto, and Cairn receive environmental encounter art without invented indigenous creature populations. CEC01 remains optional pending text confirmation; its existence should not be silently assumed in every Mars image.

### Supplemental space objects

These eight subjects supplement the main equipment catalog. Each receives **-OBJ** for an isolated design reference and **-USE** for a destination-appropriate interaction.

| ID | Exact object | Use scene |
|---|---|---|
| SPX01 | Dust-service station | Moon suit and machinery seal maintenance |
| SPX02 | Brine-sampling sleeve | Protected Mars sample collection |
| SPX03 | Pressure lock | Europa controlled transition to the submerged dock |
| SPX04 | Protected heat-exchanger arm | Io commissioning within a shielded work zone |
| SPX05 | Weather beacon | Titan route marking through restricted visibility |
| SPX06 | Optical alignment instrument | Pluto observation and Quiet Lens calibration |
| SPX07 | Sensitive sampling tool | Non-destructive collection beside a living colony |
| SPX08 | Contained cultivation enclosure | Isolated research and renewable sample production |

The existing **PM01–18** references remain the sole planetary material IDs. Material illustrations must show raw source, sample or feedstock, processed form where applicable, and a recognizable use; they should not depict every refined material as a mineable ore. Destination controller builds, stations, settlement projects, and main equipment remain under their master-register IDs and should cross-reference the regional views above instead of receiving competing aliases here.

### Orbital station and shared module coverage

| ID | Subject | Required views |
| --- | --- | --- |
| STA01 | Home Orbit Anchorage | Exterior above Earth, docking approach, observation room, working storage and service interior. |
| STA02 | Transfer Yard | Exterior at an established route node, cargo arrival, refuge interior, staged expansion. |
| STA03 | Shared station modules | Individually labeled docking collar, pressure corridor, window room, storage spine, power module, service panel, and emergency refuge. |

Station and spacecraft diagrams that explain exact connections use drawn layouts. Station concept images show occupancy, scale, construction language, and the relationship to the surrounding view.

## Living settlements and construction image register

| ID | Subject | Required coverage |
| --- | --- | --- |
| SET01 | A place to stay | Guesthouse arrival, visible repair stage, working room and common area. |
| SET02 | The old crossing | Damaged span, approved support and deck stages, completed crossing in use. |
| SET03 | The quarry | Working landscape, handling equipment, restored work area, first underground invitation. |
| SET04 | A working settlement | Mill, workshop, market preparations, and a view explaining their physical relationship. |
| SET05 | The first market | Visitor arrival, occupied stalls, familiar residents, guesthouse activity, and a calm close view. |
| SET06 | Surface route infrastructure | Wayside shelter, modest crossing, lookout, and freight area as individually labeled forms. |
| SET07 | Underground route infrastructure | Entrance station, lift landing, survey post, supply cache, dock, and anchored observation point. |
| SET08 | Planetary habitat project | Delivered modules, construction stages, functioning airlock, lab, utilities, and protected living space. |
| SET09 | Player-built home | An independent surface home, an underground home, and a personal outpost interior using the shared material vocabulary. |

The seven Earth anchors and each planetary outpost are already covered by their environment entries. SET entries add construction and social views rather than duplicate the same exterior panorama. TEC01 through TEC14 receive an individually identifiable installation view and any critical operating state not visible in a settlement scene.

NPC01 through NPC08 cover the innkeeper, traveler, mason, mill worker, workshop specialist, market organizer, field specialist, and surveyor. These are role sheets until the established cast is reconciled and character names are confirmed. Each sheet includes ordinary clothing, tools or possessions associated with the role, a conversational stance, a work pose, and scale against a familiar block. Roles can be combined into fewer characters if the approved narrative calls for it.

## Material equipment and living content coverage

MAT01 through MAT19 each require source, sample, and use coverage as defined in the materials catalogue. The ten processed-product families require individually labeled output references. Familiar resources need a comparative integration plate when a new treatment is proposed, preserving their recognizable game identities.

EQ01 through EQ32 each require an individually identifiable equipment plate. EQ05, EQ08, EQ09, EQ18, and EQ25 also need deployed action views because their working footprint matters. EQ07, EQ10, EQ20, EQ21, EQ23, and EQ29 require a worn or installed scale view. Device indicators should be redrawn or composed accurately after the concept shape is selected.

Every PM resource in the destination catalogue receives the same source-to-use treatment. SUPPLY01 through SUPPLY03 also receive feedstock or service, container, connection, and in-use coverage so propulsion and life support remain physically legible. Spacecraft materials should stay visually related to the products from which their hulls and systems are built. A ship's panels must not invent an unexplained seventh universal metal family.

BIO01 through BIO12 and FL01 through FL10 each receive a reference sheet and at least one habitat image. Habitat coverage may be included in an environment variant if the organism is clearly visible and captioned. ENC01 through ENC04 receive a readable encounter overview and one action moment showing the intended player response.

## Exact interface and information references

| ID | Reference | What the view must communicate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| UX01 | Project controller | Purpose, current stage, next action, material requirements, and current status. |
| UX02 | Project footprint preview | Placement, terrain changes, access, occupied space, and protected conflicts. |
| UX03 | Construction stages | Supplied materials, committed materials, safe interruption, and finished result. |
| UX04 | Regional activity boundary | Horizontal area, vertical scope, participating players, pause and resume. |
| UX05 | Ownership and contribution | Who can act, who supplied resources, and the shared project state. |
| UX06 | Return-to-play journal | Last meaningful event, current objective, optional opportunities, and useful destination links. |
| UX07 | Underground navigation | Layer or local elevation, route, known refuge, personal markers, and unexplored branches. |
| UX08 | Expedition preparation | Destination, known hazards, carried equipment, reserves, and chosen cargo. |
| UX09 | Spacecraft assembly | Recognized hull, modules, build stages, cargo space, and missing capabilities. |
| UX10 | Mission readiness | Destination suitability, crew, fuel and breathing reserves, cargo, and return plan. |
| UX11 | Destination and route map | Surveyed travel links, landing sites, outposts, unavailable services, and selected itinerary. |
| UX12 | Accessibility settings | Readable text, contrast, motion controls, hazard cues, captions, and assistance preferences. |

These twelve references should be built as precise layouts. Decorative concept frames may accompany them later, but the working information must remain clear and editable. Charts, cross-sections, and diagrams should use the same labels as the text and should never add an unapproved dependency.

## How to produce and integrate the images

After text confirmation, begin with a small set of anchor images that spans the visual range: the quarry coast, a Deepwilds expedition, an Abyss refuge, the first lunar arrival, and the interior of a practical early spacecraft. Use their shared decisions about block scale, texture detail, player proportions, materials, and lighting to guide the rest of the register. The approved text remains the authority throughout production.

Produce environment views in related batches so adjacent regions share transition features. Produce all views of one hull from a stable reference before moving to another hull. Keep ore samples, tools, clothing, and machinery consistent across action scenes and reference sheets. A recognizable object should not change shape merely because it appears in a different image.

Each image record should include its identifier, associated content, view type, description used to create it, current design status, and any intentional deviation that requires text revision. The illustrated document uses captions that identify concept imagery and explain the specific design point. Captions should distinguish planned content from current gameplay.

Review the completed coverage against the register. Check whether every named environment and object is visible, whether variation is meaningful, whether routes and scale make sense, and whether the depicted activity matches the text. Images with appealing lighting but incorrect geography, invented mechanics, missing safety routes, or inconsistent object design need revision.

# Turning the creative direction into a future roadmap

## The role of this document in later planning

The future roadmap should select complete player experiences from this reference and identify the smallest set of generation, content, systems, assets, and validation needed to make each experience real. It should use the repository's actual state as its starting point. The existence of a chapter in this document does not establish that its technical prerequisites are implemented.

The handbook's immediate sequence remains the baseline: prove the vertical world, distinguish cave forms, establish minimal regional generation, demonstrate a stable descent and return, and then introduce the first useful progression. The full creative reference can inform those experiments without making finished planets, NPCs, spacecraft, or concept art prerequisites for early generation work.

## Workstreams that can be extracted

| Workstream | Creative material to draw from | Example of a complete player experience |
| --- | --- | --- |
| World shape and connectivity | Vertical specification, world-generation contract, realm silhouettes | Enter a cave, recognize a change in region, find a viable route, and return. |
| Geological and environmental identity | Realm experiences, materials, water and light rules | Learn where a useful material occurs and extract it through a readable local challenge. |
| First settlement adventure | Old Valley chapters and project states | Repair the guesthouse and use the result as a dependable home. |
| Authored construction | Footprints, custody, stages, pause, collision handling | Supply and complete a crossing that changes actual travel. |
| Ecology and cultivation | Deepwilds profiles, FL and BIO catalogues | Bring a useful sample home and cultivate it under clear conditions. |
| Expedition equipment | EQ catalogue and hazard rules | Prepare for a previously intimidating route and complete it safely. |
| Underground communities | Earth anchors, services, transport, visitors | Establish a refuge that shortens repeated expeditions and supports a local chapter. |
| Discovery and narrative | Journal, encounter designs, survey history | Return a finding, interpret it, and discover a worthwhile next destination. |
| Crafting and production | Material families, workshops, input and output rules | Build an installation that turns a local discovery into a reliable useful product. |
| Cooperative world state | Participation, ownership, shared milestones, recovery | Friends contribute at different times without losing resources or replaying a completed world change. |
| Spacecraft and mission preparation | Six craft classes, hull layouts, readiness, recovery | Assemble a lunar-capable vessel, choose a loadout, travel, and return. |
| Destination generation | Surface and subsurface celestial profiles | Establish a foothold and complete one distinctly planetary expedition. |
| Visual and audio presentation | Realm palettes, exact references, sound rules | Make a proved place readable, attractive, and accessible in baseline presentation. |
| Persistence and world evolution | State continuity and generation revision expectations | Revisit an established route and unfinished project after a save and version change. |

## A concise brief for a selected experience

A later roadmap item should record the player promise, its content references, dependencies already proved, the smallest complete scenario, assets needed, important exclusions, and evidence of success. These fields can fit in one practical brief. They should not become a second lengthy design bible for every small task.

For example, a Shallows crossing experience can draw from EAR02, SET02 principles, the project controller states, and a short route in Copperwash Channels. The playable result is a clearly blocked water crossing that the player inspects, supplies, builds, crosses, leaves, and revisits with its state preserved. Initial art can use a restrained existing palette while the interaction is proved. Larger settlements, unusual creatures, and powered transport are separate additions.

The same format scales to a planetary experience. A first lunar expedition requires the chosen hull, an Earth-built survival loadout, a supported destination, a safe landing and exit, one meaningful local journey, and a verified return. A complete planetary civilization, arbitrary spacecraft physics, and every planned moon are not dependencies of that experience.

## What should count as successful content

A region succeeds when players can recognize it, understand its routes, find several worthwhile activities, establish or use shelter, and describe what makes it different. Its generated variation must preserve the core experience across representative worlds. An attractive screenshot is useful evidence of visual direction, but it does not prove connectivity, survival balance, save continuity, or cooperative behavior.

A system succeeds when its purpose is clear, its normal behavior is useful, and its interrupted or blocked behavior is understandable. A project must handle missing materials and occupied space. A route must handle revisits. A spacecraft must explain return readiness. A hazard must provide a signal and a response. These outcomes belong in experience validation because players encounter them naturally.

A content update should leave existing homes and capabilities meaningful. New destinations add possibilities; new equipment improves preparation; new materials add useful choices. If each update requires discarding the previous world or abandoning every older tool, the long journey loses continuity.

## Proposed choices for creative review

| Choice | Direction proposed in this edition | What would change if revised |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Earth scale | Keep the documented 512-level working envelope for current generation experiments; validate the full atlas before fixing long-term dimensions. | Realm spacing, route lengths, and the engineering approach to deeper content. |
| Layer identity | Preserve all seven established realm names with irregular regional overlap and substantial lateral exploration. | The central structure of the Earth atlas and its illustration sequence. |
| Planetary scope | Develop the Solar System journey and two proposed worlds in a secret system. | Destination count, late-game narrative, spacecraft needs, and visual coverage. |
| Tone | Familiar survival and community expand into dangerous, beautiful, increasingly strange exploration. | Creature design, encounter intensity, lighting, narrative language, and age suitability. |
| Story delivery | Practical community goals and rare survey mysteries connect the journey. | Character writing, ruins, discoveries, and the meaning of the final expedition. |
| Space travel | Recognized modular craft, readable local operation, and explicit destination travel. | Movement simulation, hull freedom, interiors, and technical scope. |
| Settlement behavior | Authored sites, scripted projects, useful services, and explicit regional pause. | Construction freedom, NPC complexity, absence behavior, and cooperation rules. |
| Failure and recovery | Preparation matters; essential progress and return paths remain recoverable. | Resource loss, rescue systems, difficulty modes, and expedition tension. |
| Art delivery | Complete text first, then systematic imagery for every named content family. | The order of visual production and the structure of the illustrated document. |

These choices provide concrete positions to accept or change. They are not a request to resolve every recipe, statistic, character line, or engineering detail before the creative direction can be useful.

# Source records and terminology

## Earlier project records

SUBSTELLAR Development and Design Handbook version 0.1, prepared October 3, 2026, establishes the familiar surface, deeper underground, generation-first sequence, standalone-first direction, cooperative audience, and the working vertical specification. The relevant creative and scope material is on printed pages 5 and 20 through 27. The handbook's source filename is SUBSTELLAR_Development_Handbook_v0.1.pdf.

SUBSTELLAR Brochure Print, created October 5, 2026, records the connection between the guesthouse, crossing, quarry, useful construction, guided adventure, free building, and eventual planetary outposts. Its imagery is identified in that record as concept imagery. The source filename is SUBSTELLAR_Brochure_Print.pdf.

The earlier SUBSTELLAR concept approved on October 3, 2026 supplies the product identity, realm names, rocket capability classes, and the chapter families First Descent, Pale Horizon, Red Frontier, Outer Worlds, and Beyond Sol. The integrated Project Vanilla discussion approved on October 5, 2026 supplies the preserved Old Valley sequence and the material-fed, bounded, pausable construction direction. Character roles are used in this edition where a name is not fixed within the available design record; they do not supersede an established character.

New environment variants, material treatments, creatures, flora, outpost details, hull examples, and system behaviors in this edition are creative proposals. They are not scientific claims, current software documentation, or verified feature reports. Later implementation planning must consult the actual repository and then-current technical documentation for engineering details.

## A short shared vocabulary

| Term | Meaning in this document |
| --- | --- |
| Realm | A major Earth environmental identity such as Deepwilds or Underreach, with irregular spatial extent. |
| Experience variant | A distinct local landscape and activity pattern within a realm or destination. |
| Stratum | A depth-related generation region or prototype band; not automatically a finished content realm. |
| Authored region | A bounded area with saved activity, chapters, construction, and participation rules. |
| Project block or controller | The in-world interface for a specific predefined project and its materials, stages, and services. |
| Anchor | A useful refuge, settlement, workshop, or outpost that gives a region a place to return to. |
| Capability | An action or condition the player can now handle, such as sealed travel or controlled vertical cargo movement. |
| Expedition | A prepared trip with a purpose, route, useful finding, and return or secured stopping point. |
| Destination | A playable world, moon, small body, or supported space location with a defined travel role. |
| Hull class | A spacecraft capability family; named hulls are proposed representative designs within that family. |
| Heart | The fictional deep Earth environment associated with the established Core realm name. |
| Illustrated edition | The complete approved text with consistent concept imagery and exact supporting diagrams integrated alongside it. |


===== END EXACT SOURCE: complete_text_for_typesetting.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: industry_progression_expansion.txt | SHA-256 d0e035e3ad5b48938d01907592493a173a4a5f462ac3cb01bf629cd773f1f016 =====

# Industry and progression

## The industrial promise

SUBSTELLAR should let the player build an industry they can understand by walking through it. Raw material arrives at one end, recognizable machinery changes it, pipes and cables carry specific services, and finished parts leave through a visible loading point. A mill beside a river, a steel workshop in Underreach, a carefully enclosed chemical plant, and a lunar service yard should each be places with a purpose and a character. The reward is seeing a landscape become more workable through things the player has learned and built.

The requested inspiration is the physical presence of Immersive Engineering with the functional breadth associated with Mekanism. The author-maintained Immersive Engineering description emphasizes suspended power cables, large animated processing machines, and several recognizable generation methods. The official Mekanism wiki documents progressively specialized ore processing, chemical inputs, machine configuration, and distinct systems for materials, energy, and transport. Those references support a direction with substantial machinery and interconnected production. SUBSTELLAR's proposed stages, recipes, failure rules, materials, and pacing below are its own design. The complete game remains standalone-first.

Reference basis: Immersive Engineering, author's project description, https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/immersive-engineering ; Mekanism, official Ore Processing documentation, https://wiki.aidancbrady.com/wiki/Ore_Processing ; Mekanism, official Machine Configuration documentation, https://wiki.aidancbrady.com/wiki/Machine_Configuration . These references establish the inspirations, not a commitment to reproduce either mod's numerical systems or assets.

Industrial breadth means useful options across mining, sorting, smelting, alloys, fabrication, chemicals, gases, liquids, heat, electricity, storage, transport, control, cultivation, habitats, vehicles, and advanced science. It also means that a specialist builder can spend a long time improving these systems. The principal adventure must remain achievable with a sensible selected set. A player who wants the first Moon expedition should not have to complete every process branch, maximize ore recovery, build a reactor, or replace the entire workshop with its final form.

## Three kinds of progression

The five journey families describe the adventure's expanding horizon: First Descent, Pale Horizon, Red Frontier, Outer Worlds, and Beyond Sol. The industrial bands introduced here describe what a workshop can accomplish. Rocket Tiers 1, 2, and 3 describe the confirmed spacecraft design families. These are related systems with different purposes. A third industrial band is not automatically a Tier 3 rocket, and the six established spacecraft capability classes do not require six disposable launch vehicles.

The confirmed Tier 1 concepts establish an attainable early engineering character. Their common-material vocabulary includes iron, copper, glass, stone, redstone, and honeycomb, with named fabrication and assembly stations. Their example ingredient treatments guide identity without freezing final numerical recipes. Tier 1's essential parts and Earth preparation services must fit that level. Titanium, Heartglass, Core completion, advanced chemical refining, lunar materials, and nuclear power are not first-flight prerequisites.

This clarifies the earlier Earth-to-space arc. Earth continues to provide the knowledge, manufacturing, people, and preparation behind space exploration, while a practical Tier 1 expedition can become possible before the player has exhausted the seven Earth realms. The Core remains a major deep-Earth achievement and a source of later specialist capability. Deep exploration and early lunar exploration can strengthen one another. The journal must show the actual requirements of a mission instead of treating the broad chapter order as a hidden lock on every recipe.

Industrial bands are readable milestones, not mandatory research screens. Some capabilities arrive together, some can be approached through different sources, and established groups can divide the work. Each band needs an early useful result, a reason to return to the world, an infrastructure improvement, and a clear path onward.

| Band | Workshop capability | First satisfying result | Relationship to exploration |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IP00 — Campcraft | Familiar hand tools, repairs, light, ordinary smelting, field records | A prepared descent and a dependable way home | Overworld and approachable Shallows routes |
| IP01 — Mechanical workshop | Timber work, ceramics, simple fittings, useful motion, water handling | A working mill, pump, hoist, or repaired workshop | Old Valley and repeated local journeys |
| IP02 — Powered workshop | Modest electricity, charging, repeatable parts, basic control | A tool or service powered by a workshop the player built | Surface industry and more capable field work |
| IP03 — Tier 1 flight preparation | Confirmed fabrication and assembly stations, basic sealed equipment, prepared travel supplies | A commissioned Tier 1 expedition with a protected return | First orbital or lunar mission supported by its actual craft configuration |
| IP04 — Regional industry | Steel production, bulk handling, concentration, reliable local automation | A repeatable supply order and a working regional connection | Deepwilds, Underreach, Abyss, and developed home regions |
| IP05 — Deep thermal and chemical work | Better alloys, refined lightweight stock, managed heat, specialized chemistry | A longer difficult expedition or a new material process | Mantle, Core, demanding Earth sites, and optional factory specialization |
| IP06 — Lunar industry | Dust service, local ceramics, optical products, small habitat production | A useful lunar refit and a stronger second expedition | Moon surface regions and all three lunar underground layers |
| IP07 — Frontier industry | Mobile service, durable frames, compact processing, longer logistics | A self-sufficient field operation and a developed Frontier Yard | Mars; Ceres is an optional industrial branch |
| IP08 — Outer-world systems | Pressure, extreme cold, specialized materials, larger energy and research options | A supported expedition into a distinctly different environment | Europa, Titan, Pluto, with optional Io specialization |
| IP09 — Interstellar science | Mature independent services, precision navigation, bounded advanced field work | A prepared Afterlight voyage and later local investigations | Cairn and Morrow, with an independent return capability |

The table shows a useful order for explanation. It does not require IP04 and IP05 before IP06, or every IP08 option before Pluto. A mission's capability card names its actual dependencies. An industrial diagram should make the Tier 1 branch and the continuing deep-Earth branch visible at the same time.

## IP00 — Campcraft and the first practical questions

The opening preserves ordinary Minecraft competence. The player gathers wood, stone, food, fuel, iron, and copper; uses familiar tools; and gains the first expedition lamp, markers, repair supplies, and field record. A geological hammer makes preserving a specimen a deliberate choice. Rope and anchors create a visible relationship between reaching a ledge and being able to return from it.

The first workshop work is small enough to support the opening's pace. Repairing the guesthouse, supplying the crossing, and learning the quarry remain Old Valley's authored story. Basic parts can be made at an ordinary work surface or a modest repair bench. A player should not need a powered fabrication hall to replace a handle, shape a bracket, or make the first route marker.

The milestone is preparedness: the player can leave with a purpose, solve a short route, and return with something useful. Gathering should teach where materials live. Early examples of important feedstocks must be available without requiring the machine that later processes their richer deposits. A handmade base and an authored settlement are both valid places to organize these supplies.

## IP01 — Mechanical work becomes a place

The mechanical workshop introduces reliable motion and material handling. Timber framing, rope, ordinary metal fittings, ceramic vessels, and a suitable source of motion support a grain mill, simple pump, saw bench, or cargo hoist. A river location can favor a waterwheel. Another site can use wind or a small fueled source. The required opening cannot depend on a rare ideal river arrangement or a specific wind condition generated on one seed.

The grain mill retains its established purpose: grain becomes meal or staple food. An ore crusher is a separate industrial function with its own working parts and material path. This distinction lets the settlement feel coherent and prevents one generic machine from standing for every form of production.

The player learns placement, intake, output, and a stop condition through a machine whose action is visible. A hoist needs known landings. A pump needs an intake and a supported destination. Work continues while its managed region is active, and the installation pauses coherently when its participants leave. The reward is doing a known job more conveniently and seeing a useful structure in the world.

## IP02 — The first powered workshop

The first electrical supply uses accessible copper, iron, redstone, simple insulation, and familiar construction materials. It must be buildable before electrically refined aluminum, high-duty alloys, or advanced electronics. A small generator, a clear connection, a modest buffer, and one working machine are enough to teach the system.

The first power choices should have distinct character. A workshop beside water can convert existing mechanical motion into electricity. A compact fueled generator is reliable where geography is inconvenient. Wind is useful at a suitable exposed site. Each has a clear installation cost and operating limit. The first milestone should not require balancing an entire town grid.

Charging a field cell, powering a work light, or completing a batch of repeatable fittings gives electricity an immediate purpose. The player sees a gauge rise, a cable connect, and a machine respond. A breaker protects the installation when demand exceeds its supported supply. The useful question is whether the workshop can complete the chosen order while maintaining its important services. Hidden universal penalties and unexplained power disappearance would obscure that lesson.

## IP03 — A complete early Tier 1 space branch

The Part Fabrication Table and Rocket Assembly Station provide the center of this branch. Their confirmed names, visual forms, labeled parts, and purpose belong to the attached asset register. The machinery catalogue below maps their functions into the industrial system without redesigning their appearance or adding an unrelated factory gate.

The fabrication table turns the confirmed accessible ingredients and prepared ordinary parts into the rocket's recognized components. The assembly station accepts those components in a visible sequence. The player also establishes the small support services needed for the chosen mission: reliable charging, supported fuel preparation, breathing-supply refill, equipment inspection, navigation, and an appropriate launch and recovery site. These may begin as compact benches and service modules. Their later industrial versions increase convenience or capacity.

Tier 1 is balanced through the total project and the expedition it enables: a finite collection of recognizable parts, a limited cargo and service envelope, a meaningful preparation journey, and a clear return plan. It does not need artificial scarcity in every screw. Assembly creates an achievement the player can walk around and inspect. Surviving and learning on the first lunar trip creates the next achievement.

The default first lunar landing carries a dependable airlocked cabin, an Earth-made EQ25 starter shelter kit, usable protection, repair supplies, navigation, and all essential return allocations. The cabin remains a retreat while the compact starter refuge is commissioned before the first committed descent; a larger permanent outpost is a later choice. An optional short orbital rehearsal uses its own supported manifest and does not require a lunar shelter kit. Local manufacturing is a later reward. A player can return with a small sample and an important observation without building a complete lunar refinery.

## IP04 — Regional industry and the removal of repeated work

Regional industry develops because the player has found reasons to produce and move more material. A substantial deposit, a Deepwilds cultivation house, a three-landing supply route, or a growing workshop provides that reason. The player can make controlled steel, install bulk material handling, improve ore recovery, and authorize bounded orders.

A useful regional factory is a series of places: receiving floor, preparation machine, hot work, finishing bench, and storage. It does not have to contain every machine. A nickel works and a textile-and-seal workshop can specialize and exchange finished goods through an established route. A solo player can operate a compact combined workshop with slower batches.

The first major automation reward is an order such as “prepare the supplies for this established expedition” or “keep a modest reserve of these replacement parts.” The order exposes inputs, protected allocations, intended output, and its stop condition. It saves sorting and repetitive crafting the player has already learned. Exploration still matters because it finds better routes, new material uses, distinctive deposits, and places worth improving.

## IP05 — Thermal and chemical specialization

This band supports players who want substantial engineering and expeditions that need it. The workshop can refine lightweight stock, produce higher-duty alloys, manage useful heat, and operate selected chemical processes. Visible reaction vessels, heat exchangers, lined ducts, service platforms, and observation windows give the plant a physical identity.

The first visit to a hot margin uses accessible ceramics, cloth, established metalwork, and a serviceable cooling supply. Thermal salt and other Mantle discoveries improve later systems. The first equipment that reaches a deposit must not require that deposit's finished high-performance product. The same rule applies to crystal instruments, deep alloy machinery, and Core investigation.

Advanced chemistry creates choices about feedstock, recovery, compactness, and material properties. It is not a compulsory chain inserted into every early recipe after the player has already learned it. A good basic fitting remains producible through the older process. A chemical line earns its place when it recovers a useful secondary material, supports a specialist composite, or reduces the resupply burden of a demanding operation.

## IP06 — Lunar refits and a second kind of workshop

Lunar industry begins with service. Dust enters the fiction through protected transfer points, visible seals, and an understandable cleaning or inspection action. The arrival craft remains the first dependable room. The Lunar Shelter Controller adds a larger refuge and gradually introduces a workshop, storage, and a sheltered gallery enclosure.

Regolith Ceramic production uses collected material and equipment whose essential components arrived from Earth. Lunar Glass Filament processing adds distinctive optics and light guidance. These products improve the next habitat, instrument, or refit. They do not become retroactive prerequisites for the first rocket, first airlock, or initial breathing reserve.

The lunar workshop can remain modest. Bringing a first sample home for analysis is a valid path. A later local kiln, sample station, and refill service reward repeated visits without recreating every Earth production branch. The Earthrise Rim, Shadow Basin, Regolith Hollows, Basalt Galleries, and Glassfall Vaults give each improvement a field purpose. Better route lighting matters because the player has experienced the crossing it improves.

## IP07 — Mars and the independent frontier

Mars emphasizes repairability, mobile work, weather preparation, and operating farther from a comfortable central workshop. The Frontier Yard grows from a service pad and shelter into a rover bay, gantry, weather mast, greenhouse, and supply depot. Its machinery should be reachable from a clear cargo lane and organized so a returning crew can unload samples and service equipment without crossing an active processing floor.

Ferric Lattice improves serviceable frames and machinery after the first landing. Brine Catalyst supports compact processes and habitat loops after the player has found, understood, and prepared it. The arriving expedition uses previously available structural and chemical alternatives. The Rootstone investigation rewards connected observations and instruments, not a demand to manufacture a machine from the inaccessible chamber's only ingredient.

A mobile workshop can repair defined equipment, prepare ordinary field consumables from carried inputs, and examine a sample at a useful first level. Heavy production still benefits from an established yard. Ceres adds optional deposit logistics and compact resource handling. It can improve convenience and specialization without becoming an unannounced toll booth between Mars and the main outer-world route.

## IP08 and IP09 — Breadth at the far frontier

Outer-world industry separates functions that Earth combines. Europa needs reliable pressure service and a supported aquatic expedition. Titan rewards seals, materials suited to its fiction, visibility-aware instrumentation, and bounded local flight. Pluto emphasizes insulation, reserves, optics, and precise observation. Io offers an optional heat-industry branch. The player chooses a destination loadout and plant configuration that answers a recognizable problem.

Larger generation systems, advanced storage, precision material treatment, specialist suit modules, and more capable order networks belong here as planned breadth. Reactor and high-energy research branches can provide ambitious engineering goals. They are optional choices with defined costs, operating envelopes, and site needs. The main expedition cannot quietly depend on finishing every one.

Interstellar capability combines already reachable material families, mature conventional services, Pluto navigation evidence, and a bounded fictional transit assembly. Cairn's materials improve later local investigation; they are not required to manufacture the first independent shelter or first route home. Morrow expands cultivation and living materials inside controlled habitats. Advanced industry therefore opens new relationships with a world instead of turning all worlds into interchangeable feedstock bins.

# Machinery and industrial systems

## A shared physical language

A machine must communicate its process, its working scale, and the places where a player interacts. A crusher has an intake, crushing action, collection area, and service access. A compressor has a drive, a vessel, a pressure indication, and a distinguishable fill connection. A fabrication table has visible tools and component holders. These identities should survive at ordinary Minecraft viewing distance and with baseline lighting.

The common industrial palette grows from timber, masonry, iron, copper, practical ceramic insulation, glass inspection points, and painted or marked service housings. Later machinery adds better seals, protected joints, modular cartridges, and more demanding process chambers. It can become sophisticated while retaining readable construction. The supplied Tier 1 space artwork governs the appearance of those particular objects.

Large machines use authored multiblock assemblies where their footprint creates a useful activity: a receiving lane, a work platform, room for a vehicle, a material path, or a service aisle. A larger footprint should not exist merely to make crafting inconvenient. Small benches and compact field machines remain valuable. A machine's first useful version can be compact; expansion can add a second work position, a larger vessel, an attached buffer, or a parallel line.

Exact block dimensions, port counts, throughput, and clearance measurements are design backlog until their models and interactions are proved. Approved labels on reference art remain recorded as reference evidence. Conflicting concept-sheet measurements must be reconciled before they become placement rules. Every build preview eventually needs to show actual occupied blocks, active movement areas, entrances, and required service space.

## Installation families and machine identities

TEC01 through TEC14 remain the installation catalogue. The IND-M references below identify proposed functions within those installations. They do not replace the existing IDs or require every function to become a separate inventory block. A combined station can perform closely related work if its model, interface, and recipe access remain clear. Distinct physical processes should not disappear into a universal machine.

The catalogue includes the complete intended functional breadth. “Early” means a candidate for the practical Earth and Tier 1 path. “Regional” means later Earth or established-outpost specialization. “Frontier” means destination-dependent expansion. “Advanced backlog” means a named longer-term system whose gameplay purpose is defined here, with detailed design and production still to follow. None of these labels claims implementation.

## Benches, metalwork, textiles, and cultivation

| Ref. and installation | Machine or function | Inputs, outputs, and player interaction | Gate, cost, and tradeoff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IND-M01 / TEC01 | Carpenter and repair bench | Familiar stock, handles, fasteners, and damaged ordinary equipment become structural parts or repaired tools. Work happens on an open bench with racks and a returned-item position. | Early. Low setup cost and broad ordinary utility; manual batches remain practical. Repair consumes relevant replacement material rather than another whole tool. |
| IND-M02 / TEC01 and TEC13 | Part Fabrication Table | The confirmed Tier 1 station produces its labeled components from accessible ingredients and ordinary prepared parts. Component positions and the finished-part display follow the supplied concepts. | Early Tier 1. The first recipe set stays short and legible. Powered attachments can accelerate repeated orders without changing the station's identity or making advanced alloys a hidden prerequisite. |
| IND-M03 / TEC01 | Timber mill | Logs or accepted timber become prepared boards and structural stock, with a separate recoverable offcut output. A visible feed table leads past the cutting action to a collection rack. | Mechanical or powered workshop. Better bulk handling costs space and motion. Hand preparation remains available for small orders; offcuts have bounded fuel or building uses. |
| IND-M04 / TEC03 | Forming press and rolling stand | Ordinary or refined metal stock becomes plates, brackets, beams, and selected shaped parts using reusable patterns. Feed and output lanes show which stock is being worked. | Regional capacity upgrade, with simple shaping available earlier. Wider or faster production requires more power and workspace. Patterns organize useful shapes instead of creating a unique mold for every trivial item. |
| IND-M05 / TEC03 | Drawing and precision bench | Prepared stock becomes wire, rods, couplings, and service components. The player selects a known form, mounts a reusable tool, and collects a bounded batch. | Basic versions support early copper fittings. Precision tooling later unlocks specialist tolerances as game categories. It improves relevant components rather than multiplying every item's power. |
| IND-M06 / TEC03 | Carbon retort | Suitable renewable carbon feedstock becomes consistent furnace carbon and a limited useful residue. A charge door, heat source, cooled output, and recoverable byproduct store explain its cycle. | Optional early-to-regional efficiency. Ordinary charcoal and supported substitutes keep the first steel route accessible. Residue handling cannot become a compulsory nuisance for a small workshop. |
| IND-M07 / TEC03 | Alloy hearth | Copper, tin, and approved metal combinations become recognizable basic alloys. The hearth shows charge, heat, and a finished stock position. | Early. Fuel and a small batch limit provide a simple first route. Bronze is useful for fittings without replacing all iron equipment. Alternative common-material Tier 1 parts remain possible where the confirmed design requires them. |
| IND-M08 / TEC03 | Controlled steel furnace | Iron and a supported carbon supply pass through a visible controlled batch to structural steel, with a bounded slag output. Loading and hot-work access remain distinct. | Regional industry; useful earlier where a project justifies it. The first furnace uses accessible refractory construction and fuel. Electrical blowers and improved heat recovery are upgrades, not prerequisites for the first steel. |
| IND-M09 / TEC02 | Kiln and ceramic forming station | Ceramic clay and selected additives become vessels, insulation, furnace parts, or supported panels. Green pieces, a firing chamber, and cooling shelves expose the stages. | Early. Simple recipes use common clay and fuel. Technical, lunar, and specialized recipes extend the same family. A larger kiln improves batch capacity while asking for a larger site and heat supply. |
| IND-M10 / TEC02 and TEC04 | Panel and laminate table | Prepared panels, cloth, resin or an approved early seal material, and fittings become composites and enclosed service parts. Layers and joins remain visible during assembly. | Early simple enclosures; regional specialist composites. Property choices trade lightness, repairability, insulation, or protection. A panel should not acquire every beneficial property merely because its recipe is longer. |
| IND-M11 / TEC04 | Loom and textile station | Gathered or cultivated fiber becomes cloth, straps, rope treatments, and insulation. The station shows raw bundles, active weaving, and finished rolls. | Early. Safe fringe sources and ordinary substitutes support the first use. Powered production increases repeat capacity. The essential supply chain never requires killing rare wildlife. |
| IND-M12 / TEC04 and TEC12 | Seal and filter bench | Appropriate cloth, sealing material, fittings, and service stock become replaceable filters, gaskets, patches, and simple sealed equipment parts. Used components are inspected at a clear work surface. | Early Tier 1 support. Honeycomb appears in the supplied example material lists and can fit the game's basic seal vocabulary. Later resin or polymer variants improve particular duties; this is fictional crafting, not a claim of real aerospace suitability. |
| IND-M13 / TEC05 | Managed cultivation beds | A known sample, suitable substrate, and one or two readable conditions produce renewable food, fiber, resin, or biolume material. Bed markers and visible growth show the current condition. | Early fringe cultivation through later planetary specializations. Initial samples unlock propagation. Managed plots have finite output and local boundaries, protecting the value of natural environments and preventing unlimited accidental spread. |
| IND-M14 / TEC05 and TEC08 | Biological extractor and fermenter | Approved renewable biomass becomes a bounded useful extract, industrial feedstock, or supported fuel precursor. A vessel, feed basket, culture record, and collection point make the process visible. | Regional optional branch. It offers a use for sustained cultivation and excess produce. The complete fuel chain must pay its land, power, and feedstock costs; self-feeding production cannot generate unlimited resources. |

## Water, ore, chemical, and material processing

| Ref. and installation | Machine or function | Inputs, outputs, and player interaction | Gate, cost, and tradeoff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IND-M15 / TEC06 | Pump installation | A visible intake moves an identified liquid to an authorized destination through a readable pipe route. The portable version remains EQ18; a permanent installation adds capacity and mounting. | Early through regional. It solves a bounded water or transfer problem. Previewed limits, head category, and receiving capacity prevent silently draining a whole lake or filling a protected settlement. |
| IND-M16 / TEC06 | Water treatment station | Collected or supplied water passes through replaceable treatment media to the process-water or habitat-water category the recipe requires. The dirty-input and clean-output points differ in shape and label. | Early compact service, regional recovery upgrades. A first lunar loadout can carry prepared supplies. Treatment adds specific utility without introducing a universal drinking-water chore into ordinary Minecraft survival. |
| IND-M17 / TEC06 | Reservoir and manifold | Accepted fluid batches enter labeled tanks and leave through configured valves. A sight gauge, material icon, fill connector, and drain destination remain visible. | Early containers; regional shared systems. Storage buys time and convenience but occupies space. Incompatible batches are rejected with an explanation instead of silently deleting or transforming their contents. |
| IND-M18 / TEC08 | Crusher | Ore-bearing material becomes a prepared feedstock or aggregate. Material descends through a guarded visible crushing action toward a collection bin. | Regional bulk process, with direct ordinary smelting retained. Crushing enables selected recovery routes and construction products. It consumes power, wears a serviceable working component during use, and needs real output capacity. |
| IND-M19 / TEC08 | Washing and classification table | Crushed material and process water become separated usable fractions plus a recoverable residue. Moving screens, channels, and labeled discharge points explain the separation. | Regional specialization. It can improve recovery from suitable deposits or reduce later process load. Water use and residue capacity create a site decision; unsuitable ores do not receive an automatic benefit. |
| IND-M20 / TEC08 | Concentration separator | A material-specific prepared feedstock becomes a richer concentrate and a bounded secondary fraction. A magnetic-looking, density, or other authored process module expresses the recipe's physical identity. | Regional. Module choice depends on material family. The machine improves selected feedstocks and does not detect every valuable block in the world or multiply finished ingots. |
| IND-M21 / TEC08 | Electrical materials cell | Prepared alumina feedstock and supported consumables become lightweight metal stock using established electricity. Separate charge, process, and finished-material zones show the transformation. | Regional specialization. Its first frame, electrodes, and insulation use previously reachable materials. It cannot require its own finished aluminum product. Lightweight stock improves selected cargo and equipment choices without gating the confirmed common-material Tier 1 hull. |
| IND-M22 / TEC03 and TEC08 | High-duty alloy and treatment furnace | Prepared metals and selected additives become reinforced alloy or titanium frame stock through controlled thermal work. A treatment recipe can change an existing component's appropriate duty category. | Deep industry. Nickel and titaniferous sources support distinct uses. Heat, power, and refractory service create costs. Higher-duty parts improve specific loads and environments rather than invalidating every earlier frame. |
| IND-M23 / TEC08 | Reaction vessel | Supported solid, liquid, or gas inputs become a specified reagent, composite precursor, or treated material. The vessel shows recipe identity, contents, service connections, and a bounded process state. | Regional chemistry. A small set of reusable reaction patterns carries the system. Mixed recipes do not run without deliberate selection, adequate output storage, and a valid compatible vessel configuration. |
| IND-M24 / TEC08 | Evaporation and crystallization works | Saline or mineral-bearing feedstock becomes a concentrated process supply and useful separated material. Broad surfaces or enclosed chambers match the selected heat and climate method. | Regional, with frontier variants. Sun-assisted or local-heat operation trades site suitability for lower supplied energy. Powered enclosure offers reliability and compactness. Ordinary rock salt retains a simpler route into relevant recipes. |
| IND-M25 / TEC08 | Electrolytic separator | Supported liquid feedstocks become defined process-gas or chemical outputs. Separate collection paths and clear gauges teach that one input can create more than one useful stream. | Regional chemistry. Every required output needs space or an explicit supported handling choice. The complete separation-and-generation loop must consume net energy; the first breathing refill service need not require this advanced plant. |
| IND-M26 / TEC08 and TEC12 | Gas conditioning and compressor | Accepted process gas becomes a dry, compressed, or otherwise supported service batch for an appropriate vessel. Drive, intake, filter, storage, and fill connection remain recognizable. | Early service form for mission supplies; regional plant form for bulk work. Greater storage density trades energy, vessel cost, and service needs. The player sees a simple duty category rather than many overlapping real-world pressure calculations. |
| IND-M27 / TEC08 | Phase-conditioning unit | A supported material changes between the game's useful liquid and gas storage forms through a powered thermal process. Both physical connections and the current direction are visible. | Regional-to-frontier. Compact storage or a particular recipe justifies the conversion. Heating and cooling need a sink or source. Reversing the process cannot create free energy or duplicate material. |
| IND-M28 / TEC08 | Chemical washing and recovery train | Selected concentrate, a known reagent, and process water produce a purified material plus a recoverable spent stream. Separate vessels make treatment and recovery readable. | Advanced regional option. Improved yield or purity costs plant space, energy, and reagent handling. A simpler direct process remains viable for ordinary projects. Residue recovery reduces costs within a finite material budget. |
| IND-M29 / TEC08 and TEC09 | Crystal and optical growth chamber | Prepared mineral stock and controlled conditions produce a defined optical or instrument component. A protected growth space and inspection window provide a distinctive action. | Deep and frontier specialization. Natural quartz and basic glass provide the first instruments. The chamber adds reliability or special properties for later optics, including lunar and distant-world products. |
| IND-M30 / TEC08 | Polymer and composite works | Approved Earth or planetary feedstocks become seal stock, insulating products, membranes, and supported composite parts. Reaction, forming, and curing appear as a short readable sequence. | Regional-to-frontier. Earth products cover initial needs; Titan and other discoveries offer specific improvements. The plant creates material choices rather than a universal plastic required for every unrelated object. |
| IND-M31 / TEC08 | Scrap and residue reclaimer | Supported scrap, offcuts, and selected spent materials return a stated recoverable fraction or a useful construction product. Inspection distinguishes reusable components from material for processing. | Regional. It rewards thoughtful layouts and upgrades. It never returns more total material than the originating chain supplied, preserves component identity where appropriate, and excludes protected specimens and mission reserves. |

## Energy, distribution, and expedition services

| Ref. and installation | Machine or function | Inputs, outputs, and player interaction | Gate, cost, and tradeoff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IND-M32 / TEC07 | Workshop dynamo and source assemblies | An authored waterwheel, wind source, or small fueled drive provides modest electricity through a visible dynamo and connector. Motion makes generation easy to recognize. | Early. A compact fueled option guarantees a geography-independent starting route. Renewable site choices exchange ongoing feedstock needs for placement requirements, variable output, or a larger footprint. |
| IND-M33 / TEC07 | Boiler, engine, and condenser plant | Fuel or a supported heat source drives a closed, readable steam-power game process. Water connection, boiler, moving engine or turbine, and return condenser remain separate visible roles. | Regional. Better sustained output costs space, heat management, and service capacity. A compact early generator remains useful for intermittent work and field locations. The condenser reduces supply burden without creating free inputs. |
| IND-M34 / TEC07 | Liquid or gas fuel engine | An accepted prepared fuel becomes electricity and a bounded heat or exhaust output. A tank, engine, cooling service, and shutoff explain operation. | Regional optional generation. Convenient sustained power pays for its whole upstream fuel chain. Renewable biological and other approved sources are evaluated as complete systems, including their cultivation and processing demand. |
| IND-M35 / TEC07 | Solar array and controller | A suitable exposed array provides power according to the world's supported lighting rules. A controller and storage connection show what is available now and what is reserved. | Early or regional where its actual recipe permits; useful planetary option. Area, shading or authored local conditions, and storage need balance its convenience. It cannot be a universal solution in dark underground sites. |
| IND-M36 / TEC07 and TEC08 | Thermal recovery module | An existing hot process or approved environmental installation supplies useful heat to another service or contributes bounded electricity. A visible exchanger separates the source from the receiving loop. | Regional through optional Io specialization. It recovers part of energy already being supplied or accesses a defined site resource. A device cannot power itself indefinitely by recapturing its own waste heat. |
| IND-M37 / TEC07 | Stationary power bank | Electrical input charges modular storage that later supplies a defined capacity and discharge rate. Cell housings, a charge gauge, and isolation points communicate scale. | Early small buffers; regional banks. Capacity supports interruptions and expeditions. Output rate limits how many heavy processes run together. Stored energy remains stable during an absent region's parked state. |
| IND-M38 / TEC07 | Switchboard and distribution station | Sources connect to labeled service branches with breakers, priority assignments, and supported cable or bus connections. The player can trace a selected machine back to its supply. | Early simple switch, regional distribution. Higher-duty branches require appropriate conductors and housings. Overload stops a readable branch safely by default; it does not invisibly remove energy or destroy an ordinary home. |
| IND-M39 / TEC07 | Field-cell charging rack | Available electricity charges reusable field cells and EQ19 field batteries through recognizable slots. A reserved expedition tray distinguishes packed supplies from general stock. | Early and Tier 1 support. Charging takes active-region work and an appropriate power supply. Routine automation cannot consume the cells already assigned to an expedition or an emergency service. |
| IND-M40 / TEC12 | Oxygen Generator — compact air-supply preparation (T1-M05) | A defined Earth atmosphere or water-processing input supports the game's breathing-supply product. The player supplies power and service materials and collects a prepared batch. This is the confirmed Oxygen Generator in REF15; the preparation-bench wording describes its function, not a separate required machine. | Early Tier 1. It is deliberately accessible without a large chemical plant. The route is a game abstraction with explicit inputs; local environments must be compatible before an outpost can reproduce the same service. |
| IND-M41 / TEC12 | Breathing-supply refill rack | Prepared SUPPLY02 fills the existing EQ24 vessels through the confirmed compatible fittings. Gauge, cylinder state, and occupied fill positions are visible. | Early Tier 1. Refill replaces repeated manufacture of whole tanks. Reserve protection separates mission, refuge, and ordinary stock. Larger racks improve group preparation without altering the underlying supply family. |
| IND-M42 / TEC12 | Seal and enclosure test cabinet | A supported suit component, small vessel, or assembled service module enters a bounded inspection cycle and leaves with a clear usable or repair-needed state. | Early Tier 1 support. Inspection consumes modest power and relevant service material where required. It reveals defined faults; it should not demand random repeated trials or surprise hidden certification statistics. |
| IND-M43 / TEC12 | Habitat utility module | An occupied supported habitat receives breathable service, power priority, and environmental status from a readable combined utility installation. Stored reserves and active demand are easy to inspect. | Tier 1 refuge onward. A larger or more independent habitat needs more capacity and cargo investment. Parked managed habitats retain their saved safe state; their services do not consume supplies through an absence penalty. |
| IND-M44 / TEC12 | Thermal service unit | Power, a reusable cooling or heating loop, and suitable support material maintain the game's defined thermal equipment or room duty. Radiator-like or exchanger surfaces show its relationship to the surroundings. | Basic thermal preparation through planetary specializations. Duration, compactness, and active power demand create meaningful alternatives. Mantle resources improve capability after a first accessible equipment version exists. |
| IND-M45 / TEC08 and TEC14 | Fuel Refinery — propellant preparation (T1-M03) | Accessible Earth feedstocks and established power produce SUPPLY01 through the supported Tier 1 process. Prepared supply moves into labeled transport or launch storage. This is the confirmed Fuel Refinery in REF15; the preparation-service wording describes its function, not a second starter processor. | Early Tier 1 service; regional bulk plant later. The final recipe must fit the confirmed early engineering branch. Travel allocations remain distinct from general workshop fuel, and the first return supply is manufactured before departure. |

## Vehicles, instruments, handling, and control

| Ref. and installation | Machine or function | Inputs, outputs, and player interaction | Gate, cost, and tradeoff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IND-M46 / TEC13 | Rocket Assembly Station | The confirmed station receives labeled Tier 1 components and completes a recognized craft through visible authored assembly. Part positions, access, and presentation follow the supplied art. | Early Tier 1. Its controller exposes the actual required parts and useful next action. Later industrial improvements can assist handling without rewriting its accepted design or turning each assembly into a maximum-tier factory project. |
| IND-M47 / TEC13 | Component service and test stand | A known propulsion, electrical, control, or structural module receives a bounded game inspection or repair. The stand shows the module's identity and the service being performed. | Tier 1 simple servicing, later specialist variants. The goal is understandable readiness and repair. No real engine-test procedure or elaborate engineering certification simulation is implied. |
| IND-M48 / TEC14 | Launch service and recovery connections | A supported craft connects to appropriate power, fuel, preparation, cargo, and recovery services through visible attachment points and the confirmed launch-site objects. | Tier 1. Readiness depends on the actual vehicle and route. Ground services disconnect through a clear launch state and preserve remaining stock. Recovery returns cargo and repair work to a useful place at home. |
| IND-M49 / TEC12 and TEC13 | Suit and equipment service dock | Worn or carried equipment connects to compatible refill, charging, repair, and cleaning services. The dock presents the destination loadout and individual items that need attention. | Early Tier 1 through frontier. It consolidates familiar preparation after the player learns each need. Its benefit is convenience; it does not provide supplies or repairs from nothing. |
| IND-M50 / TEC09 | Survey and optical bench | Recorded observations, samples, basic optics, and housings become maps, survey assemblies, and calibrated instruments. The bench connects a physical specimen with the route or question it informs. | Early field records; later optical and resonant specialization. Data unlocks a relevant method once. Production still uses actual material, and a player's basic return map stays readable during specialist instrument interference. |
| IND-M51 / TEC08 and TEC09 | Sample laboratory | A preserved mineral, fluid, or biological sample becomes a useful identification, processing option, or cultivation record. Containers and environmental needs stay attached to the sample's identity. | Regional and planetary. Portable analysis gives a first result; an established lab supports deeper work. Essential discoveries can be recovered or repeated without relying on one destructible specimen. |
| IND-M52 / TEC07 and TEC09 | Sensor and control cabinet | Simple sensors, redstone-compatible control functions, and explicit rules operate known equipment. A panel can show “reserve full,” “receiver unavailable,” or the reason an order is waiting. | Early switches; regional automation. A small vocabulary of conditions supports useful factories before advanced logic. It follows ownership and regional activity rules and cannot keep an absent factory secretly running. |
| IND-M53 / TEC10 | Hoist and lift installation | An authored landing pair, frame, drive, and cargo attachment move players or reserved loads through a known route. EQ08 remains the cargo winch family used by this installation. | Mechanical through regional. Load category, supported path, and landing capacity are visible. A hand or simple powered version teaches the route; later service improves reliability and capacity. |
| IND-M54 / TEC11 | Conveyor and loading bay | Identified goods move between nearby authorized buffers through visible belts, chutes, loaders, or container connections. Filters and arrows describe the intended destination. | Regional. Local transport trades building space and power for convenience. Backpressure stops feeding when an output is full. The system never drops valuables into the world merely because a receiving slot became occupied. |
| IND-M55 / TEC11 | Stockroom and order desk | Existing categorized storage supports a searchable inventory view, reserved project supplies, and bounded production orders. Physical racks and containers retain their place in the settlement. | Regional. The first form can use ordinary labeled storage. Later indexing reduces sorting effort; it does not create infinite capacity, duplicate stock, or grant access to another player's private containers. |
| IND-M56 / TEC11 | Freight dispatch and receiving service | Already-produced authorized goods are reserved, dispatched along an established link, and received through a finite arrival process. The destination shows cargo, progress, and the reason for waiting. | Regional through space network. Its route and capacity must exist. Receiving-region activity can advance delivery while the source is absent. Dispatch never starts fresh remote production or requires both endpoints occupied together. |
| IND-M57 / EQ05 and TEC08 | Bounded excavation assembly | A surveyed, previewed working area yields actual accessible material through a visible drill, support frame, and collection point. Its service system and excavation exclusions are inspectable. | Regional specialist option. Power, heads, workspace, and deposit limits balance throughput. It stops at unexpected hazards, protected content, exclusions, or full output. It does not silently mine every valuable block through unknown terrain. |
| IND-M58 / TEC13 | Frontier vehicle service bay | SUP01 rovers, SUP02 cargo crawlers, SUP03 ice submersibles, or SUP04 supported atmospheric craft receive their relevant charging, repair, pressure, cargo, and instrument service. | Frontier by vehicle family. Each bay uses a shared workshop language with destination-specific equipment. The first arrival carries what is necessary before locally improved products become available. |
| IND-M59 / TEC01, TEC03, and TEC08 | Parallel production line | Known processes gain additional working positions, buffers, and shared handling. More than one batch can be produced within a visibly larger or more capable installation. | Regional-to-advanced capacity option. Parallel work pays approximately for the extra machines and supply demand it replaces. It does not multiply output merely by applying a universal “factory” upgrade to one small block. |

## Advanced systems with explicit scope

The following systems preserve the desired long-term breadth without making them first-flight requirements. Their visual status in this edition is detailed artwork — backlog. Their mechanics are design directions whose exact recipes, tuning, and supported construction configurations remain to be developed through playable prototypes.

| Ref. and installation | Planned system | Purpose and process identity | Dependencies and limits |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IND-M60 / TEC08 | Shielded materials laboratory | A dedicated enclosure prepares, contains, recovers, and accounts for the fictional specialized materials used by a reactor or radiological research branch. Separate service and storage positions make custody visible. | Advanced backlog. Any added natural feedstock needs an explicit generation and material-catalogue decision. It cannot be silently inserted into MAT01–19 or become an unnoticed requirement for the main campaign. |
| IND-M61 / TEC07 | Shielded fission power plant | A large optional installation links a contained core, heat transfer, power generation, service access, and managed spent-material storage. Its attraction is sustained industrial output and the achievement of a complete working site. | Advanced backlog. The entire fuel and spent-material path must be playable before commissioning. Automatic controlled shutdown, stable parking, readable local consequences, and a recoverable cleanup project govern the default experience. |
| IND-M62 / TEC07 | Fusion research plant | A later optional high-duty project combines fuel preparation, startup energy, a recognizable central apparatus, thermal service, and substantial distribution. It supports demanding science or a player-built industrial ambition. | Advanced backlog. Inputs and startup costs remain explicit, and the complete preparation chain is balanced together. It is not required to launch Tier 1, visit the Moon, or keep an ordinary habitat alive. |
| IND-M63 / TEC08 | Precision field apparatus | A large fictional processing installation prepares a narrowly defined advanced field component or transit consumable. Coil-like frames, service chambers, and visible material custody give the operation a physical identity. | Advanced backlog. This fills the intended high-energy material-processing role. It cannot manufacture arbitrary ore, produce net free power, or turn one extraordinary substance into an answer to every game system. |
| IND-M64 / TEC09 and TEC13 | Navigation and transit assembly | Mature instruments, previously reachable components, and calibrated route evidence support the bounded Interstellar capability. The player can inspect the observation, assembly, and service relationships. | Beyond Sol. Pluto evidence and pre-Afterlight materials support the first voyage. Cairn and Morrow products improve later investigation. The assembly follows defined routes and preserves an independent return plan. |
| IND-M65 / TEC11 and TEC14 | Advanced route terminal | A late terminal coordinates approved travel or cargo conveniences between already surveyed, secured, and appropriately serviced destinations. It shows what service actually exists at each end. | Advanced backlog. It does not discover a destination, create its shelter, bypass first-landing preparation, or move arbitrary structures. Any instantaneous-transfer variant requires its own bounded design decision and preserves meaningful craft roles. |
| IND-M66 / TEC12 and TEC13 | Modular powered equipment dock | A service station prepares compatible movement, work, sensing, shielding, or environmental modules for the existing equipment families. Worn devices keep recognizable attachment points and service needs. | Frontier and advanced. Limited meaningful module choices trade charge, space, handling, and protection. A universal suit does not erase every terrain problem. Powered digging remains controlled, and flight requires a supported local context. |

The nuclear and high-energy systems above are optional proposed SUBSTELLAR systems. Mekanism's official fission documentation provides an example of linked fuel, cooling, power, and spent-material services: https://wiki.aidancbrady.com/wiki/Fission_Reactor . SUBSTELLAR's bounded failure, protected habitats, and absence rules are independent product decisions and take precedence in this plan.

## Reading a machine without studying a menu

Each machine presents a primary state on the object: ready, working, waiting for a named input, output full, service needed, manually stopped, or region parked. Motion and sound support that state. They must not be the only way to understand it. A quiet-accessibility option preserves visible indicators, and reduced particles keep dense workshops readable.

Every connection uses shape, direction, and a symbol in addition to color. Items have trays, chutes, belts, or recognizable container links. Liquids have a pipe or hose with a clear intake and outlet. Gases use a distinct sealed connection. Electricity uses cable anchors and protected connectors. Heat uses lined service pipes, exchangers, or an appropriate contact assembly. A small local convention is more useful than a separate connector language for every destination.

An inspection view answers five questions: what is being made, what is available, what is missing, where output goes, and what will stop the work. A detailed view can add process rates, energy use, installed modules, ownership, and history. First-use guidance should point to the physical part that needs attention. “No compatible cylinder at the refill position” is more useful than an unexplained generic error.

The standard configuration tool can reuse an existing suitable field or workshop tool identity rather than creating another permanent carried item. It shows editable ports and the destination of a selected connection in the world. Placement previews identify invalid orientations before the player supplies a construction stage. Simple supported layouts should work without advanced configuration.

## Service, wear, and failure

Ordinary machines should not need frequent random repairs. Service is most useful when connected to work the player understands: a drill head after substantial excavation, a filter after processing a defined quantity, or seals after an active dusty expedition. The machine shows the affected part and the remaining useful service category well before it stops. Supplies used for routine service become renewable or straightforward to replenish.

Normal shortages stop safely. A full tank blocks the process that would fill it. An empty fuel store leaves the generator idle. A missing receiver retains the finished goods. An overload trips a visible branch. Dangerous specialist operations can have authored local hazards and deliberate operating decisions, but those must be introduced with counterplay and recovery. They cannot secretly endanger an unrelated home or absent participant.

The meaningful cost of a poor layout is usually reduced throughput, extra travel, awkward servicing, or a stopped order. This gives a builder reasons to improve the plant. Large-scale irreversible punishment would instead discourage the experimentation that makes machinery interesting. Optional challenge settings can be considered later, after the default readable and recoverable behavior works.

# Production chains, balance, and machine progression

## Recipes as a connected economy

A recipe should tell a short story about what changes. Clay becomes a ceramic part. Metal stock becomes a shaped component. Cloth and a seal material become a serviceable enclosure. A selected ore-bearing feedstock can yield a better concentrate through a specific process. The complete catalogue must explain where each input first becomes available and what new decision its output enables.

Each first-use chain has a short accessible route. Later branches can improve quantity, compactness, efficiency, or special properties. These benefits need distinct meanings. More output per deposit, more output per active minute, less energy per part, smaller footprint, easier service, and better environmental performance are different advantages. One upgrade should not automatically maximize all of them.

Process recipes use a small number of shared intermediate families. Stock, wire, plates, basic fittings, sealed assemblies, optical assemblies, and relevant service supplies can recur across machines. A named component deserves a distinct inventory identity when players recognize or configure it, when it is used meaningfully in multiple contexts, or when its role matters to assembly. Tiny fasteners can be represented within a parts bundle instead of creating dozens of uninteresting crafting steps.

## Chain A — The first useful electrical workshop

The player establishes a repair bench, gathers ordinary metal and insulation supplies, and prepares basic conductors and fittings through an accessible route. A small source assembly drives a workshop dynamo or provides the same supported modest electrical service. A visible connection leads to a small buffer and a field-cell charging rack.

The first charged cell powers a work light, field instrument, or portable pump. This result is immediately useful on an expedition. Completing it teaches production, storage, and consumption through a handful of objects. A later switchboard allows two branches and priorities. A larger source supports longer work. The earlier source can remain at a remote pump, service a cottage workshop, or act as a backup.

The dependency audit is simple: no aluminum in the first aluminum-capable workshop supply; no advanced cell material required to charge the first basic cell; no machine-produced specialist wire required to build the first hand-operated drawing fixture. The first supported recipe path must be recorded beside each later efficient version.

## Chain B — Common-material Tier 1 construction

The Tier 1 part list begins with the user's confirmed labeled components and their approved visual relationships. Accessible iron, copper, glass, stone, redstone, honeycomb, and other explicitly supported ordinary inputs are gathered or prepared. The Part Fabrication Table turns them into the recognized parts. The Rocket Assembly Station accepts the actual delivered components and advances through its authored build sequence.

Services are prepared alongside the vehicle: charging, the supported propellant process, breathing-supply refill, a compatible sealed suit, working-cabin and packed-starter-shelter readiness for the default first lunar mission, navigation, and a return allocation. Early service modules use approachable game processes. Their construction must not quietly depend on a titanium frame, Heartglass lens, deep chemical reagent, or a sample from the destination.

The player sees two parallel readiness lists: vehicle assembly and expedition preparation. Assembly completes a rocket; preparation makes the chosen trip practical. The launch display combines them into a concise destination-specific result. The craft can remain parked and useful while the player explores Earth, adjusts cargo, or improves a route. Repeated departures use saved loadouts and refill orders instead of replaying the first fabrication lesson.

## Chain C — A regional metalworks with meaningful alternatives

Ordinary direct smelting remains the small-workshop route for suitable familiar inputs. A regional installation adds crushing, selected separation, and a controlled furnace. Its benefit can be better use of an actual deposit, recovery of a secondary material, or more convenient sustained production. Steel and shaped structural stock then support lifts, transport, machinery, and free-built architecture.

The player can stop at a useful intermediate arrangement. A quarry producing ordinary stone and metal does not need a complete chemical plant. A richer nickel deposit may justify concentration. A large aluminum project may justify electrical refining. A specialist material may require a narrow treatment process. The decision depends on the project and source material rather than a universal instruction to pass every ore through the longest available chain.

Advanced recovery operates within a defined material budget. Raw items, processed fractions, compacted blocks, and reclaimed scrap must be accounted for consistently. Repacking, fortune-like extraction behavior, salvaging, and reprocessing cannot repeatedly collect the same yield bonus. A secondary output must represent a supported fraction of a feedstock, not a chance to create an infinite byproduct loop.

## Chain D — Seals, air, and habitat service

The early seal and filter bench produces the game's first serviceable components from accessible cloth, fittings, and approved sealing inputs. A compact Earth preparation bench makes breathing supply through its defined game process. The refill rack charges compatible vessels, while a test cabinet or appropriate station action identifies an incomplete or damaged supported assembly.

At the destination, protected supplies serve the cabin, suit, and first refuge. The habitat utility module gives essential occupants priority. Ordinary production cannot consume the final reserve because a factory order happens to use the same stored resource. The player can deliberately revise a reservation with its consequence displayed, but automatic orders cannot make that choice for them.

Later outposts can add compatible local production, water recovery, larger storage, and improved filters. Each step reduces carried supply or extends supported work at a cost in modules, energy, and service material. It does not erase all preparation at once. A local atmosphere-processing route only works where the game's destination specification supports it; arrival never assumes that an unfamiliar atmosphere is usable.

## Chain E — A chemical line worth building

A chemical workshop begins with a specific product worth making, such as a selected composite, a treatment for a difficult material, or a useful recovery stream. The player can inspect its complete process before committing to the site. The initial plant uses a limited number of inputs and intermediate categories, with a compatible container or destination for each output.

For example, a supported saline feedstock enters concentration, feeds a defined separation process, and contributes a reagent to a treatment vessel. A recovery stage can return some useful process material. The product improves a particular industrial duty. This is a game-process pattern; exact substances, numerical ratios, and operating values belong to later balancing and content validation.

The default interface can group this connected line as a production order while keeping each machine inspectable. The player chooses batch size and stop condition once. A blocked byproduct store points to that store. A shutdown preserves in-process material at a supported checkpoint. Adding recovery is an investment with a visible payback in recurring supplies, not a compulsory puzzle that makes every simple metal part take an hour of supervision.

## Chain F — From a lunar sample to a better home

The first lunar expedition returns with a preserved regolith or glass-related sample and observations from a named place. An Earth or lunar laboratory identifies a useful process. Regolith Ceramic becomes an improved habitat panel or thermal component. Lunar Glass Filament becomes a better light-guidance or survey assembly. The player can place the resulting improvement where they understand its value.

A later lunar production site imports the essential machinery, uses local accepted feedstocks, and makes a limited set of relevant products. It can supply its own next extension or send already-produced goods through a commissioned freight route. It does not need to copy the entire Earth factory. Local specialization gives the Moon an economic identity while preserving reasons to visit the Shallows workshop or Deepwilds cultivation house.

The same structure continues on Mars. Previously available frames support the first arrival. Local Ferric Lattice supports repairable refits after discovery; Brine Catalyst improves selected compact processing. Planetary resources first reward the trip the player has completed and then help prepare a new one.

## Power as a set of visible decisions

Power should have one understandable common electrical accounting system within SUBSTELLAR, with physical distribution requirements appropriate to the installation. The player can understand a small generator and a large plant using the same core concepts: available supply, stored reserve, present demand, supported delivery rate, and priority. Higher-duty equipment can need a better branch or installation without introducing a new unrelated energy currency at every stage.

Generation methods need different good uses. Small fueled generation suits temporary and intermittent work. Water or wind can support a stable home where the site suits it. Solar arrays favor suitable exposed surfaces and need an appropriate reserve strategy. Large thermal and fuel plants support sustained industrial demand. Optional reactors answer late large-scale ambitions. Compact field power makes expedition choices possible without replacing settled infrastructure.

Storage has both capacity and a supported output category. A small field cell can run a field device without being a magic adapter for an entire refinery. A large bank can supply a brief peak or bridge a generation pause. The interface should show when a proposed process exceeds delivery capacity even if stored energy is plentiful.

Distribution offers a few clear circuit duties and service branches. Exact voltage simulation is unnecessary unless it produces a specific enjoyable activity. A protected light-and-habitat branch, a workshop branch, and a heavy-process branch already create useful decisions. An inspection tool should highlight which source and breaker serve the selected machine.

Essential services receive explicit priority. Optional manufacturing slows or pauses before an occupied refuge loses its operating allocation. The player can schedule heavy work while other loads are low, add a buffer, choose a slower efficient process, or install a better source. These are practical engineering choices that the scene and interface can both explain.

## Fluids, gases, and heat without unreadable complexity

Liquids and gases retain distinct storage and connection identities. A filled vessel is a specific batch with a type, quantity, and permitted use. The system should not surprise the player by mixing incompatible materials through a visually identical connection. An empty line, a blocked receiver, and an incorrect material each need a different readable state.

First-use connections work through clear ports and short visible routes. A later manifold makes a larger plant easier to organize. It can allocate a known supply to several compatible processes with priorities, but it does not conceal where the material originates. Colored markings help the scene; symbols, names, and direction arrows carry the same information for players who cannot distinguish the colors.

Heat is useful where it gives a process or place identity. A kiln, thermal treatment, heat exchanger, and cold-world service system can share understandable hot, operating, cooling, and safe-service categories. A bounded installation can model its heat needs without simulating temperature through every block of a player-built mountain.

Material conversions must conserve the game's accounting across storage forms. Filling and emptying a cylinder, freezing and thawing a supported material, or converting a gas to a liquid cannot create extra supply. Energy conversion loops have a net cost after all inputs are counted. A recovery process can reduce recurring demand and still leave a reason to maintain the source.

## Automation that gives time back

The first automation tools are simple: accept a particular input, send a particular output, stop at a target reserve, protect a chosen allocation, and pause on a clear condition. The player can build a useful workshop with those rules. More elaborate condition groups, sequencing, and scheduled local orders can follow when their benefit is clear.

Orders have a source, recipe, quantity or reserve target, output destination, permission scope, and stop condition. An order desk can prepare a loadout or project bundle from authorized stores. It reports the actual bottleneck instead of hiding it behind a generic progress bar. A player can inspect a part and see the shortest currently available path to make it.

Large factories grow through throughput and specialization. Parallel machines, better handling, improved layout, and sensible buffers increase capacity. Upgrades should specify their consequence: faster working rate with higher demand, lower consumption with slower throughput, a larger supported batch, better yield for a selected feedstock, or fewer service interruptions. A universal module that improves every measure weakens both the early machine and the choice to expand.

Remote visibility is distinct from remote activity. A terminal can show recorded inventories, reservations, route status, and the last known state of an outpost where the player has permission. That does not authorize its absent factory to process new goods. Region boundaries, dimension boundaries, eligibility, and the established pause rules remain authoritative.

## Regional pause and coherent custody

Managed production pauses when its eligible participants leave the defined region. Machines, their supported local transport, storage reservations, heat states, biological processing, and service consumption must enter a coherent saved condition together. They resume from that condition when the region becomes active. A player should not return to a different factory outcome calculated from wall-clock absence.

A paused machine retains its committed inputs and supported partial result. It cannot restart a batch by charging the same inputs again or award the output twice. Uncommitted queued stock remains identifiable and recoverable according to the order's rules. In-progress material is a real recorded resource state rather than a progress bar detached from inventory.

Local production and established freight have different permissions. Freight reserves goods that already exist. Its finite receiving process can advance when the destination is active, even if the source is parked. That movement does not operate the source machine, start its next batch, or consume an absent habitat's reserve. Both endpoints need not have simultaneous occupants.

Ordinary Minecraft systems outside the managed system retain their normal behavior. The industrial design must not imply that every furnace, crop, mob, redstone contraption, or unrelated chunk follows SUBSTELLAR's regional pause. Supported integrations need explicit boundaries. A visible region status helps the player understand which authored services will pause when they leave.

## Fairness, pacing, and the role of maintenance

The initial machine investment should feel substantial enough to be remembered and small enough to reach a useful result. Later upgrades should remove an existing inconvenience or open an understandable capability. Creating a problem solely so that the next mandatory machine can remove it is weak progression.

Balance should be evaluated around complete player outcomes: the first prepared descent, first useful powered tool, first Tier 1 round trip, first automatic supply order, first difficult deep expedition, first local lunar improvement, and first independent Mars operation. A recipe can look inexpensive in isolation while the whole chain demands excessive repeated gathering. The complete chain, including service inputs and transport, is the unit of review.

Ordinary renewable supplies should become convenient as the player establishes them. Rare discoveries can remain exciting through specimens, new methods, unique decorative forms, and specialized applications. Requiring the same rare material for every replacement filter, lamp, and routine bracket would turn exploration into an errand.

Manual alternatives remain useful for small quantities, field repair, and first production. They may be slower or consume more common material, but their cost should not become punitive. They create resilience when power is temporarily unavailable and let players who prefer exploration cooperate with dedicated industrial builders.

Cooperative progress should reward different contributions. One player can survey a deposit, another can build the route, another can fabricate parts, and another can prepare the expedition. Shared knowledge and completed infrastructure remain available under group rules. Each person can retain their own discovery history without having to rebuild a parallel factory to participate.

## Reconciliation with the existing catalogues

| Existing catalogue | Relationship to the expansion |
| --- | --- |
| MAT01–MAT09 | Tin, nickel, alumina clay, titaniferous ore, graphite, quartz, sulfur, salt, and ceramic clay enter specific fittings, structural, electrical, chemical, optical, and thermal routes. They are not nine successive mining permissions. |
| MAT10–MAT12 and MAT17–MAT19 | Resin, fiber, shellstone, loam, ironbark fiber, and biolume retain cultivation, textile, composite, decorative, and living-light roles. Renewable essential uses have safe first sources or accessible substitutes. |
| MAT13–MAT16 | Lens crystal, resonant quartz, Heartglass, and thermal salt provide specialized instruments or environmental improvements. They do not gate the confirmed early Tier 1 branch. |
| Ten processed-product families | Bronze fittings, steel, sealed cloth, technical ceramics, lightweight plates, reinforced alloy, titanium stock, optical assemblies, resonant components, and Heartglass assemblies remain the main vocabulary. Added forms should reuse these identities where possible. |
| EQ01–EQ05 and EQ32 | Hand tools and controlled excavation retain useful identities. Powered tools and IND-M57 add working options with visible charge, service, and excavation limits. |
| EQ06–EQ10 and EQ31 | Ropes, harness, winch, crossing, carrying frame, and cart connect to supported hoists, loading bays, and transport. Installation upgrades do not create duplicate equipment families without a new role. |
| EQ11–EQ19 and EQ30 | Light, markers, survey, journal, sampling, cultivation, pump, battery, and resonance connect to charging, laboratory, mapping, and field-service functions. |
| EQ20–EQ29 | Filters, thermal and sealed equipment, shields, breathing supply, refuge, communications, repair, aquatic, and radiation modules are serviced by the appropriate workshop. A late suit combines selected compatible functions within limits. |
| TEC01–TEC14 | These remain recognizable places and installation families. IND-M01–IND-M66 supply the detailed functions from which their actual implementations can be designed. |
| SUPPLY01–SUPPLY03 | Propellant, breathing refill, and charged cells retain one shared identity across manufacture, storage, preparation, and use. Their first supported sources are on Earth. |
| PM01–PM18 | Planetary materials produce destination-specific improvements after arrival. Common uses allow supported substitutes; unique properties justify narrower specialist requirements. |
| SUP01–SUP04 | Rover, cargo crawler, ice submersible, and atmospheric survey skiff use relevant service bays. They remain support vehicles, separate from the three rocket tiers and the six spacecraft capability classes. |

Existing decorative and biological uses are preserved even where they do not feed a major machine. No optional reactor input, special industrial gas, or new ore acquires an approved MAT or PM identifier through implication. A genuinely new natural resource needs its own generation, recognition, use, substitute, and illustration entry before it is integrated.

