Home duties

Home duties are the jobs that keep Hearth's lines watched and in contact while the Ranger is away. When a companion comes along, someone else has to cover its duty, or the duty shows as a gap.

The duties#

The north line has no duty. Stella supports it, Nell is its neuron, and in a disturbance the Ranger defends it.

How it works#

• Automatic cover. On 2 November the user removed duty assignment, so the player assigns nothing. At departure, an allocator gives each uncovered duty to the resident who can best take it. Each resident's own duties come first.
• Three verdicts, shown in the departure preview:
  • Covered: the resident's load fits.
  • Stretched: the load is too high. One Tend task waits on return, and Hearth strain rises by 1.
  • Gap: no one can hold it. Two watches never fit one resident.
• The gap rule (user, 31 October): a gap never costs Supply. It queues a recovery forecast at its connection, which uses the return's one recovery step there. It is shown before you leave.
• The relay post (about 30 Supply, from Act IV) covers only the keeper watch.
• On return, every duty goes back to its usual holder automatically.

Numbers#

Two load rules exist:

Claude B checked all 12 of doc 30's measured cases, and the duty-unit rule gives the same verdicts.

Development#

• 31 Oct: the user accepted doc 30's duty plan and the gap rule.
• 2 Nov: the user removed manual assignment. The lead's audit asked for "an allocator from real eligible residents".
• Alpha: the reconciled integration added automatic home coverage. Its allocator in game/home.js still uses doc 30's seconds rule (36 s, 16 s, 60 s), not the newer duty units.
• Older text that refused every departure with an uncovered duty is retired in favour of the gap and strain consequences.

See also#

Recruitment · Hearth strain · Hearth boards · Companion stress

Sources#

1. 215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/30-home-base-plan.mdcopy
2. 215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/31-turn-based-encounters.mdcopy
3. b89f778c2:src/main-game/game/home.jscopy
4. docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-02-lead-full-project-reconciliation-audit.md (working copy, not in Git)