in: Encounters, Real-time prototype, Rejected designs
Expeditions (real-time prototype)
Retired Game mechanic · facts checked 2 November 2026
Expeditions (real-time prototype) was Arborwake's first run system. The Ranger walked through free-form polygon rooms while hazards moved in real time, and skills worked on cooldowns in seconds. It was retired on 1 November 2026, when the user chose Turn-based encounters.
How it worked#
- Rooms were irregular polygons with doors. A run generator chose between compatible authored pieces.
- Each room belonged to an encounter family, a pure rules module stepped at fixed time steps.
- Skills used a signature button (tap or hold), a passive and one flex button, with cooldowns in seconds (see Kit history).
- Endurance was already the outing budget: 6 an outing, 1 a cleared room.
- Losing a neuron or tract segment failed the room. The user insisted on this on 27 October: "Maintaining the neurons IS literally the point of the game."
The families#
| Family | What it was | Fate |
|---|---|---|
| Breach | An injury climax: sockets, spreading waves and visitors | Act V only |
| Quiet Tract | Lead a precursor to a bare segment | Became the Quiet Tracts wrap |
| Pressure Front | Stress "weather" over four patches | Folded into Pressure & Aftermath |
| Relay Chain | Alarm that recruits monocytes at a cost | Became the Vessel surge |
| Many Hands | Cooperation around a hidden leak | Act V injury; non-leak version on hold |
| Tag Garden | An optional pruning puzzle | A planned Gardens side room |
| Pressure & Aftermath | Fronts, then the lingering response (31 Oct) | Became the turn-based prototype |
Why it was replaced#
Claude B's simulations found that attentive players never failed in real time (docs 20 and 27). The user said rooms felt like "unlimited puzzles" with no real skill growth. Doc 31 calls every seconds-based room balance number "history".
Development#
- Claude A built the families on
claude/expeditionsfrom 27 October. Claude B tuned the kit against them in its skills lab. - On 1 November the lead installed a review slice of Gardens and Quiet Tracts real-time rooms in the main checkout (uncommitted), with a web expedition panel.
- The lead's 2 November audit found that panel ("Gardens expedition / Walk to expedition gate") still mounted in the published alpha. The reconciled integration removed it from the alpha entry and kept the historical prototype separately.
- The code is preserved under the project rule to keep prototype work.
See also#
Turn-based encounters · Kit history · Breach · Relay Chain · Many Hands
Sources#
215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/22-v4-reassessment.mde7656b980:docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-10-27-claude-a-expeditions-encounter-design.md215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/31-turn-based-encounters.md- docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-01-lead-expedition-integration.md (working copy, not in Git)
- docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-02-lead-full-project-reconciliation-audit.md (working copy, not in Git)