## Coverage and the next design slices

The current overview should show the complete industrial journey, the early Tier 1 branch, representative machine families, and the relationship between home workshops and destination services. The confirmed Tier 1 artwork supplies the appearance of its named machines, components, equipment, and rocket. Accurate process and progression graphics should use drawn labels and links to the writing.

Detailed artwork remains a named backlog for each other machine family: full installation, working process, intake and output, accessible service positions, relevant item scale, and useful variants. A coherent family board can cover related parts. An overview image does not imply that every individual machine or material has received a finished concept.

Before extracting implementation work, each chosen machine needs a small concrete brief: player outcome, first accessible recipe path, inputs and outputs, physical interaction, supported placement, readable states, ownership, regional pause, recovery, service needs, and the visual references it must preserve. Numerical rates and capacities should follow a playable process. A prototype must demonstrate a real input becoming the intended output, a useful field or construction result, and correct behavior when its receiver fills or its region pauses.

The first industrial implementation slice should be selected after the required generation and construction foundations are dependable. A compact path through a bench, ordinary parts, a useful power service, and one expedition outcome can prove the language. The complete common-material Tier 1 branch can then be developed as its own coherent slice, with all required support services and a genuine round trip. Deeper ore recovery, elaborate chemical plants, destination specializations, large reactors, and advanced transit remain explicitly mapped later work.

Success is a workshop that makes the player want to build another room, improve a route, prepare a new expedition, or bring a discovery home. The machine catalogue is large because the world offers many kinds of work. Its progression should let each of those kinds become understandable, useful, and worth returning to.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: industry_progression_expansion.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: moon_mars_expansion.txt | SHA-256 203a7eedc962d39a87dd34c835adff6aaeb390052e604e9148037cdf42a3687c =====

# Moon — complete destination planning expansion

This chapter extends the approved Moon direction without replacing it. **DST01**, its five established regional IDs, **Regolith Ceramic**, **Lunar Glass Filament**, the **Lunar Shelter Controller**, the **Rim Observatory Controller**, and **A Light Across the Basin** remain the governing references. The expansion makes their generation, play, production, and delivery relationships explicit. Its caves, usable materials, operating conditions, and progression are designed game fiction. Physical dimensions, environmental budgets, recipes, and machine rates remain balancing decisions.

## MO-PLAN-01 — The destination promise and first arrival

The Moon is the first place where a player-made room feels like a piece of Earth carried into an immense absence. The landing should contrast a warm, legible cabin with a landscape whose scale becomes apparent only after stepping outside. Earthrise Rim provides the first recognizable homeward view; the depths later exchange that distant familiarity for the reassuring light of the player's own installations. The intended emotional sequence is astonishment, caution, competence, and finally attachment to a home that once seemed improbable.

The default first lunar expedition carries a working airlocked cabin and an Earth-made EQ25 starter shelter kit, sealed personal protection, breathing supplies, charged field cells, insulation, lights, anchors, tethers, dust-service materials, a survey instrument, ordinary repair parts, food, and protected return reserves. All are manufactured or obtained before departure. Their arrangement follows the confirmed spacecraft and equipment designs selected for first lunar access. A lunar-made suit or underground mineral cannot be required for that first safe walk.

Candidate landing sites describe practical differences: an easy walking approach to a tube entrance, a stronger Earth view, a sheltered construction pocket, or a longer route with more dramatic terrain. The initial candidates all support the same essential campaign opportunities. The briefing identifies what is known, what remains uncharted, and the safe operating assumptions of the loadout. A picturesque site cannot secretly lack the only material needed to leave.

Arrival is a short commissioning sequence with visible results. The craft establishes a safe parked state; the player checks the cabin's reserve display, marks its entrance, and walks a small site-inspection circuit. The cabin remains a retreat while the carried starter shelter is commissioned and its entrance marked before the first committed descent. A deliberate pause at the rim lets the scale register. The first objective is to return from the inspection circuit with confidence. A beginner can complete a modest survey and go home with only this compact refuge; larger permanent outpost development remains optional.

## MO-PLAN-02 — A connected surface and underground world

Generation begins with a landscape of nested crater forms, broad regolith shelves, exposed broken rock, and recognizable long-distance silhouettes. It then places the underground networks in a relationship with those forms. Fractured margins suggest Regolith Hollows; collapsed roofs reveal selected Basalt Galleries; deeper polished seams lead toward Glassfall Vaults. These are probabilistic clues a player can learn, not guarantees that every crater has an identical dungeon beneath it.

Earthrise Rim and Shadow Basin are surface experiences that can border or interleave. The three underground experiences are connected geological families, rather than five perfectly separated horizontal slabs. A small hollow may sit beside a large gallery, and a gallery wall may reveal glass-bearing fractures before the main vault network opens. Transitions retain both sides' visual language over a useful distance. Exact height allocations are intentionally unspecified and must be tested against the destination's eventual generation envelope.

The starter region guarantees a supported landing area, a feasible walking loop, an accessible shallow descent, a meaningful Basalt Gallery reveal, common regolith feedstock, an obtainable initial glass sample, and a viable route back. These guarantees ensure opportunity rather than a fixed identical map. A protected campaign envelope reserves critical route and mission anchors before decorative variation is applied. The generator then verifies their access with the equipment available on first arrival.

Lateral exploration matters. Several galleries can extend beneath the same crater chain, while a single connected tube system may have distant exits. Secondary entrances reward a player who recognizes a surface collapse from a map made underground. Routes vary through bends, choke points, roof openings, side cavities, and changes of scale. Repeated featureless corridors and compulsory straight downward shafts should fail review even when their connectivity is technically valid.

Landmarks must work without an interface. A broken double rim, a solitary sloping block, a light shaft, or an unusually broad tube junction supplies a recognizable reference. Instruments add useful confidence, but maps should record the terrain the player has understood rather than reveal every hidden chamber automatically. Player-built lights, signs, bridges, and markers remain meaningful additions to the world.

## MO-PLAN-03 — Five complete regional experiences

### MO-S1 — Earthrise Rim

The rim alternates open regolith shelves with fractured shoulders, low saddles, and exposed viewpoints. Broad surfaces make the scale feel unfamiliar, while occasional sudden edges prevent flatness from becoming monotony. A first landing occupies a usable shelf with room for the confirmed craft, its service clearances, a walking route, and a modest refuge. Authored viewing conditions can frame Earth through a gap or above a low ridge without making a real astronomical timetable a progression requirement.

The basic play loop is to survey from high ground, identify a descending route, place homeward markers, collect modest samples, and return to inspect the suit. Variants can emphasize a long crescent ridge, overlapping crater bowls, a stepped outer slope, or a sheltered pocket beside exposed bedrock. Each still includes a readable approach and at least one useful construction site. Distant terrain invites later trips but does not compete with the first refuge for visual attention.

Resource placement communicates origin. Loose regolith is widespread; compacted deposits and exposed rock occur in recognizable contexts. A landing area is not carpeted with glowing ore. Gentle collection and a small geological sample should be productive before a player builds machinery. Subsequent work adds service paths, storage, reflectors, and an observatory silhouette. The transformation should remain visibly the player's contribution to an otherwise spare place.

### MO-S2 — Shadow Basin

Shadow Basin uses permanently shaded-looking crater pockets within the stylized lighting model. A dark floor, faint enclosing slopes, and islands of player-created light establish its identity. Approaching players can see the change in visibility and read the protection requirement before committing. The physical route remains the focus of play.

Routes cross slumped dust shelves, skirt block fields, descend protected margins, or follow a surveyed marker chain. Variants include a shallow basin crossed by an obvious saddle, a deeper pocket with a high return terrace, and adjacent dark hollows linked by a bright ridge. The safe route can be longer than a direct crossing. Tethers, reflective markers, insulated equipment, and spare cells turn that choice into preparation rather than repeated trial and death.

The basin supports navigation, photography, quiet observation, and later logistics. Sheltered sites can host relay instruments, but a location's visual darkness does not itself imply free thermal protection or breathable shelter. A surface entrance can connect to Regolith Hollows and emerge through a distant Basalt Gallery roof. Completing such a loop changes a threatening region into an understood route while preserving the atmosphere of darkness beyond the marked path.

### MO-L1 — Regolith Hollows

These are close, irregular spaces among compressed dust shelves, impact fragments, and shallow broken deposits. Players crouch, probe, brace, and make short tethered descents. The low ceiling and the suit's contact sounds make careful movement feel different from Earth cave exploration. Dust disturbed by excavation is a local activity effect; it does not establish a lunar windstorm simulation.

Variation comes from the proportion and arrangement of compacted shelves, competent rock, narrow voids, and short vertical breaks. One hollow supports a slow survey through adjacent cavities; another offers a small extraction bay; a third reveals an overlook into a much larger gallery. The transition toward Basalt Galleries progressively introduces smoother continuous rock and larger unsupported visual spans. The first reveal should be earned by a change of scale that the player can anticipate through clues.

Only explicitly designated unstable features react to excavation. Cracks, small falling particles, tool feedback, and the preview of a brace explain the risk. A bounded local slump may change an optional working face, but it cannot silently collapse the only starter exit or demolish an established refuge. Controlled tools and hand methods remain useful. The reward is an initial collection of samples, knowledge of where the hollow connects, and the satisfaction of making a cramped route dependable.

### MO-L2 — Basalt Galleries

Long sweeping chambers alternate with boulder chokes, stacked tube junctions, and collapsed roofs. A stable walking floor can suddenly open beside a deep break, encouraging bridges and handrails. In selected chambers, daylight from a roof shaft creates a landmark visible across a great distance. Other chambers are entirely dark until the player establishes a trail. The gallery has no automatic breathable atmosphere simply because it is enclosed by rock.

Variants include a broad single passage with side shelves, a braided network around an intact central wall, a sequence of joined chambers at different levels, and a gallery opened to the surface in several places. Critical access uses a route achievable with the first expedition's tools. More ambitious through-routes can require a later lift, larger bridge, or supported cargo transfer. Survey data should distinguish a walking connection from a route that can carry bulky equipment.

Wide stable sections are strong candidates for a lunar home. The player first surveys boundaries and access, then installs a supported enclosed habitat within the gallery. Pressurizing an arbitrary enormous cave is not assumed. A warm workshop behind a deliberate pressure boundary gives the immense dark chamber a human scale. Later lamps, cargo lanes, storage racks, and viewing windows can make the gallery a lived-in industrial place without covering every natural surface.

### MO-L3 — Glassfall Vaults

The vaults introduce fictional impact-glass seams, hanging fragments, polished fractures, and narrow ledges. Their beauty comes from controlled light and contrasting surfaces. Glass remains a material in rock, with exposed edges and irregular inclusions; it is not a uniform magical crystal biome. The player moves instruments into position, studies reflections, samples selected material, and protects the path needed to carry the equipment back.

Variants can emphasize an inclined fracture crossed by small ledges, a tall chamber with hanging fragments, a folded seam visible across separated rooms, or a quiet pocket where several reflective faces form an unusual natural composition. The working route is readable even when reflections are visually surprising. Dangerous fragments have distinct silhouettes and contact behavior. Reflection alone must not disguise a lethal drop as an ordinary floor.

Most vaults remain geological. A rare trace may relate to observations from Earth's depths, but it should be a restrained optional discovery with a recorded observation and a useful question. It does not imply a population of lunar inhabitants or an ancient temple hidden behind every seam. The deeper rewards are unusual specimen forms, better survey opportunities, architectural glass choices, and more specialized uses of a material family already accessible in a basic form above.

## MO-PLAN-04 — Conditions, feedback, and fair recovery

The Moon concentrates a few interacting expedition problems: exposure, darkness, dust, awkward terrain, and distance from a dependable refuge. Their interfaces should cooperate. The player needs a concise view of remaining safe activity, a clear return route, and a reason a service is unavailable; they do not need to compare several opaque meters after every footstep.

| Condition | Readable evidence | Preparation and active response | Failure boundary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Loss of breathable protection | Suit and refuge status, reserve warning, connection indicator | Imported breathing supply, inspected seals, a known refuge, a protected reserve | Fair intervention time and the established recovery system; no invisible instant failure. |
| Shadow exposure | Visible lighting change, instrument advisory, increasing thermal demand | Imported insulation and charged cells, a shorter route, a lit protected pause | Clear warning before the loadout envelope is exceeded. |
| Dust contamination | Visible seal dust, service indicator, reduced efficiency where relevant | Dust porch, brush or supported service tool, replaceable protection | Local service need, not unexplained damage to every stored item. |
| Fall or awkward crossing | Visible drop, anchor preview, tested route marker | Tether, anchor, bridge, alternate walking route | Critical first routes do not demand a precision jump as the only solution. |
| Designated unstable cavity | Cracks, particles, probe feedback | Brace, careful excavation, a planned retreat | Local authored change; protected campaign anchors and sole return routes remain valid. |
| Lost route or stranded equipment | Last verified marker, survey log, beacon status | Redundant physical markers, recovery beacon mode, recoverable cargo plan | A failed optional sortie cannot permanently strand the campaign. |

The craft, refuge, and later gallery habitat are distinct safe points with visible capabilities. A dark alcove protects from a specific local exposure only if the game actually supports that function. It does not refill air or charge equipment merely because it looks sheltered. Conversely, a commissioned refuge must perform its advertised role consistently.

After a failed trip, the existing recovery system should return the player to a valid supported safe point or recovery route. The mission records completed observations and commissioned construction; it does not demand replay of unrelated success. Dropped cargo remains identifiable and retrievable through a manageable rescue outing where the difficulty setting supports it. Protected return supplies are not an ordinary machine input and cannot disappear into a ceramic production queue.

## MO-PLAN-05 — Materials, machines, and useful local industry

The first samples should have an immediate understandable use and a longer industrial future. **PM01 Regolith Ceramic** strengthens vacuum habitat and thermal construction options. **PM02 Lunar Glass Filament** improves sensors, light guides, and compact instrument housings. Neither is a universal equipment upgrade, and neither replaces Earth metallurgy, ordinary glass, or every ceramic recipe.

| Chain | Field acquisition | Initial processing route | Useful products | Later local production |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Regolith Ceramic | Collect or excavate identified common regolith; separate obvious unwanted fragments | Screening and preparation followed by forming and firing through TEC02, with the relevant TEC08 material procedure | Vacuum panel components, insulating pieces, habitat trim and useful building forms | A bounded lunar ceramics line using locally collected feedstock, established power, and imported components where required. |
| Lunar Glass Filament | Recover mapped glass-bearing samples from accessible fractures; use careful sampling for specimen quality | Sorting, controlled refinement, and forming through TEC08 and established powered workshop functions | Light-guide stock, instrument parts, compact lamps and sensor housings | A surveyed deposit and a local refinement line with dust protection, service access, and visible product storage. |
| Service supplies | Bring seals, cartridges, containers, repairs, food, and mission reserves | Existing Earth TEC04, TEC07, and TEC12 operations | Safe first arrival, equipment service, replenishment and return | Recharging and supported refilling with explicitly available inputs; no automatic extraction of every necessity from nearby rock. |

These are functional process stages for the central machine catalogue to implement. They do not require separate new machines for every verb. A shared forming station or controlled furnace can support several recipes, while tooling, fixtures, temperature capability, or an attached enclosure distinguish the work. The player sees regolith entering a preparation area, shaped components leaving the furnace, and finished panels moving toward construction. An ordinary opaque inventory box should not carry the whole visual story.

The first useful material batch can be completed at home after a short expedition. Establishing a lunar factory is a choice with practical advantages: reduced transport of bulky feedstock, nearby service, easier outpost expansion, and a reason to improve routes. It also has a cost in power, footprint, tools, and construction. Transporting a modest sample home remains sensible for an explorer who does not want a remote industrial base.

Extraction upgrades trade throughput against installation cost, energy, maintenance while active, and the preservation of an interesting site. Careful hand sampling remains the best route for selected intact specimens. Bulk collection serves construction. A stationary rig works a surveyed bounded deposit or defined excavation plan; it does not tunnel autonomously through unknown mission chambers. Waste or rejected fractions have explicit handling, reuse, or disposal rules without becoming infinite ore multiplication loops.

Local power, breathable-supply services, and propellant services are separate capabilities. A charged workshop is not automatically a refueling site. Every supported refill names its inputs and protects the expedition allocation before discretionary production begins. First arrival never assumes useful local water, a biological resource, a finished lunar processor, or a later planetary reagent. The product should show which services the outpost currently provides before the player commits to a return plan.

## MO-PLAN-06 — A foothold that becomes a home

The **Lunar Shelter Controller** uses the established material-fed, bounded project system. Its plot, stages, service boundary, and contribution requirements are visible before placement. It can attach to an appropriate surface pocket or a surveyed gallery site using a supported configuration. The player remains free to build personal architecture around it without accidentally claiming that every adjacent room has life support.

| Stage | Visible construction | Service gained | Commissioning evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Shelter foundation | Stable support, clear access, supply connection | A defined project site beside a usable refuge | The craft and initial shelter remain reachable during construction. |
| Protected sleeping cell | Powered airlock, enclosed cell, reserved supply display | Dependable rest and a supported expedition safe point | Entry, exit, reserve priority, and pressure-boundary checks pass. |
| Dust porch and stores | Service threshold, racks, sample containers, clean storage | Less repetitive suit service and organized replenishment | Dirty and clean interactions have a clear flow; emergency exit remains unobstructed. |
| Workshop | Repair surface, charging position, selected production equipment | Field maintenance and material work | Power, consumables, outputs, and service clearances are readable. |
| Gallery enclosure or expanded rooms | Supported sealed modules, windows, optional viewing space | A larger local home with chosen useful rooms | Only commissioned supported volumes advertise breathable conditions. |

The **Rim Observatory Controller** is a separate purposeful landmark. It develops a stable instrument position, observation access, protected equipment, a map station, and the supported reflector or relay connections needed by its mission. Its value is improved regional survey records and a place to revisit the sky. It should not become a universal satellite that reveals all unexplored caves across the destination.

Construction offers visible intermediate usefulness. A completed sleeping cell works while the optional workshop remains unfinished. A basic observation mast can preserve readings before decorative viewing rooms are added. Services activate when their own checks pass, while later stages show what remains missing. Shared contributions respect the settlement's authorization and ownership model.

When no eligible participants occupy the managed region, construction, authored production, visitors, supply consumption, and local events enter the stable parked state. Stored samples and reserves remain recorded. A player deep underground outside a surface project's horizontal, vertical, or dimension boundary does not accidentally keep that unrelated project active. Returning resumes the saved supported state. Ordinary Minecraft systems outside those managed boundaries retain their ordinary rules.

## MO-PLAN-07 — A Light Across the Basin

The signature mission turns observation into a physical route through the Moon. Two natural vantage points can see useful parts of the same region, but terrain and darkness interrupt a straightforward connection. The player surveys the sites, selects protected relay positions, establishes access, installs reflectors and instruments, and completes an observation using the resulting network. The reward should be visible in the landscape and useful in the survey record.

1. **Identify the viewpoints.** A map, a visible silhouette, and field observations establish the two anchor sites. Their locations vary with generation but remain reachable through the first campaign's supported capabilities. The task explains what each view contributes.
2. **Reconnoiter the intervening terrain.** The player records obstructions and safe standing positions through Earthrise Rim, Shadow Basin, or a supported combination. Several candidate relay sites permit a shorter exposed route or a longer sheltered one. The game evaluates the route's function rather than demanding arbitrary blocks at predetermined decorative spots.
3. **Prepare the working path.** Markers, anchors, local lighting, and a small protected pause make installation practical. A route first crossed cautiously becomes a reliable means of moving equipment. The preparation is useful even if the player returns home before completing the mission.
4. **Install and inspect.** Reflectors show orientation and valid connections clearly. Relay instruments show power, protection, and the next obstruction or missing observation. The mission uses supported alignment and observation interactions, not an unbounded optical simulator.
5. **Complete the observation.** A deliberate, participant-present observation state provides the intended viewing conditions. Players are not required to wait through a real astronomical cycle. Sound, the linked instruments, and the completed regional survey show the outcome.
6. **Keep the route.** The network improves local map confidence and acts as a chain of recognizable landmarks. The observations support the broader progression record. The site remains a useful place to revisit, photograph, expand, and show another player.

The mission's drama comes from carrying fragile-looking equipment across a place once difficult to navigate. It does not need an enemy wave or a newly invented lunar civilization. A failed alignment identifies the obstruction; it does not consume the entire instrument. A damaged optional route section can be repaired or bypassed. Completed observations remain recorded across departures, and co-op work credits verified contributions without duplicating rewards through repeated entry.

## MO-PLAN-08 — Three concrete expeditions

### MO-EXP-01 — The first tube and the view home

The player lands at an approachable Earthrise Rim site with a fully prepared first-expedition loadout. After checking the refuge and setting homeward markers, they walk toward a shallow collapse indicated during site selection. A cramped Regolith Hollow requires a careful sample, a brace, and one short tethered descent. Beyond it, a Basalt Gallery opens around a light shaft. The player records the chamber, recovers accessible glass-bearing feedstock, and photographs Earth through the opening under supported viewing conditions.

The meaningful decision is how much further to go. A darker branch offers another survey target, but the completed objective and return reserve make turning back an equally valid success. At the refuge, dust service and storage convert the outing into a clear expedition record. The player may return to Earth with a small ceramic feedstock sample, glass feedstock, and a useful map. The immediate payoff is a first material batch and an improved instrument or lamp. No local factory is required.

### MO-EXP-02 — The basin route and the relay chain

On a return visit, the player brings replenished supplies, improved route equipment, and reflector components manufactured from previously available stock. The goal is a surveyed crossing of Shadow Basin for A Light Across the Basin. A direct line is visually impressive but crosses a difficult shelf; a longer path reaches better anchor sites and a convenient sheltered pause. The player chooses, marks, and verifies the route before carrying the bulky instruments.

The central challenge is logistics through darkness. A staged equipment cache prevents repeated full crossings, while the physical marker chain remains useful if an instrument view is obstructed. The player installs the reflectors, corrects a visible alignment problem, and completes the observation from the observatory. Returning along the now-familiar lights produces the emotional payoff. The durable reward is a dependable crossing, clearer local survey data, and an expanded lunar foothold, not a disposable quest corridor.

### MO-EXP-03 — The glass route and the gallery workshop

A mature expedition uses the earlier gallery map to choose a promising deeper route. The loadout adds improved anchors, protected instrument carrying, specimen containers, and enough supplies to establish a modest working camp. A Basalt Gallery choke requires a deliberate cargo route; beyond it, polished fractures and hanging fragments announce Glassfall Vaults. The player surveys a ledge sequence, takes a careful specimen, and compares reflections across a continuous seam.

The team can return with a small scientific collection or commit to a bounded extraction site and a workshop in a previously secured gallery. That decision trades cargo efficiency and future convenience against construction and servicing. An optional unusual trace provides a connection to Earth's deeper observations without becoming a compulsory alien ruin. The final route joins a distant surface exit, turning the earlier network into a useful loop. The Moon has become a place the player knows well enough to inhabit deliberately.

## MO-PLAN-09 — Progression, revisits, and the wider game

Lunar progression is a sequence of dependable capabilities: protected arrival and inspection, commissioned starter refuge, first mapped descent, first useful returned batch, reliable dark-route navigation, expanded refuge, linked observations, deeper specimen work, and optional local industry. Equipment improvements increase duration, precision, carrying comfort, and construction choice. They do not invalidate the basic suit, ordinary mining tools, or the first successful approach.

The Moon prepares the player for Mars by making reserves, field service, sealed rooms, instruments, and a planned return intuitive. Material and knowledge contributions support the central technology progression; exact recipe gates belong to that shared plan. A substantial lunar campaign should not become a demand to build every optional outpost stage before the next destination appears.

Return-home benefits include compact cave lighting, better instrument housings, sealed workshops, ceramic building families, observation furniture, and the confidence to construct in exposed places. Revisit goals include different tube geometry, distant crater chains, unusual glass compositions, better photographs, a more efficient cargo route, and a personally designed gallery home. These uses preserve the destination after its first campaign milestone.

Co-op supports shared surveying, a route builder carrying anchors while a second player handles instruments, and organized cargo movement. Solo play can stage the same work in successive trips. No essential task requires another player to remain at a distant switch or keep an unrelated region active indefinitely. Completed shared projects remain usable according to their owners' permissions, and optional visiting characters arrive only through supported active-region events.

## MO-PLAN-10 — Acceptance criteria and decisions still to resolve

| Reference | Acceptance criterion |
| --- | --- |
| MO-AC-01 | A range of candidate seeds provides a feasible first landing, shallow descent, Basalt Gallery reveal, initial material samples, and safe return using only pre-lunar equipment. |
| MO-AC-02 | All five regional experiences remain identifiable in ordinary play lighting without relying on title overlays or colored boundary fog. |
| MO-AC-03 | Shadow Basin supports a readable prepared route; required travel has a solution beyond perfect jumping or memorizing darkness. |
| MO-AC-04 | Every material and mission dependency can be traced backward to a reachable first source, including imported power, service supplies, and return propellant. |
| MO-AC-05 | Habitat commissioning distinguishes a supported sealed volume from the surrounding vacuum cave and preserves emergency access during staged construction. |
| MO-AC-06 | Bounded slumps and excavation cannot remove the only valid starter exit, required observation anchor, or protected landing service. |
| MO-AC-07 | The reflector mission explains failed connections, records partial success, and resumes correctly after a player leaves and returns. |
| MO-AC-08 | Region parking preserves goods and reserves without continuing authored production, visitor events, or unattended consumption. |
| MO-AC-09 | A solo player can complete the campaign, recover from a failed optional sortie, and revisit the Moon after reaching Mars without mandatory remote upkeep. |

Open decisions are the exact generation envelope, walking-loop budgets, suit warning thresholds, service intervals, accepted player-built habitat configurations, the relationship between observation milestones and the central progression graph, and the frequency of optional unusual traces. Each should be resolved through the relevant prototype. The design already commits to clear feedback, a first-arrival path without circular dependencies, bounded simulation, and durable player construction.

## MO-PLAN-11 — Moon artwork coverage and explicit backlog

The current slice needs one high-level Moon board plus an accurate layer/route diagram. The board communicates the arrival contrast and the three underground identities; a surface inset or labeled diagram also covers Shadow Basin. Region boundaries, progression arrows, and statuses belong in precise HTML/SVG. Supplied confirmed assets govern equipment appearance wherever the spacecraft plan assigns them to the lunar expedition. Broad overview coverage does not complete the detailed commissions below.

| Master register / planning reference | Detailed subject to fill later | Required continuity |
| --- | --- | --- |
| DST01-MO-S1-W / -A | Earthrise Rim panorama and first-refuge activity | Confirmed first-expedition craft, service clearance, a readable walking route, restrained terrain. |
| DST01-MO-S2-W / -A | Shadow Basin geography and marker-and-tether crossing | Identifiable rim and shelf silhouettes in both views; prepared navigation visible. |
| DST01-MO-L1-W / -A | Regolith Hollows spatial identity and braced sampling | Suit scale, bounded unstable features, understandable working posture. |
| DST01-MO-L2-W / -A | Basalt Gallery reveal and habitat construction | The same gallery geometry, deliberate sealed modules, no implied breathable whole cave. |
| DST01-MO-L3-W / -A | Glassfall Vaults identity and instrument/ledge extraction | Geological glass, readable route, restrained reflections and optional trace treatment. |
| DST01 / SET08 — Lunar Shelter Controller | Shelter stages and occupied interior | Foundation through cell, dust porch, stores, workshop, and optional enclosure. |
| DST01 / TEC09 / MO-PLAN-07 — Rim Observatory Controller | Observatory stages and A Light Across the Basin sequence | Two natural viewpoints, the relay route, alignment activity, and completed local network. |
| PM01 / PM02 | Feedstock, processed stock, component, and installed-use specimens | Regolith Ceramic and Lunar Glass Filament remain visually distinct and useful at inventory scale. |
| SPX01 | Dust-service station and suit-seal maintenance | Match the confirmed equipment; dirty and clean flows are physically clear. |
| DST01 / TEC02 / TEC08 | Lunar workshop overview and a bounded extraction site | Shared central machine designs, visible input/output/power, natural terrain retained. |

# Mars — complete destination planning expansion

This chapter extends the approved Mars direction. **DST02**, **Windcut Tablelands**, **Buried Delta**, **Ochre Galleries**, **Brine Scarps**, **Rootstone Chambers**, **Ferric Lattice**, **Brine Catalyst**, the **Frontier Yard Controller**, and **The River That Isn't There** remain authoritative. Mars's accessible brines, material behavior, deep pulses, and optional microbial or mat-like life are deliberate game fiction. The proposal does not assert actual Martian life, mineable deposits, breathable caves, or real spacecraft engineering.

## MA-PLAN-01 — The destination promise and first arrival

Mars turns an expedition from a short radius around one refuge into a regional journey. A distant escarpment should remain in view long enough for reaching it to feel like an accomplishment. The player learns to read a weather front, choose a workable route through a channel system, service a rover, and establish a useful place between origin and objective. Over time, the first landing site becomes one node in a network the player understands.

The first Mars expedition carries appropriate atmospheric protection, filtration, insulation, breathing supplies, food, water or the required supported supply inputs, reserve cells, repair stock, sample protection, a weather reader, a dependable refuge, and a rover or materials for the supported small-rover assembly project. Its craft and basic frame materials come from previously reachable Earth and lunar production. **Ferric Lattice improves later local equipment; it cannot be necessary to manufacture the only rover capable of reaching its first source.**

Initial landing candidates favor usable flats near a legible terrace or channel junction. The player may choose a convenient route hub, a good construction shelf, or a striking view with a longer approach. Each supports a walking-scale first inspection, a viable shelter, and a first campaign route achievable with the imported loadout. A player who postpones rover assembly can still complete useful nearby surveying and material sampling.

The first arrival teaches weather and distance in a controlled sequence. The craft parks, the player verifies the refuge, deploys a local marker or weather instrument, inspects the service area, and compares the route map with visible terrain. A distant channel mouth provides a clear objective. The first weather change is observable from safety before it becomes a challenge in the field. The campaign should begin with curiosity about the horizon, not a race to discover the planet's only survival ingredient.

## MA-PLAN-02 — A regional landscape with connected depths

Generation establishes terraced uplands, channel catchments, sediment shelves, erosion-shaped passages, and isolated sheltered basins. Windcut Tablelands supply broad elevated structure. Buried Delta organizes routes and clues about where channels continue beneath sediment. The underground follows and complicates those relationships: Ochre Galleries expose shallow bedding, Brine Scarps occupy selected deeper mineral and channel interfaces, and Rootstone Chambers reveal a different continuous branching structure.

The two surface regions overlap through transitional benches, channel heads, gullies, and buried outlets. Underground identities should have natural changes in wall structure, dampness, color, scale, and route shape. An isolated brine trace can appear near the lower edge of an Ochre Gallery before the stepped cliffs of Brine Scarps become dominant. Rootstone ribs can emerge as an incomplete clue before a chamber opens around their larger network. No exact depth bands are fixed by this creative plan.

The first campaign region guarantees a landing/service site, a short useful survey circuit, a practical rover or walking approach into Buried Delta, a secureable Ochre Gallery camp, reachable common structural ingredients, an initial protected brine-sampling opportunity, and a connected route toward the Rootstone mission area. The initial samples occur within the operating envelope of imported equipment. Deeper or more efficient sources reward later improvements rather than enabling the first protective gear.

The terrain distinguishes travel modes. A walking path can pass a narrow slot that excludes a rover. A cargo route needs width, turning space, a stable stopping area, and a workable connection to the next shelter. Maps and surveys record those differences. Generated alternatives let players choose a longer drivable gully, a foot approach with a cache, or a later constructed crossing. Main progression cannot require solving a vehicle pathing problem for which the landscape supplies no valid solution.

Weather changes the experience of an established landscape instead of endlessly replacing it. Dust can reduce sightlines, alter service demand, and make exposed travel less attractive. Landmarks, signed routes, channel walls, and protected shelters remain useful. Decorative accumulation around lee surfaces should agree with the local weather direction. Bounded weather states do not bury every player-built doorway, erase roads, or continue damaging a parked destination while the player explores elsewhere.

## MA-PLAN-03 — Five complete regional experiences

### MA-S1 — Windcut Tablelands

Layered mesas and broad benches form a visible sequence between landing flats and distant high viewpoints. Routes follow terraces, climb gullies, or cross saddles. A silhouette may be recognizable from the landing site while its workable approach lies around the side. The region should reward reading terrain before choosing a direction. The first rover journey is especially satisfying when a ridge once blocking the view reveals the next connected basin.

Variants can emphasize a broad mesa with a sheltered service shelf, a chain of narrow saddles between plateaus, a stepped escarpment with several route levels, or a windswept bench crossed by shallow gullies. The windward and sheltered sides differ through dust placement and activity feedback. Palette variation uses restrained reds, ochres, dark rock, pale deposits, and practical human-made color accents, not a uniform red filter over Earth mountains.

The player surveys route quality, collects accessible geological samples, tests the weather reader, and places selected markers. Later construction adds a lookout, roadside refuge, workshop, or Frontier Yard. These installations should fit the terrace geometry and keep their service approach clear. A distant dust front creates a decision: leave now along a known route, postpone the exposed segment, or take a protected channel. The same landscape gains meaning as the player learns what each choice costs.

### MA-S2 — Buried Delta

A branching dry channel network preserves a strong readable pattern at multiple scales. From a high bench, the player sees the larger arrangement. At ground level, channel walls, exposed cross-sections, and occasional buried continuations create navigation questions. Some routes terminate beneath sediment; others connect to fissures or a sheltered basin. The region is a landscape to interpret, rather than a set of identical trenches leading directly to objective markers.

Variation can use a fan of channels entering an isolated basin, a main corridor with abandoned side branches, a partly buried channel system, or a chain of disconnected exposures that can be linked through survey evidence. Not every apparent connection continues underground. The mission supplies sufficient consistent clues to distinguish a supported interpretation from a guess. Optional misleading branches should lead to useful sites or observations, so curiosity is not punished with empty repetitive travel.

The main activities are route finding, core sampling, reading sediment, establishing caches, and choosing where a rover should stop while the crew continues on foot. Prepared routes make later cargo movement easier. Some channel-to-cave junctions become entrances to Ochre Galleries, while other buried continuations require a small bounded excavation or a different approach. The route the player discovers can become a practical part of the eventual outpost network.

### MA-L1 — Ochre Galleries

Shallow passages follow cracked sediment layers, offering slopes, thin partitions, window-like openings, and views across adjacent elevations. Grain direction and bedding guide the player toward promising samples and plausible connections. Colored dust reacts locally to footsteps and work. The atmosphere is sheltered and intimate compared with the surface, but shelter from weather does not make the air breathable.

Variants include a sloping network beside an exposed cross-section, stacked galleries with visible windows between levels, a partly buried channel roofed by sediment, and a broad chamber suitable for a field camp. The first secure camp occupies a site with clear access and room for a supported sealed module. An attractive hollow alone does not count as life-support infrastructure. The player chooses how much equipment to carry inside and where to leave the rover.

Ochre Galleries support geology, route making, and the first lesson in regional shelter. During a dust front, the player can continue a modest protected survey here, service equipment in a commissioned camp, or wait without losing progress. The transition to Brine Scarps introduces isolated crusts, contained damp traces, and sharper stepped mineral faces. It should feel like discovering a preserved pocket within the dry world, not entering an Earth river cave with a different skybox.

### MA-L2 — Brine Scarps

Fictional isolated brine pockets sit among stepped mineral cliffs, pale crusts, slow deposits, and narrow protected shelves. Liquid is localized and visually distinct from ordinary drinking water. The primary challenge is choosing a good sampling position and moving protected equipment across the shelves. Surface appearance, the instrument readout, and the sampling interaction communicate the material's function and handling needs.

Variants can emphasize a sequence of small perched pockets, a broad scarp with separated safe working ledges, a narrow descending channel with intermittent crusts, or a mineral basin approached from several elevations. A reachable upper interface provides the first useful catalyst sample with imported sleeves or remote sampling equipment. Deeper extraction sites may favor improved frames, better cargo handling, or a larger local work platform.

Optional fictional mats occupy only selected protected niches. Their inclusion remains a design decision and must not be silently assumed by generation, recipes, or overview art. If enabled, they respond to light or vibration and add a small observation opportunity; the layer remains predominantly geological. Essential Brine Catalyst production uses the specified non-animal material route and does not require destroying rare living colonies. Choosing to leave a research niche intact remains compatible with progression.

### MA-L3 — Rootstone Chambers

Rootstone is a branching geological structure whose scale and continuity can mislead the eye into seeing roots or ribs. Dense formations divide winding passages, open negative spaces, and large arched chambers. The player learns to trace a continuous structure across gaps in their view. This shifts exploration from following a channel to interpreting a network that passes through several connected spaces.

Variants include a dominant rib crossing multiple chambers, a woven wall with several navigable windows, a deep open space bridged by mineral arches, and separated exposures linked by a surveyable buried continuation. Some networks carry fictional detectable pulses related to the wider mystery. They supplement environmental reading rather than becoming a universal compass that reveals the whole map. Unreliable instrument positions have observable local causes and encourage a different measurement point.

Traversal alternates deliberate ledge routes, winding passages, and constructed crossings between reliable working platforms. The mission instrument needs a supported position from which it can observe the connected formation; it does not require breaking the most visually significant rib. Most of the space remains natural. The payoff is understanding a relationship between the surface drainage evidence, the sheltered depths, and the broader planetary investigation, with a useful route and a preserved record to show for it.

## MA-PLAN-04 — Weather, field service, and recoverable mistakes

Mars combines distance with conditions that can change during an active trip. The challenge is planning a route with options. Each established outing should have a known refuge, a sensible turning point, and a clear alternative when the next exposed segment becomes unattractive. Better forecasts and local yards increase confidence; they do not remove all decisions from travel.

| Condition | Readable evidence | Preparation and active response | Failure boundary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Approaching dust front | Distant sky change, visible wind direction, forecast state | Leave early, shelter, follow protected channels, use a surveyed route | No untelegraphed unavoidable first-campaign storm trap. |
| Filter wear and dust service | Remaining service indicator and visible deposits | Imported spare cartridges, supported cleaning, a dust threshold at camp | Predictable local service demand; spare parts available before departure. |
| Exposure during travel | Suit and cabin status, reserve display, route estimate | Appropriate imported protection, a refuge, protected return allocation | Warning and recovery opportunities; terrain shelter alone is not breathable air. |
| Brine contact | Distinct material appearance, handling advisory, visible tool wear | Sampling sleeve, remote arm, protected container, prepared work platform | Gradual understandable equipment effects, not hidden instant loss. |
| Rover damage or blocked route | Component/service state, terrain survey, route obstruction | Repair kit, alternate path, a walking fallback, a planned equipment cache | A disabled rover cannot be the only reason the player is permanently stranded. |
| Interrupted survey readings | Local signal quality and physical geological clues | Move the instrument, compare a second exposure, use markers and the map | A poor reading explains uncertainty; it does not erase established observations. |

Weather phases are bounded authored states with a readable forecast and a usable response window. Their exact duration is a balancing question. A player should be able to shelter and continue useful camp work rather than endure a long mandatory period of inactivity. The most dramatic view may be watching a front pass the shelter window, followed by an inspection of a familiar route in changed light.

A rover is a serviceable expedition tool, not an invulnerable portable base. Its supported cabin or shelter function must be stated plainly. Cargo capacity, repair needs, and terrain suitability create useful tradeoffs without simulating every wheel or requiring real driving expertise. If it stops, the player can use carried emergency protection, reach a known refuge, or initiate the established recovery route. The cargo can become a later recovery task with preserved location and state.

Local weather and production follow the saved-state model when their managed region parks. A departure does not advance a hidden calendar that ruins filters, consumes the greenhouse, or destroys a roadside camp. Recovery preserves verified mission evidence and completed construction. The player may lose the benefit of an unfinished sortie under the selected difficulty, but not the only path through the campaign.

## MA-PLAN-05 — Materials and a practical frontier workshop

**PM03 Ferric Lattice** supports repairable frames, rover components, and rugged machinery. **PM04 Brine Catalyst** supports compact processing and improved habitat loops. Their role is sustained work away from the main workshop. Earth frames and conventional habitat supplies remain valid. Mars adds better field engineering choices instead of forcing the replacement of every previously built machine.

| Chain | First reachable source | Initial processing route | Result and use | Boundary against circular progression |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ferric Lattice | Accessible iron-bearing deposits and ordinary compatible structural ingredients in the first campaign region | Preparation and controlled manufacture through established TEC03/TEC08 functions, with a defined forming procedure | Repairable frame stock, modular rover pieces, field-machine supports and construction elements | First craft, rover, shelter, and extraction tools use previously available frames. |
| Brine Catalyst | Contained samples from an upper Brine Scarp interface | Protected separation and concentration through TEC08 with explicit carrier, power, and container needs | A reagent for selected processing improvements and habitat service modules | Imported protection and sampling tools work before the catalyst exists; first life support is complete without it. |
| Field repairs | Imported standardized parts plus common local stock where a supported recipe exists | TEC01/TEC03/TEC04 and the relevant vehicle-service tooling | Replacement fittings, seals, cartridges, tool service and frame repair | Repairs do not unexpectedly require a unique deep chamber sample. |
| Sustained habitation | Brought supplies and later explicitly commissioned local production inputs | TEC05/TEC07/TEC12 supported modules | Food cultivation, charging, defined refill and habitat service | No assumed drinkable surface brine, edible native life, or perfectly closed infinite supply loop. |

The first useful sample batch can return to an established Earth or lunar workshop. A field lab offers faster feedback and reduces repeated transport, but it is not mandatory before the first discovery. Small sample operations emphasize sealed containers, observation windows, a clear working surface, and honest output quantities. Larger production justifies a yard with intake, preparation, manufacturing, service access, storage, and cargo handling.

Ferric Lattice should have a repair-focused identity in both recipes and visuals. A replaceable structural member or standardized service box demonstrates the benefit better than a hidden durability multiplier. Its cost can involve processing time, energy, tooling, and the choice of a useful fabrication site. The final balance should preserve cheaper ordinary frames for simple buildings and short expeditions.

Brine Catalyst enables selected improvements with defined limits. It might reduce the service burden of a supported processing stage or support a more compact habitat module, as specified in the shared machinery plan. It does not produce free matter, eliminate every consumable, or turn every processor into a superior universal machine. Handling has visible clean and contained paths. Reusable containers return to service rather than creating needless disposable-item clutter.

Local extraction remains a bounded site operation. The player surveys a suitable working face or pocket, places a supported rig, provides power and collection capacity, and chooses the batch or excavation boundary. A small camp can perform an initial batch. A mature yard can organize several complementary processes while its region is active. Neither system secretly runs remote factories during absence or uses the protected return allocation to finish an optional order.

## MA-PLAN-06 — The Frontier Yard and a regional home

The **Frontier Yard Controller** grows from a service pad and shelter into a place that makes a whole region easier to use. Its design should expose work: a rover beneath a repair gantry, sample crates beside a lab, a weather mast above the roofline, protected stock, and a greenhouse module visible through a deliberate enclosure. The yard needs room for arrivals, turning, loading, maintenance, and pedestrian access.

| Stage | Visible construction | Service gained | Commissioning evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Service pad and shelter | Prepared stopping area, marked route, sealed refuge, protected stores | A dependable local starting point and rest stop | Access, refuge support, reserve priority, and safe return route are verified. |
| Rover bay and repair gantry | Work platform, lifting/service fixture, tool and component racks | Supported vehicle assembly, repairs and loadout changes | The confirmed vehicle fits; a damaged craft can be serviced without blocking emergency access. |
| Weather mast and map station | Instruments, forecast display, route records | Better local weather confidence and usable regional survey information | It reports its actual coverage and does not invent knowledge of unsurveyed terrain. |
| Materials workshop | Prepared intake, contained sample work, selected fabrication functions | Field processing and more independent repairs | Inputs, power, outputs, containment and service access are clear. |
| Greenhouse module | Commissioned enclosure, beds, light or supported growing services, supply storage | Bounded food production and a more comfortable home | Imported seeds and required inputs suffice; ordinary exterior terrain is not assumed habitable. |
| Regional supply depot | Cargo positions, authorized transfer records, arrival area | Replenishment and repeated journeys with less manual carrying | Transfers reserve existing goods and complete under the established receiving-region rule. |

A mature yard is a collection of useful supported services, not a demand for a city before exploration continues. The player can stop after the refuge and rover bay, build an industrial workshop, or develop a comfortable second home. Each completed stage works independently where its prerequisites are satisfied. Player-built roads, signs, lookout towers, and decorative rooms can connect the authored core to the surrounding landscape.

Regional expansion creates choices. A distant second yard shortens future trips and improves service access but requires materials and a surveyed route. A compact roadside shelter is cheaper and may be enough. A walking camp near a cave can complement a rover depot at the surface. The plan should support these different investments instead of forcing identical large settlements at every objective.

Authored production, construction, visitors, greenhouse consumption, and local events use the same participant-bound activation rules as Earth and the Moon. Stored supplies and completed observations persist. Cargo transfers move already-produced reserved goods and advance when an eligible participant activates the receiving region; they do not require both endpoints occupied simultaneously and do not restart production at the absent source. This lets Mars become a network of homes without becoming an offline maintenance obligation.

## MA-PLAN-07 — The River That Isn't There

The signature mission asks the player to reconstruct a buried drainage route from surface form, core samples, and underground landmarks, then install a survey instrument in a Rootstone Chamber. It begins with something visible from the landing region: a channel arrangement that appears incomplete. Each expedition supplies another piece of the explanation. The completed understanding becomes a usable route through the world.

1. **Read the surface pattern.** A viewpoint in Windcut Tablelands reveals branching Buried Delta channels. The player records the prominent branches and identifies where the visible route disappears. The mission names the observation needed, while the landscape remains the primary clue.
2. **Compare candidate continuations.** Several accessible cross-sections offer samples and differing evidence. The player gathers enough information to distinguish the main continuation from a side basin. Unsuccessful candidates still contribute ordinary geological knowledge or useful resources.
3. **Establish a field camp.** An Ochre Gallery provides a workable sheltered position. The player commissions the supported sealed refuge, records its approach, and makes a plan for equipment movement. This is a practical expedition milestone rather than a decorative checkpoint.
4. **Follow the mineral interfaces.** The route reaches Brine Scarps, where protected sampling links the surface interpretation to a deeper pocket. The imported sleeve or remote arm suffices for the first evidence. Optional living mats are not mandatory clue sources.
5. **Trace the connected structure.** In Rootstone Chambers, the player compares separated exposures and locates a suitable instrument position. Physical ribs, the map, and bounded instrument readings work together. Excavating randomly through a single wall is not the intended substitute for understanding the relationship.
6. **Commission the observation.** The instrument requires an appropriate support, power, calibration interaction, and preserved route. Its display identifies an unsuitable location or missing observation. The successful survey records the connection and produces a clear interpretation within the game's fictional mystery.
7. **Make the route useful.** The mapped connection improves future travel and informs the wider progression record. A new camp or regional yard can reduce later trips. The player can revisit the actual terrain that made the discovery possible.

The mission should preserve uncertainty long enough for interpretation to feel earned, then explain the result plainly. It should not end with a pile of cryptic fragments that cannot inform a decision. The Rootstone observation can relate to Earth's deeper trace family while remaining a predominantly geological expedition. No abandoned alien city is required to make Mars important.

Partial progress persists. A weather interruption can send the crew back to camp without erasing its samples. An instrument failure identifies a missing component or local reading problem rather than consuming the entire project. Co-op players can divide surveying, driving, sampling, and construction; a solo player can stage those tasks over several outings. Completing a particular sample or observation twice cannot multiply campaign rewards indefinitely.

## MA-PLAN-08 — Three concrete expeditions

### MA-EXP-01 — The first channel and the weather window

After landing in Windcut Tablelands, the player verifies the refuge and makes a nearby inspection loop. They assemble or unload the supported rover using pre-Mars components, load ordinary repairs and reserves, and follow a visible terrace toward Buried Delta. The first journey includes a choice between a direct exposed saddle and a longer gully. A forecast change gives a reason to stop at a prepared viewpoint and inspect the approaching front.

The crew maps a channel junction, collects common structural feedstock and a geological sample, then enters a shallow Ochre Gallery from a clearly marked stopping point. A small secured camp allows service and observation while the front passes. The successful return brings useful terrain data, an initial manufacturing opportunity, and a better understanding of weather. The trip is complete without reaching Brine Scarps or building a permanent yard.

### MA-EXP-02 — The buried route and the first catalyst batch

A second outing follows the most promising channel continuation from the mission record. The player brings protected sampling equipment, an expanded reserve, and material for a dependable field camp. Several surface cross-sections narrow the route. In Ochre Galleries, bedding and window-like openings help locate a connection toward Brine Scarps. The first pale crust and contained damp trace announce the change before the main scarp opens.

The meaningful decision is where to work. A nearby pocket permits a modest sample from a stable shelf. A larger source needs a better platform and more cargo handling. The player can complete the campaign evidence with the modest sample, preserve an optional living niche if present, and return without establishing extraction machinery. Back at the yard or an existing home workshop, a first Brine Catalyst batch demonstrates a selected compact-processing or habitat-service improvement. Its benefit is useful, but the expedition was already survivable without it.

### MA-EXP-03 — Rootstone and the second yard

The mature campaign prepares a longer regional journey with a serviced rover, known shelters, spare components, protected instrument cargo, and a clear return allocation. Ferric Lattice refits can reduce the burden of maintenance, while previously available frames remain valid. The crew uses the completed surface and subsurface observations to approach a Rootstone network through a known Brine Scarp route.

Inside, the player follows separated geological ribs, establishes a working platform, and calibrates the mission instrument. A difficult cargo segment invites a constructed crossing or a staged transfer on foot. Completing The River That Isn't There turns the route into recorded knowledge and opens a useful distant approach. The crew may establish a second Frontier Yard near that route, leave a simpler refuge, or return with the discovery and postpone construction. Mars now offers a regional home, industrial opportunities, and mastery journeys rather than a single completed destination icon.

## MA-PLAN-09 — Progression, repeat visits, and return-home value

Mars progression moves through protected arrival, dependable rover operation, weather interpretation, a secure field camp, first local material use, a working regional yard, the connected subsurface investigation, and optional distributed industry. These milestones connect machinery to exploration. A repair gantry matters because a journey has become long enough to justify it. Better sample handling matters because a promising deposit lies beyond the previous convenient radius.

Ferric Lattice supports durable serviceable frames, mobile workshops, and modular repairs back on Earth. Brine Catalyst supports specified compact-processing and habitat improvements. Weather systems can inform exposed Earth facilities and later destinations where relevant. Mars also contributes a coherent construction palette of dusty structural forms, protected windows, service fittings, warm interiors, and useful industrial details. Its importance is wider than the material needed for the next ship recipe.

Revisits can pursue alternative channel basins, more elegant rover routes, new gallery connections, distinct mineral compositions, optional deeper pulse observations, field trials, and personal construction. Mature infrastructure reduces repeated chores and lets a familiar region support different goals. Survey records should explain what differs between a new site and a previously completed one, so exploration is not reduced to gathering the same sample under a new name.

The main outward route continues toward Europa with capabilities and knowledge developed before first arrival there. Mars materials can contribute to that preparation, but outer-world protection cannot require a sample only recoverable with its own finished upgrade. Optional Ceres and Io branches remain optional. A player may leave Mars as a modest expedition foothold or a substantial second home; both are valid expressions of the campaign.

## MA-PLAN-10 — Acceptance criteria and decisions still to resolve

| Reference | Acceptance criterion |
| --- | --- |
| MA-AC-01 | Candidate seeds provide a supported landing, useful nearby inspection, valid first rover or walking route, field-camp site, reachable first materials, and safe return with pre-Mars equipment. |
| MA-AC-02 | Windcut Tablelands and Buried Delta remain distinguishable from the ground and from survey viewpoints; each underground layer has a different spatial and activity identity. |
| MA-AC-03 | Required vehicle routes have verified clearance, turning and stopping opportunities, while maps distinguish walking-only paths from cargo-capable connections. |
| MA-AC-04 | Weather is telegraphed and offers a usable shelter, postponement, or alternate-route response; no first-campaign objective depends on an unpredictable perfect weather instant. |
| MA-AC-05 | First Brine Catalyst sampling uses imported protection and a reachable source; first Ferric Lattice manufacture does not gate the only equipment capable of obtaining its ingredients. |
| MA-AC-06 | A damaged rover has a recoverable state and a supported player escape path; the mission preserves verified evidence when equipment is retrieved later. |
| MA-AC-07 | The buried-drainage mission has consistent clues, understandable incorrect readings, recorded partial completion, and a reachable final instrument site. |
| MA-AC-08 | Optional mat-like life can be disabled without breaking recipes, survival, mission clues, or progression. |
| MA-AC-09 | Frontier Yard stages become useful incrementally, and greenhouse/refill services name their inputs rather than implying free closed-loop survival. |
| MA-AC-10 | Parking and resumption preserve reserves, cargo, authored machinery, construction, weather events, and authorized transfer state under the shared regional rules. |

Open decisions include the regional generation envelope, route and shelter spacing, vehicle handling abstraction, dust-front state timing, the machine-level Ferric Lattice and Brine Catalyst recipes, supported local refill inputs, the frequency and purpose of optional mats, and the exact reward interface for Rootstone observations. These decisions should be resolved through prototypes of a real expedition loop. Additional systems are justified when they strengthen a route, a production choice, or a memorable discovery.

## MA-PLAN-11 — Mars artwork coverage and explicit backlog

The current slice needs one high-level Mars board and an accurate surface/layer/route diagram. The board should convey the surface frontier, the sheltered Ochre Galleries, the isolated Brine Scarps, and the geological scale of Rootstone Chambers. Buried Delta's large branching pattern is especially suited to a precise separate diagram or carefully composed overview inset. Optional mats should remain absent unless that fiction is deliberately selected; the core identity is terrain, engineering, and distance.

| Master register / planning reference | Detailed subject to fill later | Required continuity |
| --- | --- | --- |
| DST02-MA-S1-W / -A | Windcut Tablelands panorama and rover approach | Terraces, valid service route, human scale, distant weather without a uniform red filter. |
| DST02-MA-S2-W / -A | Buried Delta overhead identity and channel interpretation | Matching surface branching, buried continuation clues, a believable ground-level junction. |
| DST02-MA-L1-W / -A | Ochre Gallery spatial identity and field-camp activity | Layered sediment, window-like openings, deliberate sealed camp module. |
| DST02-MA-L2-W / -A | Brine Scarp panorama and protected sampling | Isolated distinct brine, readable shelves, sleeves or remote equipment, optional ecology status respected. |
| DST02-MA-L3-W / -A | Rootstone network and instrument survey | Predominantly geological ribs, linked exposures, traversable negative space, restrained mystery. |
| DST02-MA-S1-ST1 / ST2 | Approaching dust front and sheltered aftermath | Same viewpoint and landmarks so the change is directly comparable. |
| DST02 / SET08 — Frontier Yard Controller | Frontier Yard stages and occupied workshop | Service pad, refuge, rover bay, gantry, mast, lab, greenhouse, depot and clear circulation. |
| DST02 / MA-PLAN-07 | The River That Isn't There evidence and final observation sequence | Surface channels, samples, camp, brine interface, Rootstone instrument and resulting route. |
| PM03 / PM04 | Feedstock, processed stock, component, and installed-use specimens | Ferric Lattice's repairable structure and Brine Catalyst's contained processing role. |
| SPX02 | Brine-sampling sleeve and its field use | Input protection, container closure, tool readability, compatibility with the equipment catalogue. |
| CEC01 | Optional brine mat specimen and light/vibration response, only if the ecology decision enables it | Sparse localized colonies; no essential recipe or campaign dependency; separate from Brine Catalyst's material source. |
| SUP01 | Survey Rover service, loadout, camp approach and regional operation | The confirmed support-vehicle direction, useful cargo, repair access, terrain capability. |
| DST02 / TEC08 | Compact field lab and mature materials workshop | Shared central machine designs, visible workflow, explicit power and containment. |

All of these detailed commissions remain **Detailed artwork — backlog** until an actual matching asset is included. The overview board and diagrams provide high-level coverage only. Writing remains fully documented even where its individual visual studies are deferred.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: moon_mars_expansion.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: tier1_space_expansion.txt | SHA-256 9ca9944ef64ff4d07573e4f0f807cb64c74cc16978d799a717ca9a3db9e9c365 =====

# Tier 1 space systems — complete first expedition

## T1-OV01 — Status, authority and the Explorer

This chapter is an additive design expansion for review. The supplied artwork is confirmed visual direction. The operational detail below connects that artwork to SUBSTELLAR’s approved world, equipment, production, settlement and recovery rules. Recipe quantities, processing rates, final model scale and capacity values remain tuning decisions. They should be visible decisions in the plan, not numbers accidentally inherited from an illustrative recipe grid.

The current Tier 1 vehicle is the **Explorer Rocket**. It carries the player from Earth through the first orbital experiences to a lunar landing and a dependable return. “Tier 1 Rocket” is its compact item label. The supplied imagery repeatedly presents one recognizable white-and-orange vehicle and explicitly promises the Moon and back. The first campaign therefore uses one prepared Explorer rather than requiring players to manufacture separate orbital and lunar hulls simply because the earlier document described those capability categories separately. References: REF01, REF02, REF11, REF14 and REF15.

The original Keel and Pilgrim passages remain available in the preserved document as earlier proposed hull directions. Their useful functions—an understandable launch body, a real cabin, accessible equipment, an independent lunar refuge—inform this plan. Their names and silhouettes are not additional mandatory Tier 1 craft. Atmospheric, Orbital, Lunar, Interplanetary, Deep-Space and Interstellar remain useful capability classes. A physical vehicle can support more than one adjacent class. The Explorer bridges the first orbital and lunar capability without promising Mars access.

The user’s later-tier images remain visible as supplied concepts: REF06 is labelled Concept 2 / Earth Launch Site; REF07 is Concept 3 / Deep-Space Rocket. Their detailed systems, destination mapping and additional artwork belong to later slices. Their larger forms do not force Tier 1 into an advanced propulsion or heavy-industry gate.

Tier 1 is accessible Earth engineering. Familiar iron, copper, glass, stone, redstone, useful fibers, seals and Earth-made ceramics are enough to build its first complete support chain. No Core journey, Heartglass, titanium-grade frontier plant, lunar material or rare creature drop is required to breathe, launch, land or return. Players still need a functioning workshop and a deliberate expedition plan. “Early” describes obtainable resources and understandable machinery, not a promise that the first rocket appears before the player has learned to build a home.

## T1-OV02 — What completing Tier 1 means

Tier 1 completion is an operational accomplishment: the player has built and commissioned the equipment, made a lunar foothold, explored below the surface, brought home useful samples and made the next trip easier. A rocket sitting on a pad is a visible midpoint. Its surrounding industry and the life it enables on the Moon are part of the same product feature.

| Stage | Player accomplishment | Useful equipment or project | Evidence of readiness |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Earth workshop | Produce structural stock, seals, ceramics, basic circuits and field power | Existing TEC02, TEC03, TEC04 and TEC07 work | Recipes and services are available from reachable Earth inputs. |
| Parts production | Turn those materials into identified rocket and suit components | T1-M01 Part Fabrication Table; TEC12 life-support workshop | Component purpose and missing supplies are visible. |
| Supply preparation | Manufacture standard propellant, fill breathing containers and charge cells | T1-M03 Fuel Refinery; T1-M05 Oxygen Generator; existing charging service | A complete mission allocation can be prepared without lunar inputs. |
| Vehicle assembly | Assemble and inspect a recognized Explorer | T1-M02 Rocket Assembly Station | Finished vehicle, cabin, cargo and system connections pass commissioning. |
| Launch-site commissioning | Connect services and register Earth as a return destination | T1-M06 Launch Pad; T1-M07 Control Console; T1-M04 Fuel Pipe | Boarding, clearance, route, reserves and recovery are all legible. |
| First lunar foothold | Land with a working cabin and establish an independent small refuge | T1-V01 Explorer; EQ25 shelter kit; Lunar Shelter Controller | Player can safely stay, walk a short loop and return. |
| First descent | Read a natural entrance and survey Regolith Hollows or a Basalt Gallery approach | EQ06, EQ11, EQ13, EQ14 and EQ16 | A marked return route and protected supplies remain available. |
| Homecoming and refit | Return samples and improve an existing service | Regolith Ceramic or Lunar Glass Filament applications | The Earth base benefits and the next trip involves a new choice. |

An optional orbital observation sortie provides a shorter rehearsal, attractive views and useful survey practice. Its destination-specific manifest does not require a lunar shelter kit; its own cabin, supplies and protected return requirements still apply. It is not an obligatory consumable launch whose only reward is permission to craft the same vehicle again. Ground commissioning can establish basic safety; the player can then choose a supported lunar mission when its complete loadout is ready.

The route deliberately allows different settlement styles. Old Valley can teach production, storage and contributions, then become the player’s preparation base. A self-built workshop can perform the same functional preparation. Authored projects provide strong examples and services without claiming exclusive ownership of the space program.

## T1-OV03 — Stable system register

These identifiers are planning references. They preserve connections to the approved equipment and technology families, and let future agents report on individual systems without losing the surrounding design. An installation family can contain several physical machines. A visual subcomponent does not automatically need a separate inventory item.

| ID | Working object or service | Existing family | Confirmed reference |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| T1-V01 | Explorer Rocket / Tier 1 Rocket | Orbital and Lunar capability; TEC13 and TEC14 | REF01, REF02, REF11, REF14, REF15 |
| T1-M01 | Part Fabrication Table | Component production within TEC13; supplied by Earth workshops | REF01, REF10 |
| T1-M02 | Rocket Assembly Station; Rocket Assembly Table reference alias | TEC13 Vehicle assembly hall | REF01, REF09, REF15 |
| T1-M03 | Fuel Refinery | TEC08 Refinery and materials lab; SUPPLY01 | REF15 |
| T1-M04 | Fuel Pipe | TEC14 supply connection; SUPPLY01 transport | REF15 |
| T1-M05 | Oxygen Generator | TEC12 Habitat and life-support workshop; SUPPLY02 | REF15 |
| T1-M06 | Launch Pad | TEC14 Launch and recovery complex | REF15 and launch scenes |
| T1-M07 | Control Console | TEC14 mission preparation and service | REF15 |
| T1-M08 | Storage Crate | Shared production, expedition and settlement cargo | REF15 |
| T1-I01 | Rocket Part and structural component family | TEC03 and TEC13 | REF01, REF02, REF11, REF15 |
| T1-I02 | Rocket Engine / Engine Module | TEC13; consumes SUPPLY01 when installed | REF01, REF02, REF11, REF15 |
| T1-I03 | Fuel Tank | SUPPLY01 container and vehicle component | REF01, REF02, REF15 |
| T1-I04 | Navigation Chip / Guidance Chip | Navigation and mission records | REF02, REF15 |
| T1-I05 | Launch Key | Vehicle operation and ownership interface | REF15 |
| T1-E01 | Tier 1 Player Space Suit | EQ23 Sealed expedition suit | REF12 and repeated suit sheets |
| T1-E02 | Space Helmet | EQ23 suit component | REF12, REF15 |
| T1-E03 | Oxygen Tank | EQ24 Breathing supply; SUPPLY02 | REF03, REF15 |
| T1-S01 | Refill, dust service and field charging | TEC12, EQ19 and SUPPLY03 | Service need documented; detailed stations remain artwork backlog |
| T1-S02 | Starter lunar refuge | EQ25; Lunar Shelter Controller | REF03 overview; construction detail backlog |
| T1-S03 | Expedition Recovery Beacon mode | Existing EQ26 Communications beacon | Existing design; dedicated Tier 1 action image backlog |

## T1-M01 — Part Fabrication Table

The Part Fabrication Table turns prepared basic resources into recognizable rocket components. Its dedicated reference describes an early-game machine for crafting the parts needed by the Explorer. The player chooses a component or a saved parts order, sees the stock it requires and watches a bounded fabrication operation. It adds an understandable manufacturing step between mining and a vehicle, with a useful work surface and visible output. Reference: REF10.

Inputs are Earth-made structural stock, glass, prepared insulation or seals, basic circuit parts and modest workshop power where the process needs it. Outputs belong to a small component family: structural rocket parts, a nose assembly, fins, tank shells, cockpit/window fittings and engine service components. The eventual recipe set should reuse these intermediates across repairs and other equipment. A unique plate, bolt, bracket and glue item for every silhouette detail would obscure the real decisions.

The confirmed asset supplies a pale surface, orange markings, heavy supports, a front mechanism and a tilted screen. The station has an accessible interaction side, an input area and a clear output position. A nearby crate may supply an authorized order. Hand loading remains practical for the first machine; automation reduces repeated transport later. Its exact block footprint must be resolved against the reference’s illustrative dimensions and normal player reach.

States are unpowered, idle, missing input, ready, fabricating, output full and paused. Active orange light and restrained sparks communicate work; a label and progress form communicate the same information without color. An interrupted job retains its recorded materials and resumes or cancels through a stated recovery rule. It does not consume a complete batch again after a reload. A full output blocks the next operation safely.

The table produces service parts after the first launch, so it remains useful for an established lunar program and ordinary workshop fabrication. Its high-level art is already supplied. Input/output sides, interaction reach, cancellation, accessible state cues and any final moving mechanism belong to the production and interface backlog.

## T1-M02 — Rocket Assembly Station and the table variant

The assembly operation combines the prepared components into a complete Explorer. REF09 explicitly states “parts in, a rocket out” and shows a heavy platform, assembly columns and a control terminal. REF15 names a lower open bench Rocket Assembly Table. For this expansion, **Rocket Assembly Station** is the working name for complete-vehicle assembly, with **Rocket Assembly Table** retained as the source alias and visual variant to resolve. The document must expose that relationship rather than add another mandatory crafting stage.

An assembly order names the recognized vehicle configuration, displays the structural and service parts required, and reserves only the materials the player authorizes. The first Explorer needs its body, cockpit, propulsion, storage and life-support services as a coherent whole. Progress is visible as staged work on a jig or a clearly presented assembly operation. It is not a single mysterious upgrade consumed behind a menu.

The output is one registered vehicle with a persistent identity and an explicit handoff to its launch pad. A compact Tier 1 Rocket icon can represent that vehicle in a placement or deployment interface. It must not duplicate a second filled rocket when moved, reloaded or handed between players. The proposed first implementation transfers the completed craft within the prepared assembly/launch workflow; unrestricted field packing of a fueled, occupied spacecraft is outside this first operation.

The assembly station checks for missing parts, an unavailable work area and a blocked completed-vehicle position before it commits an order. A clear placement preview identifies the actual blocks or occupied space involved. If the pad is not ready, the finished vehicle remains recorded and waiting. The player can complete the site without losing the rocket or restarting its bill of materials.

Assembly also introduces commissioning: verify that a hatch can be used, a seat exists, supplies connect correctly and the chosen cargo module is installed. Detailed performance tuning stays separate from these basic functional checks. The same station later repairs or refits an existing Explorer, preserving its identity, ownership and recorded discoveries. Construction and refit obey the normal regional pause and shared-contribution rules.

## T1-M03 — Fuel Refinery

The Fuel Refinery makes **SUPPLY01 Standard spacecraft propellant** from defined Earth-accessible feedstocks and power. The name and compact gray/orange machinery are confirmed by REF15; its exact chemical recipe is not. The design should present one clear game propellant for the first orbital and lunar routes. It should not require a new fuel brand for each mission, nor imply a real propulsion chemistry that the creative direction has not chosen.

The player establishes a valid feedstock source, connects power, assigns a sealed output vessel and selects a batch or refill target. The interface shows feedstock required, expected propellant, processing progress and where the result will go. Any secondary output must have an explicit destination or a safe internal buffer. An unlimited invisible waste sink should not be the assumption used to make a complex recipe look balanced.

The reference’s dark body, orange vertical elements and top fittings make inputs and service access easy to distinguish. A player sees the process housing, the connected tank and the transfer route to the pad. Ordinary input, propellant output and power connections need distinct shapes or labels. Status can be read from the machine face while walking through the yard.

The refinery stops for missing feedstock, insufficient power, incompatible output, a full destination or a service fault. Routine faults are contained and repairable. They should create a known maintenance action rather than silently destroying the launch yard. No ordinary production order may withdraw the mission’s protected return allocation. Refinery output fills discretionary storage first or an expressly assigned mission order.

Later machinery can improve throughput, energy use, storage or feedstock flexibility. The starter refinery continues to produce the same useful supply. A local Moon installation becomes an optional convenience only when its complete input chain is independently available. The first expedition brings every unit needed for its return from Earth.

## T1-M04 — Fuel Pipe and typed connections

The Fuel Pipe is a visible transfer link between compatible propellant storage, refinery output and a parked Explorer service connection. Its confirmed form is a dark straight segment with orange end collars. Elbows, junctions, valves and connection states will need a production model pass, but they belong to one comprehensible pipe family. Reference: REF15.

The first pipe route can be short and hand-built. Selecting a connection shows source, destination, transferred supply and the receiving limit. A service action can fill the operating tank to a chosen target, fill a protected return tank allocation, or stop. It must not continually siphon every connected vessel until a distant refinery runs dry.

Connections are typed. Fuel cannot enter an Oxygen Tank because the two containers happen to share white-and-orange art. Oxygen and power services use distinct connectors, labels and compatible actions even if future universal service housings contain several ports. Invalid joins refuse the connection and explain the mismatch before a resource is consumed.

A disconnected pipe pauses transfer. Stored quantities remain with their recorded containers; breaking and replacing a segment cannot multiply fluid. Valves support clear shutoff and service. Detailed pressure simulation, explosive chain reactions and long-distance unloaded networks are not required to make this first transfer meaningful. Later automation can add measured fill orders while preserving the same explicit source, destination and stop condition.

## T1-M05 — Oxygen Generator

The Oxygen Generator supplies the workshop’s breathing-refill service: **SUPPLY02**, carried in **EQ24** tanks and used by the **EQ23** suit and supported refuges. REF15 confirms the machine’s name, gray cubic housing and blue front screen. Its first role is preparing a complete expedition at home, not creating an arbitrary atmosphere around every block it touches.

The proposed starter process uses an explicit accessible Earth input route—an approved water-processing or atmosphere-processing recipe—plus power and the appropriate service materials. The final chosen recipe should be the same visible process used by the machine, mission planner and handbook. This chapter does not prescribe real gas chemistry. It requires that the process account for its inputs, output and any byproduct, and that the player can establish it before leaving Earth.

The machine fills a compatible reservoir or portable Oxygen Tank to a selected target. Its screen shows available production input, processing condition, stored breathing supply and outstanding refill orders. A distinct service connector keeps it separate from propellant. First-time use includes filling a tank and verifying it in the suit, so the player understands that a crafted empty cylinder is not a ready expedition supply.

On the Moon, an Earth atmosphere-intake mode is unavailable. A local generator needs a separately supported input recipe and actual stocked resources. The initial shelter can transfer stored breathing supply between its reservoir and carried tanks without pretending that this transfer manufactures more. Local production is a later project with a visible budget; it never rescues an impossible first-mission dependency.

If power or feedstock ends, new filling stops. An occupied refuge retains its protected service reserve and warns the player before that reserve becomes inadequate. Optional fabrication cannot take the last supply assigned to breathing. Empty and full containers remain the same reusable objects with clear contents, rather than stacks of disposable differently named tanks.

## T1-M06 — Launch Pad

The Launch Pad provides a registered place to position, service, launch and receive the Explorer. REF15 shows a low reinforced platform, hazard-marked edges and small corner posts. The larger scenery adds gantries and access paths. A gantry makes a good player construction project, but the first supported pad should state exactly which functional pieces are required and which are optional architecture.

Placement begins with a preview of the supporting footprint, boarding access and departure clearance. The final envelope follows the resolved Explorer model. The supplied height references disagree, so a nine-block-looking illustration cannot silently become an unconditional nine-block clearance rule. Every blocking object should be highlighted directly, including player-built additions made after the rocket was placed.

The pad accepts one compatible registered craft in its active berth, connects authorized services and exposes a boarding route. A player can prepare the site with crates, lamps, barriers, paths and a workshop in their own style. The launch operation affects a defined local area. Its visual plume and sound should not imply that every surrounding landscape is being physically simulated or consumed.

States include vacant, craft present, servicing, boarding available, launch blocked, ready, departing and awaiting return. A returning Explorer uses a registered valid destination or an explicitly supported recovery approach. If the old pad has been removed or obstructed, the mission interface explains the alternative before committing to that arrival. A blocked home berth creates a solvable landing/recovery situation, not a lost campaign.

The pad should remain valuable after the first mission: recognizable homecoming, shorter turnaround, stored loadouts and supported refits. More pads expand the player’s network through authored or self-built work. They do not cause remote factories or habitats to run when their regions are parked.

## T1-M07 — Control Console

The Control Console is the expedition’s preparation and operating surface. Its wide blue screen and small worktop are confirmed by REF15. It connects information the player already understands: a particular craft, a departure site, a supported destination, a loadout and protected supplies. It should be useful before the rocket launches and after it returns.

