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Skills (non-combat progression)
Design for non-combat skills only. Shared vocabulary, why we use gigs + skills, and the hybrid overview are in progression.md. Combat gigs (roster, hub swap, sub-gig, etc.) are gigs.md.
This file also owns the Seams (gigs ↔ skills) section—rules where gigs and skills meet (gear, crafting, consumables, rep, alts). Brainstorm-only ideas: brainstorm/.
Classless skills
Everything outside combat role resolution trains on skills. That includes gathering, refining, crafting, non-combat tech work, and other world interactions we choose to track as progression.
Pillars
- Any character can train any skill over time (subject to world gates: discovery, rep, licenses—those add content, they are not “you picked the wrong class”).
- Economy identity is the skill graph + reputation + gear, not which gig you had equipped last night.
- Specialist path: it must be viable to keep gigs low (minimal combat-role investment) and still meaningfully play by pushing gather / process / make / tech—best supplier, best bench, best netsec in the hubs and instances that reward skills. Combat and story may still touch gigs; they must not hard-require high gig levels to participate in the economy and skill loops players care about for that lifestyle (Seams: e.g. craft without needing to equip what you make).
- Long-term: avoid dead-end grinds; slow or expensive is fine, “wrong choice forever” is not.
What is (and isn’t) a skill
A skill is a persistent, leveled capability, data-defined (stable IDs, categories, optional prerequisites). Primary progression is doing the activity (gather, refine, assemble, hack a door in a skill-based encounter, etc.). Books, trainers, or mission grants can supplement XP—optional and should not replace “play the loop” as the main fantasy.
Not skills: gig combat progression, raw item stats with no trained gate, and one-off quest flags (unless we explicitly model them as skills—open).
Skill domains (examples)
Domains are a design vocabulary: when we brainstorm content, what kind of real-world activity is this skill about? They help writers and designers stay consistent (“is this extraction or fabrication?”) and stay separate from gigs. Domains are not required to match data tags 1:1.
Domains are content-shaped, not a locked taxonomy. Early vision includes:
| Domain | Examples (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Extraction | Pulling value from the world: earth/subsurface (mining, drilling), consumer salvage & biology (Salvage, Harvest), and urban infrastructure materials (Quarry) vs geological Extraction skill |
| Processing | Refine (ores, glass, steel, scrap → material grades); Fab tech (physical PCBs, chips, solenoids); Data scrub (abstract data—datasets, firmware, logical unlock); Synth-chem prep (bio/chem); other conversion |
| Fabrication | Gunsmith; Edgesmith; Hardshell / Softshell (rigid vs flexible armor); Rigging (powered/systems shells); Cybernetics; synth-chem, medtech fab, Food synth |
| Tech / intrusion | Hacking, netsec, counter-intrusion, bypass, diagnostics—combat-facing net actions stay gig |
| Support craft | Medtech fabrication, field repair kits; implant install / tune fiction may split Cybernetics Make vs bench maintenance (open) |
New skills land here as design + data demand; a skill can sit in multiple domains in conversation before we assign its primary category.
Categories (families)
Categories are registry / UI tags—what we put in data (e.g. E2.M1 SkillCategory) for filters, sorting, and balance knobs. Expect one primary category per skill; optional secondary tags for UI only if we need them.
Domains vs categories: domains = “what is this skill about in the fiction/pipeline?” (design). categories = “which bucket does the system put it in for players and tuning?” (product). Today’s tables overlap on purpose while the roster is unsettled (e.g. extraction work often maps to Gather); when we lock a skill list, we either merge domain language into categories or keep domains as a writer’s appendix only. Categories are not gigs, not professions, and not caps on how many skills you can train.
Draft families (can merge or rename):
| Category | Rough scope |
|---|---|
| Gather | Nodes, yields, field extraction |
| Process | Refine; Fab tech (physical fab); Data scrub (data/firmware); Synth-chem prep (bio/chem); batch; intermediate goods |
| Make | Finished goods, recipes, bench work—Gunsmith, Edgesmith, Hardshell, Softshell, Rigging (gear), Cybernetics, Medtech fab, Food synth, etc. |
| Tech | Intrusion, netsec, counter-intrusion, electronics, signal—not combat gig kit |
Optional secondary category for UI sorting only—primary category in data drives balance defaults.
