diff --git a/Aetheria/Game Design/Aetheria Starbridge.md b/Aetheria/Game Design/Aetheria Starbridge.md index 2164f54..8ded47c 100644 --- a/Aetheria/Game Design/Aetheria Starbridge.md +++ b/Aetheria/Game Design/Aetheria Starbridge.md @@ -537,6 +537,14 @@ the crew decides how much attention, coolant, repair, salvage, and commander support it deserves. If the build cannot justify its appetite, the pilot can be left to eject, pod home, and return in something more reasonable. +That failure can become a social moment instead of a balance scandal. A player +who brings a precious, expensive, aggressively personalized ship may still end +up begging the squad to escort them back into contested space to salvage their +beautiful mistake. The squad can decide whether the wreck's assemblies, +sentimental value, and future upgrade potential justify the risk. This makes +attachment playable: ownership can create stories, obligations, jokes, and +rescue drama without becoming purchased dominance. + This makes monetization safer. Paid or accelerated unlocks can expand the player's collection, expression, loadout convenience, and access to alternate build shapes, while gameplay-affecting power remains governed by scenario @@ -701,6 +709,13 @@ change the shape, and rejoin the war. A failed loadout should create a recoverable tactical and economic setback, not a scolding modal, a queue dodge, or a permanent player-state failure. +Wreck recovery should require visible squad judgment. If the lost ship is +valuable, exotic, sentimental, or full of rare assemblies, rescuing it can be a +real objective that competes with base defense, salvage flow, and wave timing. +The pilot may plead for an escort. The crew may agree, bargain, laugh, refuse, +or make the recovery conditional on better decisions next wave. The system +should give them a meaningful reason to talk. + Thermal capture enemies sharpen this loop. If a pilot ejects because hostile heat pressure made the cockpit unsafe, the pod remains protected and the ship becomes a contested prize. Enemy remorae can switch from heating to cooling once