The main view starts with the intended mission. It shows the route segments, craft capability, crew seats, essentials, optional cargo, operating supply and protected return allocation. A missing helmet and a missing decorative crate are not equivalent warnings. Essentials that make the selected default mission impossible block departure and say what action fixes the problem. Optional improvements appear as choices with their benefit and cost.

The console can read authorized nearby storage, create a refill order, request a component order and save a known loadout. It does not silently craft missing hardware, confiscate another player’s stock or complete an unfunded settlement project. Each action names the source and destination. A changed cargo load immediately updates the mission envelope and any resulting reserve issue.

Ground commissioning uses this interface to check cabin service, fuel connections, suit readiness, route data, hatch access and a supported return location. The checks should demonstrate concrete behavior: fill a real tank, inspect a real module and board a real seat. Repeating the same completed checks on every routine departure is unnecessary; changed or damaged systems prompt the relevant check again.

The console also records the last landed location, recovery-beacon association, outstanding service needs and expedition results. The player should be able to answer “what prevents departure?” or “what did we bring home?” without opening several unrelated interfaces. More detailed machine and vehicle records remain available beneath that clear summary.

## T1-M08 — Storage Crate

The Storage Crate connects workshop production to mission cargo and lunar settlement. Its confirmed gray-and-orange form belongs at the fabricator, pad, cabin and outpost. The planning identity is consistent even when a mounted or packed variant is needed. Reference: REF15.

A crate stores actual items and can carry a named purpose such as structural parts, first shelter, survey supplies or samples home. Saved manifests reserve quantities rather than creating a second invisible inventory. The player can see what is physically present, what is reserved for a mission and what remains available for ordinary work. Shared contributions record ownership and permission through the existing settlement system.

Moving cargo onto the Explorer is a clear handoff. A selected manifest must fit the configured cargo capacity, and its mass/capacity abstraction must agree with the preparation view. The example artwork’s six slots is a useful compactness reference, not a final balance law. If the actual starter shelter and essential supplies cannot fit, the design must adjust packaging or capacity rather than require the player to abandon safe-return equipment.

Unloading the first shelter leaves room for collected samples. A full return hold invites selection, an extra crate left at the refuge, or a later freight trip. Mission-critical findings are recorded independently of a fragile single item where appropriate. Storage pressure should create useful cargo choices without allowing an accidental lost specimen to erase all discovered progress.

## T1-I01 — Rocket Part and the structural family

The Rocket Part icon in REF15 is a pale structural piece with dark openings and an orange detail. Other sheets name Rocket Nose, Rocket Nose Cone, Rocket Body, Core Body, Fins, Cockpit Module, Command Module, Cockpit Window, Access Hatch and Upper Fuel Tank. These are useful model and assembly labels. They are not an instruction to create a separate mandatory inventory type for every arrow in an exploded drawing.

The proposed first recipe set groups structure, cockpit fittings, seals, tank structure and propulsion support into a manageable family. Components have a clear role in the finished craft and can be inspected from the assembly order. The same structural stock and service parts should repair a hatch, replace a damaged panel or support later workshop projects.

A component record tracks its type, compatible configuration and any meaningful service condition. Cosmetic paint or trim does not create a stronger metal tier. Missing or incompatible components are rejected before assembly, with a direct explanation. Detailed part counts, joining animations and production meshes remain backlog, while their visual vocabulary is already supplied.

## T1-I02 — Rocket Engine and engine cluster

The Rocket Engine appears as a discrete item in REF15; Engine and Engine Module appear elsewhere. REF11 makes the four-engine/nozzle cluster explicit. The first Explorer should retain that recognizable underside. Whether the recipe represents one complete cluster or several components is a gameplay packaging decision, not a requirement to expose four separately managed engine systems.

The propulsion assembly consumes the standard prepared propellant within a known mission envelope. It contributes to launch, transfer and return capability under the selected travel model. The interface reports ready, unserviced, disconnected or insufficient supply. It does not ask the player to solve hidden real-world combustion or trajectory equations to understand why the rocket will not leave.

Engine servicing uses Earth-available repair stock and workshop access. A bounded fault can reduce readiness or require a patch/refit at a safe site. Normal wear should be predictable enough to plan a complete first journey. A single routine trip should not secretly require an unknown lunar ore to manufacture its replacement engine.

The engine remains installed in the registered vehicle record. Swapping, repairing or dismantling it must preserve its condition and the craft’s stored supplies. The exact flame shape, four-nozzle animation, service panel movement and fault presentation belong to production art and effects work rather than another concept-generation call now.

## T1-I03 — Fuel Tank

The Fuel Tank is both a recognizable prepared component and the physical home of a propellant quantity. REF01, REF02 and REF15 show white/light-gray casing with orange bands or fittings. The model can distinguish installed and portable versions without changing what the supply means.

A tank carries its contents, capacity, compatible supply and reserve assignment. Filling transfers measured game quantities from a real source. Emptying or replacing a tank never duplicates contents. A craft may use separate visible vessels or one capacity divided into clearly protected allocations; either approach must make the reserved return portion understandable in the preparation view and cabin.

The player can service a tank on Earth, connect it to the pad or carry a compatible replenishment vessel when the cargo plan permits. A return allocation cannot be automatically consumed by a refinery, workshop or optional detour. Deliberately changing it is a specific mission revision with the consequence shown before the action.

The same fuel system remains useful after lunar refits. Better insulation or storage may improve operations without changing every old container into obsolete junk. Final size, ports, installed location and interaction animation remain model work; exact capacities await the real starter cargo and travel loop.

## T1-I04 — Navigation Chip / Guidance Chip

REF15 calls the blue-centered item Navigation Chip; REF02 calls its counterpart Guidance Chip. This expansion uses **Navigation Chip** as the working label and retains **Guidance Chip** as the searchable reference alias. It is one functional role until a meaningful reason to separate navigation and control hardware is actually designed.

The chip is built from accessible Earth circuit materials and stores or enables the Explorer’s supported route information. It is not a consumable ticket to the Moon. The initial lunar route can be prepared through the Earth survey/observatory service and confirmed mission data without demanding a sample from a place the player cannot yet reach.

At the console, it identifies the recognized vehicle configuration, available routes and the latest valid landing/return records. Later surveys add supported sites and better route knowledge. The chip does not reveal every underground room or replace the player’s local exploration. Navigation records remain recoverable through the player’s established survey history if the physical hardware is lost.

Missing or incompatible hardware prevents the relevant launch plan and says why. A replacement can be made from already reachable resources and restored from recorded data. Detailed chip sockets, screen graphics and any distinction between installed hardware and copied route records belong to the interface/model backlog.

## T1-I05 — Launch Key

The Launch Key is a reusable physical control item with the bright orange head shown in REF15. It creates a satisfying deliberate action at the console or cockpit. It is not a rare single-use resource that must be recreated for every routine launch.

A key is associated with an authorized vehicle or launch service under the world’s ownership rules. Possessing its icon does not grant access to another player’s supplies or override shared-project permissions. Replacement and delegated operation are available through an authorized local service so that losing an item cannot permanently disable an otherwise working space program.

Turning or presenting the key requests departure after the mission checks have passed. It does not bypass a missing suit, an occupied clearance zone or a depleted protected reserve. The short final sequence gives participants time to cancel or finish boarding. The key then remains with its owner or in the declared control position according to the chosen interaction design. Exact hand animation and key-slot model are later production tasks.

## T1-E01 and T1-E02 — Player Space Suit and Space Helmet

The confirmed Player Space Suit is the first implementation of **EQ23 Sealed expedition suit**. The Space Helmet is part of that system, not a second armor line. REF12 establishes pale panels, dark blue glass, orange bands, dark gloves and boots, a simple chest control panel and integrated life-support pack. Its material analogies describe appearance; they do not require the player to obtain decorative quartz or terracotta as the only way to seal a helmet.

The complete suit supports the planned lunar surface and early underground environment when it has breathing supply, appropriate power and maintained seals. The helmet alone does not make an otherwise unprepared player safe. A service view checks the outfit as one understandable system and identifies an absent or faulty part directly. Inventory arrangement should avoid forcing the player to inspect six independent hidden durability bars during a retreat.

The main operating indicators are breathing reserve, available equipment power and protection/service condition. They are context-sensitive and use icons, text and optional audio as well as color. A tank warning should say how it affects the current return plan. Dust on joints or seals provides a visible reason to use the service point, with a predictable tolerance before a field problem becomes serious.

Suit assembly and repair use the existing textile/seal and habitat workshops, prepared glass, basic fittings and accessible insulation. The player commissions the suit on Earth by connecting a filled tank, checking its status and using a safe test/service action. That exercise teaches the difference between protection hardware, stored supply and refill infrastructure before the Moon turns the distinction into danger.

The suit supports normal building, tool use, inventory work, tethers and sampling. Its protection does not confer unlimited exploration time or automatic immunity to every later planet. Lunar refits can improve dust servicing, instrument integration or comfortable operating duration without requiring a new identity for every palette variant.

Removing the helmet in a supported breathable refuge is allowed and clearly reflects the refuge’s real service state. In exposure, equipment changes warn against the specific problem before a destructive action completes under the default settings. Deliberate risk remains possible through the game’s chosen interaction rules. Exact equip animations, tank attachment and consistent chest-panel indicator mapping remain backlog; reference views vary in those details.

## T1-E03 — Oxygen Tank and breathing reserve

The Oxygen Tank in REF15 implements the portable side of **EQ24 Breathing supply** and contains **SUPPLY02**. It uses the same readable pale-and-orange family as the suit while remaining visually and functionally distinct from Fuel Tank fittings. The O₂ cylinders in REF03 provide an additional mounted-storage reference.

The tank is refillable. Its record includes stored breathing supply, capacity and condition where condition has a meaningful service consequence. The suit, shelter and workshop display the same quantity through a consistent reserve language. Transferring supply between them is explicit and conserves the recorded amount.

A field tank buys a known operating envelope. A small emergency allocation supports a retreat, a repair or beacon recovery; it should not be silently spent by optional tools. A spare tank may be carried or cached as part of a visible route plan. Refilling from a refuge uses that refuge’s actual discretionary storage and protects the reserve assigned to its occupied life-support service.

The first expedition carries its complete expected supply and contingency from Earth. Exploration can extend when the player builds a supported refill chain, brings more stored supply or shortens the travel loop. It does not extend because a decorative Oxygen Generator was placed on an airless surface without input. Final capacities should be tuned with actual walking, building and underground detour times.

## T1-V01 — Vehicle layout, cabin and use

The Explorer should be recognizable from the supplied silhouette at every stage: assembly, pad, launch, lunar landing and homecoming. The stepped nose, square dark window, orange bands, low access hatch, four fins and dark cluster establish its identity. REF11 provides a detailed exploded view; REF01 and REF02 show the cockpit and cargo experience. The final production mesh must resolve these views into one usable form.

The references disagree on height: approximately six, nine and twelve blocks all appear. The plan therefore keeps final dimensions unresolved. A model pass must test boarding reach, interior space, pilot view, hatch operation, landing stance, collision, cargo access and launch clearance together. Selecting a nice exterior number while silently adding an impossible interior would not solve the issue.

The proposed starter configuration supports one pilot, following the compact reference UI, with a real seat, clear forward view, understandable control position and a small pressurized cabin refuge. Exact cargo capacity remains adjustable until the full safe starter manifest has been packed. The example six-slot UI is evidence of intended compactness, not permission to exclude the shelter or return reserve. Additional passengers require genuinely supported seats, supplies and space; a player cannot travel as an unrecorded crate.

The cabin provides a safe place to check equipment, recover from a short surface sortie and prepare to return while its services are functioning. A full comfortable sleeping/workshop arrangement may belong in the deployed shelter rather than be forced into an unresolved hull. The old Pilgrim description’s home-like qualities can appear through exterior lamps, accessible storage, a clear entrance and the immediate refuge built beside the Explorer.

Rocket use follows recognized modes: parked, serviceable, boarding, mission ready, launching, passage, approach, landed and return preparation. Local control is limited to supported operation. The first release need not promise arbitrary moving player-built voxel houses, a seamless astronomical simulation or unrestricted atmospheric flight merely because the launch art is dramatic.

The player can walk around the parked craft and identify its hatch, service points, cargo access and engine region. From inside, the interface emphasizes destination, cabin condition, supplies and current action. During an authored passage, players can enjoy cabin presence and views; established travel also supports a shorter presentation. Progression should not demand hours of passive waiting between useful decisions.

## T1-S01 — The service point and field-power relationship

A service point groups several existing functions: suit check, dust cleaning, tank refill, minor repair and field-cell charging. It belongs to TEC12 and the existing workshop families. It need not become five new mandatory machine blocks in Tier 1 merely to give each interaction a separate icon.

Earth service can draw from stocked workshop inputs and established power. The first lunar version begins as a compact part of the shelter or an accessible service rack. It refills from real carried reserves, charges from its actual supported supply and uses a bounded stock of repair materials. The player sees what is available before leaving for a longer route.

Field cells use **EQ19** and **SUPPLY03**. Lamps, survey tools and supported suit services should share a coherent charge/refill vocabulary. Charging an optional tool cannot steal the last allocation needed to keep an occupied refuge safe. Stored batteries do not silently decay while the region is parked under the approved default direction.

The service experience is quick enough to become a satisfying expedition ritual: unload samples, brush or service seals, connect tank, swap a cell, inspect the next route. Later automation can prepare a saved loadout and reduce repeated handling. Dedicated rack models, dust states and refill animations remain clearly labelled detailed-artwork backlog.

## T1-S02 — Starter shelter and the lunar outpost

The first lunar mission carries **EQ25 Shelter kit** from Earth in addition to its working cabin. The player may retreat to the Explorer while placing it. No lunar ore, uncertain buried resource or locally manufactured fuel is required to create the first breathable sleeping cell.

The **Lunar Shelter Controller** follows the approved staged-construction system. Its first operational stage is a powered airlock and protected sleeping cell. The player selects a supported plot, previews the structure, contributes materials and watches bounded construction. Suitable generated arrival sites offer a feasible footprint without forcing one exact architectural position. Free building around the shelter remains available.

Later stages add the dust porch, small workshop, storage and optional Basalt Gallery enclosure. Each stage adds a usable service and a visible change. Sealing an enormous player-dug chamber is not assumed to work through one magic block; the supported enclosure rules, required boundaries and service capacity must be communicated before construction begins.

REF03 already provides the overview image: white/orange habitat, warm light, dish, mast, storage, utility equipment, rocket and Earth above a gray crater landscape. Detailed construction-stage and interior art are backlog. The outpost should stay small enough that the natural Moon remains the dominant setting, while giving the player unmistakable evidence that the place has become a home.

## T1-X01 — Departure, readiness and the first flight

The first mission planner presents a supported lunar destination, a conservative arrival site and the complete journey back to Earth. Essential readiness covers the Explorer’s configuration, working cabin, filled propellant and breathing supply, valid suit, charged field equipment, starter shelter, usable cargo access, navigation data and a supported recovery association. An ordinary local repair kit is included in the recommended manifest.

Preparation distinguishes the expedition’s ordinary operating budget from its protected return allocation and a small emergency allowance. Food, lighting, tethers, markers, survey equipment and sample containers are plainly listed. Optional decorative cargo or a larger observatory batch appears separately as a choice. The player can understand the consequence of exchanging cargo before the pad locks in departure.

The final sequence checks who is actually aboard, closes and verifies the supported cabin, confirms pad clearance and accepts the Launch Key action. It offers a brief cancellable interval with clear local sound and light. Launch has weight: ignition, force, plume, departing terrain and the changing view of Earth. The spectacle uses the confirmed visual family and does not require the player to solve an opaque piloting minigame on their first departure.

An active mission record prevents partial handoffs. Reloading between launch and arrival resumes a recognized state with the same craft, passengers, cargo and supplies. It cannot create both a landed copy and an in-flight copy. Multiplayer departure only includes recorded participants and supported seats; people still working at home remain at home. A disconnect is handled by saved mission state and the established absence rules, not by a surprise unattended life-support death.

## T1-X02 — The first lunar walk and descent

The opening lunar loop begins at **MO-S1 Earthrise Rim**. The landing site has a readable shelter location and a feasible walking route to a first geological interest. It offers the emotional view of Earth, broad gray shelves, clear shadows and occasional meaningful drops. A large dramatic chasm can be visible without lying between the player and their first refuge.

The player opens the hatch, checks suit status, places a return marker and transfers the starter shelter crate. Construction establishes the sleeping cell and airlock while the Explorer remains an independently usable retreat. A short surface survey teaches navigation and confirms a natural entrance. The player returns once before committing to a longer underground trip, making the relation between time, supplies and distance concrete.

The next sortie reaches **MO-L1 Regolith Hollows**. Tight fractured spaces, dust shelves and short tethered descents ask for careful movement and a visible route home. Cracks and falling particles warn of bounded instability before extraction or traversal. The default first route allows a conservative approach with Earth-made anchors and ordinary useful tools.

A broad **MO-L2 Basalt Gallery** approach supplies the first great underground contrast: dark scale, a sweeping tube shape, a roof opening or a natural junction that makes mapping worthwhile. The expedition can take samples, record a route and return without fully conquering the deepest Moon in one sortie. The intended reward is both a material and a remembered place.

Sound and feedback reinforce the suit experience: breathing, transmitted contact, radio and connected machinery. The Moon remains predominantly lifeless. Routine creature combat is not added to create arbitrary activity between the shelter and the cave. The player’s preparation, construction and interpretation already provide the encounter.

## T1-X03 — A sustained Moon campaign

Tier 1 continues beyond planting a flag. **MO-S2 Shadow Basin** supports a darker navigation route, reflective markers and deliberate use of portable light. **MO-L3 Glassfall Vaults** adds fragile impact-glass formations, ledges and careful instrument movement. Improved anchors and better route knowledge let the same Explorer support a more ambitious second expedition.

**A Light Across the Basin** gives that learning a project: connect natural vantage points through reflectors and protected relay instruments, then use the results at the **Rim Observatory Controller**. The objective is reliable observation and route-making. Its devices do not need to be reimagined as an alien temple or a new mandatory species of exotic power crystal.

Regolith Ceramic begins with accessible surface feedstock and a supported processing plan. Lunar Glass Filament rewards geological sampling and careful extraction. The first samples can return to Earth for processing. A lunar workshop later reduces hauling and makes local construction more convenient. These choices distinguish a brief scientific trip from building a lasting outpost.

Neither material is the ingredient that suddenly makes the stranded first rocket work. They improve habitat panels, light guides, sensors and instruments for future trips and Earth use. Deeper Moon progress depends on preparation and understanding; it does not make the Explorer obsolete immediately after its first landing. The Moon should remain somewhere the player can choose to maintain a workshop and a view.

## T1-X04 — Return, servicing and useful refits

Return preparation begins while the player is still at a refuge. The console or cabin shows the recorded Earth destination, protected propellant, breathing allowance, crew, cargo and current service state. Samples are loaded into real storage. Unneeded local construction supplies can remain in marked crates at the outpost, preserving a useful reason to return.

Before departure, the player parks the managed shelter in a coherent saved state. With no eligible participants remaining, its authored consumption, production, construction and events pause according to the regional rules. Its stocked goods stay recorded. If another participant remains, that occupied region continues under its ordinary active service budgets; a departing owner does not freeze a teammate’s functioning habitat.

Homecoming uses the existing pad or a supported alternative arrival. Unloading feeds the workshop, survey record and later construction orders. The results page connects each discovery to a practical next option: a compact cave-light upgrade, a sealed workshop panel, a better survey component, another observatory instrument or the next lunar shelter stage.

Refits should change a useful property while keeping the Explorer recognizable. Suggested lunar refits improve dust service, instrument integration, storage organization or thermal endurance. They use a material the player has already brought home or can safely access on a repeat trip. Bigger mission cargo may trade against another advantage. A later craft is desirable for a new capability, not merely because every existing Tier 1 service was invalidated.

## T1-S03 — Recovery, reserves and failure

The supported recovery device is the **Expedition Recovery Beacon mode of EQ26 Communications beacon**. It is not a second compulsory beacon recipe. Before the first lunar departure, the player establishes a recoverable association with the craft, starter refuge or approved return service. The interface explains what that mode can do under the selected difficulty.

Low supply, a blocked route, a damaged service part and a disabled craft are different problems. A low tank normally calls for retreat or a planned reserve. A lost path can be recovered with markers and a beacon location. A bounded equipment fault can use EQ27 repair stock. A disabled Explorer may require the recovery service and later salvage. The design should offer a next action rather than collapse all failures into instant total loss.

Recovery may spend emergency stores, take an active in-game interval or leave nonessential cargo for retrieval. It preserves discovered navigation, learned recipes, completed story milestones and access to the next required progression step. A unique survey result should not disappear because its only physical copy fell through an inaccessible crack. Recovery is bounded assistance, not free routine transport or an unlimited supply source.

Protected reserves are actual allocations with ownership and purpose. Automation cannot raid them. Reassigning them is a deliberate mission change with the resulting limitation shown. A player taking an optional risk sees what they are choosing. The default plan must remain safe without requiring the player to exploit recovery as its intended refuelling method.

## T1-B01 — Balance and the shape of industry

The production chain should feel substantial because the work has visible purpose. Metalworking supplies frames and fittings; ceramics insulate and contain; textiles and seals make protection possible; power runs tools and refills; fabrication makes parts; assembly produces a vehicle; the pad and console turn it into an expedition. Each stage creates a capability the player can understand and reuse.

The first small installation should be practical to supply by hand. Expansion rewards better throughput, storage, convenience or resource efficiency, with actual costs in space, power, feedstock or service. Adding a larger processing train must not always be the best answer for every player and every resource. A lunar field workshop may favor compactness and reliability while the Earth base handles bulk work.

Balance should protect the relationship between exploration and manufacture. The player explores to find materials, routes and knowledge; industry prepares and improves the next trip. Industrial breadth should not let one early machine multiply every ore into endless universal stock, replace all surveying or eliminate the reason to revisit places. Conversely, one poor random vein should not prevent an otherwise prepared world from reaching its first launch.

The main costs to tune together are the starter bill of materials, total workshop effort, refill effort, travel operating envelope, useful cargo, expected sortie duration and recovery allowance. Requiring frequent resource sorting or many idle waits is not the same as requiring planning. A good Tier 1 balance pass observes whether players understand their machine layout, can diagnose a stop, have enough room for the safe starter manifest and return with a reason to build again.

## T1-D01 — Information, states and regional persistence

The player-facing information model starts with objects and actions: this machine is waiting for a tank; this crate contains shelter parts; this reserve is assigned to return; this habitat is occupied; this pad is blocked by the highlighted structure. Stable internal identifiers support those statements without being shown as programming jargon in ordinary product screens.

Each placed machine records its identity, supported configuration, orientation, connections, physical inventories or reservoirs, active order, completed progress, output claim and service state. Each Explorer additionally records its installed modules, crew, location or travel stage, mission route, cargo, supplies, reserved allocations, ownership and recovery association. Reference-image IDs link production decisions back to the approved art.

All authored work follows the approved regional eligibility boundaries, including horizontal area, vertical bounds and dimension. A player directly above a lunar factory in some unrelated space is not automatically operating its region. Paused work retains its state without an offline catch-up penalty. Ordinary Minecraft systems outside these managed features retain their established behavior.

On resumption, an order completes once, a transfer arrives once and a mission occupies one supported state. Recorded cargo and supplies remain conserved through loading, unloading, cancellation, construction and recovery. Those are substantive implementation requirements because the whole expedition depends on trusting the quantities the interface displays.

## T1-A01 — Art coverage and explicit future work

All fifteen supplied images remain in the reference gallery with their original visible labels. The document uses REF15 for the Tier 1 system overview, REF09 and REF10 beside the two manufacturing roles, REF11 beside the Explorer, REF12 beside the suit and REF03 beside the first lunar foothold. Other sheets remain accessible as supporting angles, interior examples, journey boards, environment atmosphere and later-tier references. Repeated subjects are useful references, not missing new artwork.

The confirmed high-level visuals are already sufficient for this slice. Detailed artwork backlog includes final model scale; a consistent rocket/suit turnaround; geometry and UV production; component sockets; hatch and boarding action; usable cockpit/cargo layout; machine port layouts; assembly stages; pipe variants; refill and dust-service actions; suit/tank attachment; launch/landing effects; shelter stages and interior; and recovery-beacon operation. Each future commission should point to the corresponding T1 identifier and a specific unresolved production need.

The reference conflicts remain visible: six/nine/twelve-block rocket scale; table/station form and naming; Navigation/Guidance Chip; example recipes and cargo figures; varying chest-panel colors; and differing embedded brands. They are decision records, not reasons to discard the user’s concepts. SUBSTELLAR remains the surrounding project identity. No further Tier 2 or Tier 3 generation or full system expansion is included in this first Tier 1 slice.

## T1-A02 — A concrete first playable implementation slice

The first implementation target is one complete Earth–Moon–Earth loop using a coherent subset of this full design. It includes the two manufacturing roles, explicit fuel and breathing preparation, one working Explorer, a serviced pad and console, suit/tank use, packed shelter, a conservative generated arrival, one surface route, one shallow descent, sample return and a usable home benefit. It demonstrates why the machines exist rather than presenting an isolated launch cinematic.

Acceptance requires that the entire default journey can be prepared from already available Earth resources; essential cargo genuinely fits; the player can identify missing inputs and blocked operations; protected return supplies stay protected; a first shelter works before local extraction; and interrupted travel or paused regions preserve the same craft, people, stock and progress. A player who makes a recoverable mistake can explain both the problem and the next useful action.

The following expansion can add deeper lunar variants, a larger observatory chain, local processing alternatives, more refits, shared expedition convenience and richer service animation. The reference gallery and the complete written system stay ahead of that implementation. They provide the whole direction while making the first deliverable finite and testable.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: tier1_space_expansion.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: first_playable_expansion.txt | SHA-256 f0efbf7319ab1ce62a549f576acd0921f9bd1f1c4ce2eee632499781aebc0a72 =====

# First Playable — Old Valley, the Quarry, and the First Workshop

## FP-PLAN-01 — Purpose, authority, and the build boundary

This slice turns the approved opening into a specific playable outcome: arrive at Old Valley, restore the guesthouse's complete essential chapter project, restore the old crossing, bring the quarry into useful service, explore one representative Shallows branch, and turn a returned discovery into a practical workshop improvement. It should end with the player recognizing a home, a route, a source of materials, and something their work has changed. The completed crossing and the first moving cargo are especially important: the world must demonstrate the benefit without relying on a completion message.

Everything in this chapter is planning. Its scope status is **Planned; BUILD not authorized**. The accessible project material contains the direction document, artwork, reference catalogues, and HTML-building sources. No actual mod repository or Gradle, Java, Kotlin, Fabric, or NeoForge project markers were available for inspection in this planning workspace. Therefore no loader, Minecraft version, implementation, existing world-generation behaviour, performance result, or development completeness is verified here. A repository inspection is an explicit dependency before mod implementation. Editing this reference edition does not authorize developing the mod.

The original 36-chapter direction and subsequent industry, Moon, Mars, and Tier 1 expansions remain intact. The identifiers here add a bounded delivery target. They do not replace EAR02, SET01–SET05, TEC references, or the industrial bands. Numerical recipes, site dimensions, stock levels, and time targets below are recommended prototype defaults. They become accepted production values only after the relevant assets, native recipes, and actual play have been checked.

Sources are the approved Old Valley chapters, controller and regional-activity rules, Shallows atlas, resource economy, and IP00–IP01. Electricity, the complete workshop catalogue, the Shallows Waystation, a grain mill, a market event, and spacecraft are outside this slice. It creates no new Old Valley, Core, or deep-industry prerequisite for the first lunar expedition.

## FP-PLAN-02 — Preserve the five chapters and define the endpoint

Old Valley keeps its five authored chapters in order: **A place to stay; The old crossing; The quarry; A working settlement; The first market**. This playable includes the complete essential outcomes of Chapters 1–3 and one deliberately limited workshop service that introduces the next chapter. It does not report Chapter 4 complete. Its grain mill, connected workshop expansion, market preparations, and wider service network remain future work. Chapter 5's first market remains a distinct later payoff.

A player-built house does not substitute for Chapter 1. The required guesthouse restoration must provide its promised entrance, usable sleeping place, understandable storage, and modest common area. Optional rooms and decoration are outside that essential repair. Similarly, swimming across the river or building a personal span remains legitimate travel, but it does not complete the authored crossing project. These distinctions must be visible in the journal rather than discovered after the player has spent resources.

| Slice outcome | Canonical relationship | Evidence of completion |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A useful guesthouse | SET01; Old Valley Chapter 1 | Essential repair finished; sleeping place and assigned storage work; innkeeper remains available through a forgiving interaction. |
| An operational crossing | SET02; Old Valley Chapter 2 | Supports, deck, and transport finishing are complete; the route is actually walkable; chapter state persists. |
| A useful quarry | SET03; Old Valley Chapter 3 | Safe access, defined handling equipment, and a modest common-stone preparation service work. |
| A known underground branch | EAR02; Copperwash Channels | Player can identify the entrance, reach the survey ledge, obtain a useful find, and follow a comprehensible return route. |
| First workshop service | IP01; limited introduction to SET04 | A finite material order produces an installed improvement that changes the quarry's cargo handling. Chapter 4 remains open. |

The default ending is a quiet return to useful work. The cargo cradle delivers a larger load; the prepared stone is waiting; the innkeeper or mason acknowledges the quarry's changed role. The journal presents the grain mill, broader workshop, and market preparations as the next larger undertaking without starting them automatically. A distant or partly seen underground continuation preserves curiosity. No finale screen removes the player from the world.

## FP-PLAN-03 — Arrival and the guesthouse restoration

The first view should establish the guesthouse, a familiar gatherable landscape, and the direction of the damaged crossing. Smoke, a lit public doorway, stored timber, and a dry exterior awning show that people already live here. The initial awning offers an understandable meeting point; it is not the restored bedroom. The innkeeper introduces the actual repair, while the traveler gives a short reason to care about the road beyond. Use the established character names if the real project contains them. NPC01 and NPC02 are planning role references, not replacement identities.

The player can inspect the guesthouse project before accepting any task. Its ordinary view says what will become usable, identifies the exact room and entrance, and displays two small stages. A footprint preview distinguishes existing architecture, proposed repair, and any player obstruction. The material list uses only nearby timber, stone, and early iron. It does not require wool from a particular animal, a specialist station, the far bank, or a purchased item. The authored room retains a repairable bed furnishing as part of the site; the listed restoration stock repairs access and fittings. It does not secretly consume a new bed recipe.

The first stage repairs the essential enclosure and approach. The second commissions the room, storage assignment, and common-space access. A short visible sequence shows delivered materials becoming beams, repaired floor, and fittings. Each stage should take seconds of active construction, with the first working sleeping place available as soon as its necessary repair is complete. The chapter should never add a long ornamental wait after the useful room already exists.

The player deliberately assigns or claims their sleeping place and receives a clear explanation of personal versus shared storage. The first bed interaction follows the selected game's supported spawn rules; the prototype must verify the real result rather than assume a decorative model establishes a respawn point. Cooperative players need additional explicitly supported sleeping positions or an immediate local recovery alternative, without each group member paying for a duplicate guesthouse.

The restored common work corner retains ordinary crafting access. The dedicated Carpenter and repair bench is repaired later in the quarry work bay, once, from its listed common stock; neither the guesthouse nor the crossing needs that station first. The traveler can mention the crossing while the player gathers, but the main chapter card continues to describe the guesthouse until its full essential outcome is complete.

## FP-PLAN-04 — The old crossing as the first infrastructure lesson

The damaged crossing must explain its own problem. Existing piers, a broken deck, the far approach, and a visible path toward the quarry provide a readable composition. The player can inspect both banks through a safe, longer route. A ford, supported shallow crossing, or authored bank path can provide that route according to the selected terrain template. No mandatory inspection requires swimming through a concealed deep current or making an unmarked jump over a lethal drop.

The mason, NPC03, introduces the supported repairs. A short far-side inspection records whether the approach is usable; this is knowledge, not a unique collectible that can disappear. The journal can recognize the inspection if the player performed it before the chapter became active. It still waits for the guesthouse outcome before offering the crossing's authored construction sequence. The bridge is worth building because it supports convenient carrying and later visitors, not because the game disables every alternative way across water.

Use three material stages: stabilize existing supports; restore the usable deck and approach; complete rails and the remaining transport fittings. A partly built deck must never imply that the bridge has its final transport capability. Label the difference between an accessible work platform, a walkable surface, and an operational route. Later visitor or freight systems can depend on the finished route state. This slice demonstrates a simple authored arrival response after completion, not a fully implemented freight economy.

The recommended first template has a three-block-wide walking deck over a modest gap, with supported span variants rather than arbitrary bridge engineering. Exact block layout belongs in the build manifest after asset and terrain inspection. A player-built crossing beside it remains in place if it does not conflict with the reserved footprint. A chest on the proposed deck causes a precise blocked state before work consumes that stage's materials. A player standing where the next block would appear temporarily pauses the placement action.

Completion must change the route immediately. Walking from the guesthouse to the quarry approach should visibly use the repaired span, and the return trip should feel easier. The chapter record and the physical bridge are checked together; a flag alone cannot make an incomplete route count as finished.

## FP-PLAN-05 — Quarry restoration and the first practical service

The quarry introduces a working landscape with a clear material identity. Pale and darker worked stone, a small water pocket, old handling points, a reachable face, and an entrance into Copperwash Channels should be related spatially. The entrance is discovered through the quarry rather than appearing as an unrelated portal. The player should recognize the quarry's rim when looking back from the first underground junction.

Chapter 3 begins with a bounded inspection: follow the existing work route, check a landing, identify the usable face, and record the safe approach to the lower handling bay. The default inspection is entirely possible with early tools, ordinary light, and a dry return route. A distinctive tool trace or work record can provide atmosphere, but chapter progress is recorded as knowledge. No irreplaceable item sits in the optional deepest pocket.

The quarry work bay first restores IND-M01 Carpenter and repair bench from common stock. The required quarry repair then restores the work platform, an upper and lower loading point, and the hand-operated variant of **IND-M53 Hoist and lift installation**, within TEC10 and the EQ08 cargo-winch family. For this slice it moves cargo only. It does not carry players, invent arbitrary rope physics, excavate its own shaft, or accept a player-placed landing anywhere in the world. A short existing timber-and-metal apparatus is repaired with common stock; its authored cable and drum belong to that restored assembly. No industrial wire plant is a hidden prerequisite.

A modest common-stone preparation service also becomes usable. It exposes a small supported ordinary building recipe and requires actual supplied stone. The initial demonstration is six cobblestone becoming six cobblestone walls, with the native recipe and output identity verified during the code audit. This is an illustrative ordinary recipe service, not IND-M18 Crusher and not the Chapter 4 grain mill. It does not create stone passively, excavate the landscape, or multiply ore.

Chapter 3 completes when the safe work route, baseline cargo movement, and stone service have each been demonstrated. The Shallows branch can be inspected during the quarry work, but it does not require a later realm or the bronze improvement to make the quarry useful. The first workshop service then gives a reason to return to that branch and to the settlement. This separation protects the chapter from an incidental lost metal sample.

## FP-PLAN-06 — One complete Copperwash Channels expedition

The representative EAR02 branch is **Copperwash Channels**. Its warm seams, worn water channels, gravel banks, coarse stone, and hanging vegetation connect naturally to the quarry. The test should establish one clear habitat with a meaningful route; it need not present all five Shallows experiences at once. Rootlace, Chalkstep, Glasswell, and Drybell remain named future coverage. The first complete Shallows Waystation and Broken Waterway Passage are also later projects, not silently included in this slice's bridge budget.

The required route begins at a dry quarry entrance, descends through a recognizable sloping passage, and reaches a junction with a broad dry survey ledge. A copper-stained face shows the branch's resource identity. MAT01 tin appears in an approachable worked-stone or sedimentary exposure compatible with the catalogue. A second accessible example exists near the quarry's shallow outer workings so the material does not depend on one delicate cave layout. The player can record the seam and gather a small batch using the supported early pick capability.

The outward route contains one navigational question: follow the noisier stream downward or the dry maintenance cut above it. Both are legible, and the required route uses safe ground. A short alternate connection returns to the recognizable junction, letting the player understand the space from a second direction. The route must remain traversable without mobile dynamic lighting, a rope simulation, a mask, powered tools, an underwater module, or parkour precision. Placed torches and ordinary steps are sufficient.

The optional discovery is a small water-worn alcove visible from the dry shelf. A pale stone form, ordinary decorative specimen, or framed view into a deeper pool rewards inspection. It has a dry observation point. Entering a submerged continuation is clearly outside the required task; no unique chapter item, indispensable tin, or irreplaceable reward is placed there. A nearby future-route clue can suggest the larger Shallows without generating or promising a complete Deepwilds transition in this build.

The survey ledge leaves room for a player chest, markers, or a personal rest arrangement outside the managed route. The player can mine ordinary adjacent ground. Story knowledge records the entrance, seam observation, and return route without requiring them to destroy the most attractive exposure. A preserved sample is welcome, but not mandatory. Leaving an ore face intact should not prevent learning what it is.

On return, the journal explains one useful connection: the observed tin and ordinary copper can make bronze fittings for the quarry's cargo cradle. The player has found a resource with a visible use, not a new abstract level of mining permission. Death, a lost specimen, or an early unauthorized visit does not erase the recorded observation.

## FP-PLAN-07 — A returned find becomes the first workshop improvement

The first workshop service occupies a modest, already reserved work bay beside the quarry's handling area. It combines the repaired **IND-M01 Carpenter and repair bench** with a compact **IND-M07 Alloy hearth**. These are an early service corner within the broader future workshop programme. Completing them does not create the full SET04 workshop building or finish Old Valley Chapter 4.

Ordinary metal preparation happens through the game's supported basic smelting route. The proposed first alloy order uses three copper ingots, one tin ingot, and one supported fuel item to produce four units of the existing bronze-fittings family. That is one recipe and one meaningful output family. A separate ingot, casting blank, tiny screw, and unique bearing inventory item are unnecessary for this demonstration. A later recipe catalogue can add forms when they have a recognizable use.

The fittings travel to the Carpenter and repair bench's project order, together with four planks. The service produces and installs a wider supported cargo cradle at the existing hoist. Treat the cradle as that installation's upgrade stage, not a new unrelated machine. Its default benefit is two occupied cargo slots per trip instead of one, respecting each item's normal stack limit. Cycle time and travel route stay the same. The player can see the broader cradle and move mixed supplies more conveniently. The comparison test uses two real occupied stacks: the six prepared walls and one item from the existing spare-fuel allowance. Baseline transfer takes two trips; the wider cradle carries both in one. These goods remain real stock and are returned after the test; no extra demonstration bill is created.

The first production test uses a visible order of exactly one batch. Inputs move into custody, the hearth warms and works, the output appears at its collection point, and the bench shows the waiting cradle order. The player confirms installation when the hoist is empty and its loading bay is clear. No silent auto-consumption takes the bronze from a private chest. If output space is full, the batch waits safely with its goods preserved.

The alternate common-iron cradle uses four iron ingots and the same four planks for equivalent basic cargo capacity. It does not produce bronze or count as witnessing the alloy process. This keeps the settlement's useful improvement available after an unlucky lost sample or a preference to retain the first specimen. The default fresh-world evaluation still demonstrates the copper-and-tin chain. Bronze is a practical material choice that broadens available stock, not a permission to use a quarry that was already restored.

## FP-PLAN-08 — The three machine functions and their physical limits

| Canonical function | First-slice form | Player interaction and result | Explicit boundary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IND-M01 Carpenter and repair bench / TEC01 | Small restored bench with input surface, tool area, and finished-order position | Contribute common stock; select a known project order; prepare or repair ordinary structural parts; assemble the cradle upgrade. | Manual, short batches; no power network, universal fabrication, or Tier 1 rocket parts yet. |
| IND-M07 Alloy hearth / TEC03 | Small charge opening, fuel position, guarded hot-work area, and collection shelf | Load a defined alloy batch; start it; inspect state; collect four bronze fittings. | One recipe initially; no industrial chemistry, continuous fluid metals, temperature simulation, or specialist refractory gate. |
| IND-M53 Hoist and lift installation / TEC10 / EQ08 | Authored upper and lower loading bays, fixed short cargo route, visible drum and cradle | Load authorized goods, choose the destination landing, start one transfer, and collect them at the other end. | Cargo only; fixed route; no riders, arbitrary rope routing, free swinging loads, or automatic excavation. |

The recommended working-space targets are a bench occupying roughly two by one blocks with clear frontal access; a hearth in a roughly three by two work area with a guarded service side; and a two-landing cargo installation with a rise of roughly four to eight blocks. These describe the prototype's reserved working envelopes, not final bounding boxes or model dimensions. Once the actual art is built, interaction points and collisions must be measured against the player and the chosen native rendering system.

A machine explains itself through visible material movement. The bench's stored stock differs from its finished order. The hearth distinguishes empty, loaded, working, output waiting, and stopped. The hoist shows which landing holds the cradle and where goods are reserved. Symbols and labels accompany colour. Sounds and particles support the same states without being their sole indication.

The initial hoist transfer is a short, proposed ten-active-second action between fixed landings. A single accessible Start interaction is sufficient; repeated tapping or holding a button is unnecessary. Any worker or crank animation is a bounded presentation of that action, not an unrestricted NPC job system. The cargo remains in managed custody during travel. A player entering the receiving bay stops completion safely and gets a clear request to step clear.

No random wear is needed in this slice. Empty input, missing output space, a blocked route, manual stop, or regional pause provide enough meaningful machine states. Later service schedules must follow real use and a visible benefit; they should not be added merely to make the first workshop feel complicated.

## FP-PLAN-09 — Provisional construction budget and complete accounting

The following bills are proposed restoration costs for existing authored sites. They are not claims that every visible placed block is crafted one-for-one from these counts. Retained walls, foundations, furnishings, cable, and equipment remain part of the site's initial state. Each build manifest must identify retained pieces, repaired pieces, and new pieces so the player is not shown an inexplicable full new building bought with a few planks.

| Order | Planks | Cobblestone | Iron ingots | Clay balls | Other inputs |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FP-C01 Guesthouse essential repair | 24 | 12 | 2 | 0 | None; existing room furnishings are restored with the site. |
| FP-C02 Carpenter and repair bench restoration | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 | None; the bench does not require its own output. |
| FP-C03 Crossing restoration | 32 | 24 | 4 | 0 | Far-approach inspection; shared knowledge, not consumed stock. |
| FP-C04 Quarry baseline service and hoist repair | 16 | 20 | 4 | 0 | Surveyed work route and clear loading bays. |
| FP-C05 Alloy hearth construction | 0 | 8 | 2 | 8 | Simple accessible construction; no previous kiln or furnace made from its own output. |
| FP-C06 Bronze cradle service | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Four bronze fittings from one FP-R01 batch. |
| **Default construction total** | **84** | **68** | **14** | **8** | **Four bronze fittings.** |

The bronze batch adds three copper ingots, one tin ingot, and one hearth fuel item. Twenty-one logs at the proposed four-planks-per-log planning conversion cover the 84 construction planks. Fourteen raw iron units, three raw copper units, and one raw tin unit cover the metal inputs if the audited initial smelting route returns one ingot per accepted raw unit. Those conversion assumptions must be checked against the selected game version and actual recipes before the values become a build specification. They are a transparent budget model, not a report of implemented recipes.

The construction bills are shared once per project. A separate solo preparation allowance is 24 planks, 16 cobblestone, 16 coal-or-charcoal items, and approximately eight ordinary food portions; cooperative players each need their own suitable tools, light, food, and recovery provision, while a group may share a furnace or work surface. It supports a basic crafting surface, a personal container if needed, stone tools, a furnace, sticks, torches, and a modest reserve; it is not deposited into any project. An additional six cobblestone supplies the stone-service demonstration and remains as six usable walls after processing. Food portions are a pacing allowance, not a new universal hunger rule.

Within the 16-item fuel allowance, provisionally allocate eight to 32 torches, three to ordinary metal smelting, one to the hearth, and four as spare. The ordinary-smelting allocation assumes up to eight relevant operations per fuel item and must be reconciled with native rules, optional charcoal preparation, and any chosen fuel substitution. The display must never charge both a project and a preparation list for the same stock. If charcoal is produced, its feedstock and starting fuel are added explicitly rather than treating the 16 prepared fuel items as free.

## FP-PLAN-10 — Recipes, source guarantees, and alternatives

| Recipe or service | Consumed input | Output or persistent result | Dependency and shortage rule |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FP-R01 First bronze fittings | Three copper ingots, one tin ingot, one supported hearth fuel item | Four bronze fittings; proposed 45 active seconds | Requires IND-M07 and output capacity. Ordinary smelting precedes alloy work. No oxygen, electricity, steel, or planetary ingredient. |
| FP-R02 Bronze cradle order | Four bronze fittings and four planks | Existing IND-M53 accepts two occupied cargo slots instead of one | Requires a working baseline hoist, IND-M01, empty cradle, and clear bay. Costs are FP-C06, not an additional bill. |
| FP-R03 Iron cradle alternative | Four iron ingots and four planks | Same basic two-slot cargo capacity in an iron fitting variant | Substitutes for FP-R02 and FP-C06. The four extra iron replace bronze demand; the four planks are not charged twice. |
| FP-R04 Quarry stone demonstration | Six cobblestone | Six cobblestone walls retained as real output | Uses the restored common-stone service; verify the ordinary recipe identity during implementation inspection. No new ore-processing machine. |

Tin is planned SUBSTELLAR content identified by MAT01; a tin ingot is its proposed smelted form. Bronze fittings belong to the existing proposed processed-product family and IND-M07, not ordinary vanilla stock. These are planning aliases with no verified implementation registry IDs.

The default solo construction-plus-preparation envelope therefore contains 108 planks, 90 cobblestone, 14 iron ingots, eight clay balls, three copper ingots, one tin ingot, 16 prepared fuel items, and the food allowance. It includes project stock, the separate 24-plank and 16-stone preparation allowance, and the six-stone service demonstration. It does not assume every reserved tool or food item is consumed. The iron alternative changes the metal line to 18 iron, with the copper, tin, and bronze batch no longer required for that cradle. An unused hearth remains an optional service rather than a narrative obstacle. Omitting the hearth on the iron-only route removes FP-C05's eight cobblestone, two iron, and eight clay: construction then totals 84 planks, 60 cobblestone, and 16 iron, with no bronze requirement. That alternate outcome does not demonstrate alloy production.

The reachable near-bank gathering area should expose enough suitable timber and mineable common stone for the opening, with candidate testing using at least 32 harvestable log equivalents, 128 stone/cobblestone equivalents, 16 early iron units, and eight accessible clay balls across reasonable local sources. This is a generation validation budget, not a chest of free materials, a depletion requirement, or a map revealing every block. Fuel needs an approachable coal source or the supported renewable charcoal path, whose extra wood and bootstrap fuel are accounted for separately. Regrowth and ordinary farming remain normal play.

Required bridge materials are on the near side before the crossing is built. MAT01 tin and the first small copper batch have at least two shallow, dry-access examples within the quarry and Copperwash service catchment. The default fresh-world path must not require a market visitor, a rare creature kill, a flooded dive, an electrical machine, or a material found beyond a locked route. Optional barter may help later, but no invisible shop stock is used to prove this dependency graph.

A player can spend common inputs elsewhere, mine with friends, or lose a batch. The journal points to known sources and explains the iron alternative. Essential discoveries are knowledge and can be repeated. Main chapter completion never depends on possessing the sole surviving tin specimen. The design does not promise to manufacture unlimited materials after arbitrary destruction of an entire world; it does require renewable common routes, multiple local examples, and no single unique collectible whose loss makes the authored campaign impossible.

## FP-PLAN-11 — World-generation envelope and placement graph

Use the established planning envelope of **512 total levels, Y -192 through 319**. A reference surface near Y 63 is descriptive, not a requirement that Old Valley appear at exactly that elevation. Do not assign permanent Y bands to the seven realms through this slice. Copperwash should occupy a shallow connected volume relative to its local quarry, leaving a later world-height and realm-packing feasibility decision intact. The prototype bands mentioned in the foundation document do not become final realm boundaries here.

Plan Old Valley as related anchors and validated routes. The required graph is arrival approach to guesthouse; guesthouse to near bridge landing; bridge to far approach; far approach to quarry rim; quarry rim to working bay; working bay to dry Shallows entrance; entrance to survey ledge and return junction. The guesthouse's ordinary work corner and the quarry's bench-and-hearth service bay connect to that graph. An optional alcove branches from the underground route and reconnects or ends at a clearly reversible viewing point. An optional landmark cannot be the only connector between required nodes.

Suggested placement targets are a two-to-four-minute ordinary walk from guesthouse to quarry, a near-bank gathering catchment broadly within a few hundred blocks of the opening, and a ten-to-fifteen-minute first underground outward journey including observation. Distances should follow traversable paths, not straight-line radius alone. These are pacing targets, not fixed teleport spacing. Exact horizontal and vertical extents are selected only after testing actual walking speed, terrain forms, and supported structures.

Provide a small supported set of terrain arrangements: a gentle valley bank with short span, a stepped bank with authored approach stairs, and a shallow ravine variant with verified foundations. Each has explicit slope, water-level, ground-depth, doorway-clearance, and route constraints. Finite rotations and approved stair or foundation modules allow variation. The generator may change natural terrain only within its declared adaptation volume. It must not bury doors, create hanging piers, drain an unrelated lake, cut through another protected structure, or erase a player's construction to solve a failed placement.

Placement fallback is sequential: search another supported candidate; try a compatible authored variant; use a validated compact fallback arrangement in suitable generated terrain. If a required graph cannot be established, the system must detect that before presenting the campaign start and choose or generate a reachable supported start. An optional alcove can be omitted. Old Valley cannot simply be omitted because it was inconvenient to place. Exact fallback mechanics and search limits depend on the real world-generation architecture and belong in the pre-BUILD investigation.

## FP-PLAN-12 — Reachability, previews, and testing generated seeds

Reachability means the required route supports the intended player capability in both directions. A geometrically connected tunnel is insufficient if it ends above an unclimbable shaft, requires a deep swim, or traps the return behind an unbuilt project. The early route must support walking, ordinary one-block steps or authored stairs, basic mining where explicitly taught, and placed light. Its essential surfaces stay readable without a shader pack. The enhanced quarry visual target remains valuable, but extra ledges, submerged plants, and cave shapes require actual content rather than a lighting promise.

Each placement manifest records required entrance clearances, safe standing points, loading bays, reserved construction areas, and nearby free-building space. The bridge approach and cargo transfer route have separate geometric checks. Route markers can suggest direction while leaving optional exploration. Resource guarantees are validated against the same reachable graph; an ore counted behind an unsupported gap does not satisfy the opening budget.

Before producing a seed set for review, enumerate the material dependency graph independently of the construction order. Guesthouse stock is available locally. Crossing stock uses ordinary preparation and does not depend on the quarry or its bench. The quarry bench is then repaired from common material before the remaining quarry restoration uses it. Tin observation and ordinary smelting precede the alloy batch. The hearth does not require bronze, technical ceramics, or electricity to build. The cradle improvement depends on the existing hoist; the initial hoist does not depend on that improvement. No Chapter 4 market service supplies a required Chapter 1–3 input.

A useful initial evaluation set includes a flat bank, a stepped bank, a shallow ravine, awkward water adjacency, unusually uneven rock, and a deliberately invalid candidate. The expected result for the invalid candidate is a safe alternative or clear rejection, not an improvised destructive structure. Add two materially different ordinary seeds after those cases. This is a focused coverage set, not a claim that a handful of seeds proves universal generation correctness.

For each example, record whether a player can walk the complete required route, whether resource minima are genuinely reachable, whether the return remains clear, and which supported variation was selected. A small set of reproducible world seeds, coordinates, screenshots, and failures should accompany the eventual implementation handoff. Their existence is currently a planned test deliverable, not evidence already collected.

## FP-PLAN-13 — Construction states and obstruction semantics

The controller follows the canonical states: Discovered, Preview, Claimed or assigned, Awaiting requirements, Ready, Building, Paused, Blocked, Complete, and Upgrade available. The main screen shows the current purpose and next action, with detail available for custody and history. It must distinguish lack of materials from a blocked footprint and lack of participation from manual pause. A complete structure can advertise an upgrade without losing its finished service.

The recommended interaction is inspect, join or claim, contribute, review the next stage, and explicitly start. Previews show real collision surfaces separately from ghost geometry. A ghost plank never supports a player. Existing solid work platforms retain their actual collision. Temporary barrier markings identify unfinished edges. Where the next stage closes a room or moves a load, verify occupied spaces immediately before the meaningful action, not only when the project was first claimed.

| Condition | Required result |
| --- | --- |
| A player chest, machine, or protected player block occupies proposed work | Mark the exact location; retain stock; enter Blocked; provide no automatic deletion or relocation. |
| A player or another obstructing entity enters the next placement space | Stop that action safely and explain the affected area; resume when valid rather than trapping or pushing through them. |
| Natural terrain differs from the supported manifest | Use only an already supported adaptation; otherwise block or reject the candidate. No unbounded digging. |
| The owner cancels before assembly commits | Return uncommitted recoverable stock to a controlled claimable output; retain a receipt. |
| A stage already consumed materials into completed structure | Keep the built stage and its costs; do not refund it as loose material through cancellation. |
| A complete supported functional component is damaged | Report the missing component; offer a finite repair; never re-award the chapter or original completion reward. |

The default protection recommendation is narrow: protect the project controller and essential managed functional components from casual mining while they own live inventory or a committed structure state. Their inspection view explains the supported owner-controlled repair or dismantling route. Nearby player builds and ordinary terrain outside the reserved footprint remain subject to normal rules. Decoration can have more permissive damage behaviour where it does not invalidate safety or custody.

For the initial slice, dismantling a completed chapter structure is deferred. Repair and cancellation of uncommitted work are supported. This keeps the first ownership model understandable without imposing a universal protected town. Administrative world-edit damage must be detected and reported, and repair must be possible without granting duplicate goods; such exceptional recovery does not justify overwriting unrelated player possessions.

## FP-PLAN-14 — Materials, interruption, and recoverable saved state

Contributing transfers real items from an authorized inventory into project custody exactly once. The receipt records project, contributor, item identity, quantity, and accepted order. Over-delivery is rejected or explicitly held as recoverable excess; it never vanishes into an unspecified counter. The interface separates Available in project, Committed to this stage, Built into the structure, Recoverable, and Still required. Private containers are not searched or drained without a deliberate supported authorization.

A construction stage has a unique operation identity and a saved relationship to its consumed stock and placed result. The implementation may choose its storage architecture after inspecting the real code. The product requirement is that interruption cannot produce both a refund and a completed stage, charge a stage twice, or award a milestone twice. If recovery cannot safely finish an interrupted action, it must stop at a coherent inspectable boundary with custody preserved.

For a production batch, reserve its input and intended output capacity before starting. A blocked or absent receiver cannot cause items to drop into the world. If the batch completes internally while collection is unavailable, its actual output remains owned by the station until collected or recovered. Cancelling a completed batch returns its product, not both product and ingredients. Reopening a screen, reconnecting, or repeating a client request cannot duplicate the result.

For the hoist, the source slot is reserved while the cargo is in transit. The destination receives that same cargo once, with a recorded delivery receipt. The visible moving crate is a representation of the managed load, not a second lootable inventory. A save during movement retains the route, progress, cargo, and destination. On load, the system either resumes from its coherent saved point or parks at a supported safe point with the same goods accounted for. A disconnected player cannot leave a duplicate crate at both ends.

Focused interruption checks should cover immediately before contribution, after custody transfer, before stage commitment, during visible assembly, after output creation, and before the completion notification. Test a full output, an occupied landing, leaving the activity region, and a server stop during the same process. The expected invariant is conserved custody and one persistent world result, not a particular database or engine technique. These checks are meaningful release gates for this slice because inventory loss or duplication would invalidate its core loop.

## FP-PLAN-15 — Regional activity and small-group cooperation

The managed Old Valley region records its dimension, horizontal circular boundary, and explicit minimum and maximum Y. The quarry or underground service region may use its own bounded envelope where that avoids activating unrelated settlements above or below. Exact values follow the final supported layout. The inspection view can reveal bounds and an approach band, with the existing approximately sixteen-block transitional-band proposal retained as a tuning reference.

Only eligible participating players sustain managed activity. Joining is explicit through a project board or an explained group setting. A nonparticipant passing overhead does not restart construction, complete a batch, or advance a visitor. When the last eligible participant leaves the relevant dimension and bounds, construction, managed production, cargo-transfer progression, and authored visitor responses pause with their state intact. There is no offline catch-up production and no absence debt.

This guarantee applies to SUBSTELLAR's managed systems. Ordinary furnaces, crops, mobs, player redstone, and unrelated Minecraft simulation continue under their own rules. In particular, the basic ordinary furnace used for initial metal preparation is not falsely advertised as part of the managed pause promise unless it is explicitly implemented as such. The prototype UI names the managed station or project it is discussing.

One participant can keep the region active for a group. Two players can contribute to the same project, but simultaneous deposits must not exceed the accepted need or double-count stock. Inspecting or contributing does not automatically grant cancellation or permission-management rights. A newcomer sees the restored bridge and can receive a concise catch-up account; the world does not demand a second bridge. Personal route observations and shared infrastructure are stored as separate facts.

The initial playtest should support solo play and a two-player group. Broader server permissions are future implementation scope, but the basic authority model must already prevent a visiting spectator from withdrawing goods or restarting work. No unanimous vote is needed for every ordinary batch. The player who owns the appropriate project permission starts a ready stage, and everyone can see who is sustaining the region's activity.

## FP-PLAN-16 — Interfaces, journal, and accessible feedback

The first interface set has four surfaces: the project controller; the machine or service inspection; the journal's return-to-play page; and small contextual world feedback. A page should answer the immediate question before presenting its full history. The first controller screen reads as a project: purpose, next stage, supplied and missing inputs, present state, and one relevant action. Boundaries, ownership, receipts, and stage history are inspectable detail.

Use actionable explanations. “Move the chest at the deck's marked position” identifies a conflict. “Two iron ingots still needed” identifies a shortage. “Work paused: no participating player in Quarry Works” identifies activity. “Output shelf full: collect the four fittings” identifies collection. Each message should offer a way to locate the relevant object or view its relationship to the route. Avoid unexplained codes in ordinary player-facing text.

The journal separates the main chapter, optional projects, and personal discoveries. Its return-to-play summary says what was completed, what is ready, what is waiting, and where to continue. It explicitly displays Chapter 3 complete and Chapter 4 not yet complete at this slice's endpoint. A player who has already observed the seam sees that knowledge recognized when the alloy service becomes available. A player choosing the iron cradle sees the bronze method remain an optional opportunity, not a failed main objective.

Basic underground guidance provides entrance names, a simple route relationship, relative height, and player markers. It does not reveal every ore through walls. Exact map rendering can use the project's supported capabilities after inspection. The first playable can succeed with a restrained diagram, coordinates where useful, and placed EQ13-style markers, rather than requiring a complete three-dimensional mapping application.

All essential states use text or symbols in addition to colour. Interfaces should remain legible at the supported UI scales and in keyboard-only navigation. Construction does not demand rapid input. Reduced motion, particles, and sound leave clear static state feedback. World cues identify where to act without requiring the player to hear water direction, distinguish subtle copper colouring, or keep a bright shader effect enabled. Screen-reader or narration support should follow the actual game's available interface hooks after the implementation audit; it is a planned accessibility requirement, not a verified integration.

## FP-PLAN-17 — Death, lost supplies, and returning after an absence

The first guesthouse repair establishes the intended sleeping and recovery arrangement before the quarry expedition becomes the main invitation. The journal records the last known safe entrance and route. Death uses the selected world's ordinary rules except for explicitly described managed quest knowledge and custody; this plan does not silently enable keep-inventory or invent automatic item retrieval for every death.

Deposited project materials remain in custody. Items still carried by the player follow normal death behaviour. Essential inspection knowledge persists. The seam can be observed again, common materials have reachable sources, and the iron cradle provides a separate practical route if the player wishes to keep or has lost the first tin. No only-copy key is hidden behind an optional submerged branch. A recovery trip remains an expedition the player can understand, with established steps and familiar landmarks.

Resident availability is forgiving. If the mason is resting, the board can accept stock and record an inspection. If an NPC route is obstructed, the resident can wait at a supported location while the project's interface remains useful. Essential chapter functions cannot depend on catching a character during a narrow daily appointment. The implementation should preserve the original role and dialogue relationship while ensuring the milestone remains accessible.

Leaving for several real days causes no managed deterioration, missed event, hidden fuel bill, or surprise completion stockpile. Returning restores the same work state and a concise account of what is waiting. Normal world damage is treated separately and explained honestly. A missing decorative wall should not invalidate all chapter knowledge; a damaged essential hoist component should suspend that service and expose a finite repair.

The prototype's main route contains no mandatory combat encounter. Ordinary difficulty remains a world setting, and optional hazards can exist where legible. New nest encounters, cave-ins, dangerous currents, oxygen systems, and rescue craft are outside this slice. Its first risk is preparation and navigation in familiar-scale terrain, with a reliable route home that the player helped improve.

## FP-PLAN-18 — Pacing and balance targets for playtesting

The proposed target is roughly 90–150 minutes of directed play for a player comfortable with ordinary Minecraft, with exploration and free building extending the session naturally. A new player may split the route over more than one sitting. These numbers are observation targets, not clocks, deadlines, or required speed. The first visible repair should occur soon after the player understands the controller, and essential guesthouse use should arrive before a large gathering grind develops.

A useful provisional allocation is 15–25 minutes for arrival and guesthouse work; 20–30 for the crossing and approaches; 15–25 for the quarry bench and restoration; 20–30 for the first Shallows expedition; and 15–25 for the returned-find workshop service. Some tasks overlap. If most recorded playtime is repeated hauling between known points, reduce needless trips, allow sensible carried batches, or improve where supplies are found before increasing inventory size globally.

Construction stages should usually last about 8–20 active seconds after their requirements are ready. Manual bench work can resolve in a short few-second batch, the first hearth order provisionally takes 45 active seconds, and the cargo transfer takes about ten active seconds. The player should spend most time noticing, gathering, choosing routes, placing preparations, and using results. A long timer is not a substitute for a satisfying activity.

Observe the whole journey: tools, fuel, food, failed trips, walking, and project stock. Record hesitation and useful recovery messages. Keep initial yields simple to distinguish navigation problems from recipe problems, and propose specific adjustments from that evidence.

## FP-PLAN-19 — Prioritised build backlog and dependencies

All tasks below are **Planned; BUILD not authorized**. Priority expresses dependency and value inside this slice, not permission to start implementation. The corresponding JSON register carries the same task identities, source references, dependencies, and acceptance criteria. No code task should begin until the user approves a scoped BUILD after the repository inspection and concrete plan are available.

| Task | Priority and dependencies | Planned result and completion criterion |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FP-B01 Inspect the actual mod project | P0; none | Identify repository, loader, Minecraft version, build/run procedure, existing features, saves, and asset formats. Report verified code status and reconcile native recipe assumptions. |
| FP-B02 Define slice manifests and material ledger | P0; FP-B01 | Enumerate supported structures, stage costs, retained assets, machine functions, source availability, and DAG. Every required input has an earlier reachable source. |
| FP-B03 Establish the Old Valley placement graph | P0; FP-B02 | Place required anchors and routes with declared bounds and supported fallbacks; invalid candidates are rejected safely. |
| FP-B04 Project custody and construction states | P0; FP-B02 | Contributions, permissions, preview, commitment, obstruction, cancellation, and saved state conserve items and produce one world result. |
| FP-B05 Regional participation and pause | P0; FP-B04 | Eligible participant presence controls only managed activity; absence preserves state without catch-up; nonparticipants do not activate work. |
| FP-B06 Guesthouse chapter and basic journal | P1; FP-B03, FP-B04, FP-B05 | Player restores the complete essential room project, sets a working recovery arrangement, uses storage, and can resume the chapter later. |
| FP-B07 Crossing chapter | P1; FP-B06 | Player inspects both approaches, supplies all stages from accessible stock, and gains a real finished route; personal alternatives remain distinct. |
| FP-B08 Quarry baseline services | P1; FP-B07 | The bench is restored once; work route, cargo-only baseline hoist, and finite ordinary stone preparation work; Chapter 3 completes without bronze or deep exploration. |
| FP-B09 Copperwash branch and optional alcove | P1; FP-B03, FP-B06 | The early player can observe, gather, optionally investigate, and return; knowledge persists and essential sources have supported alternatives. |
| FP-B10 Carpenter bench, alloy hearth, and cradle order | P1; FP-B08, FP-B09 | One bronze batch becomes the usable two-slot cradle; inputs, output, stop conditions, and iron alternative are clear and conserved. |
| FP-B11 Complete interfaces and accessibility pass | P1; FP-B06, FP-B07, FP-B08, FP-B09, FP-B10 | Every blocking state identifies the next useful action; journal separates chapters and discoveries; essential meaning survives reduced effects and supported UI scales. |
| FP-B12 Seed, recovery, and cooperative verification | P1; FP-B03 through FP-B11 | Run the explicit completion matrix on representative supported layouts, interruptions, and two-player activity; record reproducible failures and fixes. |
| FP-B13 First-playable evaluation and handoff | P1; FP-B12 | Observe a complete fresh-world journey, reconcile material/pacing findings, and publish the accepted result and remaining limitations. |
| FP-B14 Later content boundary | P2; FP-B13 and later BUILD scope | Plan the full Chapter 4 service network, grain mill, first market, broader Shallows, and IP02 without treating them as completed by this slice. |

Parallel asset and interface work shares the same manifests, IDs, and stage definitions. Prove custody and placement before decorating many variants.

## FP-PLAN-20 — Completion matrix and review evidence

| Check | Pass condition |
| --- | --- |
| Fresh-world journey | A player completes the guesthouse, crossing, and quarry, explores Copperwash, and uses the first workshop improvement with the planned early capability set. |
| Chapter preservation | Chapters 1–3 have their full essential outcomes; Chapter 4 remains incomplete; Chapter 5 has not been triggered or awarded. |
| Material accounting | Default bills sum to 84 planks, 68 cobblestone, 14 iron, eight clay, and four bronze fittings; preparation and demonstration stock are separate; the alternative does not double-charge. |
| No circular gate | The bridge needs no far-bank material; the hearth needs no bronze; the baseline quarry needs no upgraded cradle; the first service needs no market, power plant, deep realm, or space resource. |
| Construction protection | A newly placed chest and an occupying player each stop affected work; neither is overwritten, trapped, or silently displaced. |
| Interruption and duplication | Save/reload and repeated requests at critical boundaries retain one cost, one product, one delivery, and one milestone reward. |
| Pause | Absence of eligible participants stops managed progress; ordinary unrelated systems are not claimed to stop; returning produces no catch-up output. |
| Cargo scope | Fixed-landings cargo transfer works, respects slot and stack limits, preserves goods when blocked, and does not transport a rider. |
| Recovery | Lost carried material can be regathered; known inspections remain known; a blocked resident route does not hide essential progress. |
| Terrain coverage | Supported flat, stepped, and ravine variants work; unsuitable candidates produce supported fallback rather than destructive improvisation. |
| Cooperative access | Two participants can contribute without duplication; a visitor cannot withdraw or activate work; a newcomer can understand shared completion. |
| Readability | The route and key states are understandable without shader enhancements, colour-only cues, sound-only information, or rapid input. |

Evidence should include the inspected commit or source snapshot, build/run instructions, world seeds and coordinates, the final cost ledger, short recordings or screenshots of useful world changes, and the results of the focused interruption checks. The final report separates verified behaviour from known limitations. A successful test world is not proof of every future realm, machine, NPC routine, or supported server configuration.

Human review also asks whether the valley feels worth returning to, the quarry is memorable, the bronze order has a clear purpose, and the player wants another expedition.

## FP-PLAN-21 — Next image slice, planned only

No image generation is authorized by this planning slice. Existing artwork remains in place. The next proposed set contains two compact boards, each designed to answer unresolved production questions. Grouping related views controls image effort and avoids producing a separate expensive image for every state.

**FP-ART01 — Old Valley opening.** Four coordinated panels show the guesthouse's essential repair before and after, the crossing in relation to its banks and supported approach, the quarry with loading bays, and the first Copperwash entrance from player height. Preserve the established shoreline/quarry palette and distinguish requested geometry from enhanced lighting. The composition should make the walking relationships clear without pretending to be an exact map. Exact dimensions, routes, and stage labels belong in drawn overlays or authored diagrams after approval, not unreliable generated text.

**FP-ART02 — First workshop and construction states.** A small shared-work-bay view identifies the Carpenter and repair bench, Alloy hearth, and the hand-operated Hoist and lift installation at player scale. Insets show supplied stock, one active alloy batch, the finished fittings, and the baseline versus wider cargo cradle. The scene should communicate ports, access, useful workspace, and a stopped or full state. No extra machine family, powered grid, full mill, or rocket appears merely to make the picture busier.

Before either board is generated, reconcile the actual model scale and material palette with the implementation manifests. The art task is complete when it resolves those appearance questions and is catalogued against its existing SET, EAR, TEC, IND-M, and EQ references. Neither board implies every detailed asset has been designed or every depicted function built.

## FP-PLAN-22 — Recommendations, decisions, and future handoff

Proceed in planning with the defaults defined here: complete Chapters 1–3, a Copperwash expedition, a cargo-only two-landing hoist, one bronze recipe, an iron alternative, and a bounded first workshop service. The proposed 90–150-minute pacing and small material counts are playtest starting points. They do not need a user decision to finish this document. No new character names, permanent realm elevations, final machine dimensions, or loader assumptions are introduced.

Later creative decisions should present the observed problem and specific alternatives. Resolve routine implementation questions through code inspection and engineering judgment.

The next BUILD proposal should include the actual repository findings, the exact tasks proposed for execution, the bounded first-playable outcome, and any material change from this plan. A build agent should use this chapter and its JSON register together, preserve working project behaviour, record factual discoveries, and update the edition only with evidence-backed implementation status. Approval to write this plan and package its HTML is not approval to build the mod.

After acceptance, continue Old Valley with its grain mill, wider workshop, market preparations, and first market. Develop the first electrical capability and Tier 1 preparation in their own slices. Deep Earth and early lunar exploration retain parallel opportunities. Every later place should extend the opening's rhythm: leave prepared, discover, return, and make a place more useful.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: first_playable_expansion.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: tier1_model_specifications.txt | SHA-256 0940eb6cdcea9e3f1baf46037a54122f7a2d8786c525659c95d8f4283655844e =====

# Tier 1 — Model and Implementation Specifications

## T1-SPEC-01 — Purpose, authority and current technical status

This specification converts the confirmed Tier 1 visual family into a coordinated production plan. It adds proposed dimensions, interfaces, assembly boundaries, operating states and implementation tasks to the existing Tier 1 chapter. It does not replace the supplied images or turn their example numbers into approved recipes. Every original reference remains part of the direction. The Explorer remains one physical first spacecraft supporting orbital and lunar missions, including a dependable return to Earth. Keel and Pilgrim remain preserved earlier concepts rather than extra compulsory first-tier vehicles.

The available project material for this slice consists of the creative direction, its HTML source, registers and supplied artwork. No Minecraft mod source project, Java implementation, Gradle build, selected loader or confirmed target game version was available in this workspace. Consequently, the geometry below is a design proposal; cabin fit, collision behaviour, rendering, networking, persistence, recipe balance and performance have not been verified in-game. A future project inspection must identify the actual implementation and its constraints before BUILD. Updating this document and its register does not authorize mod development.

The production register contains twenty canonical asset or service roles: T1-V01; T1-M01–M08; T1-I01–I05; T1-E01–E03; and T1-S01–S03. Service roles may be provided by an existing host rather than a new block. Their identifiers describe durable responsibilities. Mesh pieces, inventory items, saved objects and user interfaces need not have a one-to-one relationship. A four-nozzle engine cluster can be one installed module, and a service rack can expose several existing functions without adding several mandatory recipes.

All first-launch essentials remain manufacturable from reachable Earth inputs. No lunar product, deep Core material, Heartglass, rare creature drop or advanced planetary plant becomes a hidden prerequisite for the cabin, suit, shelter, fuel or return. The original equipment and supply identities remain authoritative: EQ23 suit, EQ24 breathing supply, EQ25 shelter kit, EQ26 communications beacon, EQ27 repair stock, EQ19 field batteries, and SUPPLY01–SUPPLY03. This document defines how those responsibilities meet the approved appearance.

## T1-SPEC-02 — Evidence, source conflicts and the two review choices

REF15 provides the strongest combined inventory of the rocket, named items, machines, suit and complete round trip. REF09 directly identifies the Rocket Assembly Station; REF10 directly identifies the Part Fabrication Table. REF11 supplies an exploded rocket, four-nozzle underside and open hatch. REF12 anchors the suit, backpack and palette. REF01 and REF02 show cockpit and cargo intent; REF03 shows the small lunar refuge. REF08 and REF14 provide additional orthographic and scale references. Those sheets were visually inspected for this specification. The existing catalogue preserves the other supplied views and later-tier references.

