# Combat and reward improvement roadmap

## Direction

Fleeting works best when movement is freedom, the carrier is the shared clock, and combat creates tempting reasons to leave the safest route. Personal fuel duplicated pressure without adding an interesting decision, so fleet propulsion is now unlimited. Hull, distance, cargo, and permanent ship loss carry the risk instead.

## Implemented in this iteration

1. **Clean pressure separation** - only the carrier consumes fuel; fleet ships can always thrust and boost.
2. **Visible swarm evolution** - enemies advance through Drone, Fang, Carapace, Abyssal, and Overmind forms every 55 seconds.
3. **Mechanical evolution** - later forms gain hull, speed, collision damage, projectile damage, scale, armor rings, and stronger color language.
4. **Every kill pays** - defeated enemies deterministically drop salvage, carrier cells, or hull repairs.
5. **Danger improves rewards** - shooters and later forms produce more valuable radiant drops.
6. **Recovery moments** - repair drops can turn a dangerous hunt into a satisfying comeback without erasing permanent ship stakes.

## Strong next candidates

### Enemy ecology rather than stat inflation

Give each evolution one new behavior instead of only larger numbers:

- Fang enemies flank moving ships.
- Carapace enemies shield nearby raiders until their armor is broken.
- Abyssal enemies leave hazardous wake trails.
- Overmind enemies coordinate formations or empower the current wave.

This should be added one behavior at a time in the Carrier Defense focused test.

### Loot decisions

- **Volatile cargo:** rare drops expire after several seconds, creating short course-change decisions.
- **Bounty constellations:** killing marked enemies in an order assembles a relic or booster crystal.
- **Salvage chain:** collecting several drops without returning increases quality, but puts more unbanked value at risk.
- **Ship blueprints:** elite enemies can drop chassis fragments that advance fabrication without producing a complete ship immediately.
- **Team vacuum:** nearby players combine magnet fields, making formation flight economically useful.

### Escort pressure

- Spawn lanes can telegraph whether a wave is hunting pilots, intercepting the carrier, or guarding a reward field.
- The carrier can broadcast one priority target so four players naturally converge without requiring voice chat.
- Optional distress signals can create short detours that trade carrier exposure for allies, manufacturing progress, or rare equipment.

## Process improvements

1. Keep enemy forms, drops, and ship stats in data tables with deterministic IDs.
2. Preserve seed plus elapsed time so a difficult wave can be replayed exactly.
3. Test one question per focused module before integrating it into First Light.
4. Record evolution reached, drops spawned, drops collected, repairs collected, and distance from carrier. The first four are now captured when a playtest run is saved.
5. Add placeholder asset IDs to MotionDeck and SoundDeck before commissioning finished art or audio.
6. Promote a mechanic into the main episode only after it passes a readable acceptance signal.

## Next acceptance signal

During one First Light run, the player should correctly identify the current enemy form, deliberately alter course for at least one combat drop, and explain whether hunting felt worth the temporary distance from the carrier.