diff --git a/Aetheria/Game Design/Aetheria Starbridge.md b/Aetheria/Game Design/Aetheria Starbridge.md index dd6d810..48ff496 100644 --- a/Aetheria/Game Design/Aetheria Starbridge.md +++ b/Aetheria/Game Design/Aetheria Starbridge.md @@ -684,6 +684,71 @@ The first release should keep these boosts shallow and transparent. The goal is to make every run feel productive, not to make early runs feel intentionally underpowered. +Completing the game should also unlock the next scenario. Scenario unlocks are +the content-progression spine: a crew survives one authored co-op crisis, earns +score currency and account investment, then opens the next crisis with a +different starting shape. + +Each scenario defines: + +- starting base configuration; +- initial station stock and ship availability; +- starting technology availability; +- wave structure and boss sequence; +- faction mix attacking the base; +- faction-specific loot table and recovered technology pool; +- narrative premise and post-run consequence. + +The faction mix matters mechanically. A [[Worldbuilding/Pre-Elysium/Factions/Powers/Major/Zhestokost|Zhestokost]] +attack should drop different hardware, pressure different defenses, and reward +different recovery choices than a [[Worldbuilding/Pre-Elysium/Factions/Powers/Major/Cryonix|Cryonix]] +raid, a pirate siege, autonomous probes, or alien-aligned machines. The scenario +is therefore not just a map label. It is a controlled remix of production +history, hostile doctrine, and reward ecology. + +This gives Starbridge an episodic release model. New scenarios can arrive as a +steady stream of co-op episodes: compact authored premises, bounded mechanical +twists, new faction mixes, and new recovered technology pools that groups can +work through together without requiring a whole new campaign architecture every +time. + +## Narrative + +Starbridge's narrative should follow the principles in [[Narrative and Missions]]: +authored pressure inhabiting systemic space. A scenario is not just "wave set +number seven." It is a particular base, under particular attack, for reasons +that expose something about Aetheria's institutions. + +The first narrative unit is the defended base: + +- who built it; +- who works there; +- what it produces, stores, researches, or protects; +- why the attackers want it destroyed or captured; +- what the crew loses if it falls; +- what uncomfortable thing surviving proves. + +The RTS player and pilots do not need long cutscenes during combat. They need +briefings, station chatter, faction voice, boss introductions, post-wave recovery +messages, and end-of-scenario consequences that make the defense feel situated. + +Scenario narrative can carry the live-content cadence: + +- an emergency defense of a frontier fabricator; +- a station caught in a corporate patent raid; +- a salvage court dispute turning into armed seizure; +- a Cryonix thermal systems trial that becomes a siege; +- a pirate coalition attack on a repair depot; +- an alien probe sequence misread as ordinary raiding until the loot table stops + looking human. + +Narrative rewards should stay mostly systemic. A completed scenario can unlock +the next scenario, alter available station stock, add a recovered technology to +future pools, expose a faction's doctrine, or change how later briefings frame +the same war. Starbridge should be able to release episodes constantly because +each episode is a reusable composition of premise, starting configuration, +faction mix, boss sequence, and loot ecology. + ## User Interface Direction ### RTS Interface @@ -797,6 +862,9 @@ grow later. - 1-4 pilot players; - one defend-the-base map; - one session mode; +- scenario selection and completion unlocks; +- first scenario definition with starting base, stock, technologies, attacker + mix, and loot table; - five enemy archetypes; - small RTS build set; - one baseline combat ship kit; @@ -817,6 +885,7 @@ grow later. - wave preview through sensors; - post-wave upgrade choices; - meta-progression percentage boost investments; +- episodic scenario metadata for faction mix and recovered technology pools; - pilot down/respawn loop through launch bay; - overclock, cooling, and vent interaction; - drone leashing; @@ -855,6 +924,8 @@ The first release succeeds if: - pilots always have something physical and useful to do; - post-wave technology choices make runs diverge in readable ways; - score currency makes every run feel productive without replacing teamwork; +- completing a scenario unlocks the next co-op episode; +- faction mixes alter enemy pressure and recovered technology loot tables; - the team loses because of readable tactical failure, not confusion; - communication clearly improves outcomes; - the same battle feels different with different player behavior; @@ -875,6 +946,8 @@ The first release succeeds if: derive from deterministic wave definitions? - Which pieces of Starbridge meta-progression should map to licenses, certification, manufacturing reserve, or reset-loop memory? +- What is the first scenario sequence, and how many scenarios should ship before + the live episode cadence begins? - How much production provenance should station stock expose in the first release: item quality only, manufacturer identity, or full material history? - Should boss technologies be framed as research patents, hostile subsystem