Evidence strength is recorded by claim. An explicit printed object name is direct naming evidence. Repeated silhouette details are strong visual evidence. A depicted interior establishes an intended experience, while leaving its actual dimensions unresolved. A printed number marked example or approximate is illustrative evidence. New port coordinates, tolerances and animations below are proposed engineering allowances. Repetition across several generated views cannot itself prove a mechanically consistent model.

| Review choice | Recommended default | What remains open and when it matters |
| --- | --- | --- |
| T1-DEC01 — Explorer scale and usable cabin | Test a nine-block total height, three-by-three main body and five-by-five maximum fin envelope. | Review a measured mock-up before final geometry and textures. Six, nine and twelve blocks appear in the references. If cabin, airlock, supplies, access or silhouette fail the test, revise the shell deliberately; do not hide the failure behind an oversized interior. |
| T1-DEC02 — Manufacturing station form | Keep a visibly smaller Part Fabrication Table, using REF10's work surface and short supports; use REF09's broader column station for complete-vehicle assembly. | Confirm the distinction before final station models. REF01 and REF15 supply lower bench variants. They remain useful references and do not create a third compulsory workstation. |

These are the two creative choices requiring user review before final asset production. The remaining details are recommended working defaults that can be adjusted through documented fit tests. The working names stay Part Fabrication Table and Rocket Assembly Station; Rocket Assembly Table is a source alias for the latter. Navigation Chip and Guidance Chip remain one role. No production model should acquire an unapproved TENFOLD, HORIZON SPACEWORKS or other source-sheet brand simply because that mark appears in an illustration. SUBSTELLAR is the project identity; originals remain unchanged.

## T1-SPEC-03 — Coordinate and measurement contract

Every freestanding production asset uses the same local frame. One block is the unit of length. The origin is the centre of the reserved footprint at its lowest placement plane. Positive Y points upward; positive Z points out of the designated front; positive X is the asset's right when looking outward through that front. A player standing in front and looking at the machine therefore sees positive X on their left. Width is X, depth is Z, height is Y. Bounds are stated as minimum and maximum XYZ triples, inclusive as geometric surfaces rather than extra occupied cells.

For a footprint W by D, the placement reservation extends from minus W/2 to plus W/2 in X and minus D/2 to plus D/2 in Z. Even-sized structures use the corresponding half-cell placement centre; their block-aligned footprint is still explicit. The controller anchor identifies the lowest front-left footprint cell, meaning the cell at negative X and positive Z. It stores the structure origin and facing; it does not substitute that corner for the model's origin. Moving a controller visually cannot silently move the registered footprint.

Horizontal placement accepts four quarter turns. At zero degrees local +Z becomes world +Z; at ninety degrees it becomes world +X; at one hundred eighty it becomes world −Z; at two hundred seventy it becomes world −X. The ninety-degree transform is (x, y, z) to (z, y, −x). All ports, approach boxes, collision pieces, component sockets and previews use that same transform. Translation follows rotation. Arbitrary tilt is outside the initial grounded machine and landing-site contract.

A port coordinate marks its connection centre and an outward normal marks its physical facing. Resource direction is separately labelled input, output or controlled transfer; the normal is not a flow arrow. Item insertion sockets inside a chassis are identified as internal interfaces. Wearables use the same axes in their neutral standing pose, with the origin at the player's feet; attachments then follow named body anchors. Inventory display models use their own listed small bounds and become installed through an explicit transform. World position, installed position and inventory icon scale must never be inferred from one another.

## T1-SPEC-04 — Geometry, materials, textures and readable detail

The shared appearance is pale white and light gray structural casing, restrained terracotta-like orange bands, dark mechanical parts, navy glass and focused blue screens. REF12's material names are visual analogies. They do not require quartz or decorative terracotta to be the only valid recipe inputs. Orange identifies service fittings, handling corners and important bands. Black/yellow stripes belong around the main hatch and controlled launch edges. Preserve the stepped rocket taper, square window, low hatch, four fins and four-nozzle underside before adding small panel detail.

The proposed baseline is a coherent sixteen-texel-per-block surface density for ordinary world geometry, with a separately budgeted denser region only where a tiny symbol must remain readable. This is a production starting point, not a verified engine limit or demand for a particular texture-file size. Atlas dimensions should follow actual surface area, batching requirements and the eventual renderer. Large files should not be selected merely because the source image is detailed. The suit follows the actual player rig and texture conventions discovered in the project audit; its panel rhythm should match the rest of the family even when its mapping differs.

Keep broad material blocks legible at ordinary play distance. Model silhouette changes, hatch recesses, supports, collars and major vents. Use texture for fine seams, rivets, mild wear and labels. Avoid baked directional sunlight, baked launch flames or ambient shadows that disagree with the world. Dirt belongs mainly at lower edges, touched fittings and service joints. More detailed REF04/REF05 weathering is an atmosphere target, not an automatic requirement for every small item. Screens require a readable unlit state and restrained active areas; illumination support remains conditional on the chosen rendering implementation.

Deliver production parts with semantic names such as hull_lower, hatch_outer, ladder_inner, tank_service_cover, fin_front_right and nozzle_rear_left. These names are conventions for source assets, not required Java or engine APIs. Exported assets must retain editable sources, texture maps, origin markers, collision sketches and a reference note. First-person equipment must leave the central view and tool interaction readable. Surface markings and important states must also work with reduced effects and without an enhanced shader presentation.

## T1-SPEC-05 — Explorer dimensions and the cabin fit gate

The proposed Explorer test model has a three-by-three main shell, a nine-block total height including antenna, and a maximum five-by-five silhouette across the four diagonal fins. Its local origin is at the lowest parked vehicle contact plane. Main-shell bounds are X/Z ±1.5; maximum fin bounds are X/Z ±2.5; total Y is 0–9. These are separate envelopes. A single solid five-by-five-by-nine collision box would make the hatch, fin gaps and cabin unusable and is specifically rejected.

A candidate vertical arrangement reserves Y 0–1.5 for propulsion and supporting structure; a lower vestibule floor at Y 1.5; a pressure partition from Y 3.625 to 3.875; an upper cabin floor at Y 3.875; usable upper headroom to at least Y 6.0; and a nose, non-occupied equipment space and antenna above. The working internal envelope is 2.25 by 2.25 blocks. Each occupied level must retain at least 2.125 blocks of clear standing height where standing is required. Those allowances are a test layout, not evidence that every installed tank and structural member already fits.

The exterior front doorway is a proposed one-block clear width by two-block clear height, from Y 1.5 to 3.5 at Z +1.5. A three-step boarding element rises from the support surface and aligns with that opening. An outward-opening hatch uses a separately checked sweep; the central approach stays clear of the diagonal fins. An internal pressure hatch at the rear ladder separates the vestibule from the upper cabin. The two closures are interlocked during ordinary airlock cycling. The outer door can open while the occupied upper cabin remains isolated; changing a texture or displaying a green icon is insufficient to establish that result.

The upper space must fit one supported pilot seat, accessible controls, a forward view through the visible window, a standing/egress position and access to the ladder. Cargo storage and actual supply housings occupy declared non-walkable spaces. Fuel and breathing capacities are game quantities, but their model housings cannot simultaneously occupy the player's body or a door sweep. The seat, ladder, closures, backpack clearance, cameras and access to every required service must be checked with the actual player rig. If any essential function fails, T1-DEC01 reopens. A larger shell is preferable to deleting the working airlock or inventing an unannounced expanded interior.

## T1-SPEC-06 — Explorer components and authored assembly

The Explorer is divided into authored components with stable attachment responsibilities. The lower propulsion assembly contains four visible nozzles but one initial managed engine-cluster role. The body carries structural panels, defined tank housings, the lower entrance and cargo/service access. The upper cabin carries the seat, window, control position and pressure boundary. The nose carries its stepped casing, antenna and permitted instrument space. Four fixed fins retain the diagonal arrangement seen from above. The initial design does not add retracting wings or an unfolding vehicle that the references never establish.

A component may require more than one physical mesh. The exterior hatch leaf, hinges, closure indicator and collider belong to one hatch assembly. The inner pressure hatch is a new functional part justified by the required cabin, with its appearance derived from the same family. A Fuel Tank item can install into a larger authored housing through a declared mapping; it is not assumed to remain an unchanged half-block inventory cylinder. Cosmetic covers cannot be harvested as extra valuable components every time the vehicle is reloaded.

The proposed assembly presentation has six committed stages: reserve an authorized parts order; complete the lower frame and engine cluster; install the tank and main structural modules; install the cabin, window and inner pressure assembly; attach the nose, fins and exterior services; then commission the finished craft. Temporary supports and tool motion may change within a stage. The authoritative stage and deposited material totals change only at defined commit points. A cancelled unfinished job returns recorded uncommitted stock and exposes the policy for already-built stages before cancellation.

Each stage has an inspectable useful result. The player can identify an absent engine, missing window or unconnected life-support module directly. Part counts and processing durations remain balance records rather than dimensions hidden in a model. The finished Explorer receives one persistent vehicle identity, associated modules and a single current location. Servicing an existing craft returns it to a controlled assembly state without granting a second vehicle item. Refitting retains that identity and its discoveries. The first production handoff includes an assembly-stage list, visible part list and commissioning sequence so an artist and an implementation agent can work from the same boundaries.

## T1-SPEC-07 — Landing, launch and service space

The initial pad proposal uses a seven-by-seven deck. Its local origin is at the centre of the deck's lowest foundation plane; the deck top is Y 0.5. The Explorer is placed at pad-local (0, 0.5, 0), with matching facing, so its antenna reaches pad Y 9.5. The deck encloses the five-by-five fin envelope with one block of surrounding deck on every side. A nine-by-nine controlled site, X/Z ±4.5, reserves the immediate approach and service area. Decorative towers and storage can be built beyond it, subject to the actual departure checks.

The first lunar landing uses a surveyed natural landing site, not a previously constructed Launch Pad. Its registered contact plane becomes the Explorer origin directly, with no half-block deck offset. The same hull, support, approach and departure-clearance checks apply to the supported ground landing. Actual contact shapes and acceptable slope require the measured model pass. A suitable first arrival must supply this viable terrain and the nearby starter-shelter plot. The player returns using carried supplies and onboard controls; a local pad, refinery or external console is not an arrival prerequisite. A later built pad adds repeatable services and convenience.

During service, proposed low folding couplers may rise to pad Y 3.0 and connect to the rocket's declared sockets. They are a new production detail derived from the connection requirement, not a confirmed part of REF15. They retract into the deck before departure. Accordingly the pad record distinguishes its half-block deck from its three-block maximum service-pose height. Raising a coupler is blocked if its swept space is occupied; it does not shove a player aside. The normal flight-clear state contains no raised service equipment.

The front boarding approach reserves X ±0.5, Z +1.5 to +4.5, and sufficient height to reach the doorway, measured in rocket-local coordinates before the pad translation. The lower stair and open-hatch sweep must be reconciled in the fit model. Wider ordinary walking space is desirable around that required strip. Any outward hatch or panel sweep is part of the operating clearance, even though it is not part of the closed hull bounds. Fins use authored collision pieces inside their visible volume, leaving the cardinal front route usable.

For the proposed vertical departure, validate a seven-by-seven clear column above the deck through the local ascent presentation and to the defined transition boundary. The actual boundary must be selected after inspecting the world's height and travel implementation. No invented fixed altitude is assumed here. Only the active craft and explicitly retracting approved service parts may occupy their managed pre-launch positions. A roof, overhang or tower crossing the column blocks departure and is highlighted. Landing tests the same footprint, support, approach and headroom before committing a destination. A changed or blocked Earth pad invokes the supported alternate-arrival process while preserving the craft and return plan.

## T1-SPEC-08 — Part Fabrication Table production specification

T1-M01 remains the **Part Fabrication Table**, mapped to IND-M02 and component production within TEC13. The recommended footprint is two by two blocks, with a maximum height of two blocks for its short supports and angled screen. Its pale work surface, orange accents, dark base, front mechanism and useful screen follow REF10, while REF01's lower bench remains a recorded variant. The worktop sits around Y 1.0. A one-block front access strip and half-block side service allowance keep ordinary hand operation practical.

The proposed input tray is on the negative-X side at (−1, 0.75, 0); the output tray is on positive X at (1, 0.75, 0). A rear power inlet is at (0, 0.5, −1). The front screen's interaction centre is at (0, 1.25, 1). These coordinates are connection or interaction anchors, not a demand for a particular pipe or inventory API. The allowed first automation is an explicitly authorized adjoining buffer or supported local transfer endpoint. Being physically adjacent does not automatically grant access to another player's crate.

The machine's visible subassemblies are the base, worktop, input/output trays, short supports, front mechanism and terminal. The first activity animation uses a small clamp or tool movement over the surface, restrained work particles and a visible in-progress component. It must fit the reserved volume and should not animate an enormous rocket appearing on a two-block table. Ordinary idle state retains the empty or staged work surface. Missing input points to the empty input area; a full output indicates the obstructed collection position.

The order record identifies component type, authorized stock, stage and output reservation. Loading, interruption, cancellation and output collection conserve those quantities. Reduced-animation mode preserves the same state label and completion feedback. Acceptance requires that a player can supply a component order by hand, read what is missing, distinguish waiting from active work, collect exactly one completed output and resume an interrupted batch without paying twice. Final recipe counts, power draw and throughput are deferred to the first connected industry balance pass.

## T1-SPEC-09 — Rocket Assembly Station and vehicle handoff

T1-M02 remains the **Rocket Assembly Station**, mapped to IND-M46 and TEC13. The recommended machine footprint is three by three blocks, height two, with the broad pale platform, dark footings, orange/gray columns and blue terminal of REF09. Its normal full work area is five by five, including a one-block access perimeter. REF15's lower Rocket Assembly Table is retained as an alias and variant. It does not become another required machine between fabrication and the completed craft.

A three-by-three, two-block-high station cannot physically contain a five-wide, nine-tall assembled Explorer. The proposed workflow therefore treats it as the assembly controller and jig, with the vehicle stages erected in an explicitly linked vacant Launch Pad berth. This is an authored assembly installation consisting of the station and a prepared vehicle work position. The station never displays a full-size rocket intersecting its columns. Parts and small subassemblies can appear on its work surface while corresponding committed stages appear at the berth.

For the first implementation plan, the linked pad must be in the same managed region, within twelve horizontal blocks between registered origins, and visibly identified by the station's preview. The twelve-block limit is a proposed local-service allowance to keep the first yard understandable, not a measured engine limit. No remote chunk or absent factory is activated by that link. The controlled assembly operation requires authorized access to both installation records. A clear work corridor may be authored as scaffolding or marked work space without pretending that a robot physically walks it before such an animation exists.

Inputs are a negative-X parts tray at (−1.5, 0.75, 0), a rear power inlet at (0, 0.5, −1.5), a rear control endpoint at (0.5, 0.75, −1.5), and the front terminal at (0, 1.25, 1.5). The assembly handoff is a logical berth reference with visible route indication rather than an item pipe carrying an occupied vehicle. A blocked berth pauses before the next committed construction stage. A finished but uncommissioned craft remains there as that one craft. Acceptance covers blocked space, full stock, two contributors, cancellation, refit and reload at every stage, with no duplicated vehicle or lost committed parts.

## T1-SPEC-10 — Fuel Refinery and Fuel Pipe

T1-M03 is the **Fuel Refinery**, the same function as IND-M45, not a second compulsory propellant processor. Its proposed two-by-two footprint and two-block height allow the compact dark housing, vertical orange treatment and top fittings in REF15 to remain readable. A front access strip of one block is required. The negative-X feedstock inlet sits at (−1, 0.75, 0), the positive-X SUPPLY01 outlet at (1, 0.75, 0), the rear power inlet at (0, 0.5, −1), and a top service hatch at (0, 2, 0). Opening the service hatch reserves an additional half-block above; normal routine use remains from the front.

The refinery's first recipe must specify Earth-accessible inputs, produced propellant and treatment of every required secondary output. No chemical formula, electricity unit or batch yield is claimed confirmed by the artwork. The machine shows its actual process housing, fill state and selected destination. A restrained pump movement and pulse at a connected outlet communicate activity. An invalid tank or full destination stops transfer before losing material. Servicing never creates an uncontrolled launch-yard explosion as the default response to a routine stoppage.

T1-M04 is the **Fuel Pipe**, not a universal invisible resource cable. A segment occupies a one-by-one-by-one placement cell with a proposed quarter-block central body and larger orange collars. Its initial straight orientation runs along X, with end centres (−0.5, 0.5, 0) and (0.5, 0.5, 0). Supported elbows and three-way junctions reuse the same centre and one or more face endpoints. A valve is a variant with an explicit handle sweep. These variants share the Fuel Pipe identity unless later manufacturing balance justifies a separate functional item.

Two terminal-adapter variants resolve the difference between centred block-grid pipes and offset machine sockets. At the refinery, the host endpoint is refinery-local (1, 0.75, 0), while the outward grid endpoint is (2, 0.5, 0.5); its reserved space is X 1–2, Y 0–1, Z −1–1. A following straight segment has origin (2.5, 0, 0.5), so its negative-X endpoint meets that adapter exactly. At the pad, the host endpoint is pad-local (3.5, 0.25, 0), the grid endpoint is (4.5, 0.5, 0), and the following segment origin is (5, 0, 0); the adapter occupies X 3.5–4.5, Y 0–1, Z −0.5–0.5. These are compact stepped terminal fittings within the Fuel Pipe family, with their whole reserved volume previewed. Both endpoint normals oppose their mating faces, and all offsets rotate with the host. They introduce no new machine or compulsory processing step.

Only SUPPLY01 uses this connection family. Every enabled segment belongs to one declared local transfer route with a source, destination and stop target. The initial plan records supply in source and destination containers, not as hidden fluid stock inside every decorative pipe section. Breaking a segment stops the next transfer commit; it does not spill, duplicate or refund an invented pipe volume. Non-owner stock is never discovered and drained merely because a route touches it. Fuel and breathing connections reject one another before operation, using different collar symbols and mechanical connector shapes as well as labels.

## T1-SPEC-11 — Oxygen Generator and grouped service functions

T1-M05 is the **Oxygen Generator**, the same compact preparation role as IND-M40. The proposed first model is a one-block cube with the vented gray housing and blue screen from REF15. Its front interaction centre is (0, 0.65, 0.5). A compatible process input or atmosphere-service face is at (−0.5, 0.5, 0), breathing output at (0.5, 0.5, 0), and power inlet at (0, 0.25, −0.5). The chosen recipe determines what the input actually accepts. Its port label must change with a supported recipe rather than imply that airless lunar terrain supplies Earth atmosphere.

The first working recipe should be decided through the Earth workshop balance pass and written once for the machine, recipe records and mission interface. Either a supported water-processing route or an Earth atmosphere route can satisfy the existing direction. Neither is assumed available on the Moon without its actual inputs. Tank filling is a transfer from real stored SUPPLY02, and the status panel distinguishes manufacturing new supply from moving an existing reserve. The shell may show a small fan or pump, but continuous motion must stop when its managed process is parked.

T1-S01, **Refill, dust service and field charging**, groups existing life-support and workshop functions. Its recommended first world presentation is a one-by-two service rack, maximum two blocks high, or the same service frontage integrated into the shelter. It is not an obligatory fourth kind of supply processor. A front tank docking point, a separate field-cell slot and a small work/brush area make its tasks visible. Connections identify breathing storage, available electrical supply, repair stock and outgoing equipment independently.

Refilling protects occupied-cabin and refuge reserves. Field charging uses EQ19 and SUPPLY03; cleaning and repairs consume only their specified stock. A service animation brushes a joint, secures a valve or seats a cell while the interface states the actual action. It does not imply that a cosmetic wipe restored an empty oxygen tank. On interruption, the equipment remains owned by either the player's inventory or the rack, never both. Acceptance includes disconnecting a refill, stopping power while charging, withdrawing unreserved stock and showing exactly which unavailable resource prevents the next useful action.

## T1-SPEC-12 — Launch Pad, Control Console and Storage Crate

T1-M06 is the **Launch Pad**. Its foundation, deck, hazard boundary, small corner indicators, retracting proposed couplers and registered berth are separate parts of one installation. Fuel input is on its positive-X edge, breathing input on negative X, and power/control connections on the rear. Fixed external pipe routes terminate at the pad edge. The pad's managed couplers make the final connection to the parked rocket and retract before the craft moves. This avoids requiring the player to break a length of fixed pipe inside the departure column on every launch. The underlying stock remains with the real reservoir or vehicle throughout connection changes.

T1-M07 is the **Control Console**, a two-by-one footprint and one-and-a-half-block maximum height in this proposal. Its wide screen and shallow worktop follow REF15. The rear control endpoint is (0.5, 0.5, −0.5), power is (−0.5, 0.5, −0.5), the front interaction centre is (0, 1, 0.5), and the Launch Key socket is (0.5, 0.9, 0.5). A one-block clear front strip supports operation. The console links to one declared pad or craft at a time; a visible name and outline prevent the player from preparing one vehicle and unintentionally launching another.

Console pages begin with the selected mission and the next blocking action. Show actual crew, cabin state, destination, cargo, operating supply, protected return allocation and service requirements. Detailed balances remain available underneath. Departure can only be requested by an authorized operator, with the actual pilot seated and all required conditions satisfied. The key interaction starts a cancellable local sequence rather than bypassing checks. A changed load, obstruction or disconnected service recalculates readiness before commitment. Pure cosmetic cargo does not appear with the same urgency as missing breathing supply.

T1-M08 is the **Storage Crate**, a one-block cube with gray panels and orange corners. The proposed top lid requires a half-block clear sweep above; a front interaction point identifies its contents and reservations. Authorised item transfer may use the rear face. Mounted cargo is a variant of this same role with a fixed access panel and no lid sweep into the cabin. The crate stores actual goods; mission allocation marks quantities in that inventory. First-lunar essentials must fit the configured safe manifest. The example six slots cannot overrule the complete shelter, breathing, field power and return requirements.

## T1-SPEC-13 — Structural parts, engine, tank, chip and key

T1-I01 remains **Rocket Part and structural component family**. Its inventory presentation follows REF15's pale rectangular piece, dark openings and orange detail. Proposed display bounds are one block wide, half a block high and a quarter block deep. The inventory piece is not itself a full structural hull module. The assembly record maps consumed component quantities to authored body, nose, fin, cockpit-fitting and service-support stages. Those stage meshes are explicit installation variants with their own bounds. Keeping that mapping visible prevents every decorative plate from acquiring a separate mandatory inventory type.

T1-I02 remains **Rocket Engine / Engine Module**. A one-block display or workshop component represents one managed cluster; the installed authored underside contains four nozzles within the Explorer's lower body. The mounting plane, propellant socket and inspection cover are explicit. The initial engine has one readiness/condition record, with four visual plume origins. A missing nozzle mesh is an asset defect, not a silently simulated failed fourth engine. Engine removal is a controlled service order in a safe grounded state, preserving the vessel's supply and vehicle identity.

T1-I03 is **Fuel Tank**. Its proposed portable representation is half a block wide/deep and one block tall, with an unmistakable SUPPLY01 connector. Installed tanks use authored housings and attachment transforms; quantities, capacity and return assignments belong to the installed tank record. A filled portable vessel cannot be represented as both cargo and installed supply after a move. A reference orange band establishes the visual family, while a distinct fuel symbol and connector prevent confusion with an Oxygen Tank. Exact capacity waits for the complete mission and cargo budget.

T1-I04 is **Navigation Chip / Guidance Chip**. The proposed half-by-half plate is one eighth of a block thick, with orange contacts and a blue centre as in REF15. It slots into the supported navigation/service position; it is reusable hardware, not a consumable route ticket. Route knowledge is associated with recoverable survey records. T1-I05 is the **Launch Key**, a small orange-headed object with an explicit key interface. Its proposed half-by-quarter-by-one-eighth display envelope is orientation-specific, not a physical keyhole dimension. It requests an authorized action; a lost key is replaceable through ownership recovery. Both items use distinct inserted and held transforms and never clone themselves through a control animation.

## T1-SPEC-14 — Suit, helmet and breathing tank

T1-E01, **Tier 1 Player Space Suit**, implements EQ23 through the confirmed Minecraft-proportioned white/gray panels, orange bands, dark gloves and boots, navy visor and square backpack. T1-E02 is the **Space Helmet**, a component of that same outfit. T1-E03 is the **Oxygen Tank**, the portable breathing vessel under EQ24 containing SUPPLY02. Their meshes should be tested together with the actual player model. This specification recommends retaining normal player movement and collision dimensions, while keeping the visual backpack and helmet within the tested access envelope. The source art does not establish a larger player hitbox.

A neutral-pose art envelope of approximately one block across/deep and two blocks high is a provisional review guide for the complete suited player. Arm extension, crouching, climbing, swimming, tool use and seated poses require separate swept checks. Helmet display bounds are proposed at 0.75 cubed; a carried Oxygen Tank is half a block across/deep and one tall. These display bounds do not replace the player's head or torso anchors. The helmet rotates with the head; the pack follows the torso; the tank attaches at a defined pack mount. First-person arms keep the same design language without forcing the full third-person pack into the camera.

The recommended arrangement retains the integrated square backpack, with one removable tank socket built into its service side rather than adding a huge unreferenced cylinder silhouette. A breathing connector uses a capped, clearly labelled round fitting; the propellant family uses a different keyed collar. The suit's pack, helmet seal and tank state are checked as one understandable protection system. The helmet alone cannot make an incomplete suit ready. A missing tank is a hardware problem; an empty tank is a supply problem; the interface distinguishes both.

The visor remains opaque navy from outside. In first person, a restrained optional visor edge and contextual suit information preserve the useful view. Do not apply a permanently dark full-screen blue mask, peripheral blind zone or heavy breathing animation as the default. Show breathing reserve, equipment charge and protection/service status with text or icons as well as colour. Warning sounds need independent control. Equip, tank-swap and cleaning animations cannot hide or delay a necessary retreat; their underlying transfers commit once and can resume safely when interrupted.

## T1-SPEC-15 — Starter refuge and recovery boundaries

T1-S02 is **Starter lunar refuge**, delivered through EQ25 and the Lunar Shelter Controller. The proposed first structure reserves seven by nine blocks, maximum four blocks high, with its main entrance on +Z. A nine-by-eleven prepared terrain allowance surrounds the footprint. A separate three-wide, three-deep clear approach begins at the front edge and must remain usable. The footprint is a production proposal informed by REF03's compact white/orange habitat, warm entrance, utilities and storage; REF03 does not supply a measured floor plan.

The intended first interior separates a small entry airlock from a protected sleeping/service cell. An initial fit layout reserves the front two blocks of interior depth for the airlock and the remaining rear volume for a bed, circulation, storage and a compact service face. The floor, two closures, usable standing heights and service volumes must be represented in the structure plan. The first supported operational stage is the complete airlock and sleeping cell with actual stored breathing and power. Decorative dish, mast, exterior crates and a larger workshop may follow. The controller must not mark a partly built shell breathable merely because the decorative final model was placed.

The first lunar loadout carries the full starter materials and commissioning supplies from Earth. The functioning Explorer remains a retreat during construction. A suitable arrival offers feasible support and approach space without dictating exactly where every free-built addition must stand. The refuge is commissioned before the first committed underground descent. Later Moon inputs can improve or extend its services after their complete supply chain exists; they are never the ingredient that makes the first shelter work.

T1-S03 is **Expedition Recovery Beacon mode** of EQ26 Communications beacon, with a proposed one-by-one base and two-block mast envelope for its field presentation. It reuses the existing device identity and does not demand a second beacon recipe. Recovery associates a participant, craft, supported refuge and return service through explicit records. A beacon shows its recognized destination, current availability and consequence before activation. Its pulse and mast animation communicate a real request. Recovery preserves progression and makes cargo consequences visible; it cannot refill arbitrary fuel, conjure an extra Explorer or become the intended way to complete an otherwise impossible first mission.

## T1-SPEC-16 — Typed ports and interface mapping

The register records every proposed physical port and important interaction anchor. The following table gives the common site map in local XYZ coordinates. Pads and vehicles use separate origins; the Explorer transform is (0, 0.5, 0) relative to its pad. Port coordinates must be transformed before checking coincidence. The two fuel coupler endpoints therefore meet at pad (1.5, 2.5, −0.5), not at the rocket's untranslated coordinate. Breathing endpoints follow the same rule on negative X.

| Host | Interface and direction | Local centre XYZ | Outward normal or interface type |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Explorer | Fuel input, SUPPLY01 | 1.5, 2, −0.5 | +X; fuel-only keyed connector |
| Explorer | Breathing input, SUPPLY02 | −1.5, 2, −0.5 | −X; breathing-only connector |
| Explorer | Service power input | 0.5, 2, −1.5 | −Z; electrical connector |
| Explorer | Mission/service data | −0.5, 2, −1.5 | −Z; control connection |
| Launch Pad | External fuel input | 3.5, 0.25, 0 | +X; fuel-only |
| Launch Pad | External breathing input | −3.5, 0.25, 0 | −X; breathing-only |
| Launch Pad | External power input | 0.5, 0.25, −3.5 | −Z; electrical |
| Launch Pad | External control connection | −0.5, 0.25, −3.5 | −Z; mission/service data |
| Launch Pad | Extended fuel coupler output | 1.5, 2.5, −0.5 | −X; faces Explorer fuel input |
| Launch Pad | Extended breathing coupler output | −1.5, 2.5, −0.5 | +X; faces Explorer breathing input |
| Launch Pad | Extended power coupler output | 0.5, 2.5, −1.5 | +Z; faces Explorer power input |
| Launch Pad | Extended control coupler | −0.5, 2.5, −1.5 | +Z; faces Explorer data input |
| Fuel Refinery | Process feedstock / fuel output | −1, 0.75, 0 / 1, 0.75, 0 | −X / +X; different semantic types |
| Oxygen Generator | Process input / breathing output | −0.5, 0.5, 0 / 0.5, 0.5, 0 | −X / +X; recipe-dependent input, SUPPLY02 output |
| Service rack | Breathing input / equipment refill | −0.5, 0.75, 0 / 0, 1, 1 | −X / +Z; controlled refill |
| Starter refuge | Breathing / power service input | −3.5, 1, −2 / 3.5, 1, −2 | −X / +X; explicitly typed |

A process-feedstock input accepts only the recipe's approved input type. A power port carries the future project's chosen energy abstraction, not oxygen or a universal supply number. Control connections carry orders and status; they do not create inventories or transfer stock. Mechanical installation sockets accept the specified component family. Human interaction anchors identify an action surface and are never silently treated as machine transfer ports.

All transfers name their owner, source, destination, requested amount, permitted reserve access and completion condition. The first network is local and bounded. Managed regional eligibility governs active work, including connected machinery; a control link does not wake remote production. Adjacent crates or machines become eligible only through a declared permission and configuration. Fuel, breathing and power remain different services even if one pad houses all three. Colour assists recognition, while distinct symbols, connector shapes and plain labels carry the actual distinction.

## T1-SPEC-17 — States, animations and accessible feedback

State is composed from an operation state, a blocking reason and a service condition. For example, a refinery can be waiting because its output tank is full while also due for optional cleaning. A single overloaded colour should not try to encode that whole situation. The primary player message states the action needed now, with details available separately. Machine motion is a consequence of the recorded state; it is not the source of progress.

| Asset family | Required visible states | Initial animation treatment |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Fabrication and assembly | Unpowered, idle, missing stock, ready, active, output/space blocked, paused, service required, complete | Small tool/clamp motion, visible component stages, terminal progress and restrained active light. |
| Fuel and breathing supply | Idle, producing, transferring, missing input, incompatible connection, destination full, paused, service required | Pump/fan movement, connector indication, actual reservoir gauge; no constant active effect while paused. |
| Pad and Explorer | Vacant or unassembled, assembling, parked, servicing, boarding, ready, countdown, departing, passage, approach, landed, recovery required | Connection pose, closures, short cancellable departure cue, four-source plume, stable arrival and service states. |
| Suit and portable equipment | Unfitted, equipped, supplied, low reserve, empty, service required, charging/refilling, ready | Small attachment actions and clear status; urgent information remains visible during movement. |
| Refuge and beacon | Unbuilt, building, incomplete service, commissioned, occupied, parked, blocked recovery, recovery active | Authored construction stages, closure indicators, utility cues and restrained beacon pulse. |

Animation priority is deliberate. First priority is physical clearance and readable blocking feedback; second is closures, connectors and attachment actions; third is meaningful work and assembly motion; fourth is launch/landing presentation; fifth is cosmetic wear and ambient detail. Cosmetic activity never blocks a necessary interaction or prevents a saved state from loading correctly. A paused regional process has an intentionally settled pose, while ordinary global Minecraft behaviour remains governed by its own systems.

Airlock and supply warnings use shape, wording and optional sound. Screen flicker, rapid flashes, heavy camera shake and prolonged forced camera motion are unnecessary for the first release. Reduced-motion and reduced-effects settings should retain launch timing, cancellation, mission status and arrival feedback. A low-supply warning must remain readable over a plume or dark visor. The cabin's visual light can communicate occupancy, but the breathable-state label is derived from actual closures and service records rather than the presence of a lamp.

## T1-SPEC-18 — Ownership, transfers and regional persistence

The proposed ownership model distinguishes an owner, authorized operators, contributors and viewers. Owners manage configuration and reserve policy; operators perform permitted services and mission actions; contributors deposit accepted materials; viewers inspect public progress. These are functional permissions to reconcile with any existing settlement system during the code audit, not a demand to invent a second account framework. A Launch Key proves a requested control interaction and never overrides these permissions.

A transfer or construction order reserves real stock before work and commits its result once. Its record includes origin, destination, quantity, owner, stage and operation identity. Materials reserved for a mission stay visibly present in their container or installed vessel until transferred. Return fuel, breathing contingency and occupied-refuge service allocations cannot be used by ordinary automation. Revising those allocations is a mission change with the consequence shown before commitment. No invisible duplicate inventory is maintained simply to make the console's manifest look complete.

The Explorer has one authoritative location state: an assembly berth, a parked site, a recognized travel stage, a landed site or a supported recovery state. Passengers are recorded against actual supported seats. The first configuration recommends one pilot; additional multiplayer participants use independently prepared craft until extra seating and its supply/cargo implications are deliberately designed. A passenger cannot travel as an item or appear at a destination without a recorded seat. A reload or disconnect during passage restores the same operation and never leaves both a landed and travelling copy.

Authored production, construction, service consumption and events follow the existing eligible-participant regional rules across horizontal bounds, depth and dimension. Inactive managed regions retain their exact saved state without a catch-up consumption penalty. An occupied lunar refuge remains active for its participants when the owner returns to Earth. Dispatch of already reserved goods may progress through the existing receiving-region freight rule, but that cannot start new remote refinery output. Recovery and failed placement must leave a coherent inventory, craft and participant state with an explained next action. These conservation and absence rules are completion requirements, not optional polish.

## T1-SPEC-19 — Prioritised implementation backlog and dependencies

The following tasks are a proposed future BUILD backlog. All are unstarted in the available material. T1-BLD01 is a pre-BUILD inspection dependency; the remaining tasks require the user's explicit BUILD approval for their selected scope. The register carries asset mappings, dependencies, outputs and acceptance detail so later reports can update individual tasks without silently claiming that concept artwork is implemented content.

| Task | Priority and dependency | Observable completion |
| --- | --- | --- |
| T1-BLD01 — Inspect the actual mod project | P0; project access | Record loader/version, structure, existing rendering, world generation, saving and networking paths. Identify reusable systems and unresolved limits without claiming missing code was tested. |
| T1-BLD02 — Measure Explorer and player fit | P0; BLD01, T1-DEC01 review before final art | A measured mock-up proves or rejects the candidate hull, airlock, pilot position, tank spaces, boarding and exit. Record every changed dimension. |
| T1-BLD03 — Freeze coordinates and interface contract | P0; BLD02 | All rotations, world transforms, anchors, bounds and coupler positions agree between previews, models and recorded interfaces. |
| T1-BLD04 — Define identity, permissions and transaction records | P0; BLD01 | A documented state model covers unique craft location, real stock, operators, reservations, cancellation and recovery. |
| T1-BLD05 — Implement first fabrication and assembly loop | P1; BLD03–04, T1-DEC02 review before final art | Produce real parts, erect authored stages in a valid berth, pause/resume and commission one Explorer without duplicate outputs. |
| T1-BLD06 — Implement fuel, breathing and charging services | P1; BLD03–04 | Earth inputs produce declared supplies; incompatible ports reject; refill and charging conserve stock and protect reserves. |
| T1-BLD07 — Implement pad, console and cargo preparation | P1; BLD03–06 | Name a craft, load the complete safe manifest, show blockers, retract services and authorize only a valid selected mission. |
| T1-BLD08 — Implement suit, tank and service interactions | P1; BLD02, BLD04, BLD06 | Equip, fill, warn, swap, clean and charge with usable views, actual quantities and safe interrupted transfers. |
| T1-BLD09 — Implement cabin and airlock operation | P1; BLD02–04, BLD08 | Board, close, isolate, cycle and exit using the physical layout; service loss and occupied states are readable. |
| T1-BLD10 — Implement bounded travel and return handoff | P1; BLD07, BLD09 | Ground departure, passage, arrival and return preserve one craft, supported crew, cargo and allocations through interruption. |
| T1-BLD11 — Implement first lunar arrival and refuge | P1; BLD08–10, lunar placement audit | A valid site supports the carried shelter; commission the sleeping cell before descent; retain independent cabin retreat. |
| T1-BLD12 — Implement recovery and changed-arrival handling | P1; BLD04, BLD10–11 | Lost key, interrupted mission, blocked pad and supported distress cases offer a recoverable next action without free supply or duplicated craft. |
| T1-BLD13 — Produce final Tier 1 models and textures | P2; BLD02–03, both creative reviews | Every asset matches approved appearance, tested bounds, named parts and typed interfaces; editable sources are retained. |
| T1-BLD14 — Add operating animations and feedback | P2; BLD05–13 | State-driven closures, work motion, service coupling and launch effects remain correct with reduced motion/effects. |
| T1-BLD15 — Exercise one complete Earth–Moon–Earth expedition | P0 verification gate; BLD05–12 | An Earth-only preparation fits the actual cargo, reaches a working refuge and first descent, returns samples and enables a useful home improvement. |
| T1-BLD16 — Verify persistence, shared use and measured performance | P0 verification gate; BLD14–15 | Focused interruption, contention and regional tests conserve the same stock and craft; performance is measured on a declared setup. |

T1-BLD05 includes the minimal registered pad foundation and empty berth needed to erect the craft; T1-BLD07 adds its complete service, console, cargo and mission-readiness behaviour. This division avoids a circular dependency between assembling the first vehicle and implementing its launch installation. The dependency sequence should not force final textures before a usable gray-box voyage exists. Conversely, a functioning debug launch is not completion of the full Tier 1 experience. A build report should distinguish functional prototype, art-integrated content, tested mission and release-ready presentation. T1-BLD15 can establish the functional voyage with temporary assets. T1-BLD16 follows both that voyage and T1-BLD14, so final models, hatch and connector animations, collision, accessibility and measured performance receive an integrated check before closure. Broader Moon content, enhanced refinery throughput, multiple seats and later spacecraft follow separate approved scope rather than expanding these tasks implicitly.

## T1-SPEC-20 — Acceptance scenes, pending artwork and handoff

The production handoff requires three kinds of evidence. A fit scene shows the Explorer, suited player, pad and station arrangement at measured scale. A working yard scene demonstrates the connected manufacturing and preparation loop. A complete expedition scene demonstrates that those objects support the promised lunar experience. These are future in-game checks and model-review outputs; no such implementation is claimed completed by this planning slice.

Fit acceptance includes walking between fins, climbing the boarding steps, opening and passing the outer hatch, cycling the two boundaries, climbing to the cockpit, sitting, looking through the actual window, reaching cargo and services, and exiting again with the complete suit. Repeat the geometry checks at all four supported facings. A highlighted blocked approach must correspond to an actual blocked volume. An object outside the declared clearance should not prevent launch merely because its decorative mesh is nearby.

System acceptance includes a full output tray, missing fuel input, incompatible breathing connection, interrupted refill, changed mission cargo, a second contributor, loss of power, save/reload during assembly, a parked region and an occupied refuge after the owner leaves. The complete first-lunar manifest must include its working cabin, EQ25 starter shelter, actual supplies and reserves; orbital rehearsal uses its own smaller valid manifest. Return to an obstructed Earth pad must preserve a supported alternative. A successful mission produces a useful discovery or material application already described in the direction.

No additional images are generated in this slice. The next small generation plan remains the Old Valley opening board and the early workshop/construction-state board managed by the First Playable plan. Tier 1 uses the confirmed reference library first. Its pending production visuals are a measured rocket/cabin cutaway, consistent station dimensions, socket close-ups, a service-coupler motion sheet, suit/tank attachments and shelter stages. Those are specific future model or diagram tasks; generation should only be requested if a remaining visual question cannot be resolved from the supplied art and measured layouts.

The immediate review queue is T1-DEC01 for rocket scale and T1-DEC02 for the manufacturing-station distinction. All other dimensions and conventions remain labelled proposed defaults pending fit and implementation evidence. The document retains the full earlier direction and every supplied image. Tier 2 and Tier 3 stay at their provided overview level, with no new detailed systems or generated artwork. The next decision after this planning work is an explicitly scoped BUILD instruction, supported by an actual project inspection and a finite implementation target.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: tier1_model_specifications.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: illustrated_companion.txt | SHA-256 565077ac04d664460fb692ce3f8136c6c8850fbe669f58604c1064350935b169 =====

# Illustrated overview — ten reading guides

This companion opens the complete reference through ten editorial and visual guides. Every earlier text source and artwork file remains preserved. Concept boards are representative overview illustrations; diagrams and interface sheets carry the precise relationships described in the writing.

## ILL-S01 — Read the whole direction

Begin with the promise of the experience, then choose the world, system, or object you want to inspect. The visual guide opens the complete writing; it does not replace it.

SUBSTELLAR begins with a familiar place worth repairing. Gathering, making, travelling, discovering, and returning connect that place to a larger world. The underground is a geography of routes, water, life, resources, and communities. Space extends those same activities into environments with different demands.

This illustrated overview gives every major content family a visible point of entry. Established text and supplied references remain intact. New concept boards show representative appearances and activities; diagrams explain the relationships; interface sheets show how the information could be presented. A representative board does not complete every dedicated object, region, or operating-state view.

Read a chapter summary to understand its purpose, follow the related visuals, and open the full passage when you want the detail. Use stable section links when discussing a change. Browser review notes can be exported, while the text, catalogues, figure descriptions, and editable diagrams travel with the downloadable folder.

### What to look for

- A useful home and a dependable return make exploration meaningful.
- Depth, industry, and space are connected parts of one experience.
- The complete text remains the authority for names, relationships, and scope.

Overview coverage: Ten reading guides, a chapter directory, a visual catalogue, and explicit coverage notes.

Dedicated views still tracked: Individual model views, regional variants, and final production assets retain their separate backlog.

## ILL-S02 — Follow the workflows

The diagrams and interface sheets make preparation, contribution, construction, travel, and return readable as sequences of decisions.

Exploration supplies a reason to make something. A material becomes a fitting, a fitting improves a service, and that service changes the next journey. The existing progression chart relates industrial capability to the wider campaign. The new process figures trace the shorter loops inside it, including their alternatives and interruptions.

Construction has visible stages and real material custody. The controller should explain what is needed, what has been supplied, what is committed, why work is blocked, and what the player can do next. Regional participation, shared ownership, and a useful return journal support the same experience when players leave and come back.

Twelve interface references are grouped into four editable sheets: construction; community and return; navigation and preparation; and spacecraft, readiness, and accessibility. Their example screens illustrate the established information requirements. They are documentation layouts, with example states and any provisional quantities identified, rather than screenshots of an existing game interface.

### What to look for

- Useful outcomes connect the steps in each workflow.
- Blocked and paused states need understandable next actions.
- Diagrams and interface layouts use precise labels from the writing.

Overview coverage: Construction-state figure and all twelve interface references on four sheets.

Dedicated views still tracked: Alternative screen sizes, every possible UI state, and final interaction assets are further visual work.

## ILL-S03 — Make Old Valley useful

The opening is a connected sequence of places and practical improvements: guesthouse, crossing, quarry, Copperwash, and the first workshop service.

The guesthouse provides the first dependable return point. The authored crossing opens a route. The quarry introduces useful work and a bounded underground expedition. Copperwash Channels gives that expedition a local identity through pale rock, copper staining, roots, water, landmarks, and a readable return.

The first workshop joins the Carpenter and repair bench, the Alloy hearth, and a hand-operated Hoist and lift installation. The bronze path turns accessible copper and planned tin into fittings for an improved cargo cradle. An iron alternative preserves the practical reward. The material-chain figure separates shared construction costs from preparation and shows why the two-stack hoist demonstration is useful.

These scenes introduce Old Valley's later life. The full five-chapter sequence continues through a working settlement and the first market. A limited workshop service at the end of this opening does not silently complete the grain mill, wider service network, or market. The existing settlement-cycle diagram and full Old Valley chapter retain that longer progression.

### What to look for

- Each repaired place changes what the player can do.
- The first workshop creates a visible practical improvement.
- Settlements remain useful after their introductory story event.

Overview coverage: Both commissioned opening boards, the route diagram, and the complete first-workshop material explanation.

Dedicated views still tracked: Final structure interiors, every construction stage, resident portraits, and the full market scene remain dedicated views.

## ILL-S04 — Read Earth's second geography

Seven realm identities contain thirty-five named experiences. Their transitions and lateral geography matter as much as their depth.

The Overworld is the familiar home landscape. Shallows connects its roots and water to the first descent. Deepwilds concentrates living habitats. Underreach emphasizes mineral structure and working routes. Abyss introduces exposed voids and dark waters. Mantle makes heat and shelter legible. Core concludes the deep-crust journey through the fictional Heart environment.

These are irregular regions with shelves, basins, pockets, and overlapping approaches. The additional geography figure explains this through a conceptual route and cross-section. It deliberately does not allocate permanent Y bands to the seven realms. The written working envelope remains 512 total block levels, from Y minus 192 through 319; it is not 512 blocks of underground depth.

The existing Earth diagram lists every named experience and anchor. The retained Overworld, Deepwilds, Abyss, and four-realm overview art establish the major visual range. Read those pictures for terrain character, scale, shelter, and activity. The individual experience and transition views remain visible in the detailed visual register rather than being counted complete from a shared overview.

### What to look for

- Recognizable landforms and routes make the underground navigable.
- A region needs worthwhile activities and a dependable way home.
- The Core is the fictional Heart, not the literal planetary centre.

Overview coverage: Realm comparison table, retained identity art, complete experience index, and an additional geography/route figure.

Dedicated views still tracked: A separate activity, refuge interior, and regional-variation view for every Earth experience remains beyond this overview pass.

## ILL-S05 — Live through a Moon or Mars expedition

Arrival, shelter, regional exploration, useful local work, and returning home give the existing destination chapters a clear visual sequence.

The Moon starts with Earthrise Rim and Shadow Basin, then continues through Regolith Hollows, Basalt Galleries, and Glassfall Vaults. Its silence, dust, exposed routes, shelter, instruments, and protected supplies give familiar actions a different character. The first complete expedition arrives prepared from Earth; the lunar refuge is commissioned before the first committed underground descent.

Mars joins Windcut Tablelands and Buried Delta to Ochre Galleries, Brine Scarps, and Rootstone Chambers. Weather, old drainage, field travel, and the Frontier Yard connect the surface to the underground. Materials and local services strengthen subsequent journeys without making local discoveries prerequisites for surviving the first arrival.

The paired expedition figure sits alongside the existing layer diagrams and overview boards. Together they explain what the player does, what belongs to each region, and how the outpost supports the route. The complete Moon and Mars expansions retain the detailed expeditions, hazards, construction, progression, and revisit value.

### What to look for

- First-arrival supplies come from the world the player can already use.
- A refuge supports exploration and protects the return journey.
- Local materials improve sustained activity and create useful homecoming rewards.

Overview coverage: Complete regional comparison, existing layer/identity visuals, and a paired expedition workflow.

Dedicated views still tracked: Each outpost interior, weather condition, rover activity, and regional close-up remains a further illustration task.

## ILL-S06 — Compare the farther worlds

The destination atlas distinguishes each world's activities and purpose while preserving optional branches and the proposed continuation beyond Sol.

Ceres makes fractured routes and anchored cargo work central. Europa places expeditions beneath ice in a pressure-shaped environment. Io turns thermal timing and shelter into practical fieldwork. Titan joins haze, shorelines, weather, and a useful harbour. Pluto closes the Solar System journey through cold, autonomy, instruments, and the Far Observatory.

The proposed Afterlight continuation moves from Cairn's fractured places and interpretation to Morrow's living waters and cultivation. The existing overview boards already give these destinations distinct visual identities. This guide places their images, materials, signature projects, and campaign roles beside one another so their differences can be reviewed directly.

The principal route remains Earth, Moon, Mars, Europa, Titan, and Pluto. Ceres and Io are optional branches. Cairn and Morrow remain a proposed later continuation. Mercury, Venus, Uranus, and Neptune retain their explicit further-design status; Jupiter and Saturn provide orbital and sky context for the documented moons. An atlas entry does not imply an additional completed landing campaign.

### What to look for

- Each destination changes the experience of preparation and fieldwork.
- Optional branches provide useful choices without becoming hidden universal gates.
- The atlas clearly separates documented campaigns, orbital context, and further design.

Overview coverage: One consistent destination comparison, annotated retained overview art links, and explicit scope for every represented body.

Dedicated views still tracked: Additional regional, outpost, interior, and activity images for the farther destinations remain named future work.

## ILL-S07 — See how industry belongs in the world

Machinery should look like useful equipment with a readable physical job. Its breadth grows through clear production relationships and distinct capabilities.

The industrial catalogue contains sixty-six named functions across ten capability bands. Early craft becomes mechanical and powered workshops, attainable Tier 1 preparation, regional industry, deep thermal and chemical work, planetary services, and later specialist science. These bands are not rocket tiers or a requirement to finish every earlier machine before exploring.

The early/regional board and the advanced board establish complementary visual languages. Benches, furnaces, forming equipment, power sources, loading, reaction vessels, optical work, composites, and optional advanced energy can share a coherent material vocabulary while retaining visibly different jobs. The network figure separates material flow, service power, storage, and freight.

The full text provides the detailed machine roles and process narratives. An overview illustration makes the equipment easier to imagine; it does not approve unseen recipes or turn a decorative pipe into a new required process. Optional advanced industry remains optional, and first-flight preparation retains its accessible Earth-based path.

### What to look for

- A machine should explain its purpose through shape, access, material flow, and state.
- Shared services connect distinct processes without hiding their costs.
- Advanced machinery expands choices and sustained operations.

Overview coverage: Two machine-family boards, an industrial flow figure, and capability/role comparisons linked to the sixty-six-function catalogue.

Dedicated views still tracked: Individual orthographic, connection, and operating-state plates for every machine remain separate from representative family coverage.

## ILL-S08 — Connect a resource to a useful object

Materials, products, tools, and equipment belong to a clear gathering-to-use story. Their appearance should stay recognizable across different environments.

The written catalogues cover nineteen Earth resource families, eighteen planetary materials, ten processed-product families, and thirty-two equipment families. They describe sources, uses, preparation, and the capabilities an object provides. These categories overlap with machinery and space-system entries; their totals are not a count of unique finished game assets.

The material board distinguishes representative natural deposits, recovered samples, and processed appearances. The equipment board emphasizes recognizable silhouettes, working ends, carrying or attachment, and useful field roles. Existing suit and space-system references supply additional visual context. The figures and catalogues connect each pictured representative to its stable source identifier.

Ore recognition, gathering, processing, and a worthwhile expedition should reinforce one another. A later material can improve a service without invalidating familiar resources. A loadout can answer a route's particular needs without becoming a universal gear score. Precise quantities remain in the relevant written example; the concept boards do not invent a new recipe table.

### What to look for

- Show a material's source, sample, and product as distinct useful forms.
- Equipment is organized around capabilities and preparation.
- A representative sheet introduces a visual family; dedicated item views stay indexed.

Overview coverage: Representative material and equipment boards, capability comparisons, and source-linked catalogue navigation.

Dedicated views still tracked: Every individual material sample, tool state, grip, attachment, and worn view retains its dedicated visual task.

## ILL-S09 — Meet the living landscape

Creature behaviour, useful plants, food, cultivation, encounters, and quiet activities make the world feel inhabited between major discoveries.

The Earth roster contains twelve creature families, ten plant and fungal families, and four signature encounter proposals. Their identities include habitat, posture, behaviour, utility, and counterplay. Food, farming, fishing, gathering, and cultivation create reasons to return to a place and tend it.

The creature board introduces representative silhouettes and behaviours at a readable player scale. The plant board connects habitat, harvestable growth, and cultivated forms. The retained Deepwilds image and realm art provide broader environmental context. Appearance proposed by a new board remains a visual interpretation of the written role, rather than a silent change to that role.

Life is concentrated where habitat supports it. Quiet and sparse regions are part of the contrast. Encounters need recognizable signals and a useful player response, while a natural discovery or cultivated refuge can provide a satisfying expedition outcome without combat. The document's audio, weather, and presentation direction remains linked to these experiences.

### What to look for

- A habitat helps explain why a creature or plant is present.
- Behaviour and useful interaction matter as much as silhouette.
- Calm, domestic, and cultivated scenes belong beside danger and discovery.

Overview coverage: Representative creature and plant boards, habitat/interaction notes, and links to the complete life and encounter catalogues.

Dedicated views still tracked: Each creature pose, warning behaviour, habitat, growth stage, encounter scene, and character portrait remains individually tracked.

## ILL-S10 — Understand the Explorer as a complete expedition

Your confirmed reference sheets connect the Explorer, its parts, preparation machines, equipment, and mission into one illustrated chapter.

The Part Fabrication Table and Rocket Assembly Station have different jobs. Parts are prepared and checked, an authored vehicle is assembled in a linked berth, and the commissioned Explorer is supplied for its intended mission. The assembly figure connects those steps to the existing component and hardware references.

The service figure distinguishes propellant, breathing supply, electrical power, and control. It also explains the relationship between the proposed craft envelope, pad, access, and cabin. The nine-block height, three-by-three body, and five-by-five fin envelope remain a proposed fit arrangement. The pad's half-block deck is distinct from its raised service pose. These labels describe the current design proposal rather than a measured finished model.

The mission combines a working airlocked cabin, appropriate carried equipment, an Earth-prepared refuge, and protected return allocations. The first lunar landing uses supported natural ground, with no prebuilt lunar pad or factory required. The Moon workflow and mission-readiness interface complete the visual explanation of departure, fieldwork, and return. Tier 2 and Tier 3 retain their supplied overview artwork and deferred detailed expansion.

### What to look for

- The confirmed artwork anchors appearance while diagrams explain relationships.
- Assembly, services, access, cabin, cargo, and return readiness belong to one mission.
- Proposed dimensions and dedicated later-tier production views remain clearly identified.

Overview coverage: Source-linked hardware explanations, assembly and service diagrams, retained confirmed sheets, and mission/interface cross-links.

Dedicated views still tracked: Further exact cutaways, final model turnarounds, every operating-state view, and Tier 2/3 production art remain beyond this overview.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: illustrated_companion.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: current_direction_05.txt | SHA-256 75f129348c435fcc8d105af78460c746d18306a56f01ba04cb7dd19f3691f525 =====

# Current direction — a connected account of SUBSTELLAR

## CD05-T01 — Identity, authority, and the work now in scope

SUBSTELLAR is a Minecraft survival adventure about a home worth returning to and worlds worth exploring. Familiar survival, ordinary building, and a useful community establish the beginning. Underground exploration reveals a second geography of water, living habitats, mineral country, routes, refuges, and unfinished work. Space extends that same adventure: arrive prepared, learn a place, make a dependable foothold, discover something useful, and bring its benefits into the wider network of homes.

The name joins what lies beneath with what lies among the stars. “Every world goes deeper” therefore has a practical consequence: another sky is the beginning of another landscape, including substantial underground experiences. Progression should be remembered through places and actions—the repaired crossing, the first useful workshop, a forest beneath stone, a marked route through darkness, and a warm room beside a lunar lander. Equipment and industry help the player understand and inhabit those places.

This chapter is a consolidated current reading layer. It covers every subject in the seven baseline text sources, whose 45 chapters contain 90,735 words under the edition's established counting method. It does not replace those chapters or claim to reproduce their complete detail. The source map identifies every original chapter by its source key, exact title, filename, and existing HTML anchor. The original writing and 50 baseline visuals remain the preserved record; this edition adds an account of how their current meanings fit together.

The existing sources have several kinds of authority. Their differences matter when judging a picture, a proposed recipe, or the readiness of a feature.

| Kind of record | How to read it now |
| --- | --- |
| Established foundation and approved original writing | The project's creative direction and the preserved source of its world, journey, settlement, and content vocabulary. |
| Fifteen supplied reference sheets | Confirmed visual references, retained with their original labels and pixels. Particular example measurements, recipe grids, and brands retain their separate evidence status. |
| Industry, destination, Tier 1, and First Playable expansions | The current detailed planning account. Their operational proposals and recommended defaults remain distinguishable from confirmed artwork and verified implementation. |
| Generated concepts and editable diagrams | Delivered visual explanations. A generated scene can establish an atmosphere or working relationship without proving exact geometry, an implemented interface, or playable balance. |
| Recipes, dimensions, timings, capacities, and performance | Proposed values or unverified engineering questions unless a record explicitly supplies the corresponding measurement or implementation evidence. |

The present work is authorized documentation, creative development, worked examples, and a bounded set of new images and diagrams. It makes the next content update concrete for the separate Website agent. Actual mod development still requires a scoped BUILD instruction. The available documentation workspace did not establish the mod's current code, loader, version, saves, or performance; that finding is about this workspace and does not assert that no implementation exists elsewhere.

The audience remains solo players and cooperative groups. Exploring, building, preparing machinery, and supplying companions are all useful contributions. The standalone-first direction preserves a coherent game without mandatory gameplay-mod integrations. Guided chapters supply reliable invitations and satisfying changes while free building, independent exploration, and quiet domestic play remain valid uses of an evening. The long vision is larger than an initial release, and the generation-first foundation still precedes claims that its later systems work.

Full-source details: approved — The creative foundation; The complete player journey; Source records and terminology. Planning authority: first-playable — First Playable — Old Valley, the Quarry, and the First Workshop / FP-PLAN-01 and FP-PLAN-22; tier1-models — Tier 1 — Model and Implementation Specifications / T1-SPEC-01. Preservation and counts: edition-manifest.json.

## CD05-T02 — The player journey and the precise opening endpoint

The five journey families remain First Descent, Pale Horizon, Red Frontier, Outer Worlds, and Beyond Sol. They describe the widening adventure. Industrial bands describe workshop capabilities; rocket tiers describe the supplied spacecraft design families; spacecraft classes describe travel capabilities. These systems relate to one another, but their numbers are not interchangeable. A player does not need to finish every machine in an earlier industrial band before taking a supported expedition.

First Descent contains Old Valley and the extended Earth adventure. Pale Horizon develops orbital and lunar travel. Red Frontier makes longer planetary work practical. Outer Worlds separates the demands of pressure, cold, weather, isolation, and specialist equipment. Beyond Sol opens the proposed Afterlight continuation. The recommended principal destination route remains Earth, Moon, Mars, Europa, Titan, and Pluto. Ceres and Io offer substantial optional branches. Pluto supplies a satisfying Solar System conclusion; Cairn and Morrow form a further proposed journey.

The most consequential progression clarification is the early Tier 1 branch. A practical Explorer mission can become possible before the player exhausts Earth's seven realms. Core completion, Heartglass, titanium-grade industry, nuclear power, lunar materials, and rare creature drops are not first-flight requirements. Earth remains the source of the workshop, preparation, people, and supplies behind the first mission. Its deeper routes continue alongside lunar exploration and gain useful improvements from it. The broad Earth-to-space narrative never overrides a mission's actual accessible prerequisites.

Old Valley retains its complete five-chapter spine. Its inhabitants are recorded through established roles where names are unavailable, preserving rather than replacing any cast found in the actual project.

| Old Valley chapter | Essential change in the world | Relationship to First Playable |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A place to stay | Restore the guesthouse's essential entrance, sleeping place, storage arrangement, and common-space access. | Complete essential Chapter 1 outcome. Optional rooms remain optional. |
| The old crossing | Repair the supported crossing and its transport fittings so the route genuinely works. | Complete essential Chapter 2 outcome. A personal bridge can help travel without awarding this authored chapter. |
| The quarry | Restore access, the work bay, baseline cargo handling, and a finite ordinary stone service. | Complete essential Chapter 3 outcome, achievable before the bronze upgrade. |
| A working settlement | Develop the grain mill, fuller workshop, market preparations, and their useful relationships. | Only a limited workshop service is introduced. The chapter remains incomplete. |
| The first market | Open an occupied public gathering with visitors, useful exchanges, and a lead toward another adventure. | A distinct later payoff, neither triggered nor awarded by First Playable. |

The bounded First Playable includes the first three essential chapter outcomes, one Copperwash Channels expedition, and a returned-find improvement to the existing quarry hoist. Its three canonical machine functions are IND-M01 Carpenter and repair bench, IND-M07 Alloy hearth, and IND-M53 Hoist and lift installation. The hoist is cargo-only, between fixed landings. The quarry's ordinary stone recipe service is not the ore crusher, and the grain mill remains a food-processing service in the later chapter.

The proposed bronze demonstration makes four fittings from three copper ingots, one tin ingot, and one hearth fuel item. With four planks, those fittings improve the existing cradle from one occupied cargo slot to two while preserving its route and cycle time. A four-iron-and-four-plank alternative produces the same basic cargo improvement without demonstrating the alloy method. These remain planning recipes. Their value is clear in play: the returned discovery lets the player move two real occupied stacks in one trip. The baseline quarry already works before this upgrade.

The opening's shared restoration budget is separately recorded from personal tools, lighting, fuel, food, and the stone-service demonstration. That accounting prevents the same material from being charged twice. Its 90–150-minute directed-play target is a proposed observation range, not a deadline or evidence of measured gameplay. No new user decision is required to finish this planning. Its ending is a usable valley, a known underground route, and a workshop improvement with a natural next invitation. New worked examples begin beyond that boundary and do not retroactively claim the whole settlement is complete.

Full-source details: approved — The complete player journey; Old Valley; Space exploration. Current progression clarification: industry — Industry and progression / Three kinds of progression, IP03 and IP06. Exact opening plans, costs, alternatives, and acceptance: first-playable — First Playable — Old Valley, the Quarry, and the First Workshop / FP-PLAN-02 through FP-PLAN-20; first_playable_register.json.

## CD05-T03 — Earth's second geography and world-generation contract

The documented working envelope is 512 total block levels, with valid Y values from -192 through 319 and an exclusive upper boundary at 320. From a reference surface around Y 63, that is about 255 blocks down to the floor. It is not 512 blocks of underground depth. The earlier three prototype design bands are experiments in generation, not approved final allocations for seven finished realms. The creative atlas assigns no permanent universal Y range to a realm.

Depth is a strong tendency combined with lateral geography. Regions overlap through shelves, basins, cliffs, watersheds, root systems, and thermal margins. Deepwilds and Underreach can occupy comparable local elevations while differing in moisture, life, structure, and routes. The Abyss can form large basins and exposed spaces within a connected network. Mantle and Core are fictional progression environments; the Core's Heart region is a deep-crustal adventure destination, not the literal center of Earth.

| Realm | Five named experiences, retained in atlas order | Anchor and characteristic purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Overworld / EAR01 | Bluewater Quarry Coast; Rooted Uplands; Rivergate Country; Windscar Heights; Rainwood Hollows | Familiar homes, farming, travel, and entrances. Old Valley's guesthouse is the opening home; the optional Surface Expedition House is a regional depot after the first market. |
| Shallows / EAR02 | Rootlace Galleries; Chalkstep Terraces; Copperwash Channels; Glasswell Pools; Drybell Vaults | Shallows Waystation. Read water, rock, roots, light, and a dependable route before committing to deeper travel. |
| Deepwilds / EAR03 | Lanternroot Forests; Sporemeadow Basins; Hanging Gardens; Bluefen Groves; Quietwood Hollows | Deepwilds Conservatory. Learn living habitats, cultivation, canopy routes, and productive underground home life. |
| Underreach / EAR04 | Ironfold Ridges; Saltmirror Halls; Blackriver Galleries; Echoquartz Fields; Dustroad Expanse | Underreach Junction. Connect substantial mineral country, freight landings, workshops, and regional movement. |
| Abyss / EAR05 | Pillarfall Reaches; Stillsea Basin; Moonmilk Shelves; Whisper Chasms; Drowned Stair Country | Abyss Beacon Refuge. Turn distance, exposed shelves, and dark water into an understood chain of safe places. |
| Mantle / EAR06 | Basalt Steps; Ember Gardens; Ashen Hollows; Redglass Margins; Steamvaults | Mantle Works. Read local heat, use protected routes, and establish purposeful industry in cooler pockets. |
| Core / EAR07 | Heartglass Groves; Pale Resonance Fields; Stillwater Sanctuaries; Blackroot Islands; The Heart Chamber | Heart Observatory. Combine learned expedition skills, quiet research, unusual materials, and a reliable return from the deepest Earth destination. |

Generation works at several scales. Broad districts create reasons to travel horizontally. Chambers and landforms provide terraces, pillars, river trenches, roof openings, ledges, and meaningful empty space. Routes supply local choices: a dry rim or a shorter wet crossing, a long safe climb or an exposed ledge, a resource detour or a return before reserves become tight. Detail then reinforces those choices through host rock, runoff, roots, deposits, and habitat. A large smooth room with no internal geography does not meet the creative aim simply by being large.

Required expedition routes need an intelligible outward and return path using the capability available when they first matter. Optional isolated pockets and demanding branches can exist, but the main route cannot require a single invisible crack, an untelegraphed lethal jump, or equipment found only beyond its own barrier. Player tunneling, bridges, stairs, boats, and personal markers remain useful. Authored routes earn attention through comfortable staging points, landmarks, services, and discoveries. They rarely rely on an unexplained indestructible door to make a buildable world obey a story flag.

Natural terrain supplies variation; authored places supply dependable relationships and services. Supported foundations, limited rotations, short paths, and a small family of suitable layouts connect the two. Generation reserves critical anchors before dressing their surroundings and verifies reachability with the relevant equipment. Old Valley and the intended Heart destination must have a supported reachable campaign placement. An optional site may be omitted when it cannot fit. A required one cannot disappear from an unlucky seed or be forced into place by erasing a large unrelated landscape.

Water, heat, air effects, and ecology follow local readable rules. Stable generated water gives a region identity; special floods and pumping problems occupy finite declared areas. Heat comes from a signaled vent, channel, or apparatus with a response and a usable safe interval. Mist, dust, spores, and living light have recognizable sources. A dark cave should retain sufficient form for navigation without relying on a shader. Ordinary mining leaves persistent excavation; an ore body does not secretly refill after a chunk unloads. Renewable supplies come from explicitly renewable cultivation or processing.

Every realm retains a lateral life beyond its first route. A Shallows mine can become a convenient supply stop, a Conservatory can export useful cultivation stock, a Junction can connect working districts, and an Abyss refuge can become a quiet personal home. Later mobility or equipment opens side routes while established transport reduces repetition. The world becomes more familiar through the player's work without becoming entirely solved.

Fitting this atlas into a durable world envelope remains a future engineering gate. Representative cross-sections and actual routes must demonstrate sufficient room, transition quality, structure access, and a familiar surface before permanent save expectations are fixed. A larger continuous envelope or another deliberate arrangement may be evaluated if needed. Separate deep dimensions have not been silently selected. This current consolidation preserves the working specification and the full creative ambition while keeping that untested fit visible.

Full-source details: approved — The vertical world specification; World generation and the Earth atlas; Overworld; Shallows; Deepwilds; Underreach; Abyss; Mantle; Core. First local placement graph: first-playable / FP-PLAN-11 and FP-PLAN-12. Overview explanation: illustrated / ILL-S04.

## CD05-T04 — Settlements, authored adventures, and living regional activity

A settlement is a place whose usefulness the player can see. Its buildings have accessible interiors, recognizable silhouettes, working services, material storage, and room for ordinary movement. Residents occupy a few understandable roles and respond to actual milestones. The innkeeper has guests because the crossing and lodging work; a workshop specialist has useful work because the player returned with a discovery. Bounded routines and forgiving interactions supply continuity without requiring an uncontrolled simulation of every character's life.

Each managed project has an in-world controller suited to its setting: a board, marker, workshop control, or outpost terminal. Its ordinary view explains purpose, next stage, materials, current condition, and the next useful action. A preview exposes the occupied footprint, access, intended terrain changes, and conflicts before the player commits. The material-fed authored build preserves the local aesthetic while giving the player the satisfaction of contributing to its visible construction.

Discovered, Preview, Claimed or assigned, Awaiting requirements, Ready, Building, Paused, Blocked, Complete, and Upgrade available remain the canonical product states. They do not require ten separate screens. A finished service continues working while an optional extension waits. A chest placed inside a proposed deck produces a marked obstruction and preserved stock. A person standing in the next placement volume stops the action. Neither situation authorizes the project to delete belongings, push through an occupant, or tunnel arbitrarily to find another solution.

Construction has real custody. A contribution leaves an authorized inventory once. Uncommitted supplies remain distinguishable from material committed to a stage and material already built into the world. Cancellation returns recoverable stock according to its stated stage; it cannot produce both a completed wall and a refund for that wall. A stopped batch retains its ingredients or product in a coherent owned state. An interrupted hoist or freight order preserves the same cargo and delivers it once. This trust is central to the experience because players build long-lived places from those quantities.

Managed regional activity depends on eligible participants within the region's dimension, horizontal boundary, and explicit vertical bounds. The last eligible participant leaving pauses authored construction, production, visits, consumption, and encounters coherently. Return resumes the saved situation without absence debt or a catch-up stockpile. A passerby does not secretly activate a private project. One participating friend can keep an occupied refuge working while its owner travels. Ordinary Minecraft systems outside these managed services retain their own behavior; the pause promise does not freeze the whole world.

Freight moves already-produced, authorized, reserved goods between established endpoints. Its receiving process can advance when the destination is active while the source remains parked. Both endpoints need not be occupied together. This permission does not restart the remote factory or consume an absent habitat's reserve. Remote inspection can show recorded stock and status without granting remote production. These rules let several settlements become useful homes rather than a growing collection of obligations demanding simultaneous attendance.

Free building remains a complete form of participation. Personal homes and added paths can coexist with supported projects, using the same material families. A later bounded commissioning system may recognize generic shelter, cultivation, or a supported workshop in a player's building. Physical usefulness, civic-service recognition, and completion of a particular authored chapter remain separate facts. A homemade cottage is useful without completing the guesthouse. An alternate crossing can satisfy a particular optional encounter only when that encounter explicitly supports it.

The connected episodes develop existing anchors. The sheltered water belongs to the Deepwilds Conservatory and Canopy-to-River Circuit. Freight through the dark develops Underreach Junction's Three-Landing Supply Route. A light across the gap develops the Abyss Beacon Refuge and Far-Shelf Survey. Their titles do not add three new mandatory towns. Earth and planetary episodes share an expedition rhythm while giving each refuge a different meaning: a productive garden, a handling hub, a beacon across exposed water, a sealed room under a new sky, or a remote return-support installation.

Full-source details: approved — Settlements and authored adventures; Old Valley; Residents and settlement systems; Connected adventures and player experience; Production transport and settlement technology; Power fuel and the cost of travel. Detailed opening behavior: first-playable / FP-PLAN-13 through FP-PLAN-17. Regional industry and freight: industry — Production chains, balance, and machine progression / Regional pause and coherent custody.

## CD05-T05 — Industry, materials, and progression through useful work

The industrial ambition combines substantial machinery with a broad set of useful functions. A player should understand a plant by walking through it: receiving area, preparation, recognizable processing, finishing, storage, and dispatch. Timber, masonry, iron, copper, ceramic insulation, glass, marked housings, and accessible service paths connect early machinery to later sealed planetary installations. Size earns its place when it creates a meaningful material path, service aisle, loading position, or vehicle berth. Compact benches and field machines retain value beside large plants.

TEC01–TEC14 remain installation families, from the carpenter's bench to the launch and recovery complex. IND-M01–IND-M66 describe functions within them, rather than 66 compulsory separate machine blocks. Related functions can share a clear host. Distinct processes keep distinct working identities: a mill makes food, a crusher prepares material, a fabricator makes components, and an assembly station controls a vehicle build. Industrial breadth is the set of useful possibilities a player can select from, not a requirement to install the whole catalogue before an expedition.

| Industrial bands | Current meaning |
| --- | --- |
| IP00–IP01 | Ordinary preparation, repairs, useful motion, ceramics, accessible fittings, water handling, and a workshop with a visible first result. |
| IP02–IP03 | Modest electricity, field charging, repeatable components, and the complete accessible Tier 1 preparation branch. |
| IP04–IP05 | Regional steel, handling, selected ore recovery, bounded orders, thermal work, advanced alloys, and useful chemical specialization. |
| IP06–IP07 | Lunar service, ceramics and optics; then Mars field repair, compact processing, mobile work, and regional outpost logistics. |
| IP08–IP09 | Destination-specific outer-world systems, mature independent services, precision observation, and bounded Interstellar preparation. |

These bands are an explanatory order. IP06 does not demand completion of every IP04 or IP05 system. A mission's capability record identifies its own required products and services. Optional fission, fusion, advanced field apparatus, route terminals, and powered equipment preserve a substantial engineering horizon. Their full resource paths, local limits, and environmental roles need later detailed work; they do not quietly enter the early rocket recipe.

Materials are organized by useful properties and first reachable sources. Familiar iron, copper, fuel, redstone, glass, quartz, and ordinary construction resources remain important. MAT01–MAT19 cover nineteen Earth resource families, including metals, clay, salts, crystals, resin, fiber, soil, and living culture. They are not nineteen mining permissions. The ten processed families—bronze fittings, steel, sealed cloth, technical ceramics, lightweight plates, reinforced alloy, titanium frame stock, optical assemblies, resonant components, and Heartglass assemblies—provide a reusable manufacturing vocabulary.

