Threats are the processes that act on a turn-based board. Claude B's rule is that "threats are processes, not villains". Each one is a room module. It shows what it will do (its telegraph), then does it in the resolve phase. A room's set of threat modules is its threat deck.
How it works#
- Intent first. Every threat shows its tiles, its kind, its amount and how many rounds are left. Resolution order is numbered on the threats.
- Two rounds of warning is the default. Signal tuning (Alert), Survey and the Shared Boundary Imprint can show visible threats earlier, but nothing ever shows a hidden threat early except Survey.
- Fronts never move. A front's tiles stay put while its count goes down.
- Threats never push neurons, which are anchored. Fronts can push loose debris one tile.
The threat modules#
| Threat | Telegraph | When it resolves | Answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure front | A connection, 1–2 rounds ahead | −40 function to that connection, and an inflamed surface there | Ward it, Care it before, stand a companion there |
| Quiet front | None, except to Survey or Mote's witness | As a front | Survey, then prepare |
| Lingering response | A ticking icon on a connection | −10 function a tick until it fades | Recovery Care fades it; fast Care keeps it going |
| Jolt | A 3×3 pad, one round ahead | Units on it lose 1 Composure | Step off, Huddle, Stand Fast |
| Overload wave | A line of tiles, two rounds ahead | Neurons on it lose a step of function; units lose Composure | Ward the neuron, Settle before, move |
| Debris flow | Arrows, one round ahead | Moves each debris clump one tile along its arrow | Tend, Engulf, Pull, stand in the way, Ward to block |
| Monocyte surge (Vessel Margins) | "Surge in N", naming no wall | Monocytes adhere where a calling microglia and a reactive wall coincide | Settle the caller with recovery Care, or quiet the wall with Link |
| Pulse (Quiet Tracts) | Forecast pulse rounds | A bare path segment loses 10% | Help the oligodendrocyte wrap it |
The goal must not leak#
Claude B set a rule on 1 November after Run HUDs raised it. Every room declares a fixed deadline (settleBy), shown from round 1. The HUD never derives anything from hidden threats. A room flag, quietPossible, says only that quiet fronts may appear.
The animated front#
The user ruled "The front needs to be animated". The VFX session's module has five states: coming (in N), striking, resolving, lingering and quiet. The user approved them on 1 November. Its art may be restyled to match the "3D made 2D" room art.
In the brain#
A pressure front compresses stress-associated signalling into one timed event. Real stress acts through hormones, noradrenaline and other signals over days to weeks. The lingering response stands for a response that keeps making work harder after the pressure has passed. The monocyte surge stands for stress signalling that recruits immune cells from the blood to the vessel wall (McKim 2018). Adhesion is not entry.
Development#
Claude A designed the module grammar (setup, telegraph, resolve) on 1 November. Claude B's engine runs the phases. The pressure front, quiet front, lingering response and jolt are in the alpha's Gardens rooms. The surge and the pulses are in its Vessel and Tracts rooms. Older module ideas (haze, the relay three-factor rule, spill, wave for Act V) are in Breach, Relay Chain and Many Hands.
See also#
Surfaces · Supported ground · Turn-based encounters · Room assembly
Sources#
215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/31-turn-based-encounters.mde7656b980:docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-01-claude-a-expeditions-turn-based-rooms.mde7656b980:docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-02-claude-a-expeditions-vessel-margins-rooms.md
What links here (26)
- Act I: The Long Wake
- Board grid
- Breach
- Composure
- Dendritic Gardens
- Expeditions (real-time prototype)
- Hearth boards
- Lessons
- Many Hands
- Pressure & Aftermath
- Pressure Front (real-time)
- Pressure front VFX
- Quiet Tract (real-time)
- Quiet Tracts
- Relay Chain
- Room assembly
- Shared Boundary
- Studios drills
- Supported ground
- Surfaces
- Survey
- Tag Garden
- Turn-based encounters
- Vessel Margins
- VFX
- Ward