# Fleet, economy, and progression model

## Design goal

Every expedition should create a meaningful risk decision without allowing ship loss to end a player's participation. Ships are valuable equipment; pilots and the carrier are the persistent heart of the crew.

## Playable now

- **Active hangar:** up to three fleet units are ready to deploy.
- **Fleet identities:** Wisp Scout, Pike Interceptor, and Bastion Gunship have distinct handling, hull, auto-turret, and magnetic collection values.
- **Persistent loss:** destroyed ships leave the active hangar across playtest resets.
- **Unlimited flight:** fleet ships do not consume fuel. Their risk is hull damage and permanent loss; carrier fuel remains a shared expedition resource.
- **Combat salvage:** defeated enemies drop salvage, carrier cells, or hull repairs, with better returns from evolved forms.
- **Pilot continuity:** losing a ship returns the pilot to carrier duty rather than ending the expedition.
- **Minerals:** an expedition awards minerals from survival time and banked holdings.
- **Manufacturing:** every four expedition-minutes of fabrication produces a Wisp. A full active hangar sends new craft to PC storage.
- **Recovery floor:** when both the active hangar and storage are empty, fabrication supplies an emergency Wisp so the next expedition always has one deployable ship.
- **Booster crystals:** one-use Recall, Nova, and Surge abilities create emergency decisions during a run.

The current browser prototype retains this state only for the open page. Account persistence and online multiplayer are later production milestones.

## Planned inventory structure

### Ships

- Active hangar: maximum three ships per player profile.
- PC storage: additional recovered, purchased, or manufactured ships.
- Ships can be named, compared, outfitted, stored, sold, or risked on an expedition.
- Duplicate chassis are allowed once inventory moves from class IDs to unique ship instances.

### Ship upgrades

- Weapon system: fire rate, projectile count, damage, range, status effects.
- Movement: thrust, turn response, drift retention, boost efficiency.
- Defense: hull, shields, damage resistance, emergency armor.
- Utility: magnetic pickup, cargo capacity, scanner, teleport module.
- Companions: mini-fighter bays or autonomous support craft.

### Pilot upgrades

- Handling mastery and boost control.
- Salvage yield and repair efficiency.
- Booster capacity or crystal refinement.
- Carrier-station bonuses while a pilot has no deployable ship.

### Carrier upgrades

- Hull, shields, engines, fuel tanks, weapon systems, repair systems, cargo storage, docking capacity, and autonomous buddies.
- Carrier upgrades should strengthen teamwork without making deployed fleet units optional.

## Manufacturing planet

The first economy building is a manufacturing planet allied with the crew. It advances after completed expeditions rather than real-world idle time. That keeps progress tied to play and avoids mobile-style waiting pressure.

Initial proposal:

1. Each expedition minute adds one fabrication point.
2. Four points produce a baseline Wisp.
3. Minerals can accelerate production or select a chassis blueprint.
4. Upgrades can add queue slots, improve quality, or recover parts from lost ships.
5. A recovery rule guarantees at least one basic ship for the next run.

## Booster crystals

| Crystal | Current effect | Future tradeoff |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Recall | Warp the active ship to the carrier | Rare escape tool; may drop unbanked cargo |
| Nova | Destroy threats visible on screen | High-value emergency crowd clear |
| Surge | Greatly accelerate the carrier for 12 seconds | Shortens exposure but can leave explorers behind |

## Balance guardrails

- A lost high-end ship should hurt, but recovery must create a new goal rather than a grind wall.
- No player becomes a spectator because their ship was lost.
- Manufacturing progress is expedition-based, not passive real-time monetization.
- Pilot power, ship power, and carrier power remain separate upgrade tracks so co-op roles stay legible.
- The first three ships should be sidegrades with distinct risk profiles, not a linear rarity ladder.