The first version of a capability uses earlier accessible inputs. A copper-and-redstone power supply can run the first electrical material process before that process produces aluminum. Ordinary clay and fuel can establish the early kiln. Accessible cloth and supported seals make the first filters before the player needs to enter a dangerous spore patch. Ceramics, metalwork, cloth, and an available cooling supply support the first thermal-margin visit before thermal salt improves it. Later recipes can reward richer deposits, better equipment, or selected local materials without erasing the shorter first route.

An upgrade should improve a specific measure. More yield per deposit, faster throughput, lower energy use, smaller footprint, easier service, greater cargo capacity, and a stronger environmental envelope are different advantages. A larger line pays for its extra equipment and services. A chemical recovery loop reduces a real recurring cost within a finite material budget. Repacking stock, reclaiming scrap, filling a tank, or changing storage phase cannot grant repeated bonuses to the same material. Shared intermediate families avoid a separate mandatory inventory item for every screw.

Electrical power uses a common understandable accounting language: available supply, stored reserve, demand, supported delivery rate, and priority. A small cell can run a field device without becoming an adapter for a whole refinery. Heat, fluids, gases, items, and control retain distinct roles and connections. A plant can use simple supported duties and process categories without simulating every real voltage, temperature, or pressure. Shape, direction, symbols, and labels complement color, so a connection remains understandable under ordinary lighting and accessibility settings.

Automation removes repeated work the player already understands. An order names its source, recipe, quantity or reserve target, destination, permission scope, and stop condition. It pauses safely for missing input, full output, a blocked route, or insufficient discretionary power. Essential occupied-habitat and mission reserves have priority over optional manufacturing. Service follows meaningful use, such as dust exposure, filter work, or excavation; frequent unexplained random failure does not make a workshop richer. The successful industrial loop ends with a useful object, a changed route, a prepared expedition, or a more capable home.

Full-source details: approved — Materials and the crafting economy; Production transport and settlement technology; Power fuel and the cost of travel; Planetary materials and reference catalogue. Detailed functions and chain directions: industry — Industry and progression; Machinery and industrial systems; Production chains, balance, and machine progression. Stable catalogue: industry_progression_register.json. Visual context: ILL03-02 through ILL03-06.

## CD05-T06 — The Explorer and the complete Tier 1 expedition

The current Tier 1 vehicle is the Explorer Rocket, with Tier 1 Rocket as its compact item label. One prepared Explorer supports the first orbital and lunar missions and a dependable return. The earlier Keel and Pilgrim remain preserved proposed hull concepts; they are not two additional compulsory spacecraft. Their useful intentions—readable launch body, real cabin, accessible equipment, and a homeward refuge—inform the current Explorer experience. Orbital and Lunar remain capability classes that one vehicle can span. Mars access is not inferred from that overlap.

The confirmed visual family is pale white and gray casing, restrained orange bands, dark machinery, navy glass, focused blue screens, a stepped nose, square forward window, low hatch, four fins, and a four-nozzle underside. REF11 anchors the detailed vehicle; REF12 anchors the suit; REF09 and REF10 distinguish manufacturing roles; REF15 gathers the named system. REF03 gives the first lunar foothold its visual context. Original sheet brands and approximate figures remain visible as source evidence without becoming production branding or final measurements.

| Stable role | Current responsibility |
| --- | --- |
| T1-M01 Part Fabrication Table | Make recognizable component families from accessible Earth stock. Show inputs, work, a named missing requirement, and real output. |
| T1-M02 Rocket Assembly Station | Control authored construction of one Explorer in a linked berth. Rocket Assembly Table remains a reference alias and possible visual variant. |
| T1-M03 Fuel Refinery and T1-M04 Fuel Pipe | Prepare and transfer SUPPLY01 standard spacecraft propellant through compatible bounded connections. |
| T1-M05 Oxygen Generator | Prepare SUPPLY02 breathing supply through a defined supported Earth input route; filling a tank moves real stored supply. |
| T1-M06 Launch Pad and T1-M07 Control Console | Provide the registered berth, ground services, access, mission selection, cargo preparation, reserve visibility, and departure checks. |
| T1-M08 Storage Crate | Carry real components, equipment, shelter stock, and returned samples with explicit reservations and permissions. |
| T1-S01–T1-S03 | Group refill, dust service, and charging; establish the starter lunar refuge; provide the existing EQ26 recovery-beacon mode. |

The named component family contains Rocket Part, Rocket Engine or Engine Module, Fuel Tank, Navigation Chip or Guidance Chip, and Launch Key. The two chip names refer to one current role. The key and navigation hardware are reusable and recoverable through authorized services. The suit, helmet, and Oxygen Tank implement EQ23 and EQ24 with actual SUPPLY02. A four-nozzle appearance can use one managed engine-cluster responsibility. A labelled drawing part is not automatically a new mandatory item or independently simulated subsystem.

Vehicle assembly and expedition preparation run together. The player makes components and erects a recognizable craft while preparing Earth-produced propellant, breathing supplies, charged field cells, protection, tools, navigation, repair stock, and a complete return allocation. For the default lunar mission, EQ25 starter shelter and its commissioning supplies accompany the working airlocked cabin. The conservative arrival and first committed descent must be supportable by that complete manifest. An optional orbital rehearsal has its own valid smaller manifest and does not require the lunar shelter.

The edition 05 worked example recommends candidate starter supply routes: prepared renewable carbon feedstock, process water, and electricity for propellant; a powered Earth atmosphere-processing mode for breathing supply. These are proposed game recipe families, not confirmed chemistry or completed bills. Coefficients, service demand, and byproduct handling remain explicit unresolved recipe work. Its numerical supply examples demonstrate custody and arithmetic, not measured balance. The first lunar mission assumes no local manufacture of either supply.

The first lunar landing uses surveyed natural ground. It does not require a prebuilt lunar Launch Pad, an external local console, or a lunar refinery. The Explorer's cabin is the immediate retreat while the player deploys and commissions the separate starter refuge. The refuge must work before the first committed underground descent. Later permanent rooms, observatory work, gallery enclosures, and local production expand a foothold that was independently viable from the beginning.

The model specification proposes a nine-block total vehicle height, three-by-three main body, and five-by-five fin envelope. It proposes separate vestibule and upper cabin spaces with two pressure boundaries, one pilot position, real access, and declared supply housings. Those dimensions are not approved production geometry. The six-, nine-, and twelve-block source treatments disagree. T1-DEC01 requires a measured fit review before final model production. The correct response to a failed fit is a deliberate revision, not an impossible hidden interior or the removal of required refuge capability.

T1-DEC02 concerns the station forms: the recommended two-by-two smaller fabricator and three-by-three broader assembly station remain proposed. The assembly station is a controller and jig whose linked berth holds the full vehicle; its small work surface does not contain a nine-block rocket. Pad, hatch, fin, coupler, player, and service clearances must be measured together. The reference's example six-slot cargo display indicates compactness but cannot exclude the full safe starter loadout. Additional crew require designed seats and supplies rather than treating another player as cargo.

The completed Tier 1 experience includes a first meaningful lunar walk and descent, useful samples home, and an improvement to an existing service. One authoritative vehicle identity persists through assembly, travel, landing, refit, recovery, and return. Protected reserves remain actual stock. A blocked home pad, lost key, or interrupted flight has a supported recoverable outcome. A rendered launch or a rocket on a pad is progress toward that experience, not evidence that the complete expedition is implemented.

Full-source details: tier1 — Tier 1 space systems — complete first expedition / T1-OV01 through T1-A02. Proposed fit, ports, stages, and acceptance: tier1-models — Tier 1 — Model and Implementation Specifications / T1-SPEC-02 through T1-SPEC-20; tier1_model_register.json. Confirmed appearance: REF01–REF15, especially REF03, REF09–REF12, and REF15.

Edition 05 candidate supply routes and illustrative accounting: progression_worked_example_05.txt / WP05-PLAN-05 through WP05-PLAN-07.

## CD05-T07 — The Moon as a sustained campaign

The Moon's initial power comes from absence. The cabin is warm, the terrain is spare, Earth is visible, and ordinary fieldwork suddenly depends on supplies the expedition brought. Sound emphasizes suit breathing, transmitted contact, radio, and connected machinery. The intended landscape is predominantly lifeless. Route preparation, dust service, geological observation, construction, and restraint already provide meaningful activity without adding a routine population of lunar enemies.

Its five regional experiences retain their distinct jobs. MO-S1 Earthrise Rim offers long silhouettes, safe construction shelves, arrival inspection, and the first homeward view. MO-S2 Shadow Basin turns darkness into a choice of marker chains, anchors, sheltered margins, and longer conservative routes. MO-L1 Regolith Hollows uses cramped fractured spaces, dust shelves, bounded unstable features, and careful braced sampling. MO-L2 Basalt Galleries opens into sweeping tubes, choke points, roof light, alternate exits, and attractive sites for deliberately enclosed habitats. MO-L3 Glassfall Vaults adds impact-glass seams, reflective fractures, ledges, and careful instrument movement.

The first campaign region guarantees an attainable landing, walking loop, shallow descent, Basalt Gallery reveal, common regolith, an obtainable initial glass sample, and a viable return using pre-lunar equipment. These are opportunity guarantees, not one fixed map. Critical access avoids precision-jump-only solutions. A roofed gallery remains exposed unless a supported sealed habitat actually operates inside it. A visually sheltered alcove does not manufacture air or charge a cell.

The Lunar Shelter Controller grows through stable support, a protected sleeping cell and powered airlock, dust porch and stores, workshop, and optional expanded rooms or gallery enclosure. Each commissioned service works while later extensions remain unfinished. The Rim Observatory Controller is a separate purposeful landmark. Its observations improve known local survey information rather than exposing every underground chamber. Original plans remain the authority for the working boundary of each room and service.

A Light Across the Basin gives repeat visits a visible purpose. The player identifies two natural viewpoints, surveys candidate relay positions, prepares a working route, carries instruments, corrects readable connection or alignment problems, and deliberately completes the observation. The project uses bounded alignment and participant-present viewing conditions. Its reward is a maintained route, better local knowledge, and an observatory worth visiting. A failed alignment explains its cause without consuming the whole instrument or erasing earlier success.

PM01 Regolith Ceramic and PM02 Lunar Glass Filament first reward a survivable expedition. Regolith becomes useful panels, insulating pieces, and building forms; glass-bearing feedstock becomes light guides and instrument parts. A first batch can be processed at home. Local machinery later reduces bulky transport and improves outpost convenience, using imported equipment and explicit inputs. A powered lunar workshop is not automatically a breathing-refill or propellant service. Each capability names the supply route it actually supports.

The three existing expeditions progress from the first tube and view home, to the basin relay route, to a deeper glass route and optional gallery workshop. They retain shorter successful stopping points, clear return allocations, and reasons to revisit after Mars opens. New interior art illustrates the occupied refuge and its service threshold; it does not certify exact fit or silently pressurize the surrounding cave.

Full-source details: approved — Moon; moon-mars — Moon — complete destination planning expansion / MO-PLAN-01 through MO-PLAN-11 and MO-EXP-01 through MO-EXP-03. Current Tier 1 relation: tier1 / T1-X02 through T1-X04 and T1-S02. Visual context: OV-MOON, REF03, and the existing Moon layer and expedition diagrams.

## CD05-T08 — Mars, field competence, and the regional home

Mars extends an expedition from a radius around one refuge into a connected regional journey. Distant escarpments, old drainage, weather, rover routes, and sheltered camps turn the horizon into a practical question. The arriving expedition brings protection, filtration, insulation, supplies, repairs, sample handling, a weather reader, refuge capability, and a rover or its supported assembly materials from previously available production. Nearby useful surveying remains possible while rover assembly is postponed.

MA-S1 Windcut Tablelands provides terraces, saddles, gullies, service shelves, and viewpoints from which a route can be judged. MA-S2 Buried Delta supplies branching dry channels, cross-sections, concealed continuations, and decisions about where to leave the rover. MA-L1 Ochre Galleries offers sheltered layered passages and supported sealed camp sites. MA-L2 Brine Scarps concentrates isolated fictional brine pockets, protected sampling positions, and equipment handling. MA-L3 Rootstone Chambers changes the exploration language to tracing connected geological ribs through several spaces.

Walking access and vehicle access are different surveyed facts. A narrow slot may connect two rooms without carrying a rover or bulky instrument. A useful cargo route needs clearance, turning and stopping places, and a workable connection to shelter. The player can choose a longer drivable channel, a foot route with a cache, or a later constructed crossing. Required progression must retain a viable solution without insisting that an unsuitable generated route somehow accommodates the vehicle.

Weather changes a known landscape without destroying its continuity. Dust fronts have visible approach, forecast information, and sufficient response time. Shelter, postponement, and protected channels are useful answers. The first weather change is observable from safety. A camp can support service, sample work, or another modest activity while exposure is unattractive. Parked destinations do not secretly ruin filters, bury every doorway, or consume the greenhouse during real-world absence.

The Frontier Yard grows incrementally: service pad and shelter; rover bay and repair gantry; weather mast and map station; materials workshop; greenhouse; regional supply depot. Clear cargo lanes, pedestrian access, protected stock, sample work, and repair positions give the yard a readable shape. The player can stop with a modest useful refuge and bay, specialize in field industry, or develop a comfortable second home. Not every route needs an identical full settlement.

The River That Isn't There connects surface pattern, candidate continuations, field camp, protected brine evidence, and a Rootstone instrument site. Each outing narrows the explanation and opens a usable route. Bad readings have identifiable local causes and alternative measurement positions. Partial observations survive weather interruptions and returns. A solo player can stage the same tasks that a group divides among driving, surveying, carrying, sampling, and construction.

PM03 Ferric Lattice improves repairable frames, rover components, and field machinery after arrival. It cannot be necessary to build the first rover that reaches its source. PM04 Brine Catalyst supports selected compact processes and habitat improvements, with imported sampling protection available first. CEC01 optional brine mats remain conditional: their absence must leave survival, recipes, clues, and progression intact. Rootstone remains predominantly geological. Current new scenes should omit unselected mats rather than accidentally deciding the unresolved life proposal through attractive scenery.

Full-source details: approved — Mars; moon-mars — Mars — complete destination planning expansion / MA-PLAN-01 through MA-PLAN-11 and MA-EXP-01 through MA-EXP-03. Conditional ecology: CEC01 in the approved visual register and illustrated_03_scope_data.json. Visual context: OV-MARS and the existing Mars layer and expedition diagrams.

## CD05-T09 — Outer Worlds, Afterlight, and spacecraft breadth

Each farther destination changes the work of exploration and gives the player's earlier network another use. The nine documented celestial destinations contain 38 named regional experiences and eighteen planetary material entries. Those entries include processed products and research media; they are not eighteen new conventional ores. The full source catalogue preserves every named region, controller, mission, and material. The comparison below keeps the relationship between place, expedition, and reward visible without substituting a row for its complete chapter.

| Destination | Characteristic expedition and retained project | Useful contribution and route status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ceres | Broken Crown, Rubble Mazes, Ice Pockets, and Anchorstone Spine support the Tetherworks and Holdfast anchored-cargo mission. | Optional Interplanetary branch. Dark-Ice Concentrate and Porous Nickel Matrix improve selected storage, handling, and manufacturing choices. |
| Europa | Fracture Plains and Blue Pressure Halls open into Lantern Ocean and Vent Gardens through the Ice Descent project and Where the Ceiling Glows. | Principal Deep-Space destination. Cryoseal Gel improves cold sealing; Resonant Silica supports acoustic sensing and stays distinct from Earth's resonant quartz. |
| Io | Sulfur Terraces, Cooling Galleries, Pressure Orchards, and Furnace Wells support Heatworks and Borrowed Fire. | Optional Deep-Space engineering branch. Thermal Spine Crystal and Sulfur Ceramic improve bounded heat-transfer and enclosure duties. Pressure Orchards are mineral chimneys, not plants. |
| Titan | Amber Littoral, Waxstone Canyons, Hollow Weather, and Slow Gardens connect Harbor Lantern with A Route Through the Haze. | Principal Deep-Space destination. Amber Polymer and Liftweave Membrane support particular housings, lightweight structures, and bounded local atmospheric craft. |
| Pluto | Long Shadow Plain, Frost Fold, Nightglass Rifts, and Quiet Lens support the Far Observatory and The Last Familiar Sky. | Solar System conclusion. Nightglass improves low-light optics; Memory Frost preserves a research record; observation supports a further route hypothesis. |
| Cairn | Shard March, Inverted Terraces, Palimpsest Halls, and Witness Engine support Witness Camp and What Remains in the Gaps. | Proposed Interstellar continuation in Afterlight. Palimpsest Plate and Phase Tine support bounded local precision and archival work after arrival. |
| Morrow | Dawn Canopy, Rooted Vaults, Tide Orchards, and Hearthsea support Hearthsea Conservatory and A Place for Tomorrow. | Proposed Afterlight capstone. Living Ceramic and Tidelace Fiber connect controlled cultivation, construction, sensing, and optional restoration. |

All first-arrival equipment and an independent return come from already reachable sources. Europa's imported pressure-rated equipment reaches its initial useful sampling zone; improved local products extend later work. Io's high-energy branch remains optional for the principal outward route. Titan supports a useful first landing without a locally built aircraft. Pluto's expedition arrives with known long-duration services rather than depending on a mysterious new material to stay alive.

Pluto completes a real campaign, with a constructed observatory, interpreted observations, and a return worth celebrating. Its route evidence does not conjure an Interstellar vessel. The first Afterlight voyage combines previously reachable components, conventional independent survival, calibrated navigation, and a bounded fictional transit assembly. Cairn products improve subsequent local investigation and are not prerequisites for reaching Cairn. Cairn's observations chart the safe local approach to Morrow while preserving an independent route back to the Solar System.

Afterlight remains a proposed working system name. Cairn's memory and interpretation lead to Morrow's living frontier, where a capstone can involve observation, a chosen restoration plan, and a useful community rather than one final stronger ore. Conventional shelter still makes first contact manageable. Bounded extraordinary mechanisms have limited jobs; they do not supply infinite energy, arbitrary terrain rewriting, or universal solutions to every system. Completing the story leaves the world inhabited and available for continued play.

The six spacecraft capability classes remain Atmospheric, Orbital, Lunar, Interplanetary, Deep-Space, and Interstellar. Lark, Keel, Pilgrim, Peregrine, Hearth, and Far Lantern are preserved representative hull proposals. The current Explorer supersedes the assumption of separate mandatory Keel and Pilgrim vehicles for Tier 1. REF06 and REF07 preserve the supplied later-tier appearance references, but size and printed concept labels alone do not assign their final destination capability. Detailed Tier 2 and Tier 3 systems remain to be developed deliberately.

Ships and stations use recognizable authored configurations with cockpit, cabin, cargo, service, laboratory, and workshop choices appropriate to their actual size. Parked vessels are useful explorable places. The recommended travel model combines authored launches and landings, supported local movement, bounded docking, and destination travel with an optional shorter presentation for familiar journeys. Home Orbit Anchorage, Transfer Yard, and their shared modules support already established routes. Survey Rover, Cargo Crawler, Ice Submersible, and Atmospheric Survey Skiff are support-vehicle families, not four more spacecraft classes.

The illustrated atlas also represents bodies without full landing campaigns. Mercury, Venus, Uranus, and Neptune retain further-design status. Jupiter and Saturn supply orbital and sky context for the documented moons. Their presence in a solar-system view does not claim finished surface content. A new destination would need its own distinctive experience, arrival and return chain, regional geography, and lasting home benefit before being treated as another documented campaign.

Full-source details: approved — Space exploration; Ceres; Europa; Io; Titan; Pluto; Afterlight; Cairn; Morrow; Spacecraft and orbital places; Planetary materials and reference catalogue. Current scope: illustrated / ILL-S06 and ILL-S10; illustrated_03_scope_data.json. Current Explorer reconciliation: tier1 / T1-OV01. Visual context: OV-OUTER, OV-FRONTIERS, REF06, and REF07.

## CD05-T10 — Equipment, ecology, encounters, and sensory identity

Equipment follows tasks rather than a universal gear score. The 32 EQ families cover hand tools, controlled excavation, traversal, carrying, lighting, navigation, samples, cultivation, pumping, field power, protection, shelter, communication, repair, aquatic work, shielding, and specialist sensing. A useful first version teaches an action; an improvement extends duration, range, cargo comfort, precision, or a supported environmental duty. One late suit should not erase every meaningful route problem or make all familiar equipment obsolete.

Prepared loadouts remain legible. The player chooses a destination or known route and sees relevant equipment, supplies, cargo, reserves, and any essential omission. Serious exposure belongs to suitable protection and actual operating supply. Ordinary food can support travel while regional cooking supplies variety and convenience. The design avoids independent nutrition or service meters for every local ingredient. Saved preparation orders eventually make familiar trips easier without silently borrowing private storage or consuming protected reserves.

The twelve Earth creature families are Pebbleback, Wickmoth, Tunneltuft, Mossback, Canopy Skimmer, Fenpaddle, Slateback, Rillfin, Veilray, Shelfstalker, Emberback, and Stillhorn. Their identities connect habitat, posture, movement, readable warning, and player response. Watching an animal can reveal a shallow margin, an existing material exposure, a crossing, or a vent cycle. Territorial behavior can invite a detour, a barrier, patience, distraction, or combat. No unique progression ingredient requires repeated killing of a rare specimen.

The ten plant and fungal families are Tideleaf, Springfern, Lanternroot, Breadcap, Threadmoss, Ironbark, Loamweave, Glowcup, Emberreed, and Glassleaf. They connect habitat to food, resin, fiber, soil, cultivation, light, and optional display. Their source, harvestable growth, carried sample, and managed cultivated form need consistent visual relationships. A giant natural root column can have a modest cultivable form. A bounded bed uses one or two understandable conditions, retains a renewable base where appropriate, and does not spread indefinitely into unrelated blocks.

Living content supplies quiet activity as well as danger. Familiar surface farming remains dependable. Fishing rewards reading shore shape, depth, and visible activity. Cultivation gives a returned sample a place in a home. A natural refuge, a garden, or a peaceful Stillhorn encounter can complete a worthwhile outing without combat. Moon, Ceres, Io, Pluto, and Cairn retain environmental encounters without invented indigenous creature populations. Europa, Titan, and Morrow contain specific fictional family proposals; conditional CEC01 is treated separately.

The four Earth encounter proposals remain The Canopy Crossing, Slateback at the Landing, The Far Beacon Recovery, and The Thermal Relay. Each resolves a local situation through learned capabilities. The canopy route can support an explicitly commissioned optional alternate crossing. The Slateback encounter can end with a bypass, redirection, or combat. The beacon expedition combines navigation and bounded water work with a dry alternative. The thermal relay uses signaled phases, shielding, service, and safe staging. These choices preserve the wider construction and recovery rules rather than inventing encounter-only exceptions.

Sound and visual treatment preserve each realm's emotional range. Familiar weather and open air give way to nearby water, living activity, working spaces, distance, thermal movement, and deep stillness. Music accompanies discoveries and returns while leaving useful environmental listening possible. Warnings depend on actual events and have clear endings. Essential information uses more than one channel: text, shape, placement, motion, contrast, and optional sound. Reduced particles, motion, bloom, or stereo hearing must leave a route and its dangers understandable.

Full-source details: approved — Tools equipment and preparation; Life ecology and encounters; Materials and the crafting economy; Connected adventures and player experience; Visual direction and the illustrated edition. Stable families: EQ01–EQ32, BIO01–BIO12, FL01–FL10, ENC01–ENC04, CEC01–CEC11. Representative visual context: ILL03-06 through ILL03-08.

## CD05-T11 — Visual direction, reference evidence, and honest coverage

The accepted quarry and shoreline direction remains the surface visual target: rich blue water, visible underwater growth, expressive trees, warm sunlight, shaded rock, and depth that makes the landscape inviting to explore. It must be translated into two kinds of work. New ledges, cave entrances, plant forms, tree silhouettes, materials, and structures require actual content. Soft shadows, reflections, atmospheric haze, bloom, and grading are presentation. A shader can enrich existing shape; it cannot be credited with generating the extra geography invented by a concept image.

Minecraft-compatible forms, material boundaries, human-scale access, and modifiable space are the base. Dark regions use readable foregrounds and selected landmarks. Living light comes from recognizable growth rather than universal colored illumination. Mantle heat has visible sources and cooler usable pockets. Core scenes use restraint around unusual formations. Warm maintained interiors give the player a reason to value shelter in all of those places. The same copper fitting, suit, crate, or processed panel should remain identifiable under a new world's light.

The preserved baseline contains fifteen confirmed reference sheets, sixteen raster concepts, and nineteen editable diagrams or interface sheets: fifty distinct visuals. The original and display raster copies produce more files without creating more distinct designs. The ten illustrated guides complete the agreed overview coverage. Their representative family boards do not complete every regional activity image, machine turnaround, creature pose, growth state, or production asset requested by the much larger commissioning register.

The current visual-status overlay resolves specific historical wording. UX01–UX12 are supplied as illustrative editable layouts across four interface sheets. FP-ART01 and FP-ART02 are supplied by ILL03-01 Old Valley and ILL03-02 First workshop. Earlier source sentences saying that those images are planned, or that a historical planning slice generated no images, remain accurate records of their time. The overlay supplies current delivery state without changing those originals. A record with no matching delivered view retains its existing status.

New occupied-space concepts should answer the next concrete questions: where a person enters, stands, rests, stores equipment, passes a service threshold, and sees the change produced by restoration or commissioning. The guesthouse and starter lunar refuge are selected because their exterior role is already established while their use benefits from a closer look. A selected machine or expedition scene can extend that explanation. Each actual new asset receives its own ID, source references, purpose, status, and limits in the new delivery record.

Precise information belongs in editable diagrams: dimensions, room relationships, typed ports, material flows, chapter links, route alternatives, and state transitions. Generated scenes illustrate atmosphere, occupation, and material character. They do not certify a cabin fit, count an inventory, or decide the disputed station form. The current edition should label the documented proposed dimensions beside an exact layout, while the source reference remains accessible for comparison. Text and diagrams govern when an attractive generated detail conflicts with the plan.

A complete object study eventually needs a silhouette, attachment or grip, access, and the states that affect use. A material needs source, sample, processed appearance where relevant, and an application. A creature needs a normal pose, relevant warning or response, scale, and habitat. A structure needs prior condition, meaningful construction stage, working result, and a connected interior. These are useful production questions. They remain individual work items until corresponding views exist, and a new broad board cannot close them by implication.

Full-source details: approved — Visual direction and the illustrated edition; illustrated — Illustrated overview — ten reading guides. Current specific completions: current_visual_coverage.json, illustrated_coverage.json, illustrated_visual_catalogue.json. Preserved source references: reference_catalogue.json. Complete historical commission register: artwork_backlog.json. New delivery counts belong to the edition 05 asset manifest.

## CD05-T12 — The short decision review and editorial reconciliations

Only three material creative choices belong in the present decision review. T1-DEC01 is the Explorer scale and usable cabin. The recommendation is to test the nine-block, three-by-three body and five-by-five fin arrangement with real access, two pressure boundaries, suit clearance, pilot position, cargo, and service volumes. A larger shell remains a legitimate alternative if the actual fit fails. Approval to illustrate this proposal does not approve its dimensions for final production.

T1-DEC02 is the manufacturing-station form. The recommendation is a visibly smaller Part Fabrication Table based on REF10 and a broader Rocket Assembly Station based on REF09 controlling construction in its linked berth. The lower bench variants remain preserved alternatives. Selecting a form changes footprint and presentation; it does not introduce a third mandatory manufacturing role. Final station models should follow the specific reviewed distinction.

CEC01 is optional Mars brine-mat life. The current recommendation is to retain it as a conditional future option and omit it from unselected current scenes. If enabled later, sparse colonies add observation and local response without becoming survival, recipe, or mission dependencies. If declined, Brine Scarps remains a complete geological and protected-sampling experience. Nothing else in the current documentation waits on this choice.

Other issues are resolved editorially or left with their existing evidence gate. Early Tier 1 does not require Core. Explorer consolidates the current orbital/lunar vehicle. Navigation and Guidance Chip remain one role; Rocket Assembly Table is an assembly-station alias; the recovery beacon is EQ26's mode. A grain mill, ordinary quarry stone service, and ore crusher have different functions. Surface Expedition House is a later optional depot rather than the opening guesthouse. Proposed values remain proposed, and reference brands do not rename SUBSTELLAR.

The reconciliation ledger records the source passages and the current resolution for these relationships. It also distinguishes historical “next image” language from delivered views and the bounded First Playable from later Chapter 4 and market work. World-envelope feasibility, native recipes, engine integration, performance, detailed balance, and measured fit remain future investigation or validation tasks. Their existence is not a request to answer a long questionnaire before this documentation can be complete.

Full-source details: decisions_05.json and direction_map_05.json / reconciliations; tier1_model_register.json / decisions; first_playable_register.json / user_decisions_required_to_finish_planning; moon-mars / MA-PLAN-03, MA-PLAN-10, and MA-PLAN-11.

## CD05-T13 — Further detail with a concrete stopping point

The remaining expansion register turns the larger vision into defined content work without calling every illustrative or implementation task complete. Each entry names an existing family, the useful further detail, its source references, a completion criterion, and the evidence still required. A complete scene-level example can be delivered for one expedition while other expeditions retain their existing overview. New writing broadens the plan; only matching delivered art closes a visual requirement.

The next useful level for Earth's regions is a full route through one selected experience: arrival, landmarks, choices, useful work, shelter, interruption, return, and a lasting change. That pattern applies to all thirty-five named experiences while preserving their different purposes. Old Valley's remaining chapter work needs the grain mill, connected workshop and market preparations, then an occupied first market with arrivals and a durable result. The guesthouse interior study enriches the first chapter without completing those later events.

Moon and Mars already have detailed campaigns and three expeditions each. Further work should make selected rooms, service actions, route segments, weather interruptions, vehicle uses, and regional variants concrete. Their documents do not need another introductory rewrite. Farther destinations need the same scene-level depth: a complete arrival-to-return expedition, a locally distinctive working refuge, a first useful product, and an optional continuation. A new regional view should show an activity and a way home as clearly as its distant atmosphere.

Machine work proceeds by related function or production chain. A finished detail slice identifies first accessible inputs, useful output, physical flow, connection types, working and service access, blocked and parked states, and the property an upgrade improves. Material work connects a natural source or collection process to its handled form and installed use. Equipment work adds grip, attachment, carrying, warnings, and field operation. Life work adds behavior, posture, propagation, habitat, and encounter response. These related treatments keep objects consistent when they appear in an expedition scene.

Spacecraft expansion retains the same discipline. A later hull needs an explicit capability, configuration, interior, cargo plan, service chain, boarding relationship, independent first-arrival survival, and return before its larger silhouette means a complete feature. The supplied Tier 2 and Tier 3 concepts remain the appearance starting point. Orbital hubs and support vehicles need their own occupied working scenes and docking or terrain relationships. New planet concepts beyond the documented campaigns must first earn a distinctive gameplay purpose.

The authorized four-slice update brings together the current-direction account, worked industry and expedition chains, selected occupied-space imagery and exact diagrams, and a complete scene-level experience. Its concrete deliverables can be handed to the Website agent through a bounded content update with source IDs and clear asset metadata. Existing website implementation and the preserved source history remain available to that agent. This is a finished documentation increment, with the full remaining families visible and future mod implementation still governed by an explicit BUILD scope.

The selected scene-level experience is MO-EXP-01, The first tube and the view home, expanded through LE05-PLAN-01–15. The selected concepts are the guesthouse restoration, starter lunar refuge, and IND-M04 forming press. Six exact diagrams accompany their source, workflow, reserve, room, decision, and route relationships. Shadow Basin, Glassfall Vaults, and other dedicated views keep their separate remaining scope.

Full-source details: remaining_expansion_05.json; approved — Turning the creative direction into a future roadmap; source-specific artwork sections; illustrated_coverage.json / dedicated_views_remaining. Exact edition 05 delivery scope and newly supplied image IDs are recorded in the package manifest rather than inferred from this family register.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: current_direction_05.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: progression_worked_example_05.txt | SHA-256 e7217dbada91901b5f5a43af1390be41a6dc54f9e895942c3d846b167aa3c280 =====

# Worked progression — a powered workshop and the first lunar return

## WP05-PLAN-01 — The question this example answers

A completed Explorer should be the visible outcome of a workshop the player understands. A successful Moon expedition should then give that workshop something useful to do. This worked example follows that complete relationship: existing mechanical competence, the first useful electrical service, a finite Tier 1 production order, a prepared round trip, and two possible uses for the returned material. The end is a better light or habitat component installed somewhere the player already cares about.

The starting point is after the bounded First Playable's repaired guesthouse, crossing, quarry, first alloy demonstration and useful hoist improvement. Their construction costs are already documented under FP-C01–FP-C06 and FP-R01–FP-R04. They are not charged again. Old Valley can host the next work, but an independently built workshop with equivalent reachable services is equally valid. Chapters 4 and 5 remain part of Old Valley's continuing story; they do not become unstated permission checks for every Tier 1 component.

This is a complete design walk-through at the level of obtainable resource families, machine roles, supply custody and player consequences. Final machine bills, numerical recipes, route costs and cargo capacities remain proposals. The small numerical ledgers below are expressly illustrative accounting examples. They show whether one proposed allocation can be followed without duplication; they do not establish measured gameplay balance or claim that a six-slot illustration already fits the manifest. No mod implementation has been inspected or authorized by this document.

Source basis: IP02, IP03; T1-OV01–T1-OV03; FP-PLAN-02, FP-PLAN-09–FP-PLAN-10; T1-SPEC-01–T1-SPEC-02. Machine aliases retain their source identity throughout: IND-M02 is T1-M01; IND-M46 is T1-M02; IND-M45 is T1-M03; IND-M40 is T1-M05.

## WP05-PLAN-02 — What enters the workshop

The player begins with known ordinary sources and opens only the branches that answer a real project. Iron supports frames and replaceable fittings. Copper supports electrical conductors and familiar service connections. Glass provides windows and early optical parts. Redstone supplies the control vocabulary. Clay, fuel, ordinary fibers and supported sealing materials complete the first preparation family. Stone and timber continue to give machinery a place to stand.

| Input family | Reachable first source | First relevant use | Avoided dependency |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Iron, copper, stone and timber | Familiar Earth gathering, approachable Shallows exposures and existing quarry access | Frames, conductors, tools, supports and common fittings | A crusher, electric refinery or space material is not required to obtain the first stock. |
| Glass and basic circuit stock | Established Earth glassmaking and reachable redstone; ordinary prepared components | Windows, navigation hardware and machine controls | Improved lunar optics are a later refit. |
| Clay and furnace fuel | Accessible Earth deposits and an audited coal or renewable-charcoal route | Simple fired insulation and vessels | A technical kiln cannot require its own first finished lining. |
| Cloth and sealing stock | Ordinary fibers, safe cultivated/fringe sources, and the supported honeycomb or early seal option | Sealed cloth, filters, gaskets, suit service and shelter joints | Deepwilds resin may offer another route; hazardous deep collection is not mandatory. |
| Water and renewable carbon feedstock | A reachable source and familiar fuel preparation | Candidate compact propellant process and supported workshop service | No lunar ice, advanced fermentation plant or new rare ore. |
| Survey knowledge | Earth observation service, existing field records and initial mission data | A supported Explorer lunar route | The Navigation Chip never asks for its own first lunar sample. |

These are availability obligations for the eventual content plan. A seed must offer a practical earlier source or a deliberately supported substitute for each required family. A rare tree, unique ruin chest, scarce creature drop or distant mandatory biome cannot become a hidden bottleneck because a placeholder recipe happened to use it. Where a substitute changes performance, the interface should explain that property; it should not quietly make the accessible option incapable of the advertised mission.

Source basis: original “Familiar resources that remain useful,” “Biological gathering and cultivation” and “Processed products”; MAT01, MAT09–MAT11; industry “Chain A” and “Chain B”; T1-OV01; T1-M01; T1-M05.

## WP05-PLAN-03 — Electricity earns its place

The first powered installation should answer a small visible need. The player mounts a workshop dynamo and source assembly, links it to a modest stationary bank through the switchboard, and connects a field-cell charging position. The first output is an existing EQ19 battery with usable SUPPLY03 charge. A work light and survey instrument can now leave the bench ready for an expedition. This result matters even if the rocket project is postponed.

A suitable existing mechanical source can drive the dynamo. A small fueled source supplies an alternative where water or wind is inconvenient. The construction of that first source uses earlier common stock; refined aluminum, high-duty alloy and the output of an electrical materials cell are excluded from its bootstrap bill. Furnace fuel used to make charcoal, raw logs consumed by that preparation, and active generator fuel are separate costs. A prepared fuel allowance never proves that producing the allowance was free.

The switchboard initially has an essential service branch and a workshop branch. The player can read current supply, stored charge, permitted delivery and connected demand. When a fabrication order exceeds delivery, it waits or uses an explicitly supported slower mode. It does not extinguish an occupied test enclosure to keep producing fins. Stored energy and maximum delivery are separate constraints: a well-charged field cell is not automatically an acceptable refinery supply.

An expanded forming press, rolling stand or powered handling line is attractive when repeated shaping becomes the inconvenience. It remains an IP04 capacity investment rather than a compulsory machine between every common ingot and the first rocket. Simple shaping, hand loading and small batches retain useful places. This is the same machine family becoming more convenient through selected tooling and power, without turning an early bench into a universal factory.

Source basis: IND-M04, IND-M05, IND-M32, IND-M37–IND-M39; EQ19; TEC07; IP02; industry “Power as a set of visible decisions.”

## WP05-PLAN-04 — A selected workshop, with distinct jobs

The first space program uses compact functions within recognizable installation families. The player need not construct a separate building for each line below. Related tests and services can share an appropriately equipped work surface, while the actual material transformation remains visible and inspectable.

| Working place | Function and output | Why it remains useful |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Metalworking and ordinary bench | Common fittings, supports, prepared stock and service parts | Repairs, paths, lifting equipment and later construction reuse the same vocabulary. |
| Kiln and ceramic station, IND-M09 / TEC02 | Earth-fired vessels and insulation | The station later accepts a documented lunar ceramic procedure. |
| Textile, panel and seal work, IND-M10–IND-M12 / TEC04 | Sealed cloth, protection layers, service gaskets and enclosure parts | The same stock repairs the suit and refuge rather than producing a unique seal for each object. |
| Part Fabrication Table, T1-M01 / IND-M02 | Recognized rocket structural parts and prepared component assemblies | Refit and replacement orders remain available after the first launch. |
| Rocket Assembly Station, T1-M02 / IND-M46 | One registered Explorer from its complete component order | It services the existing vehicle; assembly is not repeated merely to travel again. |
| Fuel Refinery, T1-M03 / IND-M45 | SUPPLY01 Standard spacecraft propellant | The product serves supported Tier 1 routes through one typed supply family. |
| Oxygen Generator and refill service, T1-M05 / IND-M40–IND-M41 | SUPPLY02 prepared on Earth and transferred into compatible vessels | Empty tanks remain refillable hardware. |
| Equipment service and test functions, IND-M42, IND-M47, IND-M49 | Inspected suit, enclosure and vehicle components | They identify missing hardware, missing supply and bounded faults separately. |
| Sample and optical work, IND-M50–IND-M51 / TEC08–TEC09 | Interpreted specimens and a relevant light-guide or survey component | Returned observations lead to a visible improvement. |

The simple fabrication route prepares a small structural family, an Engine Module, a Fuel Tank, Navigation Chip and Launch Key. Decorative details such as individual rivets, every nozzle, each bracket silhouette and each screw do not automatically become independent inventory requirements. The assembly record explains which prepared parts become the body, cockpit, service supports and installed propulsion. The four visible nozzles remain one managed engine cluster under T1-SPEC-13.

The complete order includes functioning cabin and cargo services. A hull without them is a visibly incomplete vehicle, even if its silhouette resembles the finished reference. The player can commission the pad while the assembly station waits with a completed craft; that delay cannot create a second rocket bill. T1-I01–T1-I05, REF10, REF09, REF11 and REF15 govern the relevant identities and source appearances.

## WP05-PLAN-05 — Supply production without a circular recipe

For further review, this example recommends a compact Earth propellant recipe family based on prepared renewable carbon feedstock, process water and electricity. It deliberately names game input categories rather than asserting an actual rocket chemistry. The final accepted feedstock, quantities, batch output, service use and bounded residue destination still require recipe design. An advanced chemical train may improve throughput or flexibility later; it cannot be silently inserted into this first route.

Write the candidate batch as C units of accepted carbon feedstock plus W units of accepted process water plus E_P units of workshop energy, with any declared service consumption, producing Y_P units of SUPPLY01 and R units of identified residue. C, W, E_P and Y_P are positive defined recipe values before implementation. R may be zero only if that is an explicit design decision. When residue exists, it occupies a supported buffer or named destination and cannot yield more inputs on reprocessing than the process consumed. These letters are ledger parameters, not collectible items.

For the first Oxygen Generator, the recommended default is a powered Earth atmosphere-processing mode with a valid local intake, defined service media and a compatible breathing receiver. The environment supplies the allowed intake; electricity and service stock pay the process cost. Rejected intake exits through the declared Earth exhaust behavior, without creating a new mandatory industrial gas item. The eventual recipe defines output per supported operation and service interval. A water-processing alternative can be added once its whole input and byproduct chain is specified. Neither option claims real gas chemistry.

On the Moon the Earth intake mode is unavailable. The first shelter provides stored-supply transfer, equipment checks and service using what was brought. A machine mesh does not establish local production. If later local processing is offered, its location-specific recipe, energy demand, service stock and actual feedstock become a separate commissioned capability. The first trip's reserve calculation assumes zero local manufacture of fuel or breathing supply.

Both candidate processes must expose a complete production order before the player spends the build cost. At this planning stage, the dependency graph closes at obtainable Earth categories; it does not yet yield a final whole-project bill of materials. That is a concrete remaining numerical design task, not a reason to invent definitive recipes from an illustrative grid.

Source basis: T1-M03, T1-M05, T1-S01; IND-M16–IND-M17, IND-M40–IND-M45; industry “Chain D,” “Chain E,” and “Fluids, gases, and heat.”

## WP05-PLAN-06 — The complete order and its accounting

The manufacturing ledger has three different kinds of cost. Infrastructure is installed once: the required workshop functions, launch services and assembly equipment. Reusable mission hardware includes the Explorer, suit, tanks, field equipment and shelter structure. Active use consumes defined propellant, breathing supply, energy and actual service stock. A second visit normally pays replenishment and chosen upgrades, not a new hull, another key and an entire duplicate factory.

For every recipe j, record an integer batch count n_j, input vector a_j, output vector b_j, permitted machine and available earlier sources. Gross demand for input i is the sum of n_j × a_ij plus direct construction and mission consumption. Existing unreserved stock and legitimate outputs reduce new gathering demand. A reusable pattern is counted once as installed tooling; a component committed to the Explorer is counted as part of that craft and is unavailable for a simultaneous shelter order. Uncommitted queued stock remains in its actual source inventory.

| Ledger line | Proposed scope | Accounting boundary |
| --- | --- | --- |
| WP05-B01 | Existing mechanical workshop and First Playable result | Starting infrastructure; its previous bill is neither erased nor charged again. |
| WP05-B02 | Required electrical, fabrication, supply and launch functions | Exact common-material build recipes remain to be filled. Optional capacity upgrades are separate. |
| WP05-B03 | One Explorer, one supported pilot configuration, one suit/helmet system | The pilot is a passenger record, never an item. Installed tanks, chip, key and service parts retain their identities. |
| WP05-B04 | One EQ25 starter refuge kit and actual commissioning stores | Packed construction contents transfer into one supported structure. Materials and installed result cannot both remain in cargo. |
| WP05-B05 | Selected personal and route equipment, supplies and repair stock | Equipment is reusable unless a particular active action consumes its stated part. |
| WP05-B06 | First outbound leg, lunar activity and return | Supply allocations draw from actual vessels. Reserves are purpose labels within real stock. |
| WP05-B07 | Returned specimens and one selected material application | Study, preserved display samples and processing have different custody; the same sample cannot satisfy all three consumptively. |

The companion progression_ledger_05.json records these distinctions, supply allocations, dependency edges, assumptions and acceptance conditions. It is a design ledger with deliberately unresolved parameters; empty numerical recipe fields must not be interpreted as zero-cost crafting.

## WP05-PLAN-07 — An illustrative round-trip supply ledger

The following numbers are a closed arithmetic illustration, identified WP05-EX01. “PU,” “BU,” and “EU” mean illustrative propellant, breathing and electrical accounting units respectively. They have no prescribed relationship to liters, seconds, real energy or future inventory capacity. They are different quantities and cannot be exchanged. Their purpose is to make allocation, consumption and remaining custody inspectable.

| Supply | Initial mission allocation | Baseline active consumption | Remainder after homecoming |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SUPPLY01: 120 PU | Outbound 50; protected return 50; contingency 15; optional manoeuvre allowance 5 | Outbound 50 plus return 50 = 100 | 20 in the same returned Explorer; unused allowance is retained. |
| SUPPLY02: 240 BU | Outbound cabin 20; surface work 40; descent 40; refuge 60; protected return 20; emergency 40; unassigned refuge stock 20 | 20 + 40 + 40 + 60 + 20 = 180 | 40 emergency BU returns in its real vessel; 20 BU remains in the parked refuge. |
| Stored electricity: 320 EU | Cabin/travel 80; suit 60; field light/survey 50; refuge 100; emergency 30 | 80 + 60 + 50 + 80 = 270 | 30 emergency EU returns in real storage; 20 EU remains in the parked refuge. |

The propellant example begins with 150 PU already produced in an Earth reservoir. Loading 120 leaves 30 there. After the round trip, the system therefore holds 30 PU at home plus 20 in the returned vehicle, with 100 consumed. Refilling the craft changes location, not total supply. The example does not specify how many refinery batches produce 150; that follows only when Y_P and its input costs are defined.

The breathing example assigns 40 BU to the cabin, 60 to the fitted field vessel, 60 to a spare and 80 to the refuge's imported storage. The fitted vessel supports 40 BU of surface use and the first 20 of the descent allocation. The spare provides the remaining 20 of descent use while preserving 40 emergency BU. The refuge consumes 60 and retains 20. A transfer between these vessels must debit one and credit the other once. Its displayed mission labels never create a second stockpile.

The electrical example assigns 90 EU to vehicle storage, 70 to supported suit storage, 60 to field-device storage and 100 to the refuge. Ten EU in each of the first three locations remains reserved, for a total 30 EU emergency allowance. Device compatibility and delivery limits still apply. The returned 30 EU is not one universal cell that can power any machine. Charging input is at least delivered charge divided by a defined efficiency, with conversion loss and workshop process energy charged separately.

Actual values must eventually come from a route's measured active demand, protection settings, transfer losses where supported, and a fair return margin. Required storage must fit the selected physical configuration with all other essential cargo present. If the example cannot fit, change the configuration or rebalance the complete mission; do not remove its refuge, repair means or protected return simply to preserve a reference screen's slot count.

## WP05-PLAN-08 — Cargo is a player choice after essentials fit

The default illustration assumes one pilot, matching the current Explorer recommendation. Additional travelers require supported seats, per-person suit and breathing allowances, appropriate cabin service and actual carrying space. A second participant does not fit by sharing the pilot's oxygen figure or becoming a cargo icon. Co-op can also use independently prepared craft and shared local projects.

The required pack includes the suit system, reusable field and spare breathing vessels, charged portable equipment, EQ25 with its complete first-stage contents, EQ06 rope/anchors, EQ07 harness, EQ11 lamp, EQ13 markers, EQ14 survey instrument, EQ15 journal, EQ16 sample kit, EQ26 beacon mode, EQ27 repair stock and ordinary food. A working cabin, route hardware and installed supply are checked as vehicle configuration, not automatically charged again as loose cargo. Ordinary tools already owned remain usable; a powered drill, rover, bulk refinery and observatory shipment are optional.

For a representative first loadout, reserve six marker placements, two usable anchor placements and one compatible repair/patch action. These are proposed route-service allowances inside existing equipment families, not six new marker species or an automatically consumed kit. The eventual route must be navigable within the supported allowance or offer a fair earlier alternative. Unused markers and repair stock return; installed anchors remain at their recorded positions unless recovered after everyone has passed.

Reserve room for eight regolith feedstock units and four glass-bearing sample units as a proposed collection target. These count actual accepted sample inventory units once the item's stack rules are defined, not kilograms. The player may bring fewer and still complete the observation outing. One preserved unit from each family is withheld from processing; six regolith and two glass units are provisionally assigned to first product work; one unit of each remains unprocessed reserve. Product yields stay symbolic until recipes are chosen. A small collection should support a useful first application at the final balance, rather than forcing a second trip merely because its first batch threshold was never checked.

## WP05-PLAN-09 — Commissioning and the first expedition

Before launch, the player completes a ground service rehearsal: fill an actual empty breathing tank, fit it, check the suit, commission the cabin, load and access the full cargo, verify return records, and inspect the three separate supply services. The console combines vehicle completion and mission preparation into one current answer. Missing seal stock is a different action from missing oxygen; a filled Fuel Tank is not a breathing reserve. A valid Launch Key requests the authorized sequence after checks, with a cancellable interval.

The lunar activity follows MO-EXP-01, expanded in LE05-PLAN-01–LE05-PLAN-15. The player lands on Earthrise Rim, makes a short inspection loop and returns, commissions the independent starter refuge, then descends through Regolith Hollows to an accessible Basalt Gallery overlook. They collect common regolith and reachable glass-bearing feedstock, record the chamber and observe Earth through a roof opening under supported viewing conditions. The dark branch is optional. Shadow Basin, the reflector mission and Glassfall Vaults remain further reasons to visit.

The protected return allocation remains in the Explorer while local activity uses its own supplies. An instrument can recommend retreat using known route demand and uncertainty, but a machine may not silently cancel the return reservation to permit another optional sample. If the player deliberately revises the plan, the consequence must be visible before transfer. Pausing the managed surface project while the participant is underground does not pause that participant's active suit demand or turn the cave breathable.

Source basis: T1-X01–T1-X04; T1-SPEC-15–T1-SPEC-18; MO-PLAN-01, MO-PLAN-04, MO-EXP-01.

## WP05-PLAN-10 — Interruption, alternatives and honest recovery

| Interruption | Available response | Conserved result |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Workshop generation is insufficient | Schedule one demanding order, use an appropriate bank or source, or hand-prepare ordinary stock where supported | Existing power and material remain recorded; incomplete output is not granted. |
| Advanced processing seems required by a proposed recipe | Use the early common-material recipe or correct that recipe's gate | No aluminum, Core material or lunar stock becomes its own bootstrap requirement. |
| Refinery or refill receiver is full | Stop at the requested target; select another compatible receiver explicitly | Supply stays in its actual vessel or supported in-process buffer. |
| Refuge placement is obstructed | Return to the cabin, choose another valid preview or clear the obstruction deliberately | Uncommitted construction stock returns; completed stages are not refunded as new duplicates. |
| Field supply is lower than expected | End the optional branch, retreat along the marked route, use the declared emergency allowance if needed | Observation progress survives; protected vehicle return remains separate. |
| A bounded part needs service | Use the supported EQ27 repair action or retreat for workshop service | A repair consumes its named stock once; cleaning does not manufacture fuel or air. |
| A craft is disabled or a person cannot retreat | Use the explicitly configured EQ26 recovery association and its stated difficulty consequences | One player/craft state, recoverable knowledge and a visible cargo/salvage outcome; no free second Explorer. |

Manual alternatives apply to sensible work: ordinary smelting, simple shaping, sample collection, hand loading and small construction. They reduce dependence on bulk machinery. They do not bypass the specific process that produces propellant or invent oxygen through handcrafting. The first dedicated refinery and preparation service remain meaningful machines with obtainable construction and inputs.

Region parking preserves committed input, partial work, installed construction and real stored supply without absence production or consumption. Active teammates continue to receive the region's real services. A departing owner cannot freeze someone else's occupied refuge. Already reserved freight obeys its established receiving-region rule and does not run a remote factory. These rules are requirements for a future implementation, not verified runtime behavior.

## WP05-PLAN-11 — The discovery becomes something useful at home

On the return pad, the player unloads sample containers, inspects the suit and sees the same Explorer that departed. The journal already holds verified observations; processing an actual specimen has a separate material cost. A preserved glass fragment belongs on a shelf if the player chooses, while a different accepted unit enters the refinement order. Samples are neither infinitely copied by scanning nor destroyed merely to remember the route.

The regolith route uses screening/preparation, forming and firing through TEC02 with its TEC08 procedure. The first PM01 Regolith Ceramic output should support a limited habitat or thermal component. That can improve a supported panel in the lunar refuge or a relevant Earth workshop enclosure. Its benefit is a specific service or construction property, not an unexplained universal armor increase. Imported common frames, seals and energy still pay their part of the finished component.

The glass route uses sorted feedstock, controlled refinement and forming through established materials and optical work. PM02 Lunar Glass Filament can support a compact light guide or an improved survey housing. The recommended first display is an existing work light at Old Valley's quarry, or an equivalent lamp in the player's own workshop, fitted with the new component. A familiar location makes its change easy to judge. It should improve a stated property such as compact routing or useful instrument integration; brightness, power demand and range remain tuning choices.

The player chooses one application first. The other route remains known and the retained sample stock remains available. A future lunar line can process bulky material near its source, but this outing already paid off without one. The next preparation order reuses hardware, replenishes consumed supplies, checks service and adds a chosen upgrade. That shorter cycle is the practical reward for the workshop investment.

Source basis: PM01, PM02; MO-PLAN-05, MO-PLAN-09; industry “Chain F”; T1-X04; IND-M09, IND-M50–IND-M51.

## WP05-PLAN-12 — What this pass establishes and what must be tuned

This example establishes an acyclic capability route at the design-family level. Every first-launch input originates on Earth, a first lunar sample rewards arrival rather than enabling survival, and ordinary workshop services remain valuable after the expedition. The ledger separates construction, reusable hardware, active consumables, protected reserves and optional production. The scenario has a conservative success path and recoverable optional failure.

| Completion reference | Evidence required before this becomes a build specification |
| --- | --- |
| WP05-AC01 | Every nonempty mandatory input has a reachable earlier source or a named working substitute; no lunar ingredient appears in first-launch production. |
| WP05-AC02 | All infrastructure and first component recipes have explicit batch inputs, outputs, energy/service costs and byproduct destinations. No unresolved parameter is treated as zero. |
| WP05-AC03 | The selected Explorer physically accommodates its pilot, operating systems, full first shelter, personal/route supplies and proposed sample allowance. |
| WP05-AC04 | Fuel, breathing and energy ledgers conserve their own quantities through loading, transfer, active use, return and parked storage. |
| WP05-AC05 | Walking and construction demands, supply warnings and retreat margins are measured together during later playtesting. No proposed units imply minutes without evidence. |
| WP05-AC06 | Interrupted orders, region parking and vehicle handoffs preserve one cost, one result and one owner/location record. |
| WP05-AC07 | The first returned quantity supports a useful application with all supplemental Earth inputs counted; preserved specimens remain unconsumed. |
| WP05-AC08 | A second mission reuses the existing spacecraft and useful workshop; repeated supply work becomes simpler through saved bounded orders. |

The recommended next numerical work is therefore concrete: choose the two starter supply recipes, fill the relevant common-material component bills, pack the complete manifest against the resolved cabin/cargo proposal, and measure the first route once implementation is explicitly authorized. The present edition supplies the connected design and honest accounting structure needed to do that work without undoing the existing creative direction.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: progression_worked_example_05.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: occupied_spaces_05.txt | SHA-256 b4d4fdfd34dcf9af79b7b8694f2eed36810abb9b06eba9830d14172f2aa15e50 =====

# Occupied places and working machinery — a focused visual review

## OS05-01 — What these views need to explain

The next visual detail pass follows the player into three places where useful work has a visible result: the Old Valley guesthouse, the starter lunar refuge, and an early forming press. The existing opening and machinery boards establish their broader setting. These views concentrate on occupation, access, service and change. Their purpose is to help a reader judge the experience before production models or a complete terrain template are commissioned.

The guesthouse should communicate that restoration has made an existing room genuinely useful. The lunar refuge should communicate that a protected interior is the result of a commissioned structure and supported supplies. The press should communicate a physical process with a deliberate input, a recognisable operation and a usable output. Together they connect the familiar work of making a home with the less familiar work of sustaining an expedition.

CD05-A01, CD05-A02 and CD05-A03 are concept boards. Their drawn details suggest appearance and occupation; they do not approve dimensions, recipes, inventory limits or material consumption. The accompanying CD05-D04 relationship diagram and CD05-D05 decision comparison establish precise stated relationships separately. Existing full specifications remain available through FP-PLAN-03, MO-PLAN-06, T1-SPEC-15, T1-DEC01, T1-DEC02 and IND-M04.

Each visual has one finite question. For the guesthouse: can the player recognise their room and the shared place around it? For the refuge: can the player understand how to enter, service equipment, occupy the room and prepare to leave? For the press: can the player see what is being shaped and where to act when work stops? A successful picture makes those questions easier to discuss. It does not need to display every possible object or interface simultaneously.

## OS05-02 — Guesthouse: essential restoration before optional embellishment

Old Valley is already inhabited when the player arrives. The public doorway, dry awning, stored timber and maintained parts of the building establish a place with existing occupants. The required restoration should belong to that building. It must not appear that the player has purchased an entirely new inn with a small repair order.

The essential project retains a recognisable entrance, sleeping place, storage and common area. FP-C01 already supplies the proposed restoration bill and FP-PLAN-03 already defines the two short stages. This visual review adds no third compulsory stage. The first stage restores the needed enclosure and approach. The second commissions the room, storage assignment and common-space access. Retained walls, furniture and fittings remain visible across the sequence so the change is legible.

The before view should show a repairable space rather than a completely erased interior. A bed or its repairable furnishing belongs to the original site. The repair does not secretly require a newly crafted bed, a particular sheep, a specialist machine or stock beyond the river. A room that appears accessible before commissioning can still show its actual broken approach or incomplete fittings. The illustration should not suggest that an invisible quest wall is the only problem.

The occupied view should communicate personal and shared space through arrangement. The sleeping position and assigned container form an understandable personal corner. A modest common table or ordinary crafting corner remains approachable by other occupants. The public route does not pass through a player's private storage, and the innkeeper remains available without forcing a precise appointment. NPC01 and NPC02 identify existing planning roles; the board does not invent replacement names or personalities.

| Relationship | Visual requirement | Design consequence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Public approach to restored entrance | A continuous, readable approach with retained structure | The player can understand what their first repair restores. |
| Entrance to sleeping place | The sleeping place is visible or clearly approached from the room | Claiming the room has a spatial meaning beyond a journal update. |
| Personal storage to common area | Assigned and shared containers have distinct positions and clear explanation | Cooperation does not require guessing which supplies belong to whom. |
| Common work corner to quarry work bay | Ordinary crafting is available here; the specialist repair bench belongs later at the quarry | Guesthouse restoration does not acquire an industrial prerequisite. |
| Essential restoration to optional decoration | Usable room functions are complete before ornamental expansion | A player can continue the journey without finishing an entire interior catalogue. |

Warm light, timber, familiar stone, stored supplies and a restrained amount of lived-in detail continue the existing Old Valley atmosphere. The object density should let the player read the doorway and circulation. A crowded decorative market, a powered fabrication hall or a new guild system would change the brief and are outside this particular room view.

A cooperative version may add supported sleeping positions or a clear local recovery alternative. It should preserve one shared construction bill for the project. Each player's personal claim and equipment remain separate. The concept does not establish actual respawn behaviour; the real game's supported bed and recovery rules must eventually be checked. In the document, the promised outcome is explicit enough that this cannot be mistaken for a decorative bed alone.

## OS05-03 — Reading the restoration sequence

The visual sequence should preserve a consistent architectural identity. A repair view may expose an unfinished edge, blocked opening or temporarily placed material, while the occupied view restores it. The camera can show a different useful angle if necessary, but it should not imply that a different building has replaced the original.

Construction is an authored, bounded operation. Its site preview distinguishes retained structure, intended repair and player obstruction. If a chest occupies a placement cell, the explanation identifies that conflict before the affected stage consumes its stock. A player standing in the work area causes a temporary wait. These are documented behaviours to show in the exact state explanation, not reasons to fill the concept board with warning text.

The commissioning moment should have a practical demonstration. The player enters through the repaired approach, identifies the sleeping place, claims storage and uses the common corner. The innkeeper's response acknowledges the changed space. The next invitation can point toward the crossing while the guesthouse chapter remains responsible for its complete essential outcome.

Optional free building remains available. A personal cabin elsewhere can be a useful home without automatically completing the authored guesthouse project. That distinction should appear in the chapter description and controller explanation. The project recognises the intended restored site, while the wider game respects the player's independent construction.

The visual review is complete when the before/repair/occupied relationship is clear, the required functions can be located, and the depiction does not introduce a hidden additional bill or station. It does not require a final block-by-block structure manifest. That later production document should account for retained, repaired and added geometry explicitly.

## OS05-04 — Lunar refuge: protection that the player can read

The first lunar refuge develops the compact white-and-orange habitat direction in REF03. The clean exterior panels, warm contained light, dark utilities and readable service area connect it to the Explorer family. The Moon around it remains exposed and lifeless. A lamp, an open cave or a picturesque doorway does not establish breathable conditions.

The first complete refuge is supplied from Earth. Its initial cell, commissioning resources and supported services cannot require the lunar material that the first underground expedition is supposed to obtain. The functioning Explorer remains the retreat while construction proceeds. The refuge is commissioned before the first committed descent into Regolith Hollows and the accessible Basalt Gallery overlook.

T1-SPEC-15 records a proposed seven-by-nine footprint and related approach allowances for T1-S02. This is a design candidate, not a measured plan supplied by REF03. The concept board should be labelled as a layout concept and should avoid printed measurements. CD05-D04 records adjacency and access relationships; final cabin and shelter clearance still need their appropriate fit review.

The refuge is useful as a small set of connected functions: a dust-aware entry, an occupied protected cell, a defined equipment service point, recognised storage, and a place to inspect the next journey. Those functions should not disappear beneath decorative consoles. The suit, backpack and portable supply arrangement should remain visually compatible with the confirmed Tier 1 references.

The dust porch provides a place to manage exposed equipment before entering the clean area. It is not automatically a second fully equipped workshop, a limitless decontamination machine or a source of atmosphere. Entry state and service state must be understandable separately. A completed enclosure without adequate supported supplies remains an incomplete service outcome, even if its appearance looks finished.

The first commissioned airlock and sleeping/service cell already support the initial expedition. MO-PLAN-06 places the larger dust porch and organised stores in a later convenience stage. A board that shows that addition illustrates a useful expanded arrangement, not a new prerequisite for the first descent. The working layout should label that distinction so an attractive complete room does not silently enlarge the initial construction bill.

| Refuge area | What the player should understand | Boundary to preserve |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Exterior approach | Where to stand, bring cargo and request entry | The usable route stays separate from a blocked construction footprint. |
| Dust porch or entry threshold | Where exposed equipment is handled and entry conditions are shown | Local dust management does not create breathing supply. |
| Protected cell | Where the player can occupy a recognised commissioned room | Occupation depends on the documented enclosure and services. |
| Service position | Which equipment is being inspected, charged or refilled | Fuel, breathing supply, electrical power and control data remain distinct. |
| Storage and samples | Which items are mission stock, personal equipment or returned finds | A sample container does not silently spend protected return stock. |
| Map and departure preparation | What route is known, what has been learned and whether departure is ready | The mission may be successful without every optional branch visited. |

The interior can be warm and modestly personal. A seat, clear work surface, bedding arrangement where supported, a view toward the approach and a few carefully placed containers can make it feel occupied. Those details do not imply unlimited comfort systems or a self-sufficient settlement. The first lunar foothold is deliberately small enough that the player can understand its requirements.

## OS05-05 — A refuge used before and after the expedition

Before departure, the refuge is a preparation place. The player checks their equipped supplies, the planned route, the service inventory and the protected return arrangement. Equipment taken into the field is identified as field equipment. Materials retained for refuge operation or spacecraft return remain accounted for at their actual location. An interface can explain the allocation without pretending every service is one interchangeable energy number.

After the expedition, the room makes the outcome visible. Dusty equipment returns to its service position. Samples move into recognised storage. The route record gains the measured or observed landmarks described in the mission. A small recovered ceramic feedstock and glass-bearing sample can be brought home for a useful first batch; the player does not need to install a lunar factory before the trip counts as worthwhile.

The quiet contrast matters. The Regolith Hollows descent asks the player to watch footing, markers and reserves. The larger gallery introduces scale and a view toward light. Returning to a contained room lets the player inspect what changed and choose a next action without a constant emergency. Warmth in the image expresses that relief; the document supplies the actual conditions that make it dependable.

An interruption should produce a comprehensible state. If a service input is missing, the relevant action waits and identifies the missing supply. If storage is full, the player chooses what to retain or move. If the outward route no longer fits the available reserve, the plan points toward a shorter objective, the refuge or the return craft. A recovery beacon remains an explicitly bounded recovery service; it does not conjure fuel or provide the normal solution to an impossible mission budget.

The refuge may later gain stores, a work bay, an observation mast or a larger settlement role under the existing lunar plan. These are visible future opportunities. The starter board should keep the current first-expedition functions distinct from that later growth, so the reader can judge the cost and character of the foothold itself.

## OS05-06 — A forming press that belongs in the workshop

IND-M04 combines a forming press and rolling stand role within TEC03. It shapes ordinary or refined metal stock into recognised plates, brackets, beams and other supported forms. Its value is reliable repeated shaping at a useful scale. Earlier simple shaping remains available, so the installation does not become a hidden compulsory factory gate for the first rocket.

The visual should make the process readable from player height. Incoming stock has an identifiable staging position. A supported forming or rolling area explains where the transformation occurs. The output position is reachable without walking through moving machinery. Reusable patterns are organised as meaningful choices, rather than a separate unique mould for every trivial component. Feed, operation and collection have distinct places.

The press can have the substantial physical presence requested for SUBSTELLAR industry: a stable frame, visible working elements, a practical control surface, power access and a serviceable mechanical arrangement. The picture should fit the existing early-machinery family. It should not introduce glowing late-tier exotic materials, a universal processing cube or unexplained output streams.

A stopped machine should still be understandable. The player can see the stock waiting, the relevant output lane and the control that explains the next action. The operating image should reserve a plausible human interaction area. Protective enclosure, supports and mechanical proportion are design intentions; exact collision, reach and renderer behaviour remain future implementation checks.

| Operating situation | Observable appearance | Information the interface must supply |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Idle | Working elements settled; input and output areas readable | The selected supported job, if any, and the action that starts it. |
| Ready | Accepted stock is staged and the selected form is clear | Required supply and available output capacity. |
| Active | Bounded motion follows the actual processing step | Progress or the current operation, without making animation the source of production. |
| Output blocked | Motion stops at a documented safe point; finished stock remains attributable | Which output position needs attention and what has already been produced. |
| Paused | The machine rests in a stable, resumable presentation | Why activity is paused and what will resume it. |
| Service required | A clear service indication points to the relevant component or supply | The necessary action and its effect; cosmetic wear alone does not create an arbitrary punishment. |

The state explanation should distinguish a missing input from a full output or an unavailable power supply. A single red lamp cannot communicate all three reliably. Labels and shapes carry the meaning; colour reinforces it. A close-up of a service hatch or control surface can help a reader compare the proposed operation with the full industrial catalogue.

## OS05-07 — Connections and access before decorative detail

Physical connections have a declared purpose. Power provides the selected energy abstraction. Process input accepts the recipe's actual stock. Output holds the resulting recognised item family. Control exposes orders and state; it does not silently transfer material. A human interaction position is not a machine port merely because the drawing places both near a front panel.

The same discipline applies to the nearby Tier 1 stations. The Part Fabrication Table prepares the confirmed component families. The Rocket Assembly Station accepts those components and controls the visible assembly sequence in its linked berth. The optional forming press can improve stock preparation without becoming a third compulsory interpretation of those two stations. Existing labels and aliases stay traceable to REF09, REF10 and the Tier 1 reconciliation.

CD05-D05 should help the reader separate two questions: what the stations do, and which of the preserved appearance variants best serves those roles. The proposed smaller fabrication surface and broader assembly station remain the recommended distinction. Displaying their candidate footprints is useful for review, but does not constitute final model approval.

Likewise, the Explorer's proposed envelope is only a candidate until the cabin, access, airlock, supplies and silhouette can be reconciled. A concept image may suggest occupation while being geometrically inconsistent. The decision comparison should therefore show the evidence and identify the unresolved fit, rather than select a final interior by visual confidence alone.

## OS05-08 — Figure review and completion criteria

Review the guesthouse for continuity of retained architecture, the complete essential room functions, and clear personal/shared use. Review the refuge for a recognisable entry sequence, supported protected occupation, reachable service areas, sample storage and a believable relationship to the exterior. Review the press for its input/process/output relationship, operator access and states that explain interruption.

The three new boards provide additional context for specific documented places and machinery. They do not complete every resident portrait, every shelter stage, every machine state or every regional variation in the historical artwork register. Their captions and current coverage records identify exactly what each board contributes. Original confirmed artwork remains available at full quality and keeps its authority over appearance.

Precise figure checks are separate from concept review. Diagram labels must resolve to the correct source roles. Route arrows must not imply an unavailable resource or mandatory later expedition. Service lines must remain typed. A conceptual floor plan must identify its lack of measured production approval. These relationships can be checked in the document now, while actual model fit and in-game behaviour remain future work.

This slice is complete when all three concept boards and the relevant editable diagrams are present, legible, linked to their source context and accurately described; when the two Tier 1 form questions remain visible; and when the reader can state what the player does in each place. The Website agent receives original assets, display copies, figure metadata and source IDs so these views can be used in the appropriate pages without losing their status or context.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: occupied_spaces_05.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: lunar_expedition_05.txt | SHA-256 baba1b557a6135129f8865ba1690530ac6aa2ecb984ca53625889c7586da0379 =====

# The first tube and the view home — a complete first lunar expedition

## LE05-PLAN-01 — An expedition worth remembering

The first lunar expedition begins with a room the player made on Earth and ends with a light improved by something found beneath the Moon. Between those two familiar objects lies an immense, quiet landscape. The player learns that the same habits which made Old Valley workable—prepare a route, give supplies a place, make a useful repair, bring a discovery home—can create a foothold far beyond it.

This treatment deepens the existing MO-EXP-01, “The first tube and the view home.” It belongs to DST01 and the Pale Horizon journey. Its required geography is Earthrise Rim, MO-S1; a shallow Regolith Hollow, MO-L1; and the approachable edge of a Basalt Gallery, MO-L2. It deliberately stops before a deep vault campaign. Shadow Basin, MO-S2, appears as a future route; Glassfall Vaults, MO-L3, and the full “A Light Across the Basin” mission retain their later purposes.

The default expedition is solo in the currently proposed one-pilot Explorer configuration. Cooperative play uses supported seats and full per-person supplies if that configuration is eventually designed, or separately prepared craft. No second person is required to hold a switch, keep a distant region running or perform a mandatory simultaneous action. A group can share surveying, construction and cargo work without changing the essential sequence.

All dimensions, capacities, route budgets and active timings remain design proposals. The supplied spacecraft and suit references govern visual identity; new interior and activity boards are concept development. The Moon's geology, working materials, viewing conditions and environmental systems are authored game fiction. This treatment does not establish a physical lunar simulator, new lunar life, or implemented functionality. Source basis: MO-PLAN-01–MO-PLAN-10; T1-X01–T1-X04; T1-SPEC-15–T1-SPEC-18.

## LE05-PLAN-02 — The route has a shape before it has coordinates

The selected starter variant uses a broad landing shelf inside a broken rim. The Explorer's hatch faces a clear approach. A shallow bedrock pocket nearby can support the starter refuge. A low saddle leads toward a collapsed shoulder whose fractured material hints at a hollow. Beneath that shoulder, a short, braced passage opens onto a stable ledge overlooking a larger basalt tube and its roof opening. The return retraces a route the player has actually inspected.

This is a relationship between places, not a single copied map. The saddle can be broad or stepped, the hollow can bend left or right, and the gallery can contain a central wall, a boulder group or a second roof shaft. Each generated variant must preserve the same achievable opportunities. Decorative changes cannot make the first usable anchor inaccessible, move the only glass sample onto an advanced ledge, or put the refuge approach in the launch clearance.

| Route anchor | Required function | Freedom retained |
| --- | --- | --- |
| LE05-R01 — Landing shelf | Supported Explorer parking, hatch access, service reach and usable return state | Several safe candidate sites and free-built surroundings. |
| LE05-R02 — Refuge pocket | Feasible controller footprint, clear approach and independent retreat while commissioning | Supported surface placement variants; exact footprint follows the reviewed model plan. |
| LE05-R03 — Survey saddle | A short loop with a clear way home and a readable view toward the collapse | Different rim silhouettes and optional nearby observations. |
| LE05-R04 — Hollow entrance | A recognizable geological opening, conservative access and first brace/anchor opportunity | Crouched passage, short step or supported tethered descent variants. |
| LE05-R05 — Gallery overlook | Stable first-arrival footing, sample access and a memorable change of scale | Different chamber forms, daylight shafts and optional branch mouths. |
| LE05-R06 — Return junction | A landmark the player can identify from both directions | Physical markers and signs placed by the player. |

A useful route estimate accounts for walking both ways, construction, service, looking around and one recoverable interruption. The journal need not display a countdown at every doorway. It should communicate whether the proposed outing fits the current supplies and which uncertainty deserves attention. Final block distances and consumption values follow later measured play, rather than being inferred from the dramatic scale of a concept image.

## LE05-PLAN-03 — Departure begins in a familiar workshop

Moment LE05-01 starts with the Explorer standing where the player assembled and inspected it. The workshop can still be modest. The Part Fabrication Table has a reason to remain beside the assembly area, and the service rack has the worn comfort of equipment used on Earth expeditions. The lunar manifest makes these objects feel connected: the sealed cloth, prepared ceramics, circuit work and charged cells are all becoming part of one journey.

