Breach

The Breach was the first real-time encounter that Claude A built, on 27 October 2026. It modelled a focal injury: glowing sockets sent waves of depolarisation through the room, and fast visitors came through a vessel gap. The player sealed sockets, cleared debris and protected neurons.

How it worked#

• Spreading waves came from open sockets with a 1.4 s glow before each one. Sealing a socket stopped its waves.
• Visitors were fast responders. They cleared debris but crowded and dimmed neurons.
• Astrocytes could shield neurons when linked, and a sleeping neighbour microglia could help.
• The intro rooms taught one hazard each: First Wave (waves only), Open Vessel (visitors only), then The Breach (everything).

Why it was withdrawn#

On 29 October the user corrected the central story: stress-associated neuroinflammation drives it. The earlier "Breach-first" recommendation was withdrawn. Acute injury and demyelination are optional contrasts, not stages of stress progression. The Breach kept a place only as Act V, a separately authored injury finale.

The turn-based plan#

Claude A mapped the Breach to turn-based modules for Act V: protect or seal objectives with wave (a ring or line of tiles one turn ahead) and spill threats. A spill spreads one ring a tick but cannot enter warded or supported tiles. No turn-based Breach room exists yet.

In the brain#

The family's science line: after an injury, microglia send their branches toward the damage within minutes, and waves of depolarisation can silence nearby neurons for a while. Fixed sockets and crowding visitors are game rules.

Development#

• 27 October: Claude A built the slice (src/expeditions/breach/, four rooms, four modifiers) on claude/expeditions. Claude B balanced the kit against it in doc 11.
• 29 October: its campaign role was withdrawn. The real-time code is kept as prototype history.
• Never in the alpha. Act V injury rooms are not built.

See also#

Expeditions (real-time prototype) · Many Hands · Threats · Surfaces

Sources#

1. e7656b980:docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-10-27-claude-a-expeditions-encounter-design.mdcopy
2. e7656b980:docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-01-claude-a-expeditions-turn-based-rooms.mdcopy
3. 215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/11-breach-analysis.mdcopy
4. 1ded4c01c:AGENTS.mdcopy