Skill roster (draft ideas by category)
v0 — for examination, not a commit list. Each row is a candidate skill (or tight cluster we might merge). The tables below are a solid opening roster—on the order of ~20–26 names depending on how we merge or split clusters—and we expect to add more as we approach launch. A wide skill set is intentional: it gives design and live ops room to grow loops, biomes, and specialist fantasies without collapsing everything into a tiny tree.
Final roster needs stable IDs, XP sources, and gig/skill boundary checks (especially Tech vs combat netrunning).
Layout mirrors gigs.md gig roster: one table per category, Skill name plus what it covers and open / merge notes.
Production chains (Gather → Process → Make): Recipes can branch (same inputs, different outputs) and run deep (several Process steps in a row before Make). Any row in Process—not one named skill—may sit mid-pipeline, mixing raw gatherables with earlier intermediates from Refine, Fab tech, Data scrub, Synth-chem prep, Bioprocess, Composite work, etc. Detail in Overlapping chains and Multi-stage processing under the Process heading below (after Gather).
Gather — pull raw value from the world
| Skill | What it covers | Open / merge |
|---|---|---|
| Salvage | Consumer goods and vehicles: cars, ships, computers, other wrecked or discarded products; e-waste, stripped chrome—not structural building stock (that’s Quarry). | — |
| Extraction | From the earth: mined or drilled feedstock—synth ores, rare earths, geological substrate for industry (subsurface and natural seams, not the city stack). | — |
| Harvest (bio) | Organic feedstock for chem, medtech, or food chains: cultured tissue and fungal mats and deliberately grim sourcing—e.g. morgue break-ins, blood and tissue theft, black-market organics. | Grim concepts in scope; how we show it and target rating are vision-level—see overview.md |
| Quarry / bulk | Urban infrastructure and built-environment mass: bricks, concrete, wooden building supplies, aggregate, fill, demo recoverables from structures—not consumer goods or vehicle wrecks (Salvage). | Intentionally not Extraction (earth seam vs city stack) |
Process — turn raw into workable intermediate
Overlapping chains: Process and Make are not isolated trees. Different skills (or different recipes under one skill) can consume the same items and yield different intermediates or products—e.g. side streams where one batch of scrap or ore can route through Refine, Synth-chem prep, or Bioprocess with different outputs where content allows. Data-defined recipes carry the truth; overlap is intentional for a dense, interconnected economy. Refine vs Synth-chem prep stay separate fantasies (physical materials vs bio/chem)—see table.
Multi-stage processing (depth): Same idea as Overlapping chains, but serial: several Process steps before Make—e.g. Gather → Process → Process → Make (or longer). Any Process skill’s recipes can require Gather-fresh inputs and outputs from prior Process steps in one pass, or consume only intermediates from an earlier hop—intermediates feeding intermediates, not always a single hop from node to bench.
| Skill | What it covers | Open / merge |
|---|---|---|
| Refine | Physical material feedstock: raw ore, salvaged glass and steel, scrap metals, bulk mineral inputs—smelt, purify, grade toward usable material forms (ingots, sheet, cullet, structural grades). Not bio/chem (Synth-chem prep) or component fab (Fab tech). | Separate from Synth-chem prep & Fab tech — agreed |
| Fab tech | Electronics and electromechanical fab: chips, PCBs, solenoids, micro-actuators, substrate and assembly steps—built components, not Refine’s job of turning raw ore/glass/steel into graded bulk material. Uses Refine outputs (and other inputs) as feed, but the skill fantasy is manufacture, not smelt/purify. | Separate from Refine & Data scrub — agreed (physical vs data layer) |
| Synth-chem prep | Bio- and chemistry streams: precursors, reagents, stable compounds, polymer feeds—inputs and outputs are chem / organic / lab oriented; feeds Synth-chem (product) and related Make. Not primary home for ore/glass/metal refinement (Refine). | Separate from Refine — agreed |
| Bioprocess | Ferment, culture, grow feedstock for medtech or consumables. | — |
| Composite work | Laminate layers, weave fibers, prep Hardshell / Softshell “blanks” before final Make assembly. | — |
| Data scrub | Abstract data work—not Fab tech’s physical manufacture. Clean, normalize, decrypt, or repackage datasets as craft inputs; firmware wipes and logical unlocks that make salvaged parts usable again without milling a new board. Information and software layer on devices and loot, not PCBs/chips fab. | Separate from Fab tech — agreed; Tech skills (e.g. Intrusion) for live hacks—open boundary |
Make — recipes, benches, finished goods
Swap-friendly armor splits rigid vs flexible (Hardshell / Softshell). Powered / systems armor—exo frames, actuator-linked shells, mechatronic tactical rigs—is made with Rigging (gear) (not a third plate/weave skill); equip still follows Combat gear (gig-restricted). Open: hybrid pieces (e.g. powered softshell) pick primary skill per recipe.