The selected mission is the conservative Earthrise Rim landing and return. The console distinguishes installed hardware, loose cargo and stored supplies. The pilot sees a complete suit, a filled fitted vessel and spare, field charge, lamp, rope/anchors, harness, markers, ordinary tools, sample kit, repair stock, food and the Earth-made EQ25 refuge. The cabin and protected return allocation are verified separately. A crate label can show an actual manifest, but it cannot conceal unlimited contents behind the phrase “mission kit.”

The player chooses what to put in the remaining discretionary space. More sample capacity supports collection. An extra work light makes the future refuge approach more comfortable. Optional furnishings express attachment before arrival. Each choice comes after the safe manifest fits. A rover, complete lunar refinery and reflector installation are unnecessary for this trip. WP05-PLAN-06–WP05-PLAN-08 supply the supporting ledger and explicit illustrative budgets.

The last check is useful even for someone who has read every page: fill a real tank, fit it, inspect the current protection state, and see the cabin's independent supply. The reusable Launch Key then requests departure. During the short cancellable sequence, the player still understands where they are going and what would stop the launch. The passage gives time to notice Earth receding; an established route can later use a shorter presentation. Repetition should preserve meaningful preparation without requiring the same long spectacle.

## LE05-PLAN-04 — Landing and the first small promise

At LE05-02, the craft settles into its recognized landed state. The first view from the cabin is spare: a shelf, a broken rim, a dark edge and the broad unfamiliar light beyond them. The player's next action is to verify the parked craft and open its service view, not to rush toward the distant cave. The cabin display identifies its breathing reserve, equipment condition, protected return and known Earth destination. The vessel that arrived is the same registered Explorer that departed.

The hatch opens onto a usable approach. Contact, breathing, radio and connected machinery carry the sound. There is no invented lunar wind moving the dust across the landing area. Small disturbance at a boot or tool is local activity. The white-and-orange suit and vehicle remain recognizable against muted rock; the scene's scale comes from space between the few objects the player brought.

The first promise is modest: walk a short circuit and come back. In LE05-03, the player marks the hatch direction, checks the nearby refuge pocket, walks to the survey saddle and identifies a route toward the fractured shoulder. A sample of ordinary regolith is within that short circuit. The journal records what has been seen rather than opening a complete subterranean map. A distant dark basin can attract curiosity while the player's current task remains understandable.

Returning once before construction or descent makes the cabin a known place. The player has used its entrance, recognized it from the saddle and seen the supply cost of a small walk. If the suit indicates a problem, this is the fair time to service it or return to Earth. A first arrival and modest recorded survey are retained as real progress even when the full tube expedition is postponed.

## LE05-PLAN-05 — A room established by deliberate work

LE05-04 turns the refuge pocket into the expedition's second dependable place. The Lunar Shelter Controller previews its actual supported plot, access and first operational stage. The first stage includes an airlock and protected sleeping/service cell with real imported breathing and power. A partly built white shell does not advertise breathable conditions. The Explorer remains available throughout construction.

The pilot contributes the packed construction contents, inspects any obstruction and starts the bounded stage. Ground support, enclosure and services appear in an understandable sequence. Uncommitted materials remain recoverable when placement fails or the player changes the location. Installed stages remain installed. A small native rock, a player crate or the Explorer's hatch clearance is never silently overwritten to make the picture look clean.

Inside, the early room is simple. There is a place to rest, a place to set down samples, a compact service face and enough clear circulation to use them. The entry threshold separates dusty handling from the protected occupied cell. The first required clean-up interaction can be compact; the larger dedicated dust porch and store arrangement belong to the next useful stage. Its illustrative interior board may show that extension, with the basic and expanded states labelled separately.

| Refuge state | Advertised capability | Required evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Preview or partial shell | Construction only | Actual footprint, materials and access are visible; no breathable claim. |
| Commissioned first stage | Protected sleeping cell, airlock, supported safe-point and stored-supply service | Closures, boundaries, breathing, power and circulation pass their checks. |
| Dust porch and stores added | Organized dirty/clean handling and convenient replenishment | Service face uses actual repair and refill stock; emergency exit stays usable. |
| Later workshop added | Specific field repairs, charging and selected production | Each service names its real inputs and output; none is granted by decoration. |

The first occupied view matters. When the helmet can be removed in a genuinely supported breathable cell, the landscape outside is still enormous, but there is now a boundary the player understands and helped make. Light communicates warmth and occupancy. The service state, rather than the mere presence of a lamp, determines protection.

## LE05-PLAN-06 — Preparing the descent as a separate outing

LE05-05 begins at the service face. Samples from the inspection circuit are unloaded, the suit receives its supported dust check, the fitted tank is refilled or exchanged from actual unreserved stock, and the next route is selected. The refill interface names its source and the refuge reserve it will leave. Optional tool charging cannot take the last allocation assigned to occupied service.

The descent objective has three parts the player can remember: find a dependable route into the tube, record the gallery and bring a small useful sample back. Looking at Earth through the roof opening provides the experience's visual reward. The participant can finish a smaller observation without collecting the maximum sample target. The planned glass-bearing sample lies on the conservative route and does not require committing to the darkest branch.

The rope/anchor kit, harness, lamp, markers, survey instrument and ordinary sampling tools are appropriate to the first route. Two anchor placements and six marker placements are representative planning allowances, not final item capacities or an instruction to spend everything. A route preview explains whether the supported variant requires a brace and where it can be established. Any needed common brace material is included in the existing route kit or declared separately in the manifest; it cannot appear free during an animation.

Before leaving, the player checks their association with EQ26's Expedition Recovery Beacon mode. Its destination, availability and possible cargo consequence are plain. That check supports recovery from a mistake; it does not allow the manifest to omit the return supplies. The player then leaves the refuge by the same door they have already used and follows the saddle toward the marked shoulder.

## LE05-PLAN-07 — The Regolith Hollow rewards care

At LE05-06 the route tightens. Compressed shelves, broken impact material and a low ceiling make each movement feel more deliberate than the surface walk. The lamp finds the next standing position before the player moves into it. A short drop has a sound anchor position and a usable return arrangement. The first tether is an understandable connection between where the player stands now and where they will need to stand again.

The hollow presents a designated working face with cracks and small falling particles. These are a specific warning associated with that face, not a claim that every block in the Moon is running a hidden collapse simulation. A probe or survey interaction identifies the supported brace position. The player braces before sampling or uses the conservative adjacent path if their loadout or confidence favors it. Neither route requires a precision jump with no alternative.

One specimen can be preserved with the geological hammer and sample kit. Bulk regolith gathering is a different action and does not grant the same intact display object automatically. The player's observations connect texture, location and result: loose surface material, compressed shelf material and exposed basalt each have a reason to look different. The place need not be filled with luminous ore to offer something worth noticing.

On the conservative path, a return marker faces the direction of emergence, not merely the direction in which it was placed. A two-way landmark matters because the lamp and body face different ways on the return. The journal can note a crouched passage, tethered step or cargo restriction without pretending that a walkable opening is already a route for a large machine. That distinction makes a later construction visit useful.

Any bounded slump is confined to an explicitly designated optional face. It can interrupt an extra collection attempt or demonstrate why bracing matters. It cannot remove the only starter exit, destroy the required observation ledge or damage the refuge at a distance. The first experience is about understanding terrain well enough to act, rather than guessing which ordinary-looking block will end the campaign.

## LE05-PLAN-08 — The gallery opens, and the objective becomes a place

LE05-07 begins as the hollow's walls gradually change. The passage widens, its floor becomes more continuous and the lamp no longer reaches the far side. The last cramped turn opens onto a stable overlook. Across it lies the sweeping tube: a broad dark chamber, a boulder shoulder, a natural junction and a roof opening through which light reaches the floor. The contrast should be legible before a title appears.

The player can stop here. The ledge supports the actual suited stance, a placed light and the survey interaction. The view is not balanced on a single unsafe block designed solely for a screenshot. A deliberate step back remains possible without losing the instrument interaction. The chamber stays vacuum; the larger volume and rock cover do not produce oxygen or replace thermal equipment.

The survey record names what was observed: the overlook, the visible walking floor, the roof opening and the two visible branch directions. Hidden passages stay hidden. An apparent secondary exit can be recorded as a candidate until approached and verified. The player has discovered a useful map fragment and a future construction opportunity, not unlocked an omniscient cave scanner.

The eye can imagine a warm enclosed workshop on a stable shelf in that darkness. That is a future option. This first visit needs no pressurization of the whole gallery, immense bridge or remote factory. A supported enclosed habitat might later use a surveyed site without erasing the natural scale that made the reveal memorable. The current refuge remains up on Earthrise Rim, with a route the player has already secured.

## LE05-PLAN-09 — A sample, an observation and a choice

In LE05-08, an accessible fracture near the overlook contains glass-bearing material. Its appearance follows the established geological glass family: dark or translucent fragments in rock, with restrained reflections when the lamp moves. It is not a field of glowing crystals. The careful sample action preserves the selected specimen; other accepted material can enter a processing container. The interface explains the prospective light-guide or instrument use without requiring a full lunar workshop before leaving.

The roof opening supports the expedition's Earth observation under authored viewing conditions. The player positions the instrument or camera and records the supported sightline. The scene should allow looking around, re-framing and a quiet pause. It must not require waiting through a real astronomical cycle. If the chosen geometry uses a different valid framing, the observation should match that actual view rather than placing Earth through a solid ceiling for the sake of a fixed composition.

The record joins a place, an observation and a material. The user-facing result is understandable: a verified tube approach, a view home and a promising glass sample. The journal can now identify two further interests—the dark branch within the current gallery and a more distant regional route—without claiming that either is required to make today's trip count.

| Choice at LE05-09 | What the player gains | What the player commits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Return now | Completed core observation, samples and a dependable successful outing | Only the known route back and planned service. |
| Survey one nearby side shelf | A more useful map detail or another specimen opportunity | A bounded additional route and discretionary supply; the protected return stays assigned. |
| Leave a marked future-work note | A deliberate next visit and a clearer cargo/route requirement | No extra exposure now; the note grants no unvisited discovery. |

The optional side shelf is an extension of the same gallery, not an accidental entrance into a compulsory Glassfall Vault. Its maximum scope is readable before commitment. If the loadout no longer supports it, the warning states the limiting service and the consequence. Returning with the core work complete is presented as a confident expedition decision.

## LE05-PLAN-10 — A recoverable interruption

One authored variant can introduce dust-related instrument service on the optional side survey. Fine material from a designated working face has settled around an exposed instrument cover or suit service surface. The warning identifies the affected function. A map reading can be less convenient or a service action may be advised, but an unexplained fault does not instantly empty the breathing tank or consume the protected return fuel.

The player has three reasonable responses. They can use the one compatible service action carried in EQ27, stop the additional collection and return to the refuge, or leave a marked nonessential equipment cache for a later retrieval. Each response is a successful handling of the interruption. A repair uses a named available part or patch once. A brush animation can remove supported dust contamination; it cannot repair every component or replenish supply.

This event is a variant, not an obligatory first-trip disaster. The calm route may complete without a fault. Other supported variants can use a visible blocked side path, a tool running low or an output container becoming full. Only one clear problem should carry the introductory interruption. Combining an unexpected collapse, failing suit, lost map and empty tank would obscure the lesson and make the plan's contingency impossible to judge.

If the player falls, loses the route or experiences a larger supported failure, the recovery interface distinguishes the situation. A last verified marker helps with navigation. A reserve supports retreat. The established beacon association can return the participant to a valid supported safe point or service under the selected difficulty, with the consequence shown. A disabled Explorer may require the return service and later salvage. The system preserves discoveries and completed project states, records the location of recoverable cargo and offers a concrete next action.

Recovery does not claim to create a spare rocket, refill every vessel or transport arbitrary valuable loads for free. It must also remain available enough to prevent one failed optional sortie from permanently ending the campaign. Exact cost, active interval and dropped-cargo rules belong to the future recovery configuration; this document specifies the experience and conservation requirements.

## LE05-PLAN-11 — The route home is the second half of discovery

The core outing is not finished at the photograph. LE05-10 follows the known route back through the hollow. The gallery light is now behind the player, making their own physical markers valuable. A tether that first felt cautious now feels like infrastructure. The return junction has a familiar shape, and the saddle eventually brings the refuge and Explorer back into view. The same landscape reads differently because the player knows how it connects.

Installed anchors remain until they are no longer needed by any participant. A solo player may recover an unneeded marker after passing it; a group cannot dismantle the only shared descent while another person remains below. These are ordinary ownership and route-use concerns with visible consequences, not a demand for a new complex rope simulation. Equipment left intentionally in a cache has a recorded location and contents.

At the refuge threshold, the sequence is useful and brief: unload sample containers, perform the supported dust service, check seals, reconnect or exchange the actual breathing vessel, charge from available power and review the outing. In the basic refuge this uses the compact service position. In the optional porch extension it takes place across a clearer dirty/clean flow. Animation and layout communicate the same actions that the underlying stock records perform.

The record shows what changed: a commissioned shelter, a verified return route, gallery observations, a preserved image, collected material and any deliberately deferred work. A lost optional container does not erase the observation. A saved photograph does not create an extra physical specimen. The player can rest in the working cell, enjoy the scene and choose whether the next action is another small outing or return preparation.

## LE05-PLAN-12 — Leaving a foothold and bringing a result home

LE05-11 begins with the return plan while the player is still at a refuge. The console confirms the same supported Earth destination, actual pilot, working cabin, protected return propellant and breathing allowance, current service and loaded sample cargo. The player's desire to add one more crate cannot silently discard required equipment or make the departure readiness stale.

The shelter may keep intentionally left stock, spare furnishings and installed route equipment. Its close-out record states what remains, where it is and which services are currently commissioned. If the last eligible participant leaves the managed region, its authored consumption, production and events enter the parked state with exact stored quantities. The cell does not consume a month's supplies while nobody is present. If a teammate stays, that occupied region continues under its real service budget. Departure by the owner does not freeze the teammate's needs or world.

The illustrative ledger in WP05-EX01 leaves 20 BU of breathing and 20 EU of electrical charge at the parked refuge, with unused emergency stores returning in real portable storage. These numbers demonstrate custody only. They do not promise a fixed future stay duration or that an empty uncommissioned shelter becomes a safe point. A returning player sees the actual remaining capability before relying on it.

LE05-12 takes the Explorer back to the existing launch and recovery site. The player unloads, services what actually needs attention and retains the vehicle for another mission. The first product can use PM02 Lunar Glass Filament in a compact light-guide or relevant survey component; PM01 Regolith Ceramic provides another habitat or thermal application. The returned material pays its recipe cost and ordinary Earth fittings still contribute. The observation record explains why the material was useful.

The recommended final scene is familiar: a work light at the quarry or the player's own bench has a new component, and a preserved lunar fragment sits nearby. The room is still part of Earth. What changed is the player's relationship to the distant gray place that supplied it. The journal offers a better-equipped return, the Shadow Basin route and the future reflector mission as concrete possibilities.

## LE05-PLAN-13 — Lasting rewards and the next visit

| Reward ID | Persistent result | Limit and continuing value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| LE05-RW01 | Earthrise Rim landing and refuge record | Records actual commissioned services; does not imply an infinite resupply base. |
| LE05-RW02 | Verified Hollow-to-Gallery route and observation | Preserves explored knowledge without revealing unvisited vaults. |
| LE05-RW03 | Earth-through-opening image or supported observation record | A durable personal and shared expedition memory under world permissions. |
| LE05-RW04 | Real regolith and glass-bearing samples | Preserve, process or display according to actual custody; no duplicate sample rewards. |
| LE05-RW05 | A first PM01 or PM02 application | One useful chosen improvement, retaining Earth equipment and workshop relevance. |
| LE05-RW06 | Saved next-mission preparation and local work notes | Less repeated planning, with actual replenishment and new cargo choices still visible. |

“A Light Across the Basin” remains the larger signature observation mission. This expedition can reveal a promising viewpoint or record a question about a connection, but it does not automatically complete the mission's two viewpoints, route preparation, relay installation, alignment and observation. Those stages deserve their own later outing. Similarly, a visible glass-bearing fracture gives a basic sample without claiming that the player has explored Glassfall Vaults.

The second visit can therefore change the shape of activity. An explorer might bring better light and compare another tube. A builder might improve the dust porch and stores. A survey-oriented player can prepare the Shadow Basin crossing and reflector components. An industrial player might investigate a bounded local ceramic line after importing the machinery and proving its inputs. The original refuge supports these choices without becoming a recurring upkeep obligation while absent.

## LE05-PLAN-14 — Presentation, interaction and art direction

The experience needs a few strong compositions: cabin against empty landscape, first refuge light, the hollow's close working posture, the gallery opening and the view home. The player should retain movement, instrument use and a readable retreat during these moments. A forced camera sequence is unnecessary for most of them. Reduced motion and restrained effects can preserve the emotional sequence without obscuring warnings or making a precise standing position difficult to use.

CD05-D06 provides the exact route-and-choice diagram. CD05-D03 explains real supplies and protected allocations. CD05-D02 connects the expedition to Earth production and returned material uses. Their arrows and labels carry dependencies that concept art cannot prove. Interior and activity imagery should refer to the same craft, suit, refuge and geological identities, with proposed dimensions and operation states distinguished from approved references.

| Interface reference | Information needed at the moment |
| --- | --- |
| LE05-UI01 — Mission preparation | Actual destination, crew, complete essential cargo, operating supply, protected return and next blocking action. |
| LE05-UI02 — Suit/field status | Breathing, available charge, relevant service condition and current retreat implication, using text/icons and optional sound. |
| LE05-UI03 — Refuge commissioning/service | Supported boundary, closures, real stored supply, reserve priority, usable services and missing inputs. |
| LE05-UI04 — Route journal | Verified anchors, observed geometry, unresolved branches, last safe point and preserved completed observations. |
| LE05-UI05 — Recovery | Recognized destination, current availability, supply/cargo consequence and next action. |
| LE05-UI06 — Return close-out | Actual remaining participant/craft/cargo state, left stores, parked or occupied refuge and useful home applications. |

The Moon's visual emptiness is deliberate. Ordinary creature combat, trees, pools of free water, atmospheric dust storms and glowing biological cave growth do not belong in this first expedition. Geological interest, environmental preparation, equipment contact and player-created light supply activity. Optional unusual deep traces remain restrained later content and are not used to manufacture a new lunar civilization around the first glass sample.

## LE05-PLAN-15 — Completion criteria

| Acceptance ID | Required design or later validation result |
| --- | --- |
| LE05-AC01 | A supported first landing, independent starter refuge, shallow descent, gallery reveal, sample opportunity and return are reachable with Earth-made first-arrival equipment. |
| LE05-AC02 | The first inspection loop returns before the committed descent; the refuge's functioning first stage is commissioned with actual supplies before that descent. |
| LE05-AC03 | The conservative route contains a meaningful observation and obtainable initial glass sample; deeper or darker optional branches are not required for success. |
| LE05-AC04 | Route clues and physical markers are useful in both directions. No essential crossing relies solely on precision jumping. |
| LE05-AC05 | The hollow, gallery and surface remain visually distinguishable, lifeless in this treatment, and non-breathable outside supported functioning enclosures. |
| LE05-AC06 | The supply budget includes active walking, construction, service, observation, return and a recoverable interruption, with quantities and warnings tuned together later. |
| LE05-AC07 | A bounded optional slump or service fault cannot destroy the sole starter return route or critical campaign anchors. |
| LE05-AC08 | Interruption, recovery and reload preserve one craft, real cargo custody, completed observations and an available continuation path. |
| LE05-AC09 | Paused managed regions preserve exact goods and reserves; active participants and their suit needs are not frozen by leaving another project boundary. |
| LE05-AC10 | A complete small returned collection can produce a useful first application with supplemental Earth inputs counted, while intentionally preserved specimens remain intact. |
| LE05-AC11 | A solo participant can complete every required action. Co-op capacity and personal supplies are counted explicitly where supported. |
| LE05-AC12 | The result opens specific revisit choices without requiring every lunar workshop, the full reflector mission or Glassfall Vaults on the first trip. |

Completion of this writing slice means the expedition's preparation, geography, actions, choices, interruption, return and durable result are defined and cross-referenced. Future implementation completion requires the acceptance scenes to run in the actual inspected project after explicit BUILD authorization. The present treatment supplies the coherent experience that those scenes should demonstrate.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: lunar_expedition_05.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: reconciliation_06.txt | SHA-256 deb1899e8a8c80a9a40b9aa47e8b9fad20704e2c8379a2babf69c57e35e77983 =====

# Selected completion edition — authority, scope and decisions

## C06-P00-01 — What this edition completes

This edition executes the user's selected documentation programme: P00, P01, P02, P03, P06, P07, P10, P11, P12-A and P12-B, repacked into W0 through W3. It extends the complete creative source and its illustrated reader. The previous eleven narrative sources, all supplied reference sheets and all earlier concepts and diagrams remain preserved. The selected additions define useful relationships and fill documented gaps; they do not replace the original atlas, worked expedition, model specifications or illustrated overview.

The scope is documentation, editable diagrams, concept artwork and the portable document website. Actual game development has not been authorized by this instruction. The Website agent owns the public application and its publication. The documentation maintainer owns this source edition, its decision records and its source-to-figure relationships. An agent can derive a roadmap or report from the source, but must distinguish a documented intention from a verified implementation.

W0 establishes evidence and corrections. W1 connects industry and materials. W2 completes selected Earth, settlement and planetary ecology detail. W3 connects the Moon, Tier 1, support vehicles and orbital places. Final source integration and the report round trip belong to these selected waves. No omitted package is silently activated as a dependency.

## C06-P00-02 — Evidence and the corrected Earth envelope

The preserved Edition 05 baseline is the 191-file package at K-J2/Substellar-Website commit 56984398aec4e03bc5206ec9389a9a9cd6c5a271. It contains 49 chapters and 59 distinct visuals. The immutable folder is docs/creative-direction/snapshots/current-direction-05/substellar/. The new edition keeps that identity in its preservation inventory and gives every addition a separate source identity.

The earlier inspected game record 88fae640ac47ddf44706e38602db361902b62213 established the working column as Y=-352 through Y=319 inclusive, height 672, with sea level 63. That evidence is now corroborated by the accessible pushed development record a0a702c2b5788d099645ab55ad23d8a5bf45c137. Its STATE, ROADMAP, DECISIONS and ORES documents were inspected at that exact revision. The development branch remains unmerged; access to a commit is not a claim that it is game main or a stable release.

ROADMAP and DECISIONS both reject the old 512-level description as current guidance. The older 512-level hypothesis remains readable as historical source text. It must not govern a new diagram, website summary or implementation task. Neither the current working envelope nor this documentation locks final permanent-world coordinates.

The seven creative Earth realms and 35 named experiences describe the intended variety of places and activities. They are not 35 implemented biome registrations. The current source describes three biomes in each of Deepwilds, Underreach, Abyss, Mantle and Core, preserving the fifteen-biome implementation record. A creative experience can combine landform, ecology, routes and authored work across a registered biome. Consequently, a reconciliation table records relationships without inventing one-to-one numerical conversions or assigning unsupported permanent depth bounds to all 35 experiences.

The same game source states that sprint 11.1 Smelt is Next and unbuilt. The industry capability bands in this edition describe creative dependencies and player value; they do not reorder that approved implementation sequence. The game source's shader-off policy remains authoritative for implemented rendering. Atmospheric concept treatment is illustration, and creative mineral responses do not establish emissive quartz, emissive draconium or an approved shader change.

Current source evidence: https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar/blob/a0a702c2b5788d099645ab55ad23d8a5bf45c137/docs/STATE.md , https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar/blob/a0a702c2b5788d099645ab55ad23d8a5bf45c137/docs/ROADMAP.md , https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar/blob/a0a702c2b5788d099645ab55ad23d8a5bf45c137/docs/DECISIONS.md and https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar/blob/a0a702c2b5788d099645ab55ad23d8a5bf45c137/docs/ORES.md . The earlier inspection remains traceable at https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar/blob/88fae640ac47ddf44706e38602db361902b62213/docs/ROADMAP.md . These are revision-bound source observations, not a claim to have run the mod.

## C06-P00-03 — What the Website work contributes

The earlier Website record 06e68f87b24449c3938f4138cca6b7ebb6cdf533 contains completed Reference, Worlds and Systems receipts and the Edition 05 integration records. Its artwork register records zero of its three new-illustration slots used. It reused supplied images with layout crops and HTML captions, preserving the original pixels. The newer completed-workspace receipt at Website main adc0881094369589d411a8715cfaf656d966cdba again records zero new-artwork slots used. This edition therefore credits the Website presentation work without importing nonexistent new generations or spending image calls to duplicate the supplied boards.

The earlier Systems production receipt names deployed website commit b0b8538402c628a8364020cd8d07fe9331220dee. The newer receipt names tested Website commit 179f5a35cf878254667870e8dc0e34a2fbf6da72 and published product merge b7352a6dbc0ccd19d5a10b8c8ef1571460ca4f17, with matching tested and merged trees. It records its own production and accessibility checks. The product merge and later documentation receipt are distinct revisions. Those results remain Website-agent-reported evidence; this documentation task has not independently rerun the public site's release gate or verified live production. Independent desktop/mobile UI review, performance benchmarking, Firefox/WebKit and broader game/native QA remain unrun in the receipt.

At the earlier handoff, Website provenance cited game record 1500e7757f37fe7e0f561975d26b4ab0bb6ebbd8 for startup acceptance and labelled the branch unpushed; the connected read could not retrieve it. That failed fetch is preserved as history. The newly accessible a0a702c2b5788d099645ab55ad23d8a5bf45c137 record resolves the current authority-document access gap. Prior user startup acceptance remains bound to implementation 75be089547f25ad58da435b6aed384f9362b359f and its 1500e775 record; current access does not reassign that acceptance to a new package.

The newer game source and Website receipt report checked local activation of 0.6.0-dev.1 from implementation 7fc377dd840b3a3dbb674d8ab3a4dcc6d0775ca3. Its native menu, mod-load, framebuffer and exit observations are scoped startup evidence. They do not establish new gameplay quality, new exact-package GUI/BAT user acceptance, implemented Smelt or a stable release. The new exact-package acceptance remains pending, and broader gameplay, joins, clean-machine, failure/reload/layout and native QA remain deferred. The creative documentation creates no new game build or feature by incorporating that report.

The Website reconciliation also identified two useful wording corrections. The worked lunar sample collection is intended to enable an improvement, but unresolved yield means a small pictured sample cannot promise a completed project's quantity. The illustrated first-gallery route is one braced example; a conservative adjacent route remains valid. Reaching the gallery completes that exploration objective. Homecoming and the selected useful application complete the full expedition loop. These qualifications govern new summaries and are shown beside affected retained guidance.

Website evidence: https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar-Website/blob/adc0881094369589d411a8715cfaf656d966cdba/handoffs/2026-10-07-game-workspace-completed-website-production.md . Earlier integration evidence remains at https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar-Website/blob/06e68f87b24449c3938f4138cca6b7ebb6cdf533/docs/creative-direction/reports/2026-10-07-integration/edition-05-reconciliation.md and https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar-Website/blob/06e68f87b24449c3938f4138cca6b7ebb6cdf533/handoffs/2026-10-07-edition-05-systems-production.md . Source qualifications travel with any derived report.

## C06-P00-04 — The three confirmed planning decisions

T1-DEC01 is compact first. The preferred Explorer candidate is nine blocks tall, with a three-by-three main body and five-by-five fin envelope. Confirmed appearance and a usable airlocked cabin take priority. This is approval to investigate the compact candidate, not approval of an untested interior. The fit study must account for a suited player, backpack, two pressure boundaries, boarding, ladder, pilot position, cargo, service housings and egress. A necessary enlargement returns for review with a concrete comparison.

T1-DEC02 is a dedicated pair. REF10 defines the Part Fabrication Table, and REF09 defines the Rocket Assembly Station controlling a separately linked full-size vehicle berth. Part fabrication and rocket assembly are two responsibilities. The lower assembly-table artwork remains a variant of the second responsibility, not a third mandatory station. Numeric footprints and clearances stay proposed until tested. The model supplement records how this choice changes the working specifications.

CEC01 remains conditional and unselected. P10 develops the ten established Europa, Titan and Morrow families. This edition adds no Mars brine-mat artwork and makes no new Mars-life commitment. Existing conditional discussion remains preserved. No further creative decision is required to complete this edition's selected scope.

## C06-P00-05 — How to read status, proposals and remaining work

Confirmed direction means the user's supplied source or explicit choice establishes the intended identity. A recommended specification is a practical authoring default with reasons and validation criteria. Geometry candidate means a measured drawing can describe a hypothesis without proving player fit. Source-verified implementation means an accessible committed project record supports the specific claim; it does not mean this task executed the game. Reported evidence names another agent's receipt and its limits. Deferred work is intentionally outside the selected programme.

P04, P05, P08, P09, P12-C, P13, P14 and the full P15 reader programme remain deferred. Existing Mars and outer-world writing stays in the reader. Standalone later materials, ecology, machinery and support vehicles remain included through the packages the user selected. Their required context does not create new full campaigns, new hull tiers or a broad equipment catalogue.

This edition uses a maximum of sixteen image-generation calls including edits and retries, with at most four per batch. Exact diagrams are authored SVG. The generation ledger records attempts, selected outputs, prompts and review limits. Coverage distinguishes an original reference, a shared overview, a dedicated concept, a precise diagram and an unfilled production view. A shared board can support several subjects without claiming to be every subject's final model sheet.

Documentation completion requires coherent prose, source relationships, useful illustrations at the selected coverage level, clear unresolved validation, and a usable complete reader. It does not require final meshes, UV layouts, textures, recipes, capacity tuning, gameplay tests or mod code. Those future tasks retain explicit criteria so the documentation can later inform a roadmap without being mistaken for an implemented release.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: reconciliation_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: industry_completion_06.txt | SHA-256 5b73558281f7fe7f425909ef90fc90962c025d4a849e74b8e744c04442eb1b21 =====

# Industry — capabilities, operating rules and useful scale

## C06-P06-01 — What a machine adds to the adventure

SUBSTELLAR industry should make a useful result physically understandable. The player sees stock arrive, a particular operation happen, a recognizable product leave and that product improve a route, tool, room or expedition. Timber framing, visible drives, bolted housings, copper service lines, ceramic hot-work parts and accessible maintenance faces give the workshop its language. Later equipment can become more specialized without abandoning that legibility.

The 66 existing industry entries describe responsibilities. Some are individual benches; some are configurations of a family; some are composed installations or services. They are not a commitment to 66 unrelated single-block machines. This supplement preserves every identifier and defines its operating relationship, interruption example and upgrade value. The original register retains each purpose and first-use tradeoff. Together they form the machine handbook.

The breadth includes mechanical work, power, liquids, gases, chemistry, storage, freight, excavation, environmental services and optional advanced science. It earns balance through useful choices: a small direct route, a larger repeat-production route and a specialist route for a specific property. A more elaborate factory should solve a reason to build it. It must not be required merely to make ordinary hinges or replace a familiar pickaxe.

## C06-P06-02 — Ten capability bands

These bands describe creative capability, and can overlap. First use is established by reachable inputs and a meaningful activity. They do not rewrite the game's source-verified next sprint, Smelt. A later destination product can improve a machine whose basic version existed earlier. A band's position is not permission to require that destination's material for its first arrival.

| Band | First useful achievement | Practical boundary and continuing value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| IP00 Campcraft | Shelter, ordinary repair, light, records and a prepared descent | Manual work remains appropriate for small jobs throughout the campaign. |
| IP01 Mechanical workshop | Shaped common stock, cloth, ceramics, fittings and handling | Make each first method accessible before powered optimization; reuse tools and patterns. |
| IP02 Powered workshop | A visible source powers one useful load, then buffers and branches | Power improves useful work; it does not become a decorative progress bar disconnected from loads. |
| IP03 Tier 1 flight preparation | Accessible part fabrication, assembly and separate flight services | Earth-prepared outward and return supplies support the first Moon visit. |
| IP04 Regional industry | Repeated orders, material-specific recovery, storage and freight | Larger production trades space, supplies and service for less repeated hand work. |
| IP05 Deep thermal and chemical work | Specific higher-duty materials and instruments | First thermal preparation uses earlier stock; deep finds improve subsequent reach. |
| IP06 Lunar industry | Local ceramic, glass and service convenience after a complete first arrival | Imported equipment can commission initial local work; the Moon does not hold the only first-return ingredient. |
| IP07 Frontier industry | Destination support vehicles, cold services and selected specialist feedstocks | Common frames and imported spares establish the first supported operation. |
| IP08 Outer-world systems | Mature outpost networks and optional contained industrial projects | Optional power ambitions need complete source, service, waste and recovery paths. |
| IP09 Interstellar science | Mature observations, bounded advanced processes and prepared transit | First Beyond Sol capability uses pre-Afterlight resources and an independent route home. |

## C06-P06-03 — Shared operating states

The recommended common vocabulary is unassembled, isolated, idle, waiting, ready, running, output held, service required and parked. Each machine uses only relevant states and gives a specific reason. Waiting for a receiver differs from waiting for power. Parked means its managed region is inactive, with saved inventory and progress retained. It does not mean invisible background simulation.

Start validates the recipe, compatible connections, ownership, actual available inputs and capacity for mandatory outputs. Reservation commits stock to one order. A visible process owns its in-flight inventory. Completion transfers its defined outputs once. Cancellation returns unused stock and retained reusable components; any irreversible fictional process stage must disclose its recoverable intermediate before it begins. Restart cannot consume the same ingredients twice or create a second completed item.

Motion communicates state: a press completes a bounded stroke, a reel shows active winding, a furnace communicates contained heat, a liquid service displays a real transfer, and a bank shows available charge. Warning states combine words, icons and changed motion. Color alone is insufficient. A low-energy machine should not look broken, and an isolated service hatch must not suggest an active cutting operation.

## C06-P06-04 — Building and connecting an installation

A placement preview distinguishes occupied structure, operating movement, service access, delivery path and optional expansion. The user can place an authorized authored configuration, supply materials and advance visible construction stages. A new obstruction pauses the affected stage with its location shown. Player construction outside the reserved area remains normal building; an authored project is not general protection for an entire region.

Interfaces have separate responsibilities: item transfer; identified liquid; identified gas or breathing supply; electrical energy; mechanical drive where used; thermal service; control/data; and structural attachment. A blue data terminal does not create inventory. A neighboring tank does not supply a machine until a compatible connection or explicit local-inventory rule exists. Actual port coordinates belong to model candidates, while this edition fixes what those ports mean.

Every installation needs a way to remove it without eating its contents. The dismantle preview lists stored goods, in-process work, reusable modules and dependent services. Evacuate or deliberately reassign them first. Cutting a connection pauses its affected process, and a supported recovery container holds any in-transit stock. Upgrades preserve named devices, personalized appearance and existing project allocations where compatible.

## C06-P06-05 — Balance rules that can be reviewed before numbers

A direct process is compact, understandable and sufficient for common orders. Preparation or recovery is justified by a selected material's property or a sustained workload. Parallel production adds real working positions and corresponding demand. Automation saves repeated actions after the player understands them. None of these paths creates a generic sequence of universal ore multipliers.

Review an upgrade across five dimensions: first setup effort, site area, input and service demand, repeat handling, and the useful result it changes. Explain which dimension improves and which cost remains. A lower running cost can justify a larger remote site; a portable fueled source can justify recurring freight; a large stationary source can justify distribution work. Earlier alternatives remain suitable for some needs.

All recipe coefficients, rates, capacities, wear intervals and power values in this new supplement remain unresolved. They are not zero or free. Later balance tests should compare complete loops, including fuel preparation, reusable containers, recovery, startup energy and service replacements. Material recovery cannot exceed originating inputs. Conversion loops cannot generate net free energy. A recipe may not require the first machine's own exclusive output for its frame.

# Machine handbook — all 66 existing responsibilities

## C06-P06-06 — How to use the individual entries

Each entry adds operational detail to its existing IND identifier. The first-use band is a recommended creative position, not a new hard gate. Shared operating states, accounting and ownership rules apply throughout. The individual acceptance example is a future product test scenario; no runtime pass is claimed here. The selected diagrams explain representative layouts and relationships, while the reference catalogue preserves confirmed Tier 1 forms.

## C06-IND-01 — IND-M01 Carpenter and repair bench

Recommended first use: IP00. Physical responsibility: open bench. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Keep an input shelf, clear hand-work area and returned-tool rack on different faces of one bench. Tools occupy reusable hooks; neither a decorative chest nor a nearby dropped item is an implicit input.

A repair request identifies the worn part and reserves its replacement. Removing a handle before the order starts releases the reservation; a finished repair returns the same tool identity and its personalization.

Add racks and repeated orders before replacing the bench. The first useful repair needs common stock and hand work.

## C06-IND-02 — IND-M02 Part Fabrication Table

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: confirmed table. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Follow REF10: pale worktop, orange side posts, dark mechanism, heavy feet and a small blue terminal. Raw stock enters the marked tray and completed named parts occupy the output position; the service face stays reachable.

Select a known part, inspect the ingredient categories, insert actual stock and complete one manual batch. Full output holds the finished part; an unpowered later attachment does not disable the supported hand-work recipe.

Powered assistance reduces repeated work. It never introduces an advanced-alloy gate to the first Explorer parts.

## C06-IND-03 — IND-M03 Timber mill

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: linear machine. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A log-loading cradle faces a guarded cutting zone and board rack. Mechanical drive or a compatible motor attaches at the side, with a separate offcut basket and a walking route outside the feed lane.

A crooked or unsupported feed item is rejected before consumption. A full board rack stops feed; the current cut settles into its reserved output. Isolate motion before the visible blade/tool swap.

Longer beds and powered handling increase batch convenience; ordinary hand preparation remains suitable for a few boards.

## C06-IND-04 — IND-M04 Forming press and rolling stand

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: forming installation. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Use the existing forming-press reference with a stock rack, central working position and distinct formed-parts tray. Reserve pattern storage and a side service aisle. A rolling attachment is a configuration of this family, not a compulsory extra tier.

The selected reusable pattern defines the output. A blocked receiving tray pauses before another blank enters. A worn forming tool requests replacement only after its current safe cycle; a hand-shaped alternative remains available for initial brackets.

Extra width, repeat rate and handling capacity cost physical stations and power. The press is an optional capacity improvement in the worked first-flight route.

## C06-IND-05 — IND-M05 Drawing and precision bench

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: precision bench. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Prepared stock enters a short straight feed path toward reusable draw or shaping tools. Wire winds onto a visible reel, while rods and couplings enter a separate tray. Place the power attachment behind the bench without blocking hand access.

A full reel stops wire drawing cleanly and shows the replacement action. Changing to rods returns compatible remaining stock to its tray, never converting it silently. A common copper fitting is the first commissioning example.

Later tooling adds named precision duties; it does not make every basic fitting expire.

## C06-IND-06 — IND-M06 Carbon retort

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: batch hot-work. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Keep the charge door, visible heat input, cooled output and residue bin distinct. Loading access stays outside the hot door's working space. A chimney-like form is a visual exhaust feature whose gameplay effect must be explicitly specified.

A batch lists accepted renewable carbon feedstock and where both outputs will go. Missing residue capacity blocks start only for recipes that actually require it. Cooling completes safely before extraction; parking preserves the accounted batch.

Consistency and bounded byproduct recovery justify the retort. Ordinary charcoal remains an accessible first-furnace option.

## C06-IND-07 — IND-M07 Alloy hearth

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: batch hot-work. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A compact hearth has separate charge, fuel, heat-state and ingot-rack positions. Use common refractory masonry and a familiar hand-operated appearance. A bronze-pattern display communicates the chosen alloy family.

The recipe reserves both constituent stocks. Insufficient heat delays progress without consuming another charge. The cooled batch appears once, with any residue in its assigned receiver. Unknown combinations remain unchanged and produce a clear refusal.

The first copper-and-tin fittings solve pump and workshop needs. Improved heat handling saves attention on repeated batches.

## C06-IND-08 — IND-M08 Controlled steel furnace

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: batch hot-work. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Build a refractory body with a loading face, controlled working zone, steel receiver and slag receiver. Early fuel access and later blower access are distinct; the service aisle stays outside stock deliveries.

A stopped blower reduces the supported powered recipe or pauses it; it cannot silently replace the selected fuel method. Full slag storage blocks the next charge. Retain the actual hot batch and cool it before recovery.

The first furnace uses earlier refractory and carbon stock. Add controlled air, recovery or handling only when repeat steel orders justify the site.

## C06-IND-09 — IND-M09 Kiln and ceramic forming station

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: ceramic work area. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Put wet forming beside green-piece shelves, a closed firing body and a distinct cooling rack. Clay input, reusable molds, fuel or power and completed vessels have clear positions.

A firing order reserves compatible clay and a free cooling position. A missing heat source pauses a supported stage, retaining the piece. Replacing a liner requires isolation and accessible earlier stock.

Common-clay vessels and inserts commission the first kiln. Technical and lunar recipes reuse the family with selected additives instead of demanding a new universal furnace tier.

## C06-IND-10 — IND-M10 Panel and laminate table

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: layered assembly bench. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Arrange sheet stock, cloth and seal material beside a flat lay-up surface, reusable alignment fixtures and an output shelf. The operator sees the chosen layers and fitted frame.

Changing a laminate order before commitment returns its actual separate layers. A completed sealed panel cannot also refund those ingredients. A failed supported inspection retains a repairable panel or declared intermediate.

Offer light, repairable, insulating and higher-duty fits with visible tradeoffs. A later specialist composite must not silently replace every ordinary plank or iron cover.

## C06-IND-11 — IND-M11 Loom and textile station

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: textile work area. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Fiber bundles feed a visible loom or preparation frame. Finished rolls, straps and reusable reels leave through separate reachable positions; powered assistance mounts outside hand access.

An exhausted fiber input stops the active weave at a retained partial roll. Swapping a pattern identifies recoverable stock; a full roll rack stops further feed. No rare creature kill is an essential ingredient.

Hand-prepared ordinary cloth supports first services. Cultivation and powered repeat work reduce gathering and handling after their value is understood.

## C06-IND-12 — IND-M12 Seal and filter bench

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: service bench. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Separate clean prepared stock, reusable cylinder or housing fittings, assembly and returned worn parts. Keep a small test connection on the service side instead of mixing breathing, fuel and water lines.

Select the actual carried item and named replacement. A missing patch leaves the original item present and unchanged. The finished repair preserves its identity; an incompatible gasket reports the mismatch before use.

An early approved seal vocabulary supports first Tier 1 supplies. Resin and polymer variants improve stated duties and remain replaceable components.

## C06-IND-13 — IND-M13 Managed cultivation beds

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: bounded managed plot. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A marked bed contains identified substrate, supported culture and one or two visible condition indicators. Harvest and retained propagation stock occupy distinct containers beside an ordinary access path.

Unsuitable conditions slow or pause the defined growth state with an explanation. Removing a crop returns only recoverable actual stock. Parking freezes the managed state without absence decay or background surplus.

Larger beds cost space and relevant active care. Routine cultivation supplies useful renewable stock while wild habitat keeps its scale, variety and observation value.

## C06-IND-14 — IND-M14 Biological extractor and fermenter

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: batch biological process. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Place a feed basket, closed working vessel, culture record and product receiver around an accessible service face. Water, heat or electricity connect only where the selected game process requires them.

Missing a mandatory product receiver prevents start. A stopped vessel retains its in-process feed and culture state. A supported cleanup returns a declared intermediate or spent stock, not a second fresh batch.

The whole route includes growing and transporting feedstock. Renewable fuel remains finite and pays for processing; a vessel cannot perpetually feed itself.

## C06-IND-15 — IND-M15 Pump installation

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: mounted fluid service. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Show an actual intake, compatible drive, shutoff, identified transfer pipe and receiving vessel. The placement preview marks the bounded water access and destination, with ordinary walking space outside moving fittings.

A dry intake or full receiver stops transfer and names the cause. Disconnecting a hose keeps its accounted contents with a declared endpoint or recovery container; it cannot drain an entire unseen lake.

Permanent mounting adds useful duty and distribution. EQ18 remains the portable family; a small hand or carried-water route supports earlier work.

## C06-IND-16 — IND-M16 Water treatment station

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: water preparation service. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Dirty input, treatment media, process body and intended clean-water output use different markings and connectors. A returned-media position stays separate from finished habitat supplies.

An exhausted medium pauses preparation before unsupported product is issued. The old medium remains identifiable for replacement or allowed recovery. A water category mismatch refuses the transfer.

A compact service prepares what a project needs. Regional recovery lowers repeat supply demand; ordinary Minecraft life does not gain a universal drinking-water chore.

## C06-IND-17 — IND-M17 Reservoir and manifold

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: storage and routing assembly. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Each tank names its actual material and fill state. Intake, selected outlet and shutoff are visible; incompatible liquids or gases do not share an unexplained common receiver.

A wrong-material connection is rejected before mixing. Closing a valve stops that branch while preserving other stock. Removing a loaded vessel requires compatible transfer or an explicit retained container.

Buffers buy interruption tolerance and less repeated carrying. More capacity occupies real space and never creates material or erases service identity.

## C06-IND-18 — IND-M18 Crusher

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: guarded mechanical process. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Feed descends through a guarded crusher to a prepared-material receiver. Put the drive and replaceable working head on a reachable service side, with an optional aggregate receiver outside the walking aisle.

Full output prevents the next feed. A service request stops motion before opening the head. Restart resumes the same in-flight material; finished ingots do not receive a new raw-ore recovery benefit.

Crushing prepares selected ores or useful construction aggregate. Direct ordinary smelting remains a compact comparison route.

## C06-IND-19 — IND-M19 Washing and classification table

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: wet separation work area. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A feed hopper supplies a screen and shallow wash route. Distinct concentrate, secondary fraction, residue and process-water recovery receivers make the selected material recipe readable.

Missing water or a mandatory receiver pauses feed. Screen replacement happens at an isolated position; reserved material remains with the batch. A wrong feedstock offers no universal recovery bonus.

Improved recovery or reduced downstream work trades site area, power, water and residue handling. Place the dry service aisle away from splash and delivery routes.

## C06-IND-20 — IND-M20 Concentration separator

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: material-specific separator. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Mount the selected authored separation module between a prepared-feed buffer and distinct accepted fractions. Provide a service hatch and labeled electricity or mechanical connection appropriate to the module.

The recipe and module must agree before stock is committed. A full secondary receiver pauses separation while retaining its actual batch. Changing a module cannot turn every concentrate into the same metal.

One useful material property justifies the module. It does not discover hidden ore through terrain or multiply already finished stock.

## C06-IND-21 — IND-M21 Electrical materials cell

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: electrical material process. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Prepared alumina feed, earlier conductive working parts, power and finished-stock receivers surround an insulated process body. The initial frame uses previously reachable common metal and ceramics.

Missing power or a required consumable pauses its declared stage. Output is retained in a compatible receiver; a replacement working element uses declared stock and preserves in-process ownership.

The first cell cannot require its own exclusive lightweight-metal product. Later light plates improve chosen tanks or frames without gating the first common-material Explorer.

## C06-IND-22 — IND-M22 High-duty alloy and treatment furnace

Recommended first use: IP05. Physical responsibility: higher-duty thermal process. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Keep selected metal feed, additive positions, controlled heat, treatment service and cooling/output separate. Refractory access and handling space remain visible on an earlier-material frame.

The chosen alloy or treatment names its acceptable feed. Loss of thermal support holds a defined intermediate or stops the next batch; it cannot award the final duty category on interruption.

Nickel-bearing and titaniferous products solve particular loads or environments. Extra heat, power and service cost keep ordinary steel useful.

## C06-IND-23 — IND-M23 Reaction vessel

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: configured reaction vessel. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A named compatible vessel exposes actual solids, liquid or gas inputs, working contents and product receivers. Control selection does not itself supply missing inputs or convert incompatible tanks.

Start checks every mandatory output and service. An interrupted batch keeps its declared contents; a supported drain or recovery order names the destination before disconnecting a vessel.

A small set of reusable process patterns supports chemistry. Larger duties require appropriate enclosure, services and receiving capacity rather than more arbitrary crafting steps.

## C06-IND-24 — IND-M24 Evaporation and crystallization works

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: site or enclosed concentration works. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Show saline or mineral-bearing input, broad working surfaces or an enclosed chamber, concentrated supply and separated-product receivers. Heat or supported climate exposure belongs to an explicit method.

An unsuitable site pauses the selected passive method without consuming a replacement batch. An enclosed powered fit can work under its own supported conditions. Full product space halts further feed.

Open site use exchanges reliability and area for lower supplied energy; powered enclosure exchanges power and construction for predictable service. Ordinary salt retains simple uses.

## C06-IND-25 — IND-M25 Electrolytic separator

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: multi-output electrical process. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

An identified liquid enters an electrically supplied chamber with separate declared gas or chemical outlets. Every mandatory stream has a compatible real receiver or a specified supported handling route.

A blocked second outlet prevents further separation. An interruption retains actual material and does not refill both receivers twice. Recombining outputs never refunds more energy than the full preparation chain consumed.

This optional plant supports chosen bulk processes. The compact first breathing preparation route remains available without a compulsory regional chemical train.

## C06-IND-26 — IND-M26 Gas conditioning and compressor

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: gas preparation service. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A compatible gas inlet leads through visible conditioning, drive and storage roles to a declared fill position. Small early service and larger plant variants retain the same supply identity.

Wrong gas or vessel type is refused. Loss of charge stops filling at an accounted amount; removing a vessel commits only the transferred stock. A service filter is replaced at an isolated point.

Higher supported storage duty costs power, vessels and servicing. The interface uses readable game categories rather than an unnecessary pressure-engineering spreadsheet.

## C06-IND-27 — IND-M27 Phase-conditioning unit

Recommended first use: IP05. Physical responsibility: thermal storage conversion. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Distinct liquid and gas endpoints flank a process body with a real electrical and thermal service. A direction indicator shows which supported form is currently prepared.

A lost thermal sink pauses conversion before a false finished batch is issued. Reversing direction consumes the appropriate service and moves the same material; it does not copy a tank.

Compact storage or a specific frontier process justifies the added equipment. Simpler containers remain valid where their volume is acceptable.

## C06-IND-28 — IND-M28 Chemical washing and recovery train

Recommended first use: IP05. Physical responsibility: purification and recovery train. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Arrange prepared feed, reagent vessel, treatment body, product receiver and spent-stream recovery in order. A dry side aisle reaches every isolation valve and service opening.

Blocked recovery storage stops a recipe that requires it. Changing reagent retains compatible stock at its actual location. Cleanup reports a finite recoverable intermediate and unavoidable spent remainder.

Better purity or yield pays for space, energy, reagents and handling. Simpler direct processes remain effective for ordinary projects.

## C06-IND-29 — IND-M29 Crystal and optical growth chamber

Recommended first use: IP05. Physical responsibility: controlled optical production. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Prepared mineral stock enters a protected growth/finishing chamber with a viewing face, named condition controls and a finished optical-element tray. First instruments still use reachable glass and quartz.

A lost condition pauses the defined growth state or leaves a named intermediate. Removing the output cannot also reset the chamber to a second completed crystal. Inspection retains a collection specimen when reserved.

The plant improves reliability or one optical property. Lunar and distant-world inputs extend it after those sources are reached.

## C06-IND-30 — IND-M30 Polymer and composite works

Recommended first use: IP05. Physical responsibility: composite process line. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Distinct preparation, forming and curing positions process selected feedstock into seal stock, membranes or panels. Containers, reusable forms and finished sheets have separate accessible racks.

An unavailable mold or receiver holds the current order. Curing retains accounted material through a supported interruption; a repairable intermediate is identified before a destructive cancellation.

Earth products establish first operation. Titan and other discoveries improve specific duties, with no universal plastic inserted into every unrelated recipe.

## C06-IND-31 — IND-M31 Scrap and residue reclaimer

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: inspection and recovery service. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Returned parts are inspected before scrap enters a bounded reclaim process. Keep reusable modules, recoverable material and final spent stock in separate receivers, with specimens and mission reserves excluded.

A preserved-sample tag refuses ordinary reclamation. Dismantling an upgraded frame returns only the declared recoverable parts. The full chain cannot recover more matter than it originally consumed.

Recovery rewards useful workshop layout and reduces repeated gathering. It retains physical component identity where repair makes more sense than melting everything down.

## C06-IND-32 — IND-M32 Workshop dynamo and source assemblies

Recommended first use: IP02. Physical responsibility: visible power source. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A supported drive and dynamo connect to one traceable electrical output. A compact fueled configuration commissions independently of geography; water or wind variants have declared site requirements.

An absent drive input stops generation while the connected bank retains its actual charge. An isolated source can be serviced without pretending a disconnected load still has power.

Renewable sites trade placement, variation and footprint for less ongoing feed. The small fueled source remains a useful field and intermittent-work option.

## C06-IND-33 — IND-M33 Boiler, engine, and condenser plant

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: closed-loop heat power installation. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Keep heat source, water service, boiler, engine or turbine, condenser and electrical output visually separate. Maintenance access reaches each role without walking through material loading.

Loss of a required receiver or service initiates its defined controlled stop. Condensed working supply remains in one loop; it is neither a second independent output nor free replacement heat.

Larger sustained duty pays for construction, thermal service and distribution. A compact earlier generator remains appropriate for small workloads.

## C06-IND-34 — IND-M34 Liquid or gas fuel engine

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: prepared-fuel generator. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

An accepted fuel tank, engine, electrical output, thermal service and shutoff form one readable installation. Spent or exhaust handling is included only as the specific game recipe requires.

Incompatible fuel is rejected; an empty tank produces a clear waiting state. A cooling fault stops the active engine through its declared recovery, keeping residual fuel accounted.

Convenient sustained output pays for cultivation or extraction, refinement, delivery and use together. Fuel-engine loops cannot generate a self-feeding surplus from their own byproducts.

## C06-IND-35 — IND-M35 Solar array and controller

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: site-dependent electrical source. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A supported exposed panel group connects through one controller to distribution or storage. The site preview explains the world's authored lighting conditions and the clear maintenance route.

Unsupported lighting or disconnection stops generation rather than filling a hidden bank. The display separates present supply, stored charge and protected loads.

Useful area and suitable placement balance convenience. This option cannot become a free universal power source in dark underground rooms.

## C06-IND-36 — IND-M36 Thermal recovery module

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: bounded heat recovery. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A visible exchanger links an already supplied hot process or specifically supported environmental site to a distinct receiving loop. Source and recipient contents remain separate.

Removing the heat source stops recovery. A full receiving thermal allocation pauses transfer without increasing stored energy or material. The original process's energy account remains the upper bound.

Reuse of available heat lowers some supplied demand. An optional Io site introduces its own preparation and service cost; recapturing waste cannot run the source forever.

## C06-IND-37 — IND-M37 Stationary power bank

Recommended first use: IP02. Physical responsibility: modular power storage. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Visible cell housings, charge indication, input/output and isolation points connect a source to supported loads. Mark essential and expedition reservations separately from discretionary work.

A demand above supported discharge pauses the selected branch. Parking retains the bank's actual saved state. Dismantling uses safe relocation of modules and does not spawn a second full charge.

Greater capacity buys time; greater supported output buys simultaneous loads. Both need actual components, site space and an appropriate charged supply.

## C06-IND-38 — IND-M38 Switchboard and distribution station

Recommended first use: IP02. Physical responsibility: electrical distribution. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Traceable source inputs feed labeled branches with explicit priority and isolation. The player can follow a chosen load back to its source, bank and current available duty.

A branch overload stops with its location and cause shown. Reset follows a resolved demand or fault; it does not refill the source or destroy an ordinary house by default.

Higher-duty conductors and housings support larger real demand. Early switches stay useful for a small workshop or field camp.

## C06-IND-39 — IND-M39 Field-cell charging rack

Recommended first use: IP02. Physical responsibility: field-cell service rack. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Compatible reusable cells occupy individual charging slots, beside a physically marked expedition allocation. Power input and a returned-cell position remain obvious.

Removing one partly charged cell retains its actual charge. An automatic workshop order cannot consume a cell already reserved for a mission or emergency load.

More slots reduce repeat handling and ask for supply capacity. They do not charge multiple cells from the energy of one.

## C06-IND-40 — IND-M40 Oxygen Generator — compact air-supply preparation (T1-M05)

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: confirmed breathing preparation. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Retain the compact Oxygen Generator identity from REF15 and T1-M05. A defined Earth-compatible input, electrical supply, service consumable and SUPPLY02 receiver have distinct meanings.

Unresolved atmosphere-versus-water feed choice stays visible in the recipe record. Incompatible local conditions refuse operation. Loss of power or full breathing receiver pauses preparation without issuing free supply.

The compact first route is accessible. A later outpost requires independently resolved compatible feedstock; importing the first complete lunar supplies remains valid.

## C06-IND-41 — IND-M41 Breathing-supply refill rack

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: breathing refill service. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Prepared SUPPLY02 feeds compatible EQ24 vessels through clearly identified fill fittings. Mission and refuge cylinders occupy protected positions apart from general stock.

Disconnecting a partial refill records only actual transferred contents. A wrong vessel or supply refuses connection. Reusing a cylinder does not create another empty or full vessel.

Larger racks improve preparation convenience while preserving the same supply family and real reserve allocations.

## C06-IND-42 — IND-M42 Seal and enclosure test cabinet

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: enclosed inspection position. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A reachable cabinet holds a declared suit part, vessel or small module, with compatible service connections and an unmistakable usable/repair-needed result.

A failed check returns the same identifiable object and names the supported repair. Missing test service pauses the cycle; repeated random trials cannot be required to obtain a valid result.

Inspection reveals defined faults. It supports reliable readiness without becoming a simulation of real certification or an unpredictable statistical gate.

## C06-IND-43 — IND-M43 Habitat utility module

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: occupied habitat service. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Breathing supply, essential power, environmental status and reserves belong to a readable utility installation serving one commissioned habitat configuration.

If an essential service is insufficient during occupied work, the interface identifies supported refuge or return. An inactive managed habitat parks stably without remote depletion or resident harm.

Larger occupied configurations ask for more actual services and cargo. Imported first-use stock precedes local supply convenience.

## C06-IND-44 — IND-M44 Thermal service unit

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: thermal service installation. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Show a supported heating/cooling loop, supplied power and reachable exchange/service surfaces. Its destination is a named equipment or occupied-room duty, not every neighboring block.

A lost sink or supply pauses the affected duty and reports a supported recovery. Replacing a thermal insert preserves actual stored or spent contents instead of refreshing it by removal.

Compactness, active demand and supported duration create alternatives. Mantle materials improve later inserts after an earlier kit makes collection possible.

## C06-IND-45 — IND-M45 Fuel Refinery — propellant preparation (T1-M03)

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: confirmed propellant preparation. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Retain Fuel Refinery T1-M03 from REF15. Accessible Earth inputs, power and an identified SUPPLY01 output connect to separate launch or transport storage.

The exact early recipe remains a decision record until approved. Full propellant storage stops preparation. Ordinary workshop fuel orders cannot consume the first outward or homeward allocation.

Small first-flight preparation precedes regional bulk convenience. It is one confirmed function, not a hidden second mandatory starter refinery.

## C06-IND-46 — IND-M46 Rocket Assembly Station

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: confirmed assembly controller. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Follow REF09 and the dedicated-pair decision. Real completed parts are supplied to the Rocket Assembly Station, which explicitly controls a separate full-size vehicle berth.

A blocked berth pauses assembly and identifies the obstruction. Installed parts belong to one saved craft project. Completion never creates a vehicle item plus a duplicate deployed rocket.

Handling improvements support repeated assembly. REF15's lower table stays an alternative form, not a third compulsory manufacturing stage.

## C06-IND-47 — IND-M47 Component service and test stand

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: component inspection stand. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A known removable module mounts on an accessible stand, with its supported test/repair service and a distinct returned-component position.

An unavailable replacement leaves the original component recorded. An interrupted service order retains installed work and unused stock, without resetting condition for free.

The stand explains readiness and repair for actual modules. It does not demand real engine-test procedures or unnecessary specialist infrastructure for a first trip.

## C06-IND-48 — IND-M48 Launch service and recovery connections

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: vehicle service connections. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Expose separate electrical, propellant, breathing and cargo endpoints on the actual supported craft and site. Keep access routes, coupler sweeps and departure space visible.

Departure stops transfers, closes boundaries and releases compatible couplers in a defined sequence. Remaining supply stays at the source; cargo and vehicle identity persist through arrival and recovery.

Ground services make repeated journeys easier. Natural lunar landing and the first return do not require a prebuilt pad, refinery or external console.

## C06-IND-49 — IND-M49 Suit and equipment service dock

Recommended first use: IP03. Physical responsibility: equipment preparation dock. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Bring refill, charging, repair and cleaning positions together without merging supply types. The selected loadout names the carried items and the route they support.

A missing service ingredient marks only its affected action. The dock preserves real partially serviced items and returns worn parts to the appropriate receiver.

Convenience consolidates familiar preparation. It does not produce stock, repair equipment or grant protection from an empty shared interface.

## C06-IND-50 — IND-M50 Survey and optical bench

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: survey and optical workbench. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Physical specimens, reusable optics, prepared housings and retained observations meet at an accessible instrument bench. The map/record surface stays separate from production stock.

A calibration consumes only its declared allocation and retains unique knowledge. An instrument fault leaves the ordinary return map available; analysis does not duplicate the sample.

Basic glass and records support first use. Specialist optics reveal a bounded new method or improve useful clarity after their source is reached.

## C06-IND-51 — IND-M51 Sample laboratory

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: sample laboratory. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Keep preserved collection, designated research aliquots, contained working sample and possible product allocation separately labeled. Compatible environments remain attached to each sample's identity.

An unsuitable enclosure stops a sample action before untracked loss. Repeated essential observations can recover knowledge without dependence on one destructible specimen.

Portable first analysis precedes deeper laboratory work. A lab unlocks a supported method; production still uses actual collected material.

## C06-IND-52 — IND-M52 Sensor and control cabinet

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: bounded control installation. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Sensors and declared redstone-compatible conditions connect to known machines. A control face names the real receiver, reserve and reason an order is waiting.

A missing or unauthorized endpoint suspends its command without taking private stock. Inactive-region equipment cannot run secretly merely because a remote signal exists.

Useful simple conditions come before elaborate logic. Automation reduces repeated handling after the player can understand and override the process.

## C06-IND-53 — IND-M53 Hoist and lift installation

Recommended first use: IP01. Physical responsibility: authored lift and hoist. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A supported frame and drive connect known landing positions through a declared travel envelope. Cargo attachments and passenger access avoid the moving path.

An obstructed landing or incompatible load pauses travel at a supported state. Loss of drive invokes declared holding or recovery; it cannot drop untracked cargo or create a duplicate attachment.

Mechanical first handling and EQ08 cargo winches remain useful. Larger loads pay for frames, services and real landing clearance.

## C06-IND-54 — IND-M54 Conveyor and loading bay

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: local material handling. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Belts, chutes or loaders connect named finite buffers with visible directions and service access. A route uses actual nearby links, not imaginary inventory reach.

Backpressure stops feeding when the receiver fills. A removed segment retains in-transit goods in a supported recovery position; it does not spill valuables by default.

Handling saves repeated walking and sorting at the cost of area, power and planned receiving space.

## C06-IND-55 — IND-M55 Stockroom and order desk

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: physical stock and order interface. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Racks and containers retain location and ownership while a desk indexes available stock, specimens, project allocations and protected reserves.

A requested order reserves actual compatible goods once. Full storage or missing authorization holds the order. A search result cannot create capacity or copy material.

Start with labeled ordinary storage. Later indexing improves visibility and repeated orders without replacing every container with infinite remote inventory.

## C06-IND-56 — IND-M56 Freight dispatch and receiving service

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: established freight service. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Dispatch, transit and receipt track already-produced authorized cargo along a known link. Actual departure and receiver positions expose progress, space and the cause of waiting.

Full or inactive receiving service retains goods with their actual owner/location. A receiving region may advance a previously dispatched shipment without starting new production at an absent source.

A useful freight network saves repeated carrying. It does not require both ends occupied simultaneously, discover a route or manufacture remote replacement stock.

## C06-IND-57 — IND-M57 Bounded excavation assembly

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: bounded excavation installation. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A surveyed working envelope contains a visible digging head, support, services and finite collection buffer. Protected structures, unknown hazards and excluded materials are previewed.

An unexpected exclusion or full receiver stops excavation and reports its position. Recovery retains actual dug stock and the head's condition; reloading does not reveal every ore through walls.

Power, service heads, site area and real deposits limit repeat production. Manual exploration remains necessary to establish a suitable site.

## C06-IND-58 — IND-M58 Frontier vehicle service bay

Recommended first use: IP07. Physical responsibility: vehicle-specific service bay. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Use a shared workshop frame with SUP01–04-specific boarding, movement, pressure or environmental service positions. Charging, cargo, repair and instrument work remain separate.

A wrong craft configuration refuses connection. Removing a service keeps the same vehicle and actual stock; a disabled craft needs supported earlier spares or recovery.

First deployment arrives with a viable bay and imported services. Local materials improve a particular replaceable module later.

## C06-IND-59 — IND-M59 Parallel production line

Recommended first use: IP04. Physical responsibility: parallel working positions. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Additional known machines, real buffers, repeated working spaces and adequate handling create a larger line. Services scale with the positions they actually support.

One full receiver pauses its affected work without duplicating completed batches elsewhere. A shared supply shortage follows declared priority and retains all committed work.

Capacity pays approximately for the machines and supply demand it replaces. A generic upgrade chip cannot multiply one tiny block into a whole invisible factory.

## C06-IND-60 — IND-M60 Shielded materials laboratory

Recommended first use: IP08. Physical responsibility: contained material preparation. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Separate approved feed, shielded preparation, actual product and spent-stock custody in an accessible enclosure. The edition-specific recommended routes are C06-P06-ADV01–07.

An incompatible or missing receiver blocks commissioning. A stopped fictional preparation retains its named intermediate and container identity; recovery cannot copy the original feed.

Earlier frames, ceramics, power and handled charted feed support the proposed optional branch. No new ore alias or compulsory campaign dependency is introduced.

## C06-IND-61 — IND-M61 Shielded fission power plant

Recommended first use: IP08. Physical responsibility: optional contained heat source. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

A contained core, service access, heat transfer, IND-M33 power conversion and separately tracked spent material form one complete plant. Read the finite proposed route in C06-P06-ADV03.

Service interruption initiates an authored controlled stop. The same cassette matter becomes spent stock; it is not both returned fresh and discarded spent. Inactive operation parks stably.

Sustained industrial duty trades setup, distribution, service and full fuel/spent-stock costs. This is optional game fiction with unresolved numbers.

## C06-IND-62 — IND-M62 Fusion research plant

Recommended first use: IP08. Physical responsibility: optional high-duty research plant. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Show prepared finite feed cartridges, startup-energy supply, central apparatus, thermal service and distribution. Its earlier construction route and consumed service charge are named in C06-P06-ADV04.

Without startup or thermal support, the apparatus waits or stops through its declared recovery. Spent cartridges preserve custody; no gas separation/recombination loop generates net free fuel.

The whole preparation-to-output route must justify the large project. Ordinary habitats, Tier1 and lunar returns do not depend on it.

## C06-IND-63 — IND-M63 Precision field apparatus

Recommended first use: IP09. Physical responsibility: narrow field-processing apparatus. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Conductive frames, prepared optical/ceramic parts, bounded input material and a service chamber produce one defined component, with a real consumed preparation supply.

An interruption retains the actual input or declared intermediate. Output inspection confirms the one supported component; this apparatus cannot synthesize arbitrary ore or award universal powers.

The finite game route in C06-P06-ADV05 serves a narrow advanced purpose. Earlier materials construct the first apparatus.

## C06-IND-64 — IND-M64 Navigation and transit assembly

Recommended first use: IP09. Physical responsibility: navigation and transit assembly. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Previously reachable hardware, mature observations, calibration and actual voyage supplies meet at an inspectable assembly. Read C06-P06-ADV06 for the proposed finite module route.

Missing route evidence prevents an unsupported transit order. Calibration keeps the source observations; a cancelled voyage preserves actual unused supplies and the independent return allocation.

Pluto and earlier context supports first Beyond Sol access. Cairn and Morrow products enter later refits, never the first machine needed to reach them.

## C06-IND-65 — IND-M65 Advanced route terminal

Recommended first use: IP09. Physical responsibility: late route coordination. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

The terminal names already surveyed destinations, real receiving services, supported craft/cargo and protected homeward allocations. Data is a coordination interface rather than a new transport physics promise.

An unavailable receiver holds the departure or offers an already supported alternative. No command opens an unbuilt refuge or relocates arbitrary structures.

Convenience follows established preparation. Any instantaneous variant remains a distinct future decision and must preserve meaningful vehicle roles.

## C06-IND-66 — IND-M66 Modular powered equipment dock

Recommended first use: IP08. Physical responsibility: modular equipment service. The preserved industry register supplies the original purpose and material direction.

Known equipment accepts compatible work, sensing, movement or environment modules at visible attachment positions. Separate charge, supplies, changed handling and protection remain readable.

A swap retains the actual removed module and checks the new fitted envelope. Lost power exposes its supported fallback; the item cannot grant every environment capability indefinitely.

Limited choices trade endurance, carried space, handling and protection. Powered excavation stays bounded and movement requires a supported local context.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: industry_completion_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: advanced_industry_routes_06.txt | SHA-256 947f1ecba085069f0b4578faccefe88d8b691104adf98bb8aeed247c03d4e044 =====

# Advanced industry — proposed complete feedstock and product routes

## C06-P06-ADV01 — Recommendation status and scope

This P06 appendix closes the named-input-to-use gap for IND-M60–64. Every recipe below is an edition-scoped, unapproved recommendation for fictional game systems. The C06-AR recipe and C06-AP product references are documentation labels, not new MAT resources, registered items or implemented recipes. Quantities, yields, energy coefficients, capacities and durations remain null. Null means unresolved, not free.

The routes use already named Earth or pre-Afterlight materials. Charted uranium remains uranium; it is not renamed or used to approve a real fuel process. Redstone-based reaction material is overt game fiction. Nothing here supplies real enrichment, chemistry, reactor geometry or operating instructions. The existing optional fission, fusion and advanced-field identities remain optional industrial ambitions. Neither first lunar travel nor an ordinary habitat gains a reactor requirement.

## C06-P06-ADV02 — IND-M60: a shielded fuel cassette

Recommended recipe C06-AR01 uses actual charted uranium stock, an empty structural-steel cassette housing, a technical-ceramic liner and an accepted seal set. IND-M60 performs a bounded preparation interaction using supplied electricity and replaceable service stock. Its first enclosure, work fixture and tracked receiving stores use earlier structural steel, technical ceramics, copper connections and ordinary control parts. No first-machine component requires output from the reactor it will later supply.

The output, C06-AP01 Shielded Fuel Cassette, owns its loaded feedstock and reusable housing. Preparation also reserves a compatible receiver for declared retained preparation residue. The amount remains unresolved; it cannot be omitted from capacity checks if the selected recipe produces it. Unworked uranium stays identified stock. A stopped preparation retains one accounted intermediate; cancelling before commitment returns its unused ingredients.

This recommendation establishes a fictional packaged fuel route only. The preparation animation can show insertion, enclosure and a successful custody check. It does not imply real material conversion detail. The first electricity comes from an already working source such as IND-M32 or a supplied IND-M34, with buffering through IND-M37 where useful.

## C06-P06-ADV03 — IND-M61: heat, useful power and a spent cassette

Recommended operation C06-AR02 accepts C06-AP01, supplied process-water service, control electricity and the declared service parts. Earlier steel, technical ceramics, copper service components and known control equipment construct the plant and its connected thermal loop. IND-M33 receives its bounded heat output and supplies electricity through the existing generation and distribution relationship. The first plant therefore uses an already reachable power connection for commissioning.

Active operation consumes the cassette's defined fuel allocation and returns C06-AP02 Spent Fuel Cassette to a reserved tracked store. The outer housing remains the same recoverable component. At IND-M60's isolated service position, a supported handling job can transfer the retained spent payload into its designated store and return the inspected empty housing. Consumed fuel is not recreated. Reusable housings reduce construction demand; they do not refill themselves.

A full spent receiver blocks a new operating allocation. Missing cooling or a severed heat connection produces controlled local shutdown with the current cassette and loop contents preserved. Working water recirculates only within the defined retained quantity; any top-up and losses are explicit later coefficients. Region parking stops authored demand. The default consequence of a fault is a bounded service task, not an unattended disaster after absence.

## C06-P06-ADV04 — IND-M62: a finite fictional reaction cartridge

C06-AR03 recommends a compatible IND-M60 preparation fixture for a separate game recipe: redstone stock, prepared carbon, a technical-ceramic insert, copper contacts, an empty cartridge shell and a finite supplied electrical service charge produce C06-AP03 High-Duty Reaction Cartridge. Redstone is the existing familiar resource category; carbon follows the ordinary or IND-M06 route. Preparation retains any declared residue in a named receiver. This is fictional reaction material, not a claim that those ingredients are real fusion fuel.

C06-AR04 consumes that loaded cartridge at IND-M62. Its earlier-built plant uses structural steel or an already available reinforced-alloy option, technical ceramics, copper conductors, ordinary optical/control assemblies and compatible thermal service. A real IND-M37 startup allocation is required in addition to preparation charge. Neither charge appears from a full-looking display. The configured process delivers bounded heat or power through its declared output interface and produces C06-AP04 Spent Reaction Cartridge.

The spent cartridge goes to an inspected service position: retained spent material enters tracked storage, while compatible shell parts return through normal service/reclamation. Neither the consumed redstone/carbon allocation nor its charge is recovered as fresh fuel. Its source is finite material plus actual preparation work, rather than a gas-separation loop that feeds itself. Later balance must count extraction, carbon preparation, cartridge manufacture, startup, active service and all recoverable fractions together. Until those coefficients are established, no efficiency or net-output promise is made.

