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in: Encounters, Turn-based rules

Surfaces

In the alpha Game mechanic · facts checked 2 November 2026

Surfaces are states that a tile can have in a turn-based room. Claude B took the idea from the surfaces of Baldur's Gate 3 and made each one a biological state.

How it works#

SurfaceWhere it comes fromEffect
DebrisDebris flows, a front's spillEntering costs 2 moves. On a connection, the connection loses 10 function each tick. In the Quiet Tracts, debris on a segment wears it and blocks the wrap.
InflamedTiles a front struck; the tiles of a lingering responseEnding your turn here costs 1 Composure. Care here is half as strong. It fades a step when recovery Care finishes there.
SupportedA linked astrocyte's territorySee Supported ground: +1 Composure at turn end (once a round), Care +50%, Wards last 1 round longer.
WrappedTract repair in the Quiet TractsSignals cross it in one tick; threats treat it as part of the tract.
ScorchA Hearth overreaction at strain 4Entering costs 2 moves. Nothing else. Pull and Glide pass over it.
Spill (Act V only)A leakSpreads one ring a tick, but never into warded or supported tiles. A neuron on it loses a step each tick.

Numbers#

ValueNumber
Debris move cost2
Debris strain on a connection−10 function a tick
Inflamed Composure cost1
Inflamed Care×0.5
Supported Care×1.5
Scorch2 tiles a mark, at most 2 marks, fades one tile a return

In the brain#

Debris stands for material that microglia clear by phagocytosis. Inflamed ground stands for tissue where a strike has left a response running. Supported ground stands for an astrocyte's own territory. Scorch marks are fiction: they are a visible record of a hard home disturbance.

Development#

Debris, inflamed and supported surfaces are in B's engine and A's rooms in the alpha. Scorch is approved (doc 30 §8.1, user, 2 November) and modelled on the Hearth boards, which the alpha does not host yet. Spill waits for the Act V story rooms.

See also#

Supported ground · Threats · Composure

Sources#

  1. 215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/31-turn-based-encounters.md
  2. 215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/30-home-base-plan.md
  3. b89f778c2:src/main-game/alpha/public/encounter/src/skills/turns/catalog.js
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