| Skill | What it covers | Open / merge |
|---|---|---|
| Gunsmith | Barrels, receivers, ballistics fab. | Seams: craft without gig to use |
| Edgesmith | Non-gun weaponry: blades, clubs and impact tools, stun batons, monofilament / vibro melee, thrown weapons that are not firearms—not Gunsmith (ballistics, receivers, barrels). | Same Seams as Gunsmith: craft with skill; combat equip gig-restricted |
| Hardshell | Rigid swap-friendly armor: plates, inserts, helmets, non-powered hardshell, ceramic or composite face—not Softshell flexible suits; not powered frames (Rigging (gear)). Gig-restricted when equipped (Seams). | No overlap with Cybernetics — agreed |
| Softshell | Flexible swap-friendly armor: kinetic-weave suits, underlayers, padded rigs, textile-forward shells without the Rigging mechatronics lane—not rigid Hardshell; not powered exo (Rigging (gear)). Gig-restricted when equipped (Seams). | No overlap with Cybernetics — agreed; vs Hardshell on hybrid garments — open |
| Synth-chem (product) | Finish stims, chems, consumables from Synth-chem prep (and related Process) outputs. | — |
| Medtech fab | Field kits, injectors, trauma foam—craft lane. | Gig Sawbones = combat use |
| Cybernetics | Body-integrated implants and augmentation: neural hooks, sensory suites, limb lines, organ-adjacent systems—finished installs from Process inputs (e.g. Fab tech, Bioprocess, Harvest, Synth-chem). Semi-permanent (e.g. ocular suite)—not swap-friendly Hardshell / Softshell / Rigging armor. Stays active across gig changes. | Not gig-gated — agreed (Seams); no overlap with external armor skills — agreed; replace has cost—removed unit likely becomes scrap (salvage / recovery loop) — agreed direction; fees, clinic fiction, exact yields — open |
| Rigging (gear) | Drones, harnesses, tool mods, and powered / systems armor Manufacture: exo-style frames, actuator-linked hardshell, tactical mechatronic rigs—Fab tech-heavy lane for wearable systems that are not plain Hardshell / Softshell fab. | Craft with skill—no gig; combat deploy / combat activation of Rigging outputs (e.g. combat drones) gig-restricted — agreed (Seams); non-combat drone/tool use — open; vs Hardshell on hybrids — open |
| Food synth | Ration fab, street kitchens, synth-food Make from Harvest / Bioprocess / Synth-chem inputs where recipes need them. | Kept in roster — agreed |
Make → gigs (combat): Vast majority of non-consumable Make products are gig-gated when brought into combat (equip, wear, deploy). Crafting stays skill/recipe-only—e.g. anyone with Rigging can build a drone; deploying it in a fight needs a gig whose kit supports that deploy (data-defined). See Seams Combat gear and Make → combat (non-consumables).
Tech — systems, hacking, and cyber security (non-gig)
Skill tech covers prep, world interaction, and instance / downtime work. Combat net attacks, debuffs, and today’s gig kit ICE-breaking in a fight stay gig-gated unless we deliberately duplicate (open).
| Skill | What it covers | Open / merge |
|---|---|---|
| Intrusion | Bypass locks and access control, pivot non-combat systems, hack timers / objectives. | e.g. brainstorm/hack-bodyguard |
| Netsec / hardening | Patch holes, segment networks, raise defense for sites, convoys, ally systems (downtime / prep). | — |
| Counter-intrusion | Trace hostile processes, sever sessions, quarantine malware—defensive counterpart to Intrusion. | — |
| Exploit dev | Build or tune payloads and tools for Intrusion (pen-tests, heists, corps). | Fold into Intrusion mastery? open |
| Crypto & identity | Break weak schemes; spoof or forge credentials where content allows. | Rep / legality hooks — open |
| Electronics | Repair boards, swap modules, bench diagnostics—physical layer next to netsec. | — |
| Signal | Scan, trace, tap—RF and traffic out of combat or in objectives. | Combat jamming: gig vs skill — open |
Cross-cutting notes
- Production chain shape: Agreed—(1) Overlapping paths: shared inputs, divergent outputs across Process / Make; (2) Multi-stage depth: Gather → Process → Process → Make (or longer), with any Process skill able to participate. Recipe UX and balance open (roster intro + Process subsection in Skill roster).