## C06-P06-ADV05 — IND-M63: one narrow aligned-field component

C06-AR05 recommends prepared copper conductor stock, an ordinary glass or explicitly accepted clear-quartz optical element, a technical-ceramic carrier and a consumed redstone/carbon process insert. Supplied electricity and a compatible thermal connection support one bounded IND-M63 operation. Its first apparatus uses earlier steel, ceramic, copper and ordinary optical parts. A proposed specialist optical upgrade is unnecessary for constructing that initial apparatus.

The output, C06-AP05 Aligned-Field Component, serves a defined advanced instrument or the supported transit assembly. It contains the contributed conductor, carrier and optical parts; preparation consumes the named insert. A spent insert goes to tracked service storage, and any reusable fixture stays installed. A failed readiness check consumes nothing. Once a process commits, its item and stage remain recoverable through the established interruption rule.

This apparatus does not synthesize ore, duplicate specimens or create arbitrary energy. Alignment is a bounded game interaction with a named recipient and observable result. Dismantling returns compatible retained components through finite recovery, never a fresh complete insert plus the already-produced component.

## C06-P06-ADV06 — IND-M64: a pre-Afterlight transit bootstrap

C06-AR06 combines C06-AP05, an earlier structural frame, copper service connections, an existing optical assembly, ordinary control parts and a declared prepared redstone calibration insert. IND-M64 uses supplied electricity, the supported fixture and previously obtained route observations to produce C06-AP06 Calibrated Transit Module. The observations are a nonconsumed knowledge prerequisite; completing a job neither deletes the discovery record nor creates another physical sample.

The first module uses entirely pre-Afterlight stock. Established Pluto observations can support its route record, and PM13 Nightglass is a proposed specialist optical option where an accepted recipe warrants it. Neither Cairn's PM15/PM16 nor Morrow's PM17/PM18 enters the first bootstrap. Used calibration stock enters a declared spent receiver; unused fixtures and apparatus remain available for another job.

Installing this module does not invent a new hull or certify a complete voyage. The existing spacecraft capability must separately provide supported travel, power, navigation, conventional protection, real operating supplies and an independent homeward allocation. The return depends on those already carried services and retained route knowledge. Later discoveries can improve a refit after arrival, while failure or deferral preserves the original supported home route.

## C06-P06-ADV07 — What is now closed and what remains unverified

The companion register names every recommended recipe's inputs, output, service, byproduct, receiver, reusable component and earlier first-machine construction category. These routes close the prose-level dependency gap while retaining their unapproved recommendation status. They neither change the implemented mineral chart nor move Smelt from its next-work position.

Future evidence must resolve accepted recipe quantities, balanced losses and recovery, complete energy accounting, output capacities, actual geometry, warning intervals and runtime persistence. Review one complete supplied job, missing-input refusal, output blockage, controlled interruption, parked region and conserved recovery for each operation. No numerical or gameplay pass is claimed by this appendix.



===== END EXACT SOURCE: advanced_industry_routes_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: materials_completion_06.txt | SHA-256 700e691e356adaaf4bdf813c6b613fd88793b26c46ddc8145e021ecd58c419ff =====

# Materials — sources, manufactured forms and useful applications

## C06-P07-01 — Keep the find, the product and the equipment distinct

The complete catalogue already supplies nineteen proposed Earth resource identities, eighteen planetary material identities and ten principal manufactured-product families. This supplement closes the source-to-use relationship for each. A natural sample, prepared stock, finished component and installed device are different stages. Pictures placed beside one another show a relationship, not an exact recipe or a declaration that every pictured object is necessary for the first use.

A clear first result makes a material memorable: a valve holds a water route open, a ceramic insert supports an accessible thermal tool, a seal repairs carried equipment, a light guide improves a survey, or a frame makes a cargo rack easier to service. Decorative and research value remain legitimate uses. A sample can belong in a collection without being automatically converted into its maximum sale value.

The recommended future recipe-record format contains input identity, accepted alternatives, method/machine, knowledge requirement, energy and service responsibility, output identity, recovery path and reservation rules. The delivered material register records identity, form, process direction, application and limits, with numeric_yield set to null. It is a material-direction register, not a complete numeric recipe database. Unassigned quantities remain undecided: null never means free, zero or infinite. Keep container identity separate from the supply inside it and reuse cylinders, cases, patterns and tools where the existing design supports reuse.

## C06-P07-02 — The implemented chart and the creative catalogue

At the inspected pushed development record a0a702c2b5788d099645ab55ad23d8a5bf45c137, ORES.md assigns familiar vanilla ores to Shallows ranges; tin, zinc, silver, sulfur and apatite to Deepwilds; lead, nickel, bauxite, fluorite, salt, certus quartz and niter to Underreach; osmium, uranium and cinnabar to Abyss; and draconium only to Core smooth quartz. Mantle and separator bands have no chart minerals. The chart also describes existing water, crude-oil pockets and lava, and explicitly excludes machine fluids as world layers.

Those identities are preserved. The creative MAT catalogue is not a migration list that removes zinc, silver, apatite, lead, fluorite, niter, osmium, uranium or cinnabar. It also cannot silently turn bauxite into alumina clay, certus quartz into resonant quartz, or draconium into Heartglass. An implemented uranium source does not establish a working fission plant or its approved fuel chain. The selected advanced routes are now named in C06-P06-ADV01–07 and advanced_routes_06.json as unapproved fictional game recommendations. They close the prose dependency gap; accepted recipes and numerical balance remain future decisions.

Source: https://github.com/K-J2/Substellar/blob/a0a702c2b5788d099645ab55ad23d8a5bf45c137/docs/ORES.md . The following crosswalk describes evidence relationships, not new world-generation changes.

| Creative identity | Current chart relationship | Current interpretation |
| --- | --- | --- |
| MAT01 | Tin | Same named material; proposed shallow first source differs from charted Deepwilds. Keep chart placement as current evidence; early recipe substitutes remain proposals. |
| MAT02 | Nickel | Same named material in Underreach; new alloy processing is future direction. |
| MAT03 | Bauxite | Related precursor role only. Alumina clay and bauxite are not approved aliases or identical generation. |
| MAT04 | No named counterpart | Titaniferous source and processing remain creative proposals. |
| MAT05 | No named counterpart | Graphite is distinct from ordinary carbon fuel; no chart addition is inferred. |
| MAT06 | Vanilla quartz / certus quartz context | Clear quartz is a creative material role; accepted substitution and source tags require a recipe decision. |
| MAT07 | Sulfur | Same named material in Deepwilds; vent collection remains a future placement proposal. |
| MAT08 | Salt | Charted beside Underreach lakes; creative evaporite forms and processing are not all implemented. |
| MAT09 | Ordinary clay context | Common clay can support an early recipe proposal; a new named deposit is not verified. |
| MAT10–MAT12 | No named chart counterpart | Root resin, spore fiber and Shellstone are proposed ecological/building material families. |
| MAT13–MAT14 | No approved one-to-one counterpart | Lens crystal and resonant quartz are not silent renamings of amethyst or certus quartz. |
| MAT15 | Draconium is distinct | Core draconium does not become Heartglass; both names retain their separate source status. |
| MAT16 | Mantle has no chart minerals | Thermal salt remains a proposed future source and product family. |
| MAT17–MAT19 | No named chart counterpart | Mycelial loam, ironbark fiber and biolume culture remain creative living-material direction. |
| PM01–PM18 | Outside the implemented Earth chart | All planetary families retain their fictional source and process direction without claiming registered deposits or recipes. |

## C06-P07-03 — Visual rules for materials and items

The user explicitly rejected photorealistic material samples during this edition. New images must use Minecraft geometry and coarse pixel-scale surfaces. A powder is a flat item icon or a simple blocky heap, not individually rendered grains. An ingot has a readable game-item silhouette, not polished cast-metal microdetail. Cloth has a few broad texture bands rather than visible threads. Natural blocks use restrained host textures and broad mineral pixels. Crafted objects use simple cuboids, economical bevel-like steps and clear functional shapes.

Artistic lighting can be beautiful. It must not disguise high-resolution real-world product models as Minecraft assets. The corrected product sheet establishes the scale of detail for later concepts. Generated images remain reference illustrations; export-ready item textures, block models and UV sheets are later production work. The text and SVG diagrams carry exact identities, captions and relationships.

# Material cards — all Earth and planetary identities

## C06-MAT-MAT01 — MAT01 Tin

A dull host-stone block with a few pale mineral pixels; a simple extruded pixel-item tin ingot, followed by a chunky bronze fitting.

The current chart places tin in Deepwilds. A supported prepared tin route joins copper at IND-M07, then IND-M05 shapes valves and couplings. Initial part recipes retain proposed common-material alternatives where the earliest service must precede that charted source.

A repairable pump fitting or workbench mechanism makes the alloy memorable. The creative shallow-seam proposal cannot move an implemented deposit by documentation alone.

## C06-MAT-MAT02 — MAT02 Nickel

Muted warm-silver patches in dense host stone; stock and an inset reinforcement strip remain distinct game items.

Identify actual nickel-bearing feed, prepare it only through a compatible route, then combine selected stock at IND-M22 for a named higher-duty component. Earlier steel and ceramics build the first apparatus.

Use a replaceable loaded frame or thermal fitting. Improved duty trades processing and service for a specific benefit; nickel never makes every earlier iron tool obsolete.

## C06-MAT-MAT03 — MAT03 Alumina clay

Chalky cream and rust block bands, a prepared pale feed item and a simple light-metal plate.

IND-M51 identifies the fictional precursor. A resolved prepared-alumina recipe supplies IND-M21, whose first frame, insulation, working parts and electrical source use earlier materials. Bauxite is charted but is not an approved alias for this clay.

Light plates improve a chosen cargo or enclosure application. Recipe substitution and any new deposit remain explicit decisions; the first common-material Explorer does not require this plant.

## C06-MAT-MAT04 — MAT04 Titaniferous ore

Dark host stone with a few subdued flat streaks; prepared stock and a recognizably fabricated beam form.

A protected earlier expedition surveys the proposed intrusive-rock source. A compatible preparation route and IND-M22 make selected high-duty stock; IND-M05 or an appropriate forming fixture finishes it.

A specialist load-support part earns the process. The first source-access kit and first processing frame cannot require the exclusive titanium output; natural placement is still proposed.

## C06-MAT-MAT05 — MAT05 Graphite

Broad charcoal layers on a seam block, a flat dark item and a simple conductive or service insert.

A studied dry source yields bounded actual feed. Material-specific preparation supports an IND-M05 electrical/service part or a selected advanced process. Ordinary charcoal remains a different supported starter carbon route.

Conductive or low-friction game categories provide narrow uses. Graphite is not a silent rename of every fuel item and does not create a self-feeding energy loop.

## C06-MAT-MAT06 — MAT06 Clear quartz

A few simple milky or clear stepped crystal forms, a flat lens item and a square housed instrument.

Reachable glass or accepted quartz supports early IND-M50 surveying. Sorting and shaping prepare a useful optical element; later IND-M29 can improve a defined property or consistency.

The first instrument makes a route easier to read. Clear quartz, vanilla quartz and certus quartz have related context without becoming approved interchangeable material tags.

## C06-MAT-MAT07 — MAT07 Sulfur

Yellow crust represented by broad texture squares on host blocks; a flat powder item and a closed reagent cartridge.

A bounded collection or the charted Deepwilds source provides actual stock. IND-M23 or a named supported processing recipe prepares its selected reagent; earlier protection and containers precede exposure.

A service reagent or later composite has a declared recipient. No individual powder grains, uncontrolled vent harvesting or universal chemical ingredient is implied.

## C06-MAT-MAT08 — MAT08 Rock salt

Pale block layers and cubic inclusions, a flat salt item, then an ordinary supply or process container.

Simple compatible collected stock supports initial use. IND-M24 can concentrate a specified saline feed later, with actual heat or site requirements and separate product receivers.

Preserved supply, decorative masonry and selected chemistry give continuing value. This does not add an ordinary-survival food-spoilage chore or make an evaporation plant mandatory for every pinch of salt.

## C06-MAT-MAT09 — MAT09 Ceramic clay

Warm-grey or red clay bank blocks, simple formed pieces and cream fired slabs with coarse edge pixels.

Ordinary or accepted ceramic clay is shaped and fired at IND-M09 using an earlier reachable fuel/heat route. Reusable molds and cooling shelves remain available after completion.

Begin with a vessel, insulating insert or household tile. Specialist additives change a named duty; a technical panel is manufactured rather than mined as a finished machine part.

## C06-MAT-MAT10 — MAT10 Root resin

Amber square marks on a living root block, a contained resin item and a simple seal patch.

Safe fringe collection preserves the host and a finite regrowth point. Studied managed growth can supply repeat stock; IND-M12 combines it with compatible cloth or fittings. Approved early alternatives may use the existing basic seal vocabulary.

A waterproof fitting or repair patch makes the source useful at home. Essential first protection precedes a dangerous resin source, and extraction cannot silently strip a whole habitat.

## C06-MAT-MAT11 — MAT11 Spore fiber

Pale bands within fungal substrate, a flat fiber bundle item, a square spool and a plain cloth patch.

A safe initial sample establishes a bounded IND-M13 plot where permitted. Prepared fiber reaches IND-M11 and IND-M12 for textiles, filters or insulation. Ordinary cloth remains an earlier supported alternative.

Replace a worn service layer or furnish a room. Wild fungal spaces remain valuable; no individual thread rendering or mandatory rare-creature harvest belongs in the item chain.

## C06-MAT-MAT12 — MAT12 Shellstone

Pale simple shell-shaped marks inside dense block stone, cut masonry and a chunky composite panel.

Surveyed old deposits provide inert source stock. Compatible cutting/forms supply decorative blocks; an IND-M10 recipe can combine prepared Shellstone with earlier binders for a particular composite.

Build durable, recognizable walls or a selected panel. A dead deposit is distinct from living aquatic habitat; the material does not require farming or killing rare fauna.

## C06-MAT-MAT13 — MAT13 Lens crystal

A simple clear center in an angular growth block, a distinct optical insert and an ordinary instrument housing.

IND-M50/51 identifies a relevant property and preserves a specimen. A selected finishing recipe or later IND-M29 provides the advanced lens while ordinary glass instruments still perform the first survey.

Improve one observation or measurement task. Better optics do not reveal every resource through stone or erase the need to read terrain and establish a route.

## C06-MAT-MAT14 — MAT14 Resonant quartz

Pale outer blocks around a smoky center with a few broad line pixels; a contained insert inside a plain housing.

A prepared expedition studies its defined response and reserves an actual sample. IND-M50/51 turns relevant knowledge plus contributed material into a calibrated resonant component.

Read a bounded device or trace family while retaining the ordinary return map. This is separate from charted certus quartz; an illustrative response does not make current quartz ore emissive.

## C06-MAT-MAT15 — MAT15 Heartglass

Thick dark block-glass formations with restrained warm planes, solid fragment icons and a housed advanced element.

An earlier protected route reaches the proposed Core source. Retain a specimen, identify it, then use compatible IND-M29/44/50 processing and earlier fittings for a selected optical or thermal assembly.

The result improves subsequent advanced exploration. Heartglass is distinct from draconium and cannot become a hidden ingredient in the first equipment needed to obtain it.

## C06-MAT-MAT16 — MAT16 Thermal salt

Rust-white clustered texture blocks, a contained flat material item and a simple installed thermal insert.

An earlier ceramic/frame/thermal-service kit supports a short Mantle-margin collection proposal. A specified IND-M44-compatible route prepares a bounded heat-service product, with actual charging energy where required.

A later insert can improve supported duration or compactness. Mantle currently has no chart minerals; placement remains creative direction. A charged device's effect is distinct from naturally glowing ore.

## C06-MAT-MAT17 — MAT17 Mycelial loam

Dark soil blocks with a restrained pale pixel network, a contained substrate sample and a marked managed bed.

A small compatible sample enters a documented cultivation recipe with ordinary earlier tools and substrate support. IND-M13 maintains only the local declared plot and active-use conditions.

Improve a cultivated patch or restore a damaged plot through a bounded action. Carrying loam cannot infect arbitrary builds, create remote growth or erase a biome's ecological limits.

## C06-MAT-MAT18 — MAT18 Ironbark fiber

Dark-brown broad strip patterns on an identified woody source, a flat bundle item and a thick rope or panel edge.

Careful edge harvesting retains the established growth. Prepared strips reach IND-M11 or IND-M10 with earlier materials for a tough textile or composite, with studied cultivation only where supported.

A repairable hoist rope, strap or panel benefits a route. Higher strength trades weight, handling or preparation; ordinary rope remains useful and one sample cannot supply endless stock.

## C06-MAT-MAT19 — MAT19 Biolume culture

A small protected colony in a square jar or growth block, with a restrained cool color area and simple housing.

A known compatible sample and bounded conditions establish controlled cultivation. Its relevant lamp or route-marker product uses an actual housing and supported supplies; finished stock stays distinct from a living source.

A maintained low-intensity display can help a home or route. New living-light behaviour remains future design and does not authorize current shader or emissive-ore changes.

## C06-MAT-PM01 — PM01 Regolith Ceramic

Regolith cube, coarse prepared feed item and pale ceramic panel with a few dusty edge pixels.

IND-M51 identifies the sample and reserves a specimen; an imported or home IND-M09 configuration forms the supported ceramic product. Initial apparatus, liners and power come from earlier sources.

A refuge insulation panel or thermal insert improves the next visit. The first arrival shelter and independent return were already packed on Earth.

## C06-MAT-PM02 — PM02 Lunar Glass Filament

A few dark impact-glass shard icons, a square spool and a housed light-guide element.

IND-M50/51 identifies the glass and develops a supported filament/instrument recipe. A larger IND-M29 configuration can improve consistency later. Exact sample yield remains unresolved.

Improve a survey instrument or local light guide. A tiny illustrated sample cannot promise a completed observatory; repeat collection remains a real expedition.

## C06-MAT-PM03 — PM03 Ferric Lattice

Familiar rusty mineral stock, a clearly manufactured reddish lattice beam and a removable rover-rack corner.

Mars iron-bearing feed and common structural ingredients pass through a selected forming/composite route, then IND-M58 fits the declared component. The first rover uses an earlier frame and imported spares.

Improve repair access or a rugged load member. A lattice is manufactured, not a naturally growing truss, and it is unnecessary for the first arrival that discovers its feedstock.

## C06-MAT-PM04 — PM04 Brine Catalyst

A bounded brine-source context, closed sample and prepared processing cartridge with a simple distinct icon.

Compatible contained samples reach IND-M51 and a specified IND-M23 preparation route using earlier apparatus. A reusable cartridge housing holds an actual finite active supply with a declared spent state.

Improve one compact processing or closed-loop service. It is separate from optional Mars life; no brine mat is required or selected, and a catalyst is not an infinite material generator.

## C06-MAT-PM05 — PM05 Dark-Ice Concentrate

Dark volatile-bearing ice blocks, a closed extraction container and a compact storage module.

A supplied Ceres expedition surveys actual ice pockets. Compatible separation/conditioning prepares the defined concentrate and its storage form using earlier thermal, power and containment capability.

Offer a specific industrial feedstock or storage advantage. Any fuel use pays the complete preparation and consumption route; the first return is already supplied before local extraction.

## C06-MAT-PM06 — PM06 Porous Nickel Matrix

Familiar metal-bearing fragment, a prepared open matrix block and a light cargo-rack member.

A Ceres sample is identified, prepared and formed through a compatible alloy/porous-structure game recipe. Earlier metal frames and apparatus construct the first process; the finished matrix is not simply a loose ore block.

Reduce a chosen structural burden or isolate an instrument. Porosity brings a defined property and retained load limits, not an all-purpose superior material.

## C06-MAT-PM07 — PM07 Cryoseal Gel

A contained blue-grey sample or cartridge, a simple dark gasket and an installed cold-service connector.

Only permitted limited colony secretion or a documented contained cultivated feedstock supplies the material. IND-M51 and an appropriate seal process prepare a finite replaceable stock; imported seals support initial Europa operation.

Improve an Ice Submersible or other supported cold-service seal after discovery. Observation can succeed without harvesting a colony, and collected material does not certify real pressure-vessel engineering.

## C06-MAT-PM08 — PM08 Resonant Silica

Broad porous ribbed laminae represented by block faces, a refined sensor element and a square acoustic housing.

A mapped mineral/colony interface is surveyed without destroying its ecological structure. A compatible collected or approved supplied sample supports IND-M50/51 processing with earlier protected equipment.

Improve a defined acoustic observation task. It remains distinct from Earth resonant quartz; quiet sensing trades useful instrument space or duty, without detecting everything everywhere.

## C06-MAT-PM09 — PM09 Thermal Spine Crystal

A few stepped native crystal forms, a protected solid sample and a simple exchanger insert.

An earlier thermal kit reaches an identified Io formation. A bounded sample is prepared into a compatible IND-M44/36 service element using an independently powered earlier installation.

Improve selected heat transfer after initial access. The first collector cannot require this same crystal, and the process does not create energy by endlessly recovering its own waste heat.

## C06-MAT-PM10 — PM10 Sulfur Ceramic

Sulfur-bearing feed item, prepared ceramic piece and a thick enclosure panel.

Gathered compatible Io feed joins familiar binders and a resolved IND-M09 or composite firing route. First apparatus and protection arrive from previous materials and supplies.

A chemical or thermal enclosure gains a stated duty. The ceramic is manufactured, not a finished panel mined from a seam, and every hot process keeps real input and receiver costs.

## C06-MAT-PM11 — PM11 Amber Polymer

A surveyed chemical source or bounded renewable sample, a flat amber sheet and a cold-service housing.

An identified Titan feedstock passes through an appropriate preparation and IND-M30 forming/curing route. Earlier Earth products and imported service stock support the initial plant.

A lightweight or cold-environment casing improves a selected craft/service module. Keep a few broad pixel colors; no photographic resin droplets or universal plastic requirement.

## C06-MAT-PM12 — PM12 Liftweave Membrane

Simple broad raw membrane planes, flat patterned sheet and a clearly fabricated supported lift-envelope section.

A permitted Titan source supports a finite preparation/textile/composite route, using earlier tools and a compatible enclosure. Only a declared local flight-support configuration accepts the finished envelope.

Refit the Atmospheric Survey Skiff after an earlier viable craft reaches its operating site. No cloth fibers, unrestricted planetary flight or real lift calculation is established by the picture.

## C06-MAT-PM13 — PM13 Nightglass

Dark reflective seam blocks, a housed low-light optical element and a simple navigation assembly.

A prepared Pluto expedition identifies a suitable seam and retains a specimen. IND-M50/29 prepares a selected optical element with earlier housings; basic navigation and return already work.

Improve low-light observation or a bounded route-calibration method. It can be a pre-Afterlight specialist option, while ordinary earlier optics remain available where the recipe permits.

## C06-MAT-PM14 — PM14 Memory Frost

Layered frost in broad pale bands, an intact contained sample and a simple recorded analysis image.

Collect a supported layered sample without treating every ice block as a copied archive. Earlier containment and IND-M51 preserve actual sample state, while analysis produces retained knowledge or a named intermediate.

Research a preserved pattern. One sample cannot promise a whole transit installation, unlimited memory stock or reconstruction of arbitrary lost objects.

## C06-MAT-PM15 — PM15 Palimpsest Plate

A designated recoverable plate fragment with broad surface layers, a protected item and an archival interface panel.

Cairn repeatable secondary sources provide approved fragments outside protected puzzle cores. Earlier instruments identify and fit them through a declared precision/archive project; ordinary route knowledge stays intact.

Improve archival or precision work after reaching Cairn. Removing indispensable puzzle architecture is not the normal resource route, and the plate cannot gate the first voyage to its own source.

## C06-MAT-PM16 — PM16 Phase Tine

A simple resonant component silhouette, a square protective housing and a small local sensing assembly.

A repeatable Cairn secondary site supplies actual compatible stock. Earlier calibration and a bounded instrument recipe prepare its stated alignment role, with protected observations preserved.

Support a narrow anomaly-sensing interaction. It does not erase conventional hazards, open every locked device or authorize general teleportation.

## C06-MAT-PM17 — PM17 Living Ceramic

A contained angular pale growth, a separate inert finished cream panel and a coarse block-built habitat application.

Studied Morrow growth is cultivated only in a declared managed enclosure. A finite harvest is prepared or rendered inert through its supported process, then fitted with earlier construction materials.

Make a controlled ecological building product. Finished walls do not propagate a living colony through the home; first Morrow arrival and its return use pre-existing supplies.

## C06-MAT-PM18 — PM18 Tidelace Fiber

Broad managed growth-edge forms, a squared teal-grey spool and a simple responsive screen block.

Permitted renewable fiber collection preserves habitat structure and a retained specimen. Compatible textile/optical preparation produces a finite instrument or tool component with earlier supports.

A lightweight tool or ecological display gains a particular response. It does not consume the only sample, grow without boundaries or turn ordinary cloth into a universal frontier material.

# Manufactured products, substitutions and complete chains

## C06-P07-04 — Ten principal finished families

These PR06 identifiers are edition-specific product-card references. They supplement existing named families without renaming MAT, PM, TEC or T1 identities. A product is manufactured through its named route; it is not an extra naturally generated ore.

| Reference | Product | Process direction | First recognizable use | Balance and access rule |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PR06-01 | Bronze fittings | Copper and tin; IND-M07 then IND-M05 | Pump elbows, valves and serviceable couplings | Plain earlier fittings or manual transfer can cover a small first job. Bronze provides a readable repairable mechanical family, not a new universal pickaxe tier. |
| PR06-02 | Structural steel | Iron and supported carbon; IND-M08 then IND-M04 | Lifts, project frames, replaceable structural parts | The first furnace uses accessible refractory materials. Powered blowers and better handling improve repeated production later. |
| PR06-03 | Sealed cloth | Ordinary or studied fiber plus approved seal stock; IND-M11/12 | Bags, filters, patches and protective layers | Safe-fringe inputs and surface substitutes precede the first need for protection. Replace a service part instead of recreating the complete item. |
| PR06-04 | Technical ceramics | Accepted clay and selected additives; IND-M09 | Vessels, insulation, hot-work parts and habitat inserts | Household and simple technical recipes keep common clay valuable. Specialist panels improve a particular thermal or environmental duty. |
| PR06-05 | Lightweight plates | A resolved prepared alumina route; IND-M21 then IND-M04 | Tanks, cargo frames and selected equipment panels | An earlier common-metal frame builds the first process cell. The common-material Explorer is not retroactively made dependent on this plant. |
| PR06-06 | Reinforced alloy | Selected nickel-bearing stock; IND-M22 | Higher-duty fittings and replaceable structural modules | Use the property where a load or environment warrants it. Existing steel frames remain viable and repairable. |
| PR06-07 | Titanium frame stock | Approved titaniferous precursor; IND-M22/05 | Specialist load support and advanced craft structures | First source access and high-temperature processing use earlier equipment. A new natural source is a later generation decision. |
| PR06-08 | Optical assemblies | Glass/quartz or a supported specialist lens; IND-M50/29 | Navigation, surveying and observation | Basic instruments work before specialist growth. Better optics reveal a bounded extra method rather than all resources through walls. |
| PR06-09 | Resonant components | Studied resonant quartz in an instrument housing; IND-M50/51 | A defined family of unusual devices and traces | Knowledge and physical components remain separate. Calibration never erases the ordinary return map or consumes a unique mission record. |
| PR06-10 | Heartglass assemblies | Prepared Heartglass with established optical or thermal parts; IND-M29/44/50 | Advanced protection and specialist research | Preserve a specimen and a repeatable collection route. A deep product improves later work without becoming a hidden ingredient in its own first-access kit. |

## C06-P07-05 — Eight complete source-to-use paths

The first workshop repair uses common iron/copper stock, accessible hand or furnace work, a named fitting and an existing pump or handling installation. The immediate result is a working local route. Bulk recovery remains an optional future improvement.

A regional ore route uses a surveyed deposit, guarded crushing where relevant, material-specific classification, a prepared concentrate and an existing compatible finishing recipe. Every fraction has an assigned receiver. Direct ordinary smelting remains the comparison case for space, water, energy and handling cost. Reprocessing a concentrate or finished ingot cannot restart the raw-deposit recovery gain.

A cultivation-to-service route uses a safe initial sample or ordinary substitute, a bounded managed bed, prepared fiber or resin, and a replaceable seal/filter made at IND-M11/12. It ends in a visible service action on carried equipment. Wild habitat remains worth revisiting even after routine stock becomes renewable at home.

The first thermal fringe route begins with accessible ceramics, common frames, cloth and supported cooling service. A short prepared visit can then recover a limited new thermal material. That material improves a later insert or operating duration. The improved kit cannot be required for the collection that creates it.

The first Moon route carries a complete Earth-made expedition kit. Returned regolith or impact glass is divided into a preserved specimen, research allocation, processing allocation and retained reserve. Identification unlocks a relevant method. Actual prepared material and earlier components produce the selected panel or instrument improvement. The diagram's small pictured samples make no unverified yield promise.

The first frontier vehicle uses earlier frames, imported seals, known power and carried repair stock. A destination's Ferric Lattice, Cryoseal Gel or Amber Polymer can then improve a specific module at a compatible service bay. The new part's benefit is named, and the old part can remain a fallback or be recovered through the normal repair chain.

The pre-Afterlight navigation route develops observations and instruments from previously reachable worlds, including the established Pluto context. Physical hardware, calibration records, supplies and a homeward contingency establish the first voyage. Cairn or Morrow products only enter later refits, research and ordinary construction after their sources are reached.

A late cultivated-product route separates the contained ecological source from renewable harvest, prepared stock and an inert manufactured panel or instrument. A working enclosure supplies the studied conditions. Finished Living Ceramic walls do not propagate organisms into the house, and a fiber screen does not consume the only retained ecological specimen.

## C06-P07-06 — Stock, samples and waste remain accountable

Mark a specimen as preserved before a stockroom indexes production supplies. Project reservations and personal collections are visible allocations of actual goods. A research action can use a designated aliquot, but its output is knowledge or a named intermediate; it cannot copy the entire original sample. Cargo remains in one custody location at a time, including dispatch, transit, receiving and recovery.

Waste is useful where it creates a real choice: aggregate for construction, offcuts for an allowed small use, reagent recovery within finite losses, or safely retained specialist spent stock. A small workshop should not need a dozen compulsory nuisance bins. Recipes introduce additional fractions only when the player has a meaningful destination and the interface explains their effect before starting.

Documentation acceptance asks whether each material has a recognizable source, understandable handled form, reachable first process, worthwhile application, bounded repeat source or recovery, and a clear relationship to current implementation. The cards and crosswalk provide those relationships. Exact numerical recipe and gameplay validation remain future work, with no hidden free values.


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# Earth — regional experience and generation handbook

## C06-P01-01 — Seven realms, thirty-five experiences

The existing atlas defines seven realms and five named experiences within each. This handbook adds placement grammar, a playable local loop, a meaningful variation and a useful return for every named experience. The C06-REG identifiers are edition-specific reference cards. They do not rename the original places or become 35 new biome IDs.

Current numerical context comes from the source-verified working envelope recorded for Edition 06: 672 levels, Y=-352 through Y=319. The reconciliation package records the evidence and its limits. Creative experience cards do not assign permanent numerical bands. Some experiences share a broad altitude tendency while differing laterally in geology, water, habitat or authored routes. A geological motif must remain readable under the current shader-off policy; illustrative lighting is a reference treatment, not a renderer change.

## C06-P01-02 — Generation responsibilities at four scales

At regional scale, select coherent wet basins, dry ridges, living districts, mineral country and thermal districts. Preserve lateral reasons to travel. A single straight shaft under spawn cannot contain every intended experience. Boundaries overlap through landform and local conditions rather than replacing all blocks at one universal flat plane.

At landform scale, combine supported roofs, pillars, shoulders, terraces, channels and occasional large chambers. A dramatic space needs traversable foreground, readable middle-distance choices and a destination or natural landmark. Large spaces remain exceptional enough that quiet passages and plain building ground matter. A continuous world does not need a universal empty cavern.

At expedition scale, place a recognizable approach, a worthwhile local choice, a useful rest or return relation and optional branches. Required anchors need a supported reachable placement or an explicit validated fallback. Optional structures may be omitted when their footprint cannot fit. A valid world must not lose Old Valley or the Heart destination because an uncommon placement failed.

At detail scale, use coherent clusters and plain relief. Small mineral exposures, wet stains, roots and sparse ground cover reinforce an existing shape. They must not cover every floor, obstruct mandatory movement or imply additional implemented resources. Living growth follows habitat context, while unfamiliar materials retain the catalogue's proposal status.

## C06-P01-03 — Terrain, water and construction cooperate

Major water bodies have a source or visual catchment, defined containment, recognizable channel/basin relationships and stable ordinary behavior. A waterfall ends in water or a continued channel. A small block break does not trigger an unbounded simulation through distant settlements. Finite flood or collapse encounters have authored bounds, visible clues and a supported retreat.

Each structure proposal declares its required surface, occupied area, terrain adaptation, approach, useful sightline, service space and free-building margin. A dock requires a usable shore; a lookout needs a view; a lift needs both landings. Foundations use a short family of supported variants. Generation must not routinely carve giant rectangular holes to force a building into unsuitable terrain.

Player construction remains meaningful. The managed project reserves only the area needed for its authored function. A nearby tower or garden requires no productivity score. Active construction checks new obstructions before the affected stage and stops without overwriting them. Essential route access remains valid during staged growth, and repair restores a specific missing responsibility.

## C06-P01-04 — Six boundary experiences

| Boundary | Recognizable approach | Conservative route and camp | Optional variation |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Overworld / Shallows | Root, quarry or stream clues tie the opening to surface terrain | A dry ledge preserves orientation to daylight and ordinary supplies | A water or chimney branch promises later exploration. |
| Shallows / Deepwilds | Roots thicken and localized living surfaces gather around moisture | A plain clearing or shelf establishes the first contained view | A canopy route offers a second reveal without replacing the lower path. |
| Deepwilds / Underreach | Growth thins toward dry rock ribs and a worked river landing | A forest-edge refuge keeps the two identities visible together | An exposed ridge can provide a direct but more demanding route. |
| Underreach / Abyss | A familiar transport gallery opens onto substantial distance | A broad near shelf provides the first beacon or survey position | A shore approach gives a different reading of the same larger basin. |
| Abyss / Mantle | Warm seepage and a visible hot source appear below stable dry ground | A cool thick-rib pocket holds the first prepared stop | A protected water-to-stone stair contrasts with an exposed fissure route. |
| Mantle / Core | Active sound and fractured surfaces give way to calmer water and deliberate forms | An ordinary stable landing frames the first Heartward view | A quiet side approach preserves surprise without making the destination optional. |

# Earth regional cards — every existing named experience


## EAR01 — Overworld


### C06-REG01 — Bluewater Quarry Coast

Place a pale terraced cut beside a contained coastal cove, with one dry office shoulder and a visible cave invitation.

Carry stone to secure the quarry approach, inspect the water edge and choose whether to defer the submerged side room. A shallow dry loop and a deeper optional water loop share landmarks. Preserve a working shoreline and building terrace; no mandatory early underwater retrieval.

The first depot gains a familiar stone source, an intelligible descent and a reason to return with diving preparation.


### C06-REG02 — Rooted Uplands

Connect forested hills to shallow chambers through supported root arches, soil pockets and a stream with a visible sink and contained continuation.

Track water below the roots, open a modest dry path, collect common building supplies and mark a storage chamber before returning to daylight. Vary a broad root arch and a tighter stream-side entrance. Sparse ordinary stone keeps footing legible; marked nesting branches and wet slots are optional, and the known return remains usable.

A convenient home-to-cave route, secure storage and gathered cultivation stock turn the new entrance into part of everyday life.


### C06-REG03 — Rivergate Country

Set farms and modest settlement sites beside a broad river, with dependable high banks, a visible rock-arch bend and suitable shore positions.

Survey the broken connection, choose a supported ferry landing or short restored bridge, then carry provisions between farm and expedition depot. Vary a gravel-bank crossing and a higher-bank branch. Flooded side channels stay bounded and optional; arrivals can still reach ordinary shelter when one local crossing needs work.

The restored route carries provisions and useful freight long after the first descent.


### C06-REG04 — Windscar Heights

Arrange exposed mountain faces around protected bowls, saddles and an old survey platform, with daylight continuing into a real rock passage.

Use visible sightlines to mark a safe climb, inspect the mountain opening and return through the protected saddle. Alternate snowline exposure, sunny rock cuts and shaded bowls. A dramatic view never makes a precision cliff jump the only main route.

Survey information, building stone and a repeatable route into mineral country make the platform a lasting waypoint.


### C06-REG05 — Rainwood Hollows

Place fern-lined openings, shallow pools and sinkholes among dark woodland soil and pale stone, with connected hollows separated by recognizable surface landmarks.

Map neighboring entrances, mark the dry approach and gather an approved plant sample before opening a supported lateral connection. Vary rainy dense canopy and a more open sinkhole edge. Raised ordinary ground gives a conservative route; darkness and sound enhance orientation without becoming the only cues.

A field station and marked wet-ground route turn confusing woodland into a useful garden and exploration base.


## EAR02 — Shallows


### C06-REG06 — Rootlace Galleries

Let broad roots follow chamber roofs above mossy stone, small soil pockets and contained pools; preserve a substantial dry ledge beneath the largest root group.

Read a familiar surface connection, take a permitted cultivation sample and place a small supported walkway toward the next visible junction. Use scattered daylight or a more enclosed lamp-lit variant. Territorial nests occupy announced side pockets; decorative roots cannot seal the required walking route.

A recognizable dry root ledge becomes an early supply stop and a route to a home garden.


### C06-REG07 — Chalkstep Terraces

Stack pale shelves around a shallow stream with contrasting seams, small cascades and a dry rim that can be read from above.

Survey a pale building face, descend by the chosen route and secure a terrace alcove for a small workshop. Vary narrow cascades and quiet stepped pools. A deep basin is previewable from above and never holds the sole required first ingredient.

Useful pale masonry, familiar ore exposure and a dependable alcove support both building and later pool exploration.


### C06-REG08 — Copperwash Channels

Warm common-metal exposures follow worn channel walls and gravel banks, with a dry cut above the active stream and a feasible short transport path.

Read the exposure, establish a modest working face and carry a useful metal batch along the cleared transport path. Use a single-channel teaching example or a branched survey variant. Signpost the main return with landform before adding route markers.

A convenient mine, repeatable stock movement and a dry working position connect discovery directly to the workshop.


### C06-REG09 — Glasswell Pools

Arrange clear pools in stepped pockets beneath actual openings, with pale waterline growth, dark deeper branches and a dry margin suitable for a small dock.

Survey the surface loop, collect an accessible decorative specimen and record the submerged continuation for a later equipped visit. Vary open roof light and a more enclosed reflected-light pocket. The first useful sample and ordinary return remain dry; deeper water never supplies an obligatory early retrieval.

A memorable water habitat, marked shortcut and prepared dock make later diving a chosen extension of a familiar place.


### C06-REG10 — Drybell Vaults

Use smooth roof domes, gravel fans and narrow chimneys over broad dry floors, leaving clear building space outside designated loose-material patches.

Compare shape and sound, survey an aggregate face and establish a communal work or supply position before investigating a side chimney. A sparse entrance-shaft version contrasts with a fully enclosed vault. Loose banks have visible bounds; normal walls and player-built supports do not collapse as an unannounced global system.

Common stone, aggregate and a spacious refuge give this quiet district continuing construction value.


## EAR03 — Deepwilds


### C06-REG11 — Lanternroot Forests

Tall supported root columns and hanging growth frame stone shelves, pools and a wide clearing; luminous clusters remain localized within a darker forest.

Follow the lower walkable route, collect a cultivation sample and return via an optional elevated viewpoint. Vary a dense canopy side branch and a sparse open clearing. Territorial life uses readable paths; concealed drops have edge cues.

The clearing becomes a useful living-material base, while an upper return view helps the player understand the forest they crossed.


### C06-REG12 — Sporemeadow Basins

Place low fungal fields around shallow water and scattered rocks beneath a vaulted roof, with plain margins between distinct growth patches.

Observe a local growing condition, collect a bounded food or processing batch and restore a small supported growhouse position. Vary amber-dominant and muted-blue growth districts without changing the underlying activity. A dense spore patch warns locally and permits a clear bypass; ordinary meadow ground stays comfortable.

Managed cultivation and a familiar growhouse support provisions and useful workshop ingredients after the first discovery.


### C06-REG13 — Hanging Gardens

Vegetated shelves step up mineral-streaked walls above a narrow river; supported rock ribs and a readable lower route frame the climb.

Compare the water-level path and shelf climb, add a short bridge and obtain a plant sample from a reachable edge. Vary open rock shelves and denser hanging growth. Nesting pockets are local; an ordinary route reaches the useful first sample.

An upper balcony refuge, new plant stock and a supported link between river and canopy reward more than one style of exploration.


### C06-REG14 — Bluefen Groves

Dark shallow channels divide root islands and broad-leaf margins, with visible depth edges, sound landings and one dry island that works as a landmark.

Follow the marked bank, establish a raised crossing, collect wetland stock or fish, then return through the same secure landing. Vary a winding channel and broader island basin. Submerged root pockets remain optional; protective animals have readable local areas and a dry route supports retreat.

A dock settlement, fishing position and raised route make the wet landscape a comfortable return point.


### C06-REG15 — Quietwood Hollows

Dry stone bowls hold pale woody growth, sheltered pools and broad gaps; contrasting trunk or roof landmarks distinguish connected hollows.

Map a concealed lateral exit, examine a protected seed store and start a bounded renewable growing project outside the ordinary walking route. Vary open woodland and a quieter enclosed bowl at the Underreach edge. Similar chambers retain distinctive landmarks, and gathering from a managed source preserves natural shelter.

Renewable construction material, seeds and comfortable building ground connect a calm home to the deeper transport network.


## EAR04 — Underreach


### C06-REG16 — Ironfold Ridges

Broad folded rock ribs divide parallel valleys and stepped mineral faces; include a protected shelf, short bridge positions and room for measured excavation.

Survey a visible seam, identify safe access, recover a useful selected batch and secure a short material route back to the camp shelf. Vary ridge-top exposure and sheltered gully approaches. Mandatory supplies remain reachable before any optional exposed shortcut; mining does not erase the camp or required route by default.

A repeatable mine and expandable material camp can feed the Underreach Junction without making every visit another first expedition.


### C06-REG17 — Saltmirror Halls

Place pale crusts and reflected facets around still dark pools, with supported shore paths and a legible storehouse approach beneath clean vaults.

Survey a safe pool margin, gather a modest decorative sample and recover a storehouse record through the supported route. Vary dry crust shelves and a wetter crossing. Brittle-looking authored tiles are local and readable; a whole floor cannot collapse without warning.

Unusual building material and a mapped water connection make the district useful after the storehouse discovery.


### C06-REG18 — Blackriver Galleries

A substantial contained river connects stone quays, gravel bars, arches and dry former banks; usable landings and shore shelves define each segment.

Repair a short towpath, commission one supported dock and make a bounded boat or shelf journey between actual receiving positions. Vary a broad quiet reach and a clearly signposted rapid encounter. Keep refuge landings and an ordinary return; fast current is local rather than an unbounded whole-river simulation.

A water logistics route reduces repeated carrying and creates inhabited stopping places.


### C06-REG19 — Echoquartz Fields

Pale outer growth and smoky cores occupy fractures and isolated fans in dark rock, with ordinary stone passages and a plain refuge pocket.

Compare a bounded signal at selected formations, recover a permitted sample and connect visible survey points before returning to quiet stone. Vary a sparse fractured wall and a denser fan district. Exposed ledges have a conservative alternative; visual indicators support any audible response, and not every crystal rings continuously.

Resonant-quartz study, careful harvesting and a mapped opening support instruments and later investigation without stripping the whole field.


### C06-REG20 — Dustroad Expanse

Broad dry floors, sparse pillars and shallow gullies lead toward distant shelves and a recognizable rest stop, with sheltered islands for existing life.

Scout a visible rest stop, mark the route between two landmarks and select a modest transport corridor. Vary open country and a shallow-gully detour. Local dust can obscure one stretch, but a main return route has persistent physical cues.

Space for controlled projects, a useful freight corridor and connected resource satellites make the underground feel like inhabited country.


## EAR05 — Abyss


### C06-REG21 — Pillarfall Reaches

Massive irregular columns must provide connected shoulders and reachable shelves across the intended route.

Read the far shelf from a broad landing, bridge a short supported span and establish an intermediate supply position before the farther survey. Vary broken-arch and wall-shelf connections. Long exposure stays optional when the first camp is reached; visible footing and a supported retreat matter more than sheer void size.

An illuminated chain of safe places turns distance into a route the player recognizes as their own work.


### C06-REG22 — Stillsea Basin

A large contained lake combines quiet coves, dark open water, rock islands and submerged terraces, with recognizable shoreline silhouettes and suitable docks.

Reach a known island by shore or boat, set a staging point and reserve deeper diving for suitable equipment. Vary open-water sightlines and protected cove routes. Optional submerged rooms never contain the only way to continue the campaign.

A dependable crossing and island refuge support later mineral, archive and diving work while preserving the first homeward route.


### C06-REG23 — Moonmilk Shelves

Pale mineral forms spread across dark walls as supported terraces, shallow seep grooves and selected side openings, with a broad balcony visible from the approach.

Climb the deliberate shelf route, collect permitted mineral stock and expose a concealed side passage before returning to the pale balcony. Vary wide flowing forms and a tighter ledge branch. Narrow crossings are clearly announced and bypassable where progression requires access; the shelter itself remains ordinary stable terrain.

Distinct masonry and a memorable refuge reward deliberate route-making.


### C06-REG24 — Whisper Chasms

Parallel narrow clefts connect larger spaces through identifiable rock ribs, mist pockets and intermittent water, with dry marker positions outside nest branches.

Place a small marker set, compare two parallel passages and map a sheltered through-route. Vary a quiet dry cleft and a misty wet constriction. Directional sound supplements visible cues; it cannot be the only accessible instruction.

A major shortcut, useful material pockets and a known retreat reward systematic exploration rather than guessing from audio alone.


### C06-REG25 — Drowned Stair Country

Arrange finite pools and dry ledges as a stepped route, with authored platforms only where supported.

Survey the next landing from dry ground, repair a short connection and alternate ordinary walking with explicitly prepared optional diving. Vary shallow stepped pools and a deeper salvage side room. Flooded encounters have declared bounds; the primary descent and recovery plan cannot rely on draining a whole distant region.

A protected route toward thermal country and a newly secured return passage retain value after any optional salvage is collected.


## EAR06 — Mantle


### C06-REG26 — Basalt Steps

Broad dark terraces and broken columns descend beside contained hot channels, with thick rock ribs separating exposure from cooler working pockets.

Survey the wide outside route, gather structural stone and evaluate an optional shorter hot crossing. Vary active-channel edges and quiet cooling shelves. Heat follows identifiable sources; stable cool ground remains useful for first staging.

A protected materials yard and later thermal workshop make the realm workable.


### C06-REG27 — Ember Gardens

Sheltered warm basins contain tough luminous growth around small vents and mineral pools, with cooler collection edges and plain approach ground.

Observe a bounded vent cycle, gather a permitted ingredient at a safe edge and restore a protected garden enclosure. Vary a cooler quiet basin and a more active neighboring vent. Hazards stay near visible sources; earlier equipment reaches the first useful stock, and cultivation follows explicit conditions.

Useful ingredients and a managed enclosure improve subsequent thermal travel and habitation while allowing the natural garden to remain.


### C06-REG28 — Ashen Hollows

Layered pale dust banks and dark stone islands occupy quiet dry chambers beside traces of inactive heat channels, with obvious stable storage ledges.

Survey a buried side-room clue, recover a selected mineral additive and establish dry stock storage away from the designated soft bank. Vary open ash country and a tighter layered alcove. Only visibly bounded loose-material encounters shift when disturbed; roofs and distant settlements remain stable through ordinary play and absence.

Sheltered storage, useful additives and a calm staging place make this district a practical pause between active thermal sites.


### C06-REG29 — Redglass Margins

Cooled dark-glass shapes and red-brown stone flank identifiable active fissures; steam belongs only to specific water contacts, and a high ridge offers limited camp space.

Plan footing from a safe ridge, collect a selected glass sample and use the ridge to mark a repeatable route. Vary a quiet cooled margin and a locally active seam. Reflection helps show edges but never replaces solid geometry or a readable bypass.

A distinctive approved processing feedstock and a safe overlook support later work without requiring a huge industrial platform at every fissure.


### C06-REG30 — Steamvaults

Warm pools, mineral chimneys and wet bridges sit beneath large roof pockets; individual vent openings, shielding positions and a dry gallery remain readable.

Watch a complete local vent pattern, select the conservative route and restore one shielding section. Vary a low-activity gallery and an exposed shortcut. Mist remains local; visual markers and instrument feedback repeat the useful warning.

A protected return walkway and service site connect regional processing to a dependable homeward route.


## EAR07 — Core


### C06-REG31 — Heartglass Groves

Sparse thick mineral clusters rise from dark ground, with restrained translucent edge planes, small pools and a plain stone clearing between formations.

Survey a repeated pattern, take a bounded sample through a deliberate supported method and mark a gentle route back to the clearing. Vary an open grove and a closer group of mineral fans. Fragile-looking collection sites have local rules; required movement and reserve supplies do not depend on destroying the central landmark.

Distinct deep-world equipment and research stock accompany a comfortable camp; these later discoveries do not become a prerequisite for the first Explorer.


### C06-REG32 — Pale Resonance Fields

Rhythmic pale ribs and selected interactive seams cross broad shelves, with ordinary footing between stations and sheltered water only in bounded basins.

Compare a short sequence of visible survey responses, record the useful relation and deliver information to the supported project. Vary scattered independent formations and a longer shelf sequence. Local unstable features warn before consequence, and the required information has visible equivalents for sound cues.

A useful observation record and clear survey path connect the field to the Heart Observatory without an arbitrary research timer.


### C06-REG33 — Stillwater Sanctuaries

Clear contained pools fill quiet pale-edged chambers, leaving a substantial dry research landing and restrained living growth around protected margins.

Document the habitat, take an approved cultivation sample and establish a simple sheltered research position before choosing any deeper water route. Vary reflective roof pockets and open landing chambers. Difficult submerged branches remain optional; the serene view does not imply free breathing, inexhaustible stock or a simulated planetary water network.

A secure deep home, distinct living material and a generous resting place remain worthwhile even after the main Earth chapter ends.


### C06-REG34 — Blackroot Islands

Stone islands support dark rootlike forms above recessed fissures, with a visible multi-stop route and plain landing pads.

Restore short supported connections, detour around a marked nesting island and reach a protected archive approach. Vary a wider bridge circuit and a more enclosed stone-neck route. The backdrop may suggest depth without pretending every glowing surface is walkable.

A repeatable archive route, familiar lights and useful material edges support later occupation.


### C06-REG35 — The Heart Chamber

Place the chapter landmark in a supported enclosing formation with useful foreground shelves, quiet pools, side chambers and at least one reachable campaign approach.

Establish the Observatory return relation, join survey and practical restoration, reach the meaningful discovery, then return through the route the player helped secure. Vary the order of enclosing ribs and side approaches while preserving its identity and validated required placement. Uncommon does not mean absent; no seed may lose the destination because an optional placement failed.

The Earth chapter gains an earned discovery, lasting homeward infrastructure and future ambitions without erasing Earth's continuing value or making combat the sole definition of arrival.


# Earth review criteria and future generation evidence

## C06-P01-05 — A useful seed review

A later generation review should select representative seeds and inspect complete journeys, not only isolated beautiful chambers. For each intended district, record its recognizable terrain, ordinary arrival route, local choice, shelter relationship, material status and return. Include a sparse region, a wet region, an unusually constrained placement, an expanded chamber, a boundary and a required campaign anchor. A screenshot alone cannot establish traversal or persistence.

Check that first capabilities remain reachable with earlier equipment. A required input cannot live only beyond the hazard its product solves. Resource bodies do not invisibly refill, authored routes do not reroll after unloading, and previously generated player work is not rewritten by a new creative diagram. Current project policies for fresh worlds and ungenerated chunks remain separate from any future migration decision.

An implementation review should distinguish the realm's intended character from actual registered biome or material behavior. Record the working source revision, selected seed, entry and return, supported structure footprint, player-built obstruction, ordinary inactive state and relevant current limits. A failed optional structure can be omitted; a required campaign placement needs a demonstrated fallback. Source reconciliation and measured generation evidence decide implemented claims.

For each of the 35 cards, the documented completion standard is a distinctive placement grammar, activity, variation, recovery boundary and homeward value. The source atlas retains fuller atmosphere and specimen direction. Individual final block palettes, spawn weights, detailed creature catalogues, exact performance limits and tested world-generation implementation remain later scoped work. P09's comprehensive Earth-life expansion is not activated by using existing habitat context here.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: earth_completion_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: old_valley_completion_06.txt | SHA-256 cfb331b232ff07b895b05152827c18f6528cc9fa4caed62086b8e3b22aefd913 =====

# Old Valley — the mill, workshop and first market

## C06-P02-01 — A place whose improvements can be felt

Old Valley's five-stage arc remains the guesthouse, restored crossing, quarry, working settlement and first market. The narrower Old Valley opening documented earlier is still a smaller playable proposal within that arc. Expanding the complete settlement direction does not enlarge the first implementation milestone by implication.

The guesthouse's occupied room, the quarry's first useful route and the worked workshop-to-Moon example are already documented. This supplement concentrates on the connections between them: provisions, common components, repair, public access, storage, resident availability and the market occasion that makes the valley's work visible. The aim is a home people use. An output counter alone does not create a convincing settlement.

The valley stays understandable when a player has spent time elsewhere. Its board explains which projects are complete, which service is waiting and what useful action is available now. Essential residents do not starve, disappear or punish the group for exploring another world. A shortage can pause a service or narrow an optional offering; it cannot turn every established home into an absence-maintenance obligation.

## C06-P02-02 — The connected place plan

The guesthouse fronts a public arrival path. The restored crossing connects that path to the quarry route and its practical delivery point. The grain mill occupies a supported working site with a delivery approach and a clear public edge. The workshop accepts prepared stock at a service yard and returns parts through a separate collection face. The market square connects the guesthouse, public route and common storage without forcing visitors through machine service aisles.

The site plan reserves five different kinds of space: the ordinary public route; working access for deliveries; a machine's moving or service area; managed construction boundaries; and room for player additions. These distinctions are visible in previews. A picturesque machine cannot block the guesthouse entrance or make a market visitor cross the press feed lane. Decorative gardens, handmade buildings and gathering places can occupy the free-building margins without inventing service bonuses.

Actual dimensions remain site candidates. The document's plan diagram describes adjacency and circulation, not a universal foundation that will be stamped over any terrain. A narrow river site can use a short supported branch path; a wider square can add optional seating or stalls. Required functions retain their access and readable relationships in both.

## C06-P02-03 — The grain mill's complete service

The Old Valley mill is a grain mill. IND-M03 is the separate timber-mill family. They may share a broad mechanical visual language, but they process different goods and need different content records. The grain mill receives accepted locally grown grain, performs a bounded milling operation, stores meal and supports staple food or expedition-provision preparation. Timber never enters this food chain simply because both machines are called mills.

Its visible sequence is grain sacks or a marked input store, the guarded milling mechanism, a meal receiver and a collected provision order. A working surface explains the operator's action. Bulk storage sits outside the public walking route. A waterwheel-looking or other supported drive has an explicit local mechanical responsibility; nearby water alone does not create free food.

The first operation accepts a modest amount of ordinary stock through the existing project/service interaction. A manual or supported trade alternative covers an incidental missing component. Milling output has finite capacity. A full meal receiver stops new feed; an empty grain store displays a useful request. Leaving the region parks its managed progress. A resident's resting routine changes their animation or conversation location, while the board retains the necessary order and requirement information.

An upgrade can add stockroom handling, repeated orders, a larger receiver or a convenient provisioning counter. It improves a reason the player has already experienced. The first market does not require industrial-scale milling, and a home garden remains useful after the mill operates.

## C06-P02-04 — A workshop people can use

The workshop turns prepared ordinary resources into project components and supported repairs. Its first layout needs a raw-stock rack, a clear work position, reusable tool/pattern storage, a finished-order shelf and an accessible service face. The existing forming-press scene remains an optional later capacity example; the first workable bench is sufficient for the initial useful order.

The player selects an actual project or repair, sees accepted ingredients and alternatives, and reserves the intended materials. The next action explains whether work is waiting for stock, power, a receiver or a supported tool. A completed component sits where the player expects to collect it. Repair keeps the original item's identity where the equipment system supports it, replacing a named service part rather than manufacturing a whole new tool unnecessarily.

The first settlement component order should visibly improve something nearby: a fitting for the mill's service, a bracket or hinge for a market stall, a repaired handling part at the quarry, or a useful rack in the guesthouse. The exact initial recipe remains the earlier opening proposal and later balance work. This supplement supplies a coherent family of follow-on uses, not a silent replacement of that proposal.

The powered workshop then removes repeated effort. A known source runs one useful load; buffers and named branches explain expansion. Bulk shaping, washing or alloy work occupies larger appropriate space when its workload justifies it. The ordinary repair bench remains valuable even beside a regional factory.

## C06-P02-05 — Market preparation without an endless chore list

The first market requires the established arc's usable guesthouse, crossing, quarry contribution and connected working services. The market project supplies a public surface, supported stalls, access, storage and an event board. Optional decoration, a wider food selection or an additional visitor display makes the occasion personal. Completing only the core requirements still produces a satisfying first market.

Preparation records name actual responsibilities: arrivals can reach the square; stalls have their supported places and initial stock; visitors have a usable lodging relation; and the event can start without trapping a route or consuming someone else's private inventory. A row of decorative barrels does not count as supplied stall stock unless the owner deliberately assigns it. Visual dressing can represent already-accounted goods, but cannot become a second collectible copy.

The ready view shows what will happen, who may start the event and which optional preparations have been selected. A concise preview identifies any remaining core blocker. It does not demand unanimous approval for every ingredient contribution. The group's documented ownership rules decide who may trigger the significant event or replace the market variant.

## C06-P02-06 — The first market as a complete occasion

The opening beat brings a small authored arrival along the restored route. The guesthouse becomes occupied in a new way, residents move to a few meaningful public positions and the stalls display goods associated with the player's actual work. A mill product, a repaired tool, a quarry stone sample and a useful component connect the occasion to the valley's previous effort.

The stable activity phase allows trade, conversation, inspection, quiet observation and discovery of the next lead. The player can arrive late, leave a conversation or spend time building nearby without missing the only copy of an essential clue. Important information remains available in the journal, event board or a supported catch-up interaction. Flavor conversations can vary without becoming required timed collectibles.

A clear interaction closes the authored occasion. Persistent outcomes include the completed market framework, known visitor possibilities, recorded discoveries and the next available activity. Decorative arrivals do not leave an infinite supply of loot. Recurring markets reuse the established square with bounded stock and visit conditions rather than restarting the whole five-stage arc.

If all eligible participants leave, the managed occasion parks at a coherent stage. Return continues from that stage. Closing the game between arrival and activity cannot duplicate stock, repeat a unique reward or reset a finished project. These are product requirements for future implementation; this documentation does not claim they have been tested in-game.

## C06-P02-07 — Resident roles and reliable access

| Existing role | Familiar working context | Response to a real milestone | Essential service fallback |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Innkeeper | Guesthouse welcome, room and meal space | Notices the restored crossing and new market visitors | Room/project information remains on the supported board. |
| Traveler | Arrival route, guesthouse and market edge | Recognizes a quarry or regional find and offers a lead | The relevant discovery remains in a recoverable record. |
| Mason | Quarry work point and material display | Comments on the repaired route or useful component | Requirements and contributions remain available during rest. |
| Mill worker | Grain delivery, milling position and output counter | Connects provisions to the valley's next expedition | The mill order view preserves stock and waiting reasons. |
| Workshop specialist | Workbench, tool rack and service yard | Interprets a returned sample or finished project component | Known methods and repair requirements remain inspectable. |
| Market organizer | Event board and public square | Acknowledges core readiness and optional personal touches | Event state and the next allowed action stay visible. |

These are role references for the established cast, not new names or a requirement to create one new resident per building. One character may hold compatible roles. Routines use a small authored set of working, available, resting, attending and waiting states. Personality comes from grounded reactions and familiar interests, while functional availability remains forgiving.

## C06-P02-08 — A complete example of useful settlement work

The player returns from an ordinary quarry trip with building stone and a recorded problem: a damaged loading fitting makes the delivery awkward. The mason's request identifies a supported replacement. The workshop accepts common prepared stock, shows the next useful action and produces the named component. Fitting it restores the handling route and creates a dependable collection point.

That route can now deliver a bounded order associated with market preparation. The grain mill fills a modest meal order from existing grain, and the provision counter prepares the supported finished goods. The market board shows that core stock and access are ready. The player adds a favorite stone display or handmade awning as a personal choice, then begins the event.

At the market, a visitor notices a specimen from the same quarry district and connects it to a deeper survey. The result is a reason to leave and a better place to return to: supplies are easier to prepare, a workshop can repair equipment and a room holds the visible history of earlier work. The new lead does not require tearing down the valley or waiting for a remote factory to finish unseen.

## C06-P02-09 — Interruption and shared ownership

| Situation | Required visible result | Preserved information |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Grain or workshop input runs out | Service waits with the missing category named | Existing output, current order and delivered material remain accounted. |
| Output storage fills | Feed pauses before overflowing | Completed goods remain in their receiver; nothing is dropped or duplicated. |
| A new build blocks a managed stage | Preview marks the obstruction and stops that stage | Committed work and recoverable supplies retain their state. |
| A resident is resting or unavailable | Flavor routine changes; essential information remains accessible | Known methods, event requirements and project progress persist. |
| A participant joins after the crossing is complete | They see the shared restored world and a catch-up explanation | Personal discovery and rewards remain distinct from shared construction. |
| The group leaves during the market | The occasion parks at its saved coherent phase | Stock, conversations needed for progress and event outcomes remain recoverable. |

## C06-P02-10 — Completion and later implementation priorities

The selected document completion includes the mill's food chain, the workshop's useful order, circulation and service-space rules, market readiness and event states, resident roles, recovery and the resulting deeper-exploration lead. The preserved guesthouse and first-workshop material supplies the earlier occupation detail. The new concept sheet concentrates on the mill-to-market relationship, and the exact diagrams explain stock and access.

For a later approved implementation roadmap, the highest priority is a complete small useful loop with one order and one persistent result. Next come reliable waiting, interruption and return states, then a bounded first market and its catch-up path. Expanded visitor variety, decorative stall options and larger automation follow a stable core. Completion evidence would show a solo player and an ordinary small group reaching the same shared market outcome without duplicated rewards, lost material or a strict attendance trap. Those are future game acceptance criteria, not tests performed during document production.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: old_valley_completion_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: ecology_completion_06.txt | SHA-256 5360ff7ec0deb7e3bdfe6ad8ae10dc445e81e97091c49d3ec10c42edbd311b70 =====

# Planetary ecology — Europa, Titan and Morrow

## C06-P10-01 — Ten selected families with distinct local lives

This package develops CEC02 through CEC11. CEC01, the optional Mars brine mat, remains conditional and unselected by the user's explicit choice. The Moon, Ceres, Io, Pluto and Cairn receive no new indigenous population through incidental scenery. Existing fuller destination chapters supply context, while this selected package concentrates on ecological form, habitat, response and useful interaction.

The organisms are overt game fiction. Europa uses suspended, ribbon-like and attached filter forms. Titan uses low mats, folded fans and slow drifting seed bodies. Morrow uses broad fans, hanging membranes, bundled pillars and basin colonies. These families should remain distinguishable by silhouette before color, labels or particle effects are added. They are not reskinned Earth animals collected into a combat catalogue.

## C06-P10-02 — A consistent observation and response grammar

The player first sees a normal posture or movement. A close approach reveals an understandable relationship: light, vibration, flow or a small set of substrate conditions. A warning changes posture, movement or a broad visual pattern before any meaningful consequence. A supported careful action obtains information or a limited sample. Disturbance can close an optional route or create a local obstacle, while a stable alternative allows retreat. The organism returns to a familiar ordinary state when the documented condition is restored.

The journal separates observed facts from an untested hypothesis. It can state that a fan folded after bright light without claiming all members of the species share every possible hidden variable. A repeat observation or bounded study establishes the supported method. No essential discovery requires arbitrary idle research time, an exact real-time appointment or one irreplaceable specimen.

Normal, warning, response, recovery and parked are useful state responsibilities, not a demand for five separate screens. The main view shows the current useful cue and action. Sound supports posture and visible feedback. Essential information must remain available without hearing subtle audio, distinguishing a single pair of colors or relying on cinematic shaders.

## C06-P10-03 — Sampling and cultivation have boundaries

The first visit brings suitable instruments, containers, protective equipment and a conventional refuge from previously available sources. Local gel, membrane or ceramic products improve later operations. A player does not need the local discovery to construct the only tool capable of making that discovery.

Record a sample's origin, family, containment duty and allocation. A retained specimen, a research portion and production stock are separate custody choices. A compatible culture can supply routine demand after the required conditions are understood. Ordinary dropped items and finished products cannot spread uncontrolled life through a home. Finished Living Ceramic panels are inert; exported fiber is an ordinary bounded item; living displays remain within supported enclosures.

Cultivation asks for one or two meaningful conditions. A failed condition produces a clear waiting or recovery action rather than a hidden ecosystem score. Wild sites retain their scale and distinctive forms, while managed sources make repeated functional use practical. Routine collection cannot require killing a rare creature or dismantling a unique structural organism.

# Ecology cards — form, habitat and interaction


## Europa


### C06-CEC02 — CEC02 Luminous drifter

A small suspended body built from a few translucent-looking cuboids, with a broad luminous patch and short angular trailing forms. Its readable silhouette differs from an Earth fish or a realistic jellyfish.

Lantern Ocean corridors around ice keels and sheltered rock prominences. The family occupies identifiable local groups rather than filling all open water. A resting eddy gives the player a stable observation position.

Ordinary drift follows a slow local path. A close bright approach changes the patch pattern and turns the group away. Reducing disturbance from a safe distance lets the familiar movement return.

Observe a repeated path and record the relation between light cue and shelter. The useful result is local navigation or ecological knowledge. Collection, where supported, uses a small contained sample from a repeatable source rather than killing the only specimen.

The light cue supplements landmarks and instruments. Drifters are not automatic quest arrows or an unlimited portable energy source. Initial observation uses imported equipment, and returned samples remain inside compatible containment.


### C06-CEC03 — CEC03 Ribbon grazer

A short, broad segmented ribbon with flat pixel bands and an economical block-shaped head. A few stepped joints communicate bending; avoid a long photorealistic wet body or dozens of thin tendrils.

Sheltered surfaces and low-current ledges near the Lantern Ocean and garden margins. Grazing traces and quiet resting patches explain where it spends time; it does not populate every blank seabed.

Ordinary feeding moves gradually along a defined patch. Obstruction or close vibration makes it gather its body and withdraw to cover. A clear alternate path lets the player retreat while the group settles.

Observe feeding without standing on its preferred surface, then collect a permitted trace or record an ecological relationship. A mapped quiet passage and a repeatable research opportunity are valid rewards without a mandatory combat encounter.

A grazer is not a tame mount by implication. Its response cannot cut off the only return to a pressure refuge. Any future harvest must protect a recoverable population and a contained research source.


### C06-CEC04 — CEC04 Filter colony

A small group of blocky fan or cup forms fixed to a broad mineral base, with a few opening plates. Pale blue-grey and muted teal patches distinguish the living surfaces from nearby ribbed mineral laminae.

Vent Garden interfaces where a bounded flow passes a supported mineral surface. Plain rock and a protected observation ledge give relief and keep a safe route visible beside the active patch.

An open ordinary posture filters along the local flow. Excess light or vibration folds the plates and visibly reduces passage through the patch. A quiet interval restores the same readable local state.

Observe from the ledge, use the low-disturbance tool and collect a limited renewable secretion or approved research portion. A compatible contained culture can later support PM07 Cryoseal Gel. PM08 Resonant Silica comes from a defined mineral interface, not automatically from every animal.

The response is a bounded environmental puzzle. A folded colony can affect an optional route but cannot permanently trap the player. Recovery is understandable, and no global ocean ecology simulation is required.


## Titan


### C06-CEC05 — CEC05 Mat colony

Low overlapping squared pads spread across a limited surface, with broad amber, slate and pale edge pixels. The mat is visibly flat and layered; it must not become ordinary grass, coral photo-detail or an Earth moss texture.

Sheltered interfaces in Slow Gardens, with links to quiet Waxstone or Hollow Weather conditions. Mark a clear collection edge and preserve plain surrounding ground for movement and equipment.

An ordinary flat posture changes slowly in a few visible folds when disturbed. The first lifted edge provides warning; moving away or changing the documented local input lets it flatten again.

Map the patch, inspect the edge and take a small supported sample after the warning settles. Research can identify a compatible renewable feedstock for a selected polymer-related process. Ordinary chemical deposits remain an alternative where the source direction allows them.

The mat's texture does not imply that every floor is adhesive, edible or combustible. No invisible universal ecological score penalizes nearby ordinary building. Contained cultivation needs one or two explicitly learned conditions.


### C06-CEC06 — CEC06 Membrane fan

A compact angular support holds two or three broad flat membrane panels. The panels have coarse stripes and simple stepped edges, with no visible real fibers. Closed and open silhouettes must differ clearly at player distance.

Protected Slow Garden ledges and local circulation pockets. Fans occupy discrete anchored groups, leaving recognizable shore, ridge or rock routes. They never form a generic tree canopy covering all of Titan.

Ordinary panels open toward the supported local flow. A disturbed fan folds and releases a small visible vapor cue within a defined patch. The path outside that patch remains usable while it returns to ordinary posture.

Compare open and folded forms from the side, record the safe approach and take an allowed edge sample. A studied managed source can support a membrane material or related instrument without requiring wholesale removal of the natural fan.

Vapor is a readable local response, with matching tool feedback where it has gameplay effect. It cannot fill an entire region, damage a remote base or continue accumulating while the region is parked.


### C06-CEC07 — CEC07 Drifting seed form

A simple central cuboid seed body with a few flat angular sail-like surfaces. Slow rotation is expressed through a small number of deliberate poses. Its silhouette is an unfamiliar propagule rather than a feathered animal.

Sheltered local air corridors in Hollow Weather and Slow Gardens. Landmarks, receiver shelves and a calm pocket bound the movement so observation is possible without chasing an object across the planet.

Ordinary drift follows the visible local condition. A disturbed form folds its sails or changes its short path. A settled pocket provides an obvious interception or observation opportunity when the condition returns.

Use a prepared collector at the calm shelf, retain one contained study sample and record the propagation condition. Later cultivation can supply a defined material source; the first useful result may simply be a dependable weather-linked observation method.

No unlimited uncontrolled seeding occurs from a dropped inventory item. The seed does not itself grant flight, and capturing it never requires a locally manufactured skiff on the first visit.


## Morrow


### C06-CEC08 — CEC08 Fan growth

Large broad fan planes supported by a few economical stepped ribs and a stable base. The form uses muted cool-green, cream and warm accent pixels, with broad surfaces and clear gaps rather than photorealistic leaves.

Dawn Canopy clearings and protected upper-vault margins. Fans create shelter and colored shade while bare stone shelves remain suitable for first landings and conventional refuge construction.

Ordinary posture admits light to a visible clearing. Excessive close disturbance folds a selected panel and changes that local route's shade or access. Retreat restores the familiar posture without requiring a full-world reset.

Observe the light relationship, identify a tolerant edge and collect an approved small sample or survey record. A carefully placed marker or walkway can improve access without cutting the whole structure.

The plant does not make surrounding air breathable or local food safe. First study uses imported protection. A decorative home version requires contained compatible cultivation and bounded item behavior.


### C06-CEC09 — CEC09 Hanging membrane growth

A small number of broad suspended sheets attach to visible rock or structural growth. Stepped folds and coarse two-tone pixels express the membrane; avoid ropes of realistic skin or thousands of thin hanging strands.

Rooted Vaults and sheltered transition spaces where a lower ground route and an upper observation approach can coexist. Anchor points remain visible, and movement has enough clear space to read.

Ordinary sheets hang with a gentle limited motion. Nearby cutting, bright light or another documented disturbance causes a selected fold to close. The player can step onto the stable side route while it settles.

Map the response and take an approved edge sample with an earlier-made sensitive tool. A managed source can support PM18 Tidelace Fiber or a related responsive screen after study and explicit processing.

Membranes are not automatically safe climbing surfaces. Only documented tolerant contacts support traversal. A folded sheet cannot trap a player in an unbreathable pocket or erase the known exit.


### C06-CEC10 — CEC10 Bundled pillar growth

Several thick angular stems form a bundled column with visible supporting contacts. Broad bark-like pixel bands and pale finished-growth patches give it a restrained material identity. Keep ordinary stone visible around its base.

Rooted Vaults and selected Dawn Canopy structures. Some authored tolerant surfaces provide ramps or platforms, while sensitive edges remain clearly distinct. Unique structural landmarks are protected from routine bulk recipes.

Ordinary growth is stable in its saved form. A local disturbance changes a limited edge posture or warning pattern before a supported response. The main load-bearing shape does not unexpectedly collapse through player absence.

Survey the tolerated route and study a renewable managed edge. A separate contained propagation source can mature into PM17 Living Ceramic, which is then processed into inert construction panels.

Do not harvest the only support column to complete a required recipe. The natural landmark, cultivation source and finished building material remain separate identities with finite material accounting.


### C06-CEC11 — CEC11 Basin colony

A low cluster of broad hinged-looking cups and fan plates follows a contained basin edge. The form stays economical and blocky, with readable open and folded silhouettes and a few restrained light patches.

Tide Orchards and Hearthsea margins around explicitly bounded local flows. Raised ordinary ground provides a fallback route and a conventional observation position outside the changing water edge.

Ordinary opening follows a visible local phase. A changed flow or direct disturbance folds part of the colony and alters a small route. The next supported phase or a reversible local adjustment restores access.

Observe a complete local cycle, place harmless markers and choose a raised crossing or a small approved restoration. Research, improved access and a managed cultivation record are worthwhile results beyond harvesting.

The cycle is not a planet-wide tide simulation or a real-time absence timer. Paused regions retain coherent state. Restoration changes the selected site and cannot silently redirect water through remote homes.


# Ecological work, return value and completion

## C06-P10-04 — Three representative field studies

At Europa, the player starts from a known anchored refuge or dock with imported pressure and cold capability. A sheltered observation ledge frames a filter colony and its flow. The player compares ordinary and folded postures, backs away from a warning and uses the low-disturbance method once the normal state returns. A preserved record and limited approved sample return to the refuge. Later compatible cultivation or processing can improve a cold seal. The first mission's exit and breathing reserve remain independent of that sample.

At Titan, a ground route reaches a calm shelf near a Slow Garden and a sheltered air corridor. The player observes a membrane fan before approaching a drifting seed form. A change in local visibility suggests shelter and a later observation attempt, with partial survey progress retained. A prepared collector and known stable receiver support the sample. The return produces a useful weather or cultivation record, and a later membrane application improves a supported local craft. This is a field study inside existing context, not a newly expanded Titan campaign.

At Morrow, a conventional refuge supports a visit to a Tide Orchard basin. The player observes a complete bounded local phase from raised ground, records the colony's opening and chooses a harmless marker line or supported crossing. A disturbance can be reversed without erasing the observation. The useful return is a clearer route, a contained research sample and a future local restoration option. Living Ceramic or Tidelace production follows an explicit studied managed source, not indiscriminate harvesting of the first beautiful landscape.

## C06-P10-05 — Art, animation and model direction

The three concept sheets show each world's selected family set with readable ordinary forms and local contexts. Exact captions identify which form belongs to which CEC record; the images contain no invented names or numerical capabilities. Their role is to establish comparison and shape vocabulary. Detailed individual animation frames, meshes, textures and every harvest state remain later production tasks, with the textual state descriptions providing the required direction.

New models should use economical cuboids, broad membrane planes and coarse pixel textures consistent with the user's Minecraft reference sheets. Artistic lighting can frame a habitat, while tiny photorealistic fibers, organic pores, translucent skin detail and granular surfaces are excluded. Scale is communicated by a simple player or equipment silhouette where useful, and remains a proposed design comparison rather than a final collision measurement.

## C06-P10-06 — Acceptance and interruption

The documented family is complete when its silhouette, habitat, ordinary behavior, warning, supported interaction, recovery, containment and useful result are all intelligible. The cards supply these relationships for all ten selected families. A future implementation review should demonstrate an ordinary approach, a supported careful action, a recoverable disturbance, leaving and returning, and correct sample custody. No organism response may consume supplies or grow absence debt in an inactive managed region.

A natural route has a fallback before a reactive patch can obstruct it. A contained sample has an actual receiving space before collection begins. A research result is recorded once. Repeating a study can support optional observation or production but cannot duplicate unique story knowledge into free material. Full Mars ecology, broader creature combat, complete farther-world campaigns and an unrestricted planetary ecosystem simulator remain outside this selected package.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: ecology_completion_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: moon_completion_06.txt | SHA-256 446af4d201e2bb8e38e851b79d952cf57e913993bae41e705b4d3249d22ce8f3 =====

# Moon completion — known routes, distant light and a working gallery

## C06-P03-01 — What this supplement completes

P03 completes the remaining Moon documentation around the established DST01 destination. MO-EXP-01, “The first tube and the view home,” is already a complete worked expedition in LE05-PLAN-01–15. That treatment retains its arrival, independent refuge, Hollow-to-Gallery route, samples, interruption, Earth return and useful workshop application. This supplement credits that work and develops the two later expeditions, all five regions, the Rim Observatory and practical local industry.

The governing sources are MO-PLAN-01–11, MO-EXP-01–03, lunar_expedition_05.txt and its register, and CD05-T07. Existing regional and material identities remain unchanged. New C06-P03 identifiers identify additional treatment, not replacement destinations. All described behaviour is proposed game design; no generation, machine, mission, habitat or travel implementation has been verified here. Quantities, dimensions, route durations, yields and recipes remain unresolved or proposed until tested in the project.

The Moon remains lifeless and exposed. Rock cover alone never makes a cave breathable. First arrival and its independent return use imported equipment and supplies; lunar materials, a lunar landing pad, refinery and locally produced oxygen cannot be prerequisites. Later industry improves convenience and construction choice without retrospectively becoming a first-trip requirement. The visual direction uses Minecraft-scale blocks, pixel-readable materials and the confirmed equipment family. Atmospheric light may enrich the scene; photoreal grains, powders and polished product renders do not define its materials.

## C06-P03-02 — Regional generation that preserves an achievable journey

The five regions form connected geological experiences rather than five uniform horizontal bands. A crater shoulder can contain a shallow Hollow above a sweeping Gallery, while a Glassfall fracture meets that Gallery laterally. Earthrise Rim and Shadow Basin can interleave along the same surface journey. Their distribution should explain entrances, terrain clues and contrasting activities while retaining meaningful uncertainty.

Generation first reserves campaign opportunities and the access relationships they require, then applies local variation. The protected starter envelope retains the landing shelf, refuge pocket, walking inspection, achievable descent, initial glass opportunity and viable return documented in LE05-R01–06. Later envelopes reserve two useful observation viewpoints with at least one feasible relay solution, and a supported route into a deeper glass-bearing area. None guarantees a completed bridge, powered instrument or prebuilt workshop.

Route validation distinguishes a suited walker, a person carrying an instrument, and bulky workshop cargo. A walkable crack does not silently count as a machine delivery corridor. Later construction can improve an otherwise conservative route; required equipment must also have a supported staged or carried approach. A secondary exit stays a candidate until surveyed in both directions. Optional geometry can be difficult without moving the only practical return beyond available equipment.

Review variants include a broad and a constrained rim approach, shallow and terraced shadow pockets, braced and bypassed Hollows, single and braided Galleries, and inclined and tall Glassfall chambers. Each must preserve recognizable foreground cues under ordinary game lighting. These are authored design cases, not a claim that particular seeds have passed runtime checks. Unusual traces are optional observations with their own recorded status, never a substitute for geological route information.

## C06-P03-03 — MO-S1 Earthrise Rim: arrival becomes a working horizon

The later Rim experience begins at the same recognizable homeward approach. The refuge light, Explorer stance and saddle have become familiar; farther broken ridges now invite deliberate surveying. A crescent ridge variant emphasizes a long lateral walk, overlapping crater bowls present competing sightlines, and a stepped outer shoulder offers separate pedestrian and future freight approaches. Each keeps a usable shelf for stopping and inspecting the next route.

A full regional outing prepares an observation load at the refuge, checks the near viewpoint, surveys one candidate instrument stance and returns with an obstruction record. The useful choice is whether a dramatic high site justifies extra access construction or a lower, easier site already performs the measurement. Height alone cannot make a location mechanically superior. The construction preview names support, service reach and the actual observable sector.

Common regolith collection remains available away from critical structures. Marked collection patches distinguish construction feedstock from preserved geological specimens. No narrow ridge is carpeted with gleaming ore. Later, a panel-lined service threshold or instrument plinth makes that collected material's purpose visible without transforming the Moon into a metallic showroom.

Repeat value comes from a different view, improved approach, another observation baseline or a player-designed place to watch Earth. The Rim Observatory adds a recognizable silhouette while its accessible stairs, instrument position and map station remain understandable at block scale. Its optional viewing room cannot be the price of completing an essential observation.

## C06-P03-04 — MO-S2 Shadow Basin: darkness made navigable

A Shadow Basin outing starts with a bright boundary behind the player and a visible enclosing slope ahead. The floor is quiet, with slumped shelves, block groups and scattered reflective route markers. A shallow pocket offers a gradual crossing; a terraced bowl trades distance for dependable footing; linked dark hollows create a sequence of exposed crossings separated by recognizable ridges. Darkness changes what preparation is useful without concealing every usable surface.

The player first carries a light survey load. They identify the return terrace, place two-way markers, test proposed anchor sites and record a safe equipment cache. Thermal and electrical demand is communicated through the established suit and field interfaces. A rock overhang is a navigational pause with only its explicitly supported environmental benefit; it supplies no air, charge or invisible protection.

The larger activity is moving an observation instrument through the route the player has prepared. A shorter shelf crossing competes with a longer margin that has better standing positions. Both choices remain legible in the journal as surveyed facts. An unavailable connection reports terrain obstruction or missing equipment rather than merely showing a red icon.

Returning follows familiar lights in reverse. Subsequent visits can improve a handoff point, retrieve a cache, inspect an additional viewpoint or use the crossing to reach another region. The dark terrain beyond the maintained route remains spacious and uncertain. There are no invented lunar predators or atmospheric dust storms to supply artificial interruption.

## C06-P03-05 — MO-L1 Regolith Hollows: careful access stays useful

Hollows retain their cramped compressed shelves, impact fragments and short vertical breaks. After the first expedition, a second hollow can offer a different proportion of competent rock and loose material: adjacent low cavities for surveying, a small extraction bay, or an overlooked connection toward a Gallery roof opening. Familiarity should help players read those clues while the actual route remains locally distinct.

A repeat visit takes a probe, ordinary collection tools, compatible braces where required, and a sample container. The player inspects a designated working face, establishes a return-safe stance, preserves a specimen and separately collects an accepted processing allocation. They then label the face and its access restrictions before returning. Specimen quality comes from the defined collection action, not from doubling the output of bulk excavation.

A signalled local slump can stop optional extraction. The response is to isolate that face, use a surveyed bypass or leave a work note. It cannot collapse the protected starter exit, propagate into a habitat or turn every ordinary block into an unpredictable hazard. A later cargo improvement must preserve emergency pedestrian access and the useful geological character of the passage.

The enduring reward is dependable small-scale access. A well-lit brace and an intelligible junction can remain valuable when the player owns larger machines. Industrial progression need not erase the careful route that first taught them how the Moon works.

## C06-P03-06 — MO-L2 Basalt Galleries: a room inside a landscape

The Gallery changes scale through broad tubes, boulder chokes, stacked junctions and occasional roof light. A single passage with side shelves favors a linear walking survey. A braided network invites route comparison around an intact central wall. Joined chambers at different levels make a freight path a separate construction problem. Multiple roof openings provide recognizable landmarks and possible future exits.

The occupied-gallery sequence begins with surveying a stable construction shelf. The player checks the approach, a place to turn carried equipment, room for the intended enclosure and a clear retreat around it. They then commission a bounded sealed module using the established Lunar Shelter Controller system. Only the actual functioning enclosure advertises breathable conditions; the surrounding Gallery remains vacuum even when warmly lit.

The first useful extension can be a service cell and stores. A later workroom connects a material preparation point, repair surface and product rack while keeping dirty handling outside the occupied clean area where the supported equipment requires it. Visible service connections and reachable shutoffs explain the workshop better than an oversized glowing reactor. No decorative duct supplies a capability absent from the service record.

A player can stop after making a reliable place to rest and sort specimens. An industrial player can add a bounded line, cargo lane and observation window. Both preserve the tube's natural scale. Returning through an immense dark chamber toward the same compact warm room is the regional payoff.

## C06-P03-07 — MO-L3 Glassfall Vaults: a useful geological discovery

Glassfall is geological glass in rock: folded seams, hanging fragments, polished fractures and ledges. Pixel-scale inclusions and a few controlled highlights distinguish it from basalt. An inclined fracture emphasizes supported lateral movement; a tall chamber emphasizes choosing a safe instrument stance; a seam crossing separated rooms invites comparison of connected exposures. Constant glow and photoreal crystal detail would erase that distinction.

The regional activity positions a light and instrument, identifies a continuous seam, records the actual visible relation and selects an accessible sampling face. A route cue remains visible when a reflection changes. Gloss cannot make a drop appear to be a safe floor. Large hanging forms have explicit hazard silhouettes, and any interactive unstable feature follows the bounded local rules used elsewhere.

Careful sampling can preserve an unusual specimen; separately accepted feedstock supports PM02 Lunar Glass Filament. The collection record distinguishes source, intended processing allocation and protected display material. Neither a photograph nor a trace observation creates extra matter. A tiny attractive shard is not promised to yield every component in a workshop.

The deeper optional trace can compare a local observation with an existing Earth-depth record. It provides a question and a revisitable site, without establishing lunar inhabitants, mandatory ruins or a new survival ingredient. Completing the geological trip does not depend on finding that rare variant. Better collection routes, additional specimen forms and a personally chosen gallery base supply repeat value independently.

## C06-P03-08 — Rim Observatory and A Light Across the Basin

The Rim Observatory Controller grows through useful stages. First, a supported instrument stance and safe approach allow local readings. Next, protected equipment storage and a map station organize the record. Linked reflector or relay installations add the regional observation network. A viewing room and architectural finish extend the place after its principal service works.

The controller identifies the two natural viewpoints by what each can actually observe. It records candidate relay sites, verified connections and known obstructions. The player chooses a functional route among supported alternatives. No arbitrary decorative pedestal is mandatory merely because it looks attractive in a concept sheet. Alignment is a bounded interaction with a readable orientation preview, service condition and next corrective action.

Commissioning separates construction, power, protection, alignment and observation. A completed mount awaiting an instrument is a useful construction checkpoint. A working local instrument with an obstructed onward connection retains its readings. A complete connected network awaits the participant-present observation state, without requiring a real astronomical timetable or a second player at a distant switch.

The completed mission improves confidence in the surveyed local region, preserves the observation record and leaves recognizable infrastructure in the landscape. It does not reveal all underground chambers or guarantee unlimited communication everywhere. Faults identify a specific cause and retain valid earlier contributions. The exact progression consequence belongs to the central technology plan; it cannot be invented here as a new gate to every later destination.

## C06-P03-09 — MO-EXP-02: imported preparation and the basin approach

The objective is to establish the basin route, connect the two viewpoints and complete A Light Across the Basin, then bring both the expedition and a useful result home. The player starts with their existing refuge record, mapped first approach and actual remaining stores. The default solo sequence permits several sorties within one visit or successive visits.

Earth preparation replenishes breathing supply, compatible charged cells, protection, repair stock, food and independent return reserves. The manifest adds reflector and relay components, supported power connections, survey equipment, markers, anchors, protected instrument carrying and declared cache containers. These components come from previously reachable production. Lunar products may be optional improvements where the central catalogue permits them; they cannot circularly unlock the first relay route needed to obtain them.

On arrival, the player checks the same craft's landed return state and the refuge's actual commissioned services. Stock left on the previous trip is a recorded quantity, not a promise of a particular duration. The near viewpoint is inspected with a light load. The journal then compares the short exposed shelf and longer protected-margin approach, showing verified standing places, unresolved segments and the equipment-carrying restriction.

Before committing cargo, the player walks and returns from the chosen reconnaissance segment. The short segment establishes a trustworthy boundary for later work. A mission that can only succeed after carrying every instrument into unknown darkness would waste the very surveying capability the expedition is meant to teach.

## C06-P03-10 — MO-EXP-02: installation, interruption and useful return

The first working sortie marks the route, places supported anchors and establishes a recorded cache on a suitable stance. The player inspects the same markers from the return direction. At the refuge, the route record now supports a conservative carrying plan: carry to the cache, inspect and secure the load, return for the next declared component, and continue when the complete next segment fits actual supplies. Solo staging substitutes for simultaneous team labour.

Installation begins at the near instrument and proceeds along verified sites. Each mount previews support and access; each connection states whether it is physically obstructed, unpowered, insufficiently protected or awaiting alignment. The far viewpoint closes the route's observation purpose. A successful connection does not automatically reveal hidden terrain beyond the surveyed sector.

The worked interruption is a blocked onward view after an instrument is installed. A rock shoulder obscures the intended next site. The instrument remains usable and its earlier reading stays recorded. The player can rotate within the supported range, move the next planned mount to a surveyed alternative, or return with a note that one further stance needs inspection. No instrument is consumed simply because an alignment fails. If field supply reaches its retreat threshold, the correct next action is the known return route.

Partial progress has explicit value: marked segments remain marked, actual cached components remain in their containers, commissioned mounts retain their state and successful readings remain in the journal. An incomplete network is shown as incomplete. A later visit rechecks real local service and resumes the missing connection. A larger personal failure uses the established recovery association, with the existing visible cargo and supply consequences; it does not award a spare craft or free refill.

Once the network passes its service and alignment checks, the player starts the supported observation from the observatory. The response connects the two viewpoints, instrument feedback and a completed local record. The return through the marker chain is part of the mission, followed by refuge service, cargo review and the independent Earth flight.

A separately declared regolith processing collection provides the material outcome. At Earth, an accepted batch can become PM01 insulating pieces for a selected workshop service threshold or thermal assembly, with actual supplemental fittings counted. Alternatively, supplied prior stock may finish an observatory component already planned. The diagram shows the process relationship without promising a yield from a token sample. The durable outcomes are a surveyed crossing, the functioning network, the chosen real application and a useful preparation record for another visit.

## C06-P03-11 — MO-EXP-03: preparing a glass route and a real choice

The objective is to survey the deeper glass route, return with protected specimens and processing feedstock, and decide whether a gallery workshop is worthwhile. Completion does not require building that workshop. Earlier maps provide an approach, while their unvisited branches remain honestly unresolved.

Preparation imports renewed expedition and return supplies, suitable anchors, protection, lights, survey instruments, careful sampling tools, named containers and repair stock. The modest-camp option includes the complete supported enclosure and service contents needed for its commissioned stage. The industrial option additionally declares the shared processing equipment, power, connections, fixtures and complementary inputs. A generic crate labelled “factory” cannot conceal an unlimited workshop.

The arrival review compares carrying capacity and actual route access. The selected Gallery choke is walked before bulky equipment moves. A short foot route with a cache can serve specimens; a wider detour, supported cargo transfer or later constructed crossing can serve heavier equipment. If the industrial route is still unsuitable, the specimen trip remains complete and useful with its own independent return.

Before descending, the player names the conservative objective and the limit of discretionary work: reach a supported Glassfall stance, record a seam, collect the planned allocation and return. Extending toward a candidate distant exit or committing a workshop is a later decision made from evidence at a safe point, rather than a surprise requirement after the deepest collection.

## C06-P03-12 — MO-EXP-03: specimen work, gallery construction and homecoming

The approach passes the familiar Hollow junction and Gallery overlook, then takes a separately surveyed route around the cargo choke. At each transition, the journal distinguishes walking access from equipment access. The player establishes a protected working pause only if an actual commissioned enclosure and service stock support it. An unsealed equipment cache remains vacuum storage.

In Glassfall, the light is positioned to reveal both the ledge and the seam. The player surveys the standing area, identifies the safe sampling face, records the continuous exposure and takes the selected specimen. Processing material enters its own container. A preserved display fragment stays out of the production allocation. The player can stop with a complete scientific and material collection; a rare unusual trace is optional.

The worked interruption is an unsuitable carry route revealed by the loaded container and instrument together. The same narrow turn that was walkable is awkward for the combined load. The player returns to the established stance, separates the loads into supported trips, uses the verified wider route or leaves a recorded nonessential cache. They cannot solve it by clipping cargo through the rock. A bounded tool or fixture service problem uses the named replacement or postpones that operation while preserving the collected material.

At the safe Gallery site, the player chooses the return-only or workshop continuation. Returning now preserves the samples, route and future site record without a diminished mission result. The workshop continuation first commissions its imported shelter/service stage, then prepares the material area, connects the particular production capability and checks waste, storage and circulation. Real feedstock and complementary inputs support one demonstrated job. Decoration cannot commission oxygen or propellant production.

The proposed local job makes PM01 insulating or panel components for the selected enclosure extension, or PM02 stock for a defined light-guide or instrument application. The exact accepted recipe, quantity and quality requirement remain open. The source material is visibly transformed through shared equipment and transferred into a named application; it does not emerge automatically because the player placed a workshop controller.

A candidate distant surface exit offers an optional final survey. It becomes a completed loop only after its connection, surface approach and return to the refuge are verified. If the exit is blocked or outside the current supply margin, the original marked route remains the planned way home. Unverified map lines stay candidates.

Return service unloads specimens and processed or unprocessed cargo into separate custody, records left stores and secures the working site. The same craft returns with its protected allocation. At the Earth workshop, PM02 can contribute to a compact light-guide or survey instrument component, paid for by the actual returned processing stock and ordinary fittings. The display specimen remains intact. Future visits can compare another seam, improve freight access, extend the occupied workshop or complete the alternate exit without replaying recorded success.

## C06-P03-13 — Local industry starts from imported capability

Local production is an optional advantage after a supported arrival. Its main value is processing bulky feedstock near collection, maintaining field equipment and producing components for a chosen lunar home. An explorer may instead bring feedstock to an existing Earth workshop. Both routes preserve the same material identities and actual custody.

Regolith Ceramic, PM01, begins with identified common regolith. Collection is followed by screening and preparation, forming, and controlled firing through the established TEC02 capability with the relevant TEC08 material procedure. The selected output is a panel component, insulating piece or building form with a defined property. The central industry catalogue decides which shared station performs each stage; every process verb need not introduce a new machine. Rejected fractions need a named collection, reuse or disposal path.

Lunar Glass Filament, PM02, begins with accepted glass-bearing feedstock, distinct from preserved specimens. Sorting, controlled refinement and forming use the established powered workshop and TEC08 procedure. Light-guide stock or a selected instrument component then combines with its ordinary fittings. Processing inputs, fixtures and service parts must already be reachable or imported. Product labels record intended use and suitability without implying that every glass fragment has interchangeable quality.

The line's operating states are planned, supplied, ready, working, output-blocked, service-needed and parked. Each state identifies the next action. An empty feed container cannot start a job; a full output rack stops the affected operation coherently; missing power does not consume another completed product; a serviced fixture uses its declared part. Final interruption and conservation behaviour needs later implementation evidence.

Services remain separate. A charged machine establishes electrical availability for its declared load. A functioning refuge provides its commissioned enclosure and stored-supply services. Breathing refill requires compatible actual supply and connections; local oxygen manufacture requires a separately documented reachable feed and capability. Propellant service likewise needs its own defined inputs and equipment. Neither is granted by a ceramics furnace, dark shelter, nearby rock or a decorative tank.

Protected expedition and return allocations remain outside discretionary production. The operator sees available process stock and the reserves left after a proposed job. Local recovery of material cannot multiply conserved goods. Exact machine footprints, cycle rates, capacities, yields and supply thresholds remain proposals to resolve with the shared industry and Tier 1 specifications. The local line is complete as a design when its inputs, stages, useful output, physical access, blocked states and conservation rules are explicit.

## C06-P03-14 — Revisit, occupation and the limits of completion

The three expeditions now have distinct complete purposes: first arrival and a useful discovery; a dependable basin route and linked observation; deeper material work with an optional gallery workshop. They can span more than one visit. The Moon remains useful through alternate geology, repaired routes, specimen collections, architectural materials, instrument improvements and a home the player chooses to occupy.

Managed local construction, authored processing and supply use park with recorded goods when their eligible region is unoccupied. Active participants continue to have actual service needs. The owner leaving cannot freeze a teammate in an occupied region, and a distant unrelated cave does not necessarily keep the surface project running. Native Minecraft systems outside these managed rules retain their own behaviour. These are documented requirements, not verified runtime results.

P03 writing completion requires every region to have variants, a legible activity, a supported return and continuing value; both later trips to cover preparation through real home application; and local industry to name its imported bootstrap and independent service limits. The accompanying register maps these treatments to original IDs and lists measurable future acceptance scenes. Diagram C06-D08 compares expedition scope and stopping points. Diagram C06-D09 traces the two material chains and the imported service boundary.

Those diagrams specify relationships rather than surveyed terrain or production geometry. Dedicated activity concepts, turnarounds and implementation validation remain separately tracked unless matching delivered assets or project evidence close them. The present work adds no Mars campaign, new destination, mod code or claim that a concept illustration proves a working system.



===== END EXACT SOURCE: moon_completion_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: tier1_completion_06.txt | SHA-256 3a5e912f8481cc579394113ac371e5a29aee8679bd0199718e0ee3dc48d77cbd =====

# Tier 1 — Confirmed direction and operational closure

## C06-P11-01 — What this completion establishes

P11 connects the twenty existing Tier 1 responsibilities to the user's confirmed compact-first Explorer and dedicated manufacturing pair. It supplements T1-SPEC-01–20 and the complete first-expedition chapter. Their original text, identifiers and supplied artwork remain preserved. The new decision record takes precedence over their historical statements that those two visual choices await an initial answer. It does not turn proposed dimensions into production measurements.

T1-DEC01 now means: test a nine-block-tall Explorer, a three-by-three main body and a five-by-five maximum fin envelope first; retain a usable physical airlocked cabin; bring any necessary enlargement back for review. T1-DEC02 now means: use REF10 for the Part Fabrication Table and REF09 for the Rocket Assembly Station, with the vehicle constructed at a separate explicitly linked berth. REF15's lower assembly table remains a preserved variant of assembly. These are two mandatory functions, with no additional compulsory assembly-table stage.

The closure register maps every canonical asset to its existing specification, evidence, components, ports, operating states and focused acceptance scenarios. Documentation closure means that these responsibilities can be followed and reviewed. Actual player fit, collision, recipes, capacities, persistence, rendering and travel remain unverified here. This slice creates neither final production meshes nor mod implementation. Further engineering begins only under the user's separate explicit mod BUILD approval.

## C06-P11-02 — Minecraft form, texture and illustration rules

The user's correction makes the visual standard explicit: SUBSTELLAR assets must retain Minecraft proportions, deliberate cuboids, stepped silhouettes and coarse pixel-texture material blocks. Beautiful directional light and a restrained shader-like atmosphere may frame a concept. The object itself must still look credible beside Minecraft blocks. Photorealistic metal grain, microscopic scratches, individually rendered powder grains, polished product-photography ingots and smooth real-world machinery are outside this direction.

For Tier 1, preserve pale casing, orange bands and handling corners, dark mechanisms, navy glass and small blue displays. Shape the Explorer's stepped nose, square window, low hatch, diagonal fixed fins and four-nozzle underside before adding surface detail. Keep the suit's square pack and block-proportioned limbs. Ordinary world surfaces retain the existing proposed sixteen-texel-per-block starting point; texture resolution is a production proposal rather than a demand for large files. Fine symbols may receive a justified local treatment without making every surface high definition.

Separate structure from presentation. Major clamps, collars, recesses, covers and moving hatches need an intelligible shape. Small seams and wear belong in sparse pixel marks. A realistic render is not evidence for a new material, manufacturing process or connector. The two diagrams in this supplement are exact explanatory drawings. They establish relationships and disclose uncertainties, while the confirmed reference sheets continue to establish visual identity.

## C06-P11-03 — What the compact candidate actually allows

The existing candidate reserves vehicle-local Y 0–1.5 for lower propulsion/support; a vestibule from Y 1.5 to 3.625; a quarter-block pressure partition from 3.625 to 3.875; an upper occupied level from 3.875 to 6; and nose/equipment/antenna space to Y 9. Both occupied height allowances are 2.125 blocks. The working interior is 2.25 by 2.25 inside the three-by-three shell.

These numbers reveal useful constraints. If the interior is centred, the difference between three and 2.25 leaves 0.375 block on each side for the entire shell band. It is not 0.375 block of spare storage after structure, insulation, fittings and sockets. A half-block portable tank cannot automatically be hidden wholly inside that band at the same section. Installed housings may differ from portable displays, but must declare their real occupied space.

The proposed neutral suit art envelope is one block wide/deep and two high. Each standing allocation therefore leaves only 0.125 block of nominal height above that envelope. The one-by-two outer doorway has zero nominal width and height margin against the same envelope. Neither calculation measures the game's player collider, moving backpack, camera or worn rig; neither proves impossibility. Together they identify the doorway and occupied levels as early fit questions. C06-D10 shows the arithmetic without depicting a successfully fitted cockpit.

## C06-P11-04 — A physical route through the Explorer

The measured study must follow one continuous route: ground approach, boarding steps, outer hatch, vestibule, inner pressure hatch and ladder, pilot position, cargo/service reach, then the same route outward. A collection of individually plausible camera views cannot substitute for that route. Begin by reserving the two occupied volumes, then insert actual rig poses, hatch leaves, ladder, seat, console, supply housings and cargo. Any overlapping uses must be resolved visibly.

The upper cabin needs a standing/egress position as well as a seated pilot. The forward square window must yield a useful view from the fitted eye point. Opening the exterior while retaining the upper cabin's isolation requires an actual inner boundary with a valid passage opening and closure sweep. Its precise opening and ladder arrangement remain hypotheses; the partition band in the diagram is not a completed hatch design. Two one-block-wide reservations side by side within 2.25 blocks leave only 0.25 block for all separation, so a ladder beside a suited standing pose needs deliberate checking.

If the compact arrangement fails, first document the obstruction and examine local arrangement, hinges and installed housings while preserving the silhouette and usable cabin. If those changes cannot solve it, propose the smallest necessary shell or height change with a before/after comparison. Show the consequences for fins, pad, boarding, supply sockets and cargo. The user reviews that enlargement before final dimensions are adopted. Deleting the airlock or presenting an unexplained larger interior is not an acceptable resolution.

## C06-P11-05 — Coordinate evidence and its limits

The inherited convention remains bottom-centre origin, +Y up, +Z front and +X right when looking outward through the front. Quarter turns rotate all bounds, ports, normals, approaches and previews together, then apply translation. This is a documentation convention to reconcile with the actual project, not a verified renderer API.

On the proposed pad, the Explorer origin is at pad-local (0, 0.5, 0). Its fuel socket (1.5, 2, −0.5) therefore meets the pad coupler at (1.5, 2.5, −0.5); their outward normals oppose. Breathing, power and data follow the same half-block vertical translation. The nine-block craft reaches pad-local Y 9.5. A natural lunar landing uses the surveyed contact plane directly, so it does not inherit the pad's half-block offset.

The seven-by-seven deck provides one block beyond the five-by-five maximum fin envelope on each side. The nine-by-nine controlled site includes additional approach and service reservations. Those nested rectangles do not prove fin, hatch or coupler sweeps fit. Departure requires the proposed seven-by-seven clear column through the supported ascent presentation, whose upper transition boundary awaits project evidence. The register preserves the two stepped Fuel Pipe terminal adapters because their offset machine endpoints cannot be replaced by a conveniently drawn straight grid pipe.

## C06-P11-06 — T1-M01: the selected fabrication table

REF10 is the selected appearance for the Part Fabrication Table: pale worktop, short supports, orange accents, dark mechanism and angled blue terminal. Retain its proposed two-by-two footprint, two-block maximum height and worktop near Y 1 as fit candidates. The left input, right output, rear power and front interaction anchors stay separate and rotate with the machine. Front and side service space must remain visible in placement studies.

A complete component order begins with authorized prepared Earth stock and an available output position. The selected component appears in the bounded work area; clamp/tool motion follows active fabrication. Missing stock highlights the input responsibility, and output full highlights the collection responsibility. An unpowered or paused order holds a settled pose. Completion places the recorded output once.

The useful acceptance sequence is hand-load, start, block the output, resume, interrupt, reload and collect. Its evidence must identify consumed stock, remaining stock, work stage and the single output. This is also the service-parts workstation after the first launch, retaining value for repairs and refits. No full-size Explorer appears on its worktop, and decorative tools do not add hidden ingredient types.

## C06-P11-07 — T1-M02: the selected assembly station and berth

REF09 is the selected Rocket Assembly Station: broad platform, stout short corner supports, clamps, orange details and blue control. Its proposed three-by-three machine footprint and two-block height sit inside a five-by-five access area. These dimensions remain candidates. The explicitly linked vehicle berth receives the nine-tall craft; the low station surface holds parts and subassemblies.

The order identifies one vacant authorized berth, one craft configuration, deposited parts and the next authored construction stage. The earlier proposed twelve-block maximum horizontal origin distance is retained as a local-layout hypothesis, not engine evidence. The association carries an assembly order and visible location, not an occupied vehicle through an item pipe. The station and berth must be eligible within the same managed region.

Reserve parts and berth, build the lower structure/engine, install tanks and body, complete cabin/pressure components, fit nose/fins/services, then commission one persistent Explorer. Obstruction pauses before the next stage commits. Cancellation explains already committed construction and returns only the appropriate recorded stock. Refit uses the existing craft identity. C06-D11 separates this assembly association from fuel, breathing, power and mission control. REF15's lower table remains available as a source variant without creating another required manufacturing stop.

## C06-P11-08 — T1-M03 and T1-M04: manufacture and move propellant

The Fuel Refinery retains its compact REF15 process housing, top service cover, front information surface, distinct feedstock inlet, fuel outlet and rear power. Its proposed two-by-two-by-two bounds and half-block top-cover allowance require reach and sweep checks. The first recipe must use reachable Earth inputs and explicitly account for every required output. P06/P07 own the connected process description; the Tier 1 entry must reference that same recipe decision.

The Fuel Pipe remains a dark block-grid segment with orange collars and fuel-only connections. Straights, elbows, valves and the existing terminal adapters belong to that family. A valve's motion has a declared swept space. Each route names its source, destination, requested target and stop condition. The pipe indicates transfer only while actual transfer progresses.

Production and transfer are different states. An idle refinery can feed already stored propellant without claiming to manufacture more. A full receiving tank, broken pipe or incompatible breathing fitting stops before losing quantity. Interrupting or rebuilding a route leaves supply in its recorded containers; the initial design does not invent fluid stock inside decorative segments. A protected return allocation remains unavailable to routine workshop orders. The first lunar round trip carries its propellant from Earth.

## C06-P11-09 — T1-M05 and T1-S01: breathing and equipment services

The Oxygen Generator preserves REF15's vented cube and blue display. Its process input, breathing output, electrical connection and human interaction face remain distinct. A supported Earth atmosphere or water-processing route must identify inputs, output and required service stock in the shared industry record. Its current one-block cube is proposed geometry. A Moon placement does not make an Earth atmosphere intake valid.

T1-S01 groups refill, dust service, repair and field charging at a stocked host. Its proposed one-by-two rack or shelter-integrated frontage exposes the tank dock, separate cell slot and work/brush area. Integration shares the real reservoirs and inventories through declared connections. It does not create duplicate stock or require a new machine for every service action.

The interaction states the task: refill the selected EQ24 tank from SUPPLY02 storage; charge EQ19 from available electrical supply; clean a named joint; repair with EQ27 stock. A brush animation cannot imply replenished oxygen. Missing stock and interrupted charging identify the actual source. Equipment changes owner/location once during a dock operation. Occupied refuge breathing and protected return supply take priority over optional tool or workshop demand. A service point can transfer Earth-carried breathing stock on the first Moon visit without local production.

## C06-P11-10 — T1-M06, T1-M07 and T1-M08: a trustworthy departure yard

The Launch Pad comprises foundation/deck, edge markings, indicators, berth and proposed retracting service couplers. Fixed external routes end at the pad edge. Raised couplers connect the parked craft and retract before departure; their swept space cannot push a player aside. A blocked ascent or boarding approach identifies the actual obstruction. A later built lunar pad is convenient infrastructure, while the first arrival and return use valid natural terrain and onboard systems.

The Control Console shows one named craft and mission. Its wide screen, shallow worktop, key interaction, rear power and data remain distinct. The leading information is the next concrete blocker: absent hardware, empty supply, unsupported route, occupied berth, missing pilot or unusable closure. Optional cargo receives lower urgency. Turning a Launch Key requests the checked action and never bypasses it.

The Storage Crate retains REF15's gray panels and orange corners. The world lid needs its proposed half-block sweep; a mounted cabin access-panel variant avoids opening a lid into the pilot. Reservations mark actual contents. The example six cargo slots do not outweigh a complete safe manifest. Record the shelter kit, breathing, field power, repair stock, survey equipment and protected return provision before optional loads. Unload Earth-carried shelter goods to make useful room for samples. An interrupted cargo move cannot leave the same contents ashore and aboard.

## C06-P11-11 — T1-I01 and T1-I02: structure and propulsion

Rocket Part is the manageable structural component family, with REF15's pale perforated piece as its inventory identity. The record maps quantities to installed body, cockpit, nose, fin and support responsibilities. Small inventory dimensions are display bounds; installed meshes have their own declared transforms and spaces. Cosmetic panels do not become extra recoverable components whenever a craft reloads.

Rocket Engine / Engine Module remains one managed propulsion-cluster role with four visible installed nozzles, following REF11 and REF15. Preserve the mount, propellant connection, inspection access and four plume origins. A compact workshop icon does not prove the installed lower band can fit every engine and support part. Grounded service must settle the craft, isolate the relevant operation, expose the service point and preserve the existing vehicle identity and supplies.

Both roles use available, reserved, installed and service-related states. Structural stage visibility follows a recorded assembly commit. Engine plume follows actual operating state; the four emitters do not become four separately simulated systems without an approved need. The acceptance scene covers missing or incompatible parts, installation, safe service and interruption. Earth-made replacement/service stock must support the first complete trip.

## C06-P11-12 — T1-I03, T1-I04 and T1-I05: supply, knowledge and authorization

Fuel Tank preserves its pale vessel, orange band and keyed fuel fitting. Its half-block-wide portable display does not set installed capacity or housing size. Empty, filled, reserved and installed are states of a reusable vessel with actual contents. A fitting, shell or valve cannot occupy the protected cabin passage merely because it was hidden in an illustration. Transfer acceptance checks the source, destination, conserved amount and protected return portion.

Navigation Chip / Guidance Chip is one reusable hardware identity, retaining the dark plate, orange contacts and blue centre. Installation must expose recognized hardware, supported routes and the specific reason a route is unavailable. Earth-prepared survey/navigation records support the first lunar journey. The chip does not consume itself at each launch or reveal every cave. Replaceable hardware can recover already earned route knowledge from the established record.

Launch Key preserves its orange head and gray shank. Its held and inserted poses reference the same item ownership. A key authorizes only an already permitted operation; it cannot grant another player's inventory, bypass readiness or duplicate itself during a turn animation. Lost-key replacement follows existing ownership recovery. These items need restrained, readable attachment actions rather than large new mechanisms or new mandatory fabrication stages.

## C06-P11-13 — T1-E01, T1-E02 and T1-E03: the complete suited player

The Tier 1 Player Space Suit, Space Helmet and Oxygen Tank remain EQ23/EQ24 responsibilities within one understandable protection system. REF12 constrains the square pale helmet, navy external visor, orange bands, dark gloves/boots, chest control and integrated square pack. REF15 constrains the named tank with its prominent breathing valve. Keep the tank attachment within the reviewed pack arrangement rather than adding an unreferenced large cylinder.

The neutral one-by-one-by-two suit art envelope is an initial review guide only. Measure standing, head turn, arm/tool reach, crouch, climbing, seated posture, tank access and first-person camera. Normal player collision is the proposed starting direction; worn geometry must still fit visually and operationally. The half-wide portable tank and 0.75-cube helmet display sizes do not replace fitted rig anchors.

Ready means required protection parts, valid seals, actual breathing supply and appropriate power. Missing tank hardware, empty contents and service-needed equipment have different remedies. Refill, tank swap and charging have explicit interrupted states. Helmet-only readiness is invalid. Keep the centre view and tool targeting readable; opaque exterior glass does not require an opaque or heavily darkened first-person overlay. Text/icons and optional sound communicate reserves and faults even with restrained effects. A return warning remains usable during movement and service animation.

## C06-P11-14 — T1-S02 and T1-S03: refuge and recovery

The Starter lunar refuge keeps its EQ25 kit and Lunar Shelter Controller identity. REF03 supplies its compact pale/orange habitat atmosphere; the seven-by-nine-by-four structure, nine-by-eleven terrain allowance and separate three-by-three approach remain proposed spatial records. A measured interior must contain both airlock closures, a usable sleeping/service cell, circulation, storage and actual supply housings. The terrain allowance alone does not include all forward approach clearance.

The first commissioned stage includes the complete protected cell and airlock with Earth-carried breathing and power. Foundation or decorative shell completion is not enough. The independent Explorer remains usable during construction. Commission the refuge before a committed underground descent; local lunar manufacture can improve a later outpost after its input route exists.

Expedition Recovery Beacon mode remains a function of EQ26, with its association among participant, craft, refuge and supported return service. Its proposed mast is a context-derived presentation rather than confirmed device geometry. The player can inspect the recognized destination, availability, consequence and next action. Recovery may use an explicit allowance or leave nonessential cargo, but cannot conjure fuel or another Explorer. A blocked home pad, lost key or disabled craft must retain a coherent recorded outcome. An occupied teammate refuge continues its real service budget when its owner departs; an unoccupied managed region parks without catch-up consumption.

## C06-P11-15 — The complete acceptance journey

The integration scene begins with reachable Earth stock and ends with useful samples at the same home workshop. Fabricate components, erect and commission one Explorer, make and load actual supplies, test the suit, reserve the full lunar manifest, board through both pressure boundaries and request departure. Test a deliberately blocked output or route and show its remedy before continuing. The scene must demonstrate understandable work, not only a successful launch effect.

At the Moon, verify natural support, hatch access, departure space and a feasible refuge plot. Use onboard Earth-prepared supplies and controls. Establish and commission the refuge, complete the conservative first surface/underground loop, load samples, inspect return allocation and return to Earth. Include a changed home-berth case with a supported alternative. First travel never relies on making fuel, oxygen, a pad or an external console on the Moon.

Evidence records the actual configuration, rig, cargo, quantities, meaningful state transitions and result. Interrupt assembly, a transfer and a supported travel stage to check that each asset and quantity has one owner/location. Reduced-motion presentation must retain closure state, readiness, cancellation and arrival information. No result is marked passed by this document; these are focused acceptance requirements for future approved implementation and model validation.

## C06-P11-16 — Handoff and remaining evidence

The P11 deliverables are this supplement, the twenty-role closure register and two editable diagrams: C06-D10 for the compact candidate's spatial evidence and C06-D11 for the dedicated pair, linked berth and separate services. Source anchors and original visual evidence remain attached to each record. No additional Tier 1 raster generation is needed to replace already confirmed shapes.

The remaining geometry evidence is finite: actual rig and camera measurements; continuous boarding/cabin/egress fit; installed tank and cargo volumes; hatch, ladder and coupler motion; all-facing port alignment; and valid natural/pad contact and departure space. The compact-first choice is settled, while final dimensions remain unapproved until this evidence is reviewed. Any necessary enlargement returns as a concrete comparison.

Recipe and mission-capacity tuning require the connected industry/material record and future play evidence. Runtime, ownership and persistence claims require committed project evidence. Historical source statements remain accessible with this supplement's current decision status. The documentation can be delivered while those engineering checks remain explicitly open, preserving the distinction between a complete creative specification and a verified game feature.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: tier1_completion_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: support_vehicles_06.txt | SHA-256 2fb9da78863f45ab3bf5d7c2df7ee517950298d9f117ae54889f0606f978b779 =====

# Support vehicles — useful local journeys

## C06-P12A-01 — Scope, authority and visual language

SUP01 Survey Rover, SUP02 Cargo Crawler, SUP03 Ice Submersible and SUP04 Atmospheric Survey Skiff are four existing support-vehicle families. They solve local terrain and working problems; they do not add spacecraft capability classes or assign destinations to the supplied Tier 2/3 rocket silhouettes. This package develops their configurations, occupied use, services and return journeys. Full Mars and farther-world campaigns remain outside the selected expansion.

The source authority is the preserved Spacecraft and orbital places chapter, its support-craft register, the Planetary materials and reference catalogue, the relevant destination chapters, and CD05-T09/T11. These pages add recommended design detail. Geometry, crew capacity, cargo budgets, movement physics and exact supply rates remain proposed. Described behaviour is a documentation target, with no implementation or runtime verification claimed.

The visual direction remains Minecraft themed: chunky block-built silhouettes, readable low-resolution texture patterns, square glazing, visible service panels and restrained material palettes. Attractive atmospheric light may frame a scene, while the objects themselves retain simple game-scale surfaces. A powdered sample is a small pixel-textured pile or contained item; metal stock has readable flat faces rather than microscopic scratches and photoreal highlights. New support families should feel related to the confirmed pale casing, dark mechanisms, orange markings and focused blue screens without copying Explorer fins onto every object. Different environments justify different structural shapes.

## C06-P12A-02 — Shared deployment, ownership and service rules

Each first vehicle arrives as a prepared craft or a bounded assembly package carried by a capable earlier expedition. Its deployment bay, handling equipment, commissioning supplies, spare service items and independently viable return plan are included before departure. A folded-looking model does not prove that a full vehicle fits inside an Explorer. Carrier fit requires a separate declared payload and access review. The current Explorer remains the first orbital/lunar craft; support vehicles do not silently expand its capability.

A local controller previews the vehicle's occupied shape, boarding space, loading access, moving envelope and service position. Assembly advances through support frame, motion system, controls and protection, equipment fittings, then commissioning. Committed parts remain with one persistent vehicle identity. An unfinished chassis can be saved and resumed; loose parts remain identifiable stock. Upgrading, storing or transferring a vehicle cannot produce both a complete vehicle item and a second deployed copy.

Services keep their identities. Charge or a declared propulsion supply powers movement. Breathing supplies serve an occupied sealed compartment where present. Environmental conditioning has a visible equipment role. Cargo passes through a load position; data synchronization transfers records, not material. A service connector reports the actual linked craft and stock. Mechanical locks release and couplers retract before movement. Protected return reserves cannot be consumed by ordinary processing or an automatic cargo order.

The shared state vocabulary is assembly, isolated service, parked ready, occupied preparation, local travel, working stop, return requested, refuge/recovery and inactive parked. A stopped motor or thruster has visibly stopped motion. Words and icons accompany warning colors. No eligible participating player means stable parked inventory and mission state, without remote fuel drain, unearned production or absence debt. An active excursion has clear interruption rules rather than silently advancing while its player is elsewhere.

## C06-P12A-03 — SUP01 Survey Rover: configuration and operation

The Survey Rover carries a survey kit, manageable samples and a compact shelter allocation along suitable Mars routes. Its value is a mobile working base between established shelters. It does not climb every cliff or make a pedestrian route automatically drivable. Generation and surveying distinguish wheel clearance, turning space, stopping shelves and the walking connections that complete a route.

The recommended candidate has a low rectangular cab, broad visible wheel assemblies, an accessible side step, a rear modular rack and a short instrument mast that remains below its declared travel envelope. The suited pilot occupies a forward control position with useful ground visibility. A rear service partition keeps reserve breathing stock and electrical equipment out of the footwell. Sample boxes and shelter packages secure to the rack with recognizable clamps. A reachable exterior work surface supports reading a sample or replacing a prepared cartridge while parked. Wheel count, suspension travel, cabin dimensions and additional seats require later fit and handling studies.

The default documented outing uses one pilot in a sealed cab; this is a planning example, not a final seat limit. Enter from the stopped service side, close the pressure boundary, confirm route and return allocations, then release the parking state. The display keeps heading, known refuge, movement energy, protection and route condition together. A survey page can expand without obscuring the essential travel information. Moving instruments animate gently; stowed equipment stays secured. Opening a service panel requests an isolated stop rather than allowing a repair animation inside a moving wheel.

Earth/Moon stock provides the initial frame, seals, cells, instruments and spares. PM03 Ferric Lattice can later replace selected repairable frame members, while PM04 Brine Catalyst can improve an appropriate local processing or service module. Neither is needed to deploy or bring back the first rover. Changes should be visible at interchangeable external members and service boxes, rather than turning the entire vehicle into unrecognizable luxury bodywork.

## C06-P12A-04 — SUP01 worked outing, recovery and choices

At an established Windcut Tablelands service pad, the player loads a survey instrument, sealed empty sample boxes, repair stock and a deployable refuge allocation. The initial map identifies a drivable terrace and a walking-only continuation. Departure preserves enough movement and life-support stock for the planned return plus its defined contingency. Weather information makes the conservative route legible before the player leaves shelter.

The rover follows the terrace into a broad Buried Delta channel. At a narrow junction, the player parks on a marked turning shelf, establishes a physical route marker and carries a sample tool along the foot route. Data identifies a useful continuation, while collected ordinary geological samples remain in separately tracked containers. This outing does not require optional Mars life. A forecast dust front encourages a return to the sheltered stopping point instead of a race through reduced visibility.

If the front arrives earlier in the worked scenario, the player closes the cab, checks the known sheltered route and waits or proceeds within the vehicle's stated capability. A filter warning names the cartridge and remaining supported margin. A blocked gully triggers a mapped alternate or a retreat to the previous stopping shelf; it does not teleport the rover through terrain. Back at the pad, the player unloads samples, synchronizes the route, replaces consumed service stock and leaves the same rover parked ready. The useful result is a better route and a material investigation, followed by a practical frame or service improvement once its processing chain exists.

Survey fit, cargo fit and additional occupied space compete for the same authored module allowance. More protection may reduce sample space or demand more service effort. A compact configuration retains access to narrower routes. The completion example must demonstrate an obstructed route, interrupted service and recoverable disabled craft as well as a normal drive. EQ26's supported recovery mode preserves the player and unique progression records; nonessential cargo may await a disclosed salvage task.

## C06-P12A-05 — SUP02 Cargo Crawler: configuration and operation

The Cargo Crawler moves bulky equipment and repeated supplies over prepared local routes. It makes a workshop, quarry service area, remote pad or outpost easier to sustain. It does not replace all storage systems or deliver through any available gap. The route includes a load bay, secure path, passing or stopping positions where needed, and an unload bay that can accept the intended shipment.

The recommended shape is a low, broad deck on clearly separated tracked bogies, with a short forward control enclosure and upright load stops. This is a proposed silhouette, subject to the terrain and turning review. The load deck remains visually dominant. Tie-downs, crate footprints and a side service cabinet explain its job. A cab or protected control position matches the destination; an open industrial yard configuration should not be presented as vacuum safe. External supply boxes must not occupy the driver's access path.

The payload interface handles declared freight modules, secured crates or supported equipment packages. Loading a machine package records its components and state; it does not scoop up arbitrary occupied buildings. A yard hoist, gantry or compatible loading device places the package at its authorized attachment. Cargo locks animate closed, and the manifest identifies the destination receiver. Crew cannot ride as ordinary cargo. Any extra occupied position requires a designed restraint/seat and the corresponding protection and supplies.

First operation uses established frames, traction parts, energy storage and ordinary handling fittings. PM06 Porous Nickel Matrix can later offer a lighter rack or isolated instrument mount, while PM03 can support repairable heavy-duty members. These are alternative property choices, not prerequisites for every crawler. A large rack can carry an awkward useful package but takes more turning and loading space; a compact rack serves smaller established paths.

## C06-P12A-06 — SUP02 worked delivery, interruption and return

An occupied regional yard needs a replacement service assembly and ordinary structural stock. At the departure workshop, the player selects the receiver, checks available unload space and stages the real goods beside the crawler. The loader places the secured package, the manifest reserves its inventory once, and the vehicle reports the route's current clearance. The player boards only after loading motion stops.

The outward journey follows a prepared track with one constrained bridge approach. A newly placed crate obstructs the approach in this example. The crawler stops before the unsafe span, showing the obstruction and available retreat. The player clears the route or returns to a passing position while arranging an alternate. Choosing another path requires a usable survey and actual clearance; the route display cannot invent a road through a cliff.

At the destination, a full receiving bay pauses delivery while keeping the shipment on the crawler. The player makes room, lowers the load into the assigned position and confirms the receiving installation's accepted components. Returned empty containers, a worn replaceable assembly and surplus reusable packaging form the homeward load. Back at the original yard, recovered material goes to its proper inspection or reclaim process. The delivery is complete when the receiver can use the supplied assembly and the crawler is available again.

A power interruption during handling leaves the load secured in a declared stable state. A disabled traction unit allows an isolated repair with imported spares or supported recovery to an established service point. Salvage cannot duplicate delivered stock. Later route assistance or logistical assignments remain separately scoped capabilities; this worked outing succeeds through direct player operation. Acceptance compares the crawler's setup and service effort with the repeated walking/handling it saves, rather than claiming an unmeasured throughput number.

## C06-P12A-07 — SUP03 Ice Submersible: configuration and operation

The Ice Submersible extends an established Europa descent into mapped local water volumes. It works from the submerged dock reached through the Ice Descent Controller's protected shaft and pressure lock. The first usable craft and initial seals, thermal support, instruments and recovery equipment come from prior resources. Its initial operating zone includes accessible upper-ocean observations; local gel or acoustic material cannot be required to survive its first outing.

The recommended design is a compact block-built protected body with a faceted forward window, guarded lamps, visibly bounded maneuvering units, a short sample manipulator and separate external sample boxes. The occupied compartment is an actual fitted space with reachable controls and a defined hatch. Service volumes remain outside the pilot's movement area. Hull ratings are fictional game capabilities represented in the interface; the concept is not a real pressure-vessel design.

At the dock, the player enters through a controlled pressure connection, verifies return supplies and releases the capture fittings only after the boundary state is correct. Pressure, cold, current and visibility have separate readings and responses. The motion model is approachable supported local movement. Known ice keels, dock lights and route markers complement instruments, and an assistance option can follow an already surveyed return corridor. Exact buoyancy, thrust and numerical operating envelopes remain unresolved.

The manipulator performs only a bounded sampling or instrument-placement action while the craft holds a permitted working position. Lamps, sensing pulses and motion have documented ecological effects where the established colony rules require them. PM07 Cryoseal Gel can improve a replaceable cold-service seal; PM08 Resonant Silica can improve an acoustic sensor element. The two improvements remain distinct and both follow first discovery with imported equipment.

## C06-P12A-08 — SUP03 worked observation and controlled return

The player starts at the existing submerged dock, with a mapped corridor beside an ice keel and an accessible observation point. Imported seals and supplies cover the entire route. Leaving the dock records a return path and protected allocation. The first stretch establishes the light and scale of Lantern Ocean while keeping identifiable terrain within useful view.

At the observation point, the player stops outside a filter colony's stated disturbance zone, dims the appropriate light and records its response to the current. A permitted instrument is placed on a surveyed nonliving attachment site. A modest accessible sample is collected only if the selected activity allows it; observation itself remains a useful result. This example does not demand entry into deeper Vent Gardens or harvesting the organism that makes the scene meaningful.

A current change closes the preferred approach in the return example. The player follows the surveyed sheltered alternative around the keel, comparing current and visibility indicators. If a service fault reduces the operating margin, the response is a supported return to a known reachable dock or refuge, with EQ26 recovery when the declared contingency applies. “Emergency ascent” never means passing vertically through solid ice or assuming an unknown surface opening.

Capture guidance aligns the returning submersible with the submerged dock. Motion stops; capture completes; the pressure interface becomes safe before either hatch opens. Samples move to separate storage, records synchronize and worn service elements are inspected. A later quiet-sensing fit trades sample storage or endurance allocation for improved observation. Acceptance requires a complete wet-side departure and return, clear pressure states, an interrupted service transfer and recovery without lost unique records.

## C06-P12A-09 — SUP04 Atmospheric Survey Skiff: configuration and operation

The Atmospheric Survey Skiff connects established sheltered landings and observation points inside supported Titan local volumes, including Hollow Weather. A ground route and a functioning landing refuge precede its first use. It does not turn all of Titan into unrestricted flight or cross to orbit. A surveyed launch/landing area, weather information and a conservative return route are part of its service site.

The proposed silhouette places an angular compact gondola beneath a clearly braced flight-support structure with block-stepped lift cells, visible steering surfaces and accessible landing feet. This reads as a distinctive local work craft. The player position has forward and downward visibility; a small instrument rack and secured sample allocation sit behind it. The chosen occupied enclosure must meet the documented atmosphere requirements. Exposed crew imagery cannot substitute for that protection.

The first supported flight fit uses pre-existing suitable materials and complete imported service supplies. After discovery, PM11 Amber Polymer can improve cold-environment housings and PM12 Liftweave Membrane can enable a specialized replacement lift-envelope configuration. The latter improves an already viable route rather than creating a circular requirement for reaching its own source. The simplified flight system does not assert real Titan chemistry or final lift calculations.

## C06-P12A-10 — SUP04 worked relay outing and package acceptance

At an established Harbor Lantern hangar, the player loads a weather observation package and checks two surveyed landing shelves. During a forecast clear interval, the skiff follows a supported local corridor into Hollow Weather. Physical markers and terrain remain part of navigation. At the first shelf, it lands and secures before the player places the instrument on an approved nonliving mount.

Fog returns across the farther route. The player selects the known sheltered return leg instead of continuing toward an unverified opening. A missed interval means landing at the previously checked refuge and retaining the protected homeward supply. A damaged steering or support module triggers the defined controlled-landing/recovery response within supported terrain; the documentation does not promise a safe landing anywhere. At the hangar, the player unloads records, replenishes consumed stock and inspects the same craft. The useful result is a more dependable observation route for later work.

An instrument-focused fit offers better route information; a freight fit provides more secured load space; a larger support envelope asks for a larger hangar and operating clearance. None is a universal upgrade. Final acceptance for all four families requires a coherent exterior and occupied layout, complete earlier-resource deployment, explicit services, a worked mission and return, a recoverable interruption, saved partial/parked states and a property tradeoff. Remaining measured-fit, terrain, capacity and runtime tests stay visible in the register. These pages complete the selected design explanation; they do not claim those future tests have passed.


===== END EXACT SOURCE: support_vehicles_06.txt =====


===== BEGIN EXACT SOURCE: orbital_places_06.txt | SHA-256 2f510647eeb03bb404dac1b46be8f1f1699b7796db81e7ede5d9a799104dcf10 =====

# Orbital places — working stations and personal rooms

## C06-P12B-01 — Scope and the place a station earns

STA01 Home Orbit Anchorage is the first proposed station family. STA02 Transfer Yard is a later family for already established route nodes. STA03 identifies their seven shared module subjects: docking collar, pressure corridor, window room, storage spine, power module, service panel and emergency refuge. This package describes occupied use, assembly, connections and one complete arrival-to-return example for each station. It does not add destination campaigns, later rocket classes or unrestricted moving voxel bases.

The preserved Spacecraft and orbital places chapter, Planetary materials and reference catalogue, CD05-T09/T11 and CD05-E20 establish the family direction. This supplement recommends coherent working configurations. Layouts, geometry, occupant capacity, docking tolerances and service rates remain proposed. No station, navigation behaviour or pressure system is claimed as implemented. Future fit and gameplay evidence must establish the actual limits.

A station earns its construction through useful preparation, storage, vehicle service, selected small projects and a place to inhabit. Home Orbit Anchorage must not become a compulsory stop between every Earth activity and the Moon. Transfer Yards help selected routes; they cannot become toll booths that erase the value of a dependable direct return. Window views, personal objects and an understandable working interior matter alongside cargo efficiency.

The visual language is Minecraft themed: block-built structural frames, low-resolution textures, square or stepped windows, chunky attachment collars and readable equipment housings. Warm lamps, pale technical panels, dark mechanisms, restrained copper/orange markings and personal wood fittings can coexist. Atmospheric rendering may be beautiful without turning surfaces into photographic metal, fine-grained real concrete or intricately manufactured aerospace hardware. A station should look buildable within its game vocabulary.

## C06-P12B-02 — Shared construction and first deployment

The Station Controller names one authored station project at a defined local orbital site. Its placement reference establishes a game construction location, not a claim about realistic anchoring in space. The preview separates the station body, docking approach, transfer clearances, service access and permitted expansion ends. Occupied-space connections are distinct from external power or thermal routes. A decorative hull surface cannot supply pressure or electricity merely by touching another mesh.

The first deployment is a supplied expedition from an already supported route. The arriving vessel brings the selected assembly package, tools, commissioning stock and its own independent homeward supplies. Payload and handling fit are reviewed for that vessel. This package does not assume that Explorer's provisional dimensions can carry an entire finished station or that every piece fits through its hatch. A small unoccupied seed can precede inhabited construction through multiple planned deliveries.

Stages commit real material to one persistent project. The first frame establishes recognizable shape and an identified connection point. Capped module shells can then be fitted without pretending they are occupied rooms. Pressure boundaries and essential services commission before habitation. Work areas, viewing rooms and further branches follow as useful additions. Each stage lists accepted stock, visible result, incomplete connections and the next available action.

If a delivery stops halfway, installed structure remains; allocated components stay allocated; unused cargo stays where it actually is. Cancelling a planned branch returns only recoverable unused parts and safely dismantled components. The system never turns an unfinished room into a second complete module item. Removing an inhabited or service-critical module first requires relocation of occupants, contents and dependencies to valid spaces.

## C06-P12B-03 — Connected rooms, separate services and personal building

The shared layout starts with a docking collar and an isolated transfer cell at the end of a pressure corridor. Beyond that controlled threshold, the corridor leads to storage and working areas; window room and emergency refuge branch from the inhabited side. The refuge has its own closing boundary and reserved supplies. Power and service modules attach through service interfaces, with maintenance access from designated safe positions. Exterior panels do not create a walkable shortcut through vacuum.

Dock capture, transfer authorization and fluid/gas service are different states. A vehicle can be mechanically secured while the passage remains closed. After seal checks and the required transfer-cell state, the permitted hatch sequence connects occupants. A supply hose does not open an airlock. A cargo transfer order does not spend return propellant. Electrical, breathing, thermal, cargo and data paths each identify their source, recipient and current state.

Personal building occupies declared safe interior or exterior zones. The preview shows which walls accept trim, shelves, benches, display samples and lights, and which volumes belong to doors, escape routes, service covers and dock approach. A player's objects persist through compatible module upgrades. Where a wall must move, the change preview provides actual relocation storage instead of deleting fittings. Personalization cannot conceal a hatch indicator, obstruct the only escape path or expand the station's supported pressure volume without commissioning a real module.

Baseline protection should make a connected room understandable without asking the player to inspect an invisible simulation of every decorative block. The authored shell defines its supported occupied volume; optional designated construction fills that space. General free-built pressure architecture remains a separate capability decision. A station scene can show a cozy room and a modest workshop while remaining honest about those boundaries.

## C06-P12B-04 — STA01 Home Orbit Anchorage: staged configuration

Home Orbit Anchorage presents a compact dock, a short readable interior route and one recognizable Earth-facing room. A storage spine and dry workshop bay make preparation practical. Instrumentation has its own attachment area with safe access. The service exterior shows where power and thermal equipment belong; it does not surround every window with decorative pipe complexity.

The recommended stages are: site and delivery plan; unoccupied dock/frame seed; commissioned sealed core with essential services and emergency refuge; observation room, storage and workshop fit; then optional instrumentation or carefully bounded extension. The first stage is useful evidence of permanent progress. The sealed core becomes a legitimate destination only when a suited visitor can enter, use its supplied services and leave with an independent return still available.

The occupied layout proposes one route from transfer cell into a central working corridor. Storage opens from the corridor without requiring the player to stand in a hatch sweep. The workshop is a function bay on that storage/working side; it is not an eighth shared module identity or a compulsory copy of every Earth machine. The observation room branches away from freight movement. A personal shelf, a seat and an Earth view give a reason to stop that is different from operating a service terminal.

Initial components use established metal frames, technical ceramics, suitable glazing, seals, power equipment and brought environmental stock. PM01 Regolith Ceramic can later improve selected panels or thermal-management fittings; PM02 Lunar Glass Filament can improve instrument/light-guide assemblies. Their introduction follows lunar discovery, and neither is required for the first independently viable station visit. Optional materials from later worlds remain refits with alternatives, not a retrospective gate on this earlier achievement.

## C06-P12B-05 — STA01 worked arrival, useful work and homecoming

The example begins after the station's sealed core has been commissioned from brought supplies. On Earth, the player prepares a valid orbital manifest for the chosen craft and reserves the entire return. The station manifest separately identifies the observation-room fittings, ordinary replenishment stock and the small instrument project being delivered. The destination display names the actual station and whether its dock is accepting arrivals.

In the supported local approach volume, the player sees an unobstructed capture path, alignment feedback and a holding position. Manual approach or assistance along this established approach can complete capture. The ship stops and secures; both pressure sides remain isolated until the transfer conditions are met. The player enters a readable transfer cell, then the working corridor. A failure to establish a safe connection leaves the vessel closed and independently habitable.

Inside, the player unloads the selected components into real station storage, fits a small observation instrument through the supported work project, and installs personal fittings in the allowed window-room area. Earth is visible from the occupied room. The project produces a useful observation record or preparation capability already linked to the wider direction; it does not invent a new mandatory currency. The remaining return allocation is visible before the player reboards.

A deliberately full station storage rack in the example holds some cargo on the ship until space is made. A service interruption cannot silently move that cargo or consume it. Departure confirms that all occupants are aboard their intended location, passage hatches are closed, supply transfers have stopped and couplers have released. The craft clears the approach and follows its supported Earth return. Station contents and personalized room remain for the next visit. The mission closes when the player reaches the home service site and the new station capability can be identified in the source record.

## C06-P12B-06 — STA02 Transfer Yard: configuration and a complete visit

A Transfer Yard supports a route that already has known access, suitable craft and established destination services. Its first delivery comes from those earlier capabilities with every ingredient needed to commission the chosen initial stage. Local destination materials may improve later service equipment. No optional yard or world can supply the only ingredient for the first return from that route.

The recommended family has a clear cargo spine, separately identifiable docking branches, protected refuge cells and service equipment along an external working face. The exact number and size of docks are configuration proposals. The smallest useful version may serve one craft at a time; a later branch adds a real occupied berth and service capacity rather than merely painting a second docking symbol. Cargo arrangements separate arrivals, allocated outbound shipments, returned containers and protected emergency stock.

Stages begin with a supplied unoccupied seed, then a commissioned refuge/service core, then working cargo storage and a receiving dock, followed by optional additional branches. The route-node setting supplies the view: a gas giant may dominate the window without implying a conventional surface campaign. Personal rooms and observation niches sit outside the primary freight path. New branches use authored attachment ends, retained approach clearances and independently closable boundaries.

In the worked visit, an established expedition arrives with sample crates and a worn replaceable service component. The yard reports one available receiving position and reserves it for this arrival. Capture and controlled transfer complete before unloading. Samples enter the intended sealed storage category; the worn component goes to an inspection/work position. Previously prepared replacement stock is fitted through a declared service order, with the original vehicle identity retained.

The next route leg is optional. The player can instead load homebound samples and return directly using the preserved allocation. If the selected onward receiver is unavailable, cargo stays at the yard or on the craft according to its actual transfer state; there is no forced departure. At departure, the manifest names what remains stored, what travels and which supplies are protected. Homecoming delivers the selected samples to an established receiving workshop, while the yard preserves the remainder for a future trip. This complete arrival/service/return proves its intended convenience without adding a new campaign.

## C06-P12B-07 — STA03 shared module: docking collar

The docking collar provides an authored mechanical capture interface and a passage boundary. Its chunky frame, visible capture fittings, approach markers and hatch face remain legible at a distance. The ship-side hatch and station-side transfer boundary have separate state indications. A successful mechanical capture does not automatically authorize people or supplies to cross.

Its occupied connection leads only into the transfer cell of a commissioned corridor module. Power, data and any supported replenishment lines are distinct service endpoints. Cargo crosses through declared handling rules rather than being implied by an open door. Assembly establishes frame, capture hardware, seals/door and control checks in that order. Acceptance requires a stopped captured craft, a failed-seal response, an interrupted connection and a release that leaves no attached hose or occupant in the moving envelope. Exact mating geometry remains a fit-study dependency.

## C06-P12B-08 — STA03 shared module: pressure corridor

The pressure corridor is the dependable occupied connection between rooms. Its dock-end configuration contains a transfer cell with two controlled boundaries; interior branch positions have closable doors where isolation is required. Floor markings and lamps show the route, while a recessed service strip leaves walking space clear. It should not become an invisible universal pipe.

A new branch remains capped while installed and tested. The existing corridor stays occupied only if its commissioned boundary remains intact. Door motion, obstruction feedback and transfer state use consistent words and icons. A blocked hatch pauses the operation without crushing a player or deleting an item. Later longer configurations trade material and service demand for more attachment space; room count, pressure volume and occupant capacity require explicit validation.

## C06-P12B-09 — STA03 shared module: window room

The window room provides an inhabited view and optional observation work. A stepped structural window frame, protected instrument position, personal bench and usable floor establish its shape. It is a destination along the corridor, away from the compulsory freight route. Glass appearance cannot by itself certify an inhabited volume; the room commissions as a complete shell with an actual boundary connection.

Safe furnishing areas accept personal objects without blocking the door, view controls or service access. A scientific fit can use some of that room for bounded observation equipment; a personal fit retains more display and rest space. Neither creates a new occupant merely by placing a chair. Acceptance shows entry, a useful observation or personal activity, accessible service and preserved furnishings after a compatible refit.

## C06-P12B-10 — STA03 shared module: storage spine

The storage spine connects a walkable aisle with identifiable cargo bays, sample lockers and staging positions. It exposes the difference between ordinary stock, project allocation and protected reserves. A workshop attachment occupies its declared working bay; no unexplained factory is hidden behind one tiny locker.

Receivers accept compatible cargo only when real space is available. Full storage leaves goods at the sender or supported transfer container. Returned reusable packaging retains its identity. An extension adds actual bays and preserves the aisle and existing manifests. Acceptance follows one shipment through receipt, allocation, retrieval and removal, including an interrupted transfer and a full-bay case. Throughput, stack budgets and cargo dimensions remain proposed.

## C06-P12B-11 — STA03 shared module: power module

The power module hosts an approved generation/storage configuration and visible distribution connections. A solar-looking exterior is a visual family option, with output behaviour to be established in the game model. It is not a promise of realistic orbital lighting simulation or a free universal energy source. Stored energy, current available supply and disconnected loads have distinct information.

Exterior moving or unfolding surfaces, if chosen later, require a clear animation envelope outside docking paths. The initial concept can use a fixed configuration. Commissioning checks source, actual storage, distribution and required essential loads before habitation. Upgrades add supported duty or redundancy at the cost of space, stock and servicing. A loss-of-supply scenario must preserve a readable refuge response; offline station parking does not secretly drain the bank.

## C06-P12B-12 — STA03 shared module: service panel

The service panel hosts accessible environmental and thermal interfaces, with clearly identified breathing, conditioning and heat-management responsibilities where configured. Radiator-like exterior forms communicate a service job; they do not establish numerical thermal engineering. Imported working supplies and replacement parts support the first commissioned configuration.

Separate sockets and marked service covers prevent confusion with power or cargo connections. A panel can be isolated for a bounded replacement while an independently sufficient essential service or the refuge supports the occupied state. If that condition cannot be met, occupants relocate before the work begins. Acceptance includes wrong-service rejection, supply interruption, retained stock and restoration without falsely resetting wear or duplicating a cartridge.

## C06-P12B-13 — STA03 shared module: emergency refuge

The emergency refuge is a recognizable independently closable occupied room with actual reserved supplies, communications access and a clear route from normal station spaces. Its exterior indication remains visible when other systems need service. Rest positions and storage are fitted within a declared capacity; adding a decorative bunk does not increase it.

Commissioning verifies the enclosure, usable entrance, supplies, essential power and supported recovery connection. Ordinary fabrication and freight cannot consume its protected stock. A working example closes its boundary after an adjacent branch fault, identifies occupants and resources, then restores a supported transfer or rescue route. The refuge is a consequence-management system, not an unlimited duplicate source of food, air or power. Its reserve duration and capacity remain balance questions.

## C06-P12B-14 — Interruptions, expansion choices and completion

Station states include unoccupied construction, isolated commissioning, accepting arrival, captured/closed, controlled transfer, occupied work, isolated service, refuge response, departure clearance and inactive parked. A saved state identifies occupants, cargo, vehicle location, reservations and completed construction stages. Reload must not reopen an unsafe boundary, duplicate an arrival, finish an unpowered project or consume the same supply transfer twice.

A blocked approach holds a craft outside the capture path while its independent supplies remain intact. A branch fault closes its intended boundary and identifies the affected rooms. A lost service connection pauses the associated process. An unavailable destination permits waiting at a valid refuge or taking the already supported homeward route. When no eligible player participates, the station remains stable: no hidden production, depletion, resident harm or accumulation of chores.

Expansion choices trade storage, occupied space, instruments, service redundancy and dock capacity against construction effort and ongoing active-use demand. Earlier compact stations remain useful for personal visits and modest work. Completion of this documentation package means both station families have staged first deployment, a coherent occupied layout, separate service meanings, useful personalization, a complete arrival-to-return example and a recoverable interruption. Each shared module has a role, connection rule, operating action and acceptance scenario. Measured fit, pressure logic, pathing, docking, capacities, save/reload behaviour and runtime performance remain explicit future validation needs.

| Shared module choice | Useful gain and retained cost |
| --- | --- |
| Docking collar configuration | A supported larger interface can fit a declared craft family, while requiring matching approach, capture and passage clearances. Size alone does not establish compatibility. |
| Corridor length and branches | More real attachment positions require additional shell, service support and walking distance. |
| Window-room fit | More observation equipment uses some personal furnishing space; a larger view reduces available solid-wall storage. |
| Storage-spine extension | Extra receiving positions use station footprint and handling space; the walking aisle must remain usable. |
| Power configuration | Greater supported supply or reserve adds real source/storage components and distribution requirements. |
| Service-panel configuration | Easier replacement and redundant essential service use equipment space and stocked spares. |
| Refuge configuration | A larger validated occupied allowance requires matching enclosure, reserves and access; decorative beds do not grant capacity. |


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