- Agreed Process boundaries: Salvage vs Quarry; Refine vs Synth-chem prep (physical materials vs bio/chem); Refine vs Fab tech (base material grades vs physical electromechanical fab); Fab tech vs Data scrub (physical components vs data/firmware on salvage). Further merge/split ideas — open as the roster evolves.
- Next pass: pick prototype trio (one Gather, one Process/Make, one Tech) for Epic 2/3 slices—align with decomposition when ready.
XP, levels, curves
- Server-authoritative XP and level resolution (E2.M2).
- Primary source (agreed): do the activity—gather, craft steps, skill-based mission objectives, etc.
- Secondary sources (open): quests, dailies, books, training dummies—tuned so they assist without replacing loops.
- Structured grants: skill id, amount, source (node id, recipe, quest key…) for telemetry and anti-exploit review.
Failure XP (failed craft, failed hack attempt—not death): per skill / per mechanic; open until each activity’s rules exist (Decisions log).
Caps (agreed): soft curve only—each level needs more XP than the last; data-driven per skill or policy. Runaway mitigation: steeper curves, context modifiers, diminishing returns on repeat actions—open per skill.
Pacing / catch-up (E2.M4): global or cohort knobs for ops; gig pacing stays separate (gigs.md).
Gates, discovery, prerequisites
UnlockRequirement-style gates (E2.M1) should widen what you can do, not mimic a class pick:
- Recipes and facilities tied to skill tier or world state.
- Faction rep or licenses for restricted goods or zones.
- Discovery: find a schematic, rescue a teacher, complete a gig-agnostic storyline.
Open: how much is available at level 1 vs gated; how alt-friendly discovery is.
Mastery and perks (skills)
Beyond raw level, mastery tracks and perks (E2.M3) give build texture inside one skill (branch picks, efficiency, side effects). Same idea as gig expression, different system—no shared perk tree between gig and skill unless we deliberately link them (open).
Respec for skill mastery—open (cost, partial reset).
Cross-skill synergies
Open: explicit bonuses when skill A + B cross a threshold vs pure fiction (“you’re known as a rigger-smith”) with no math. Avoid mandatory cross-grinds unless the loop is fun.
Where skills meet the rest of the game
| Area | Tie-in |
|---|---|
| Epic 2 | Registry, XP engine, mastery, pacing |
| Epic 3 | Gather and craft award skill XP; items and recipes |
| Epic 7 | Quest rewards, rep gates, optional skill payouts |
| gigs.md | Craft combat gear with skills; equip with gigs—Seams |
| brainstorm/hack-bodyguard-missions.md | Skill lane in a group instance (idea only) |
Open questions (skills-only)
| Topic | Status |
|---|---|
| Full launch skill list and names | Draft roster by category in Skill roster |
| Failure XP defaults per activity type | Open |
| Mastery respec rules | Open |
| Cross-skill synergy math | Open |
| Combat deploy / equip for Make outputs vs gig | Agreed—see Seams Combat gear and Make → combat (non-consumables) |
Seams (gigs ↔ skills)
| Topic | Direction |
|---|---|
| Combat gear | Gig-restricted. Weapons, armor (including Hardshell, Softshell, and Rigging-built powered frames when worn as loadout), combat deployables Manufactured by Rigging (e.g. drones deployed in a fight), and other swap-friendly or field-deployed combat pieces declare which gig(s) may equip, wear, fully activate, or combat-deploy them. After a hub-only gig swap, the player re-banks or re-equips combat gear for the new gig (automation vs. manual loadout UX open). Non-combat tools (pickaxe, scanner, craft bench) stay skill-gated, not gig-gated, unless a piece is explicitly hybrid. Does not apply to semi-permanent Cybernetics augments—see Cybernetics / implants row. |
| Cybernetics / implants | Not gig-gated. Augments from Cybernetics (Make) are body-integrated and semi-permanent: they remain in play when you change main gig, sub-gig, or combat loadout (e.g. an ocular implant does not come off at hub swap). Crafting stays skill/recipe/rep—never gig level. Changing an installed augment has cost (credits, clinic, downtime—open); the replaced piece likely comes out as scrap or salvage-grade material (feeds Gather/Salvage/Refine loops) rather than a clean reusable item—agreed direction, exact tables open. Not the same rhythm as re-banking a rifle. External armor (Hardshell, Softshell, Rigging-built powered shells) and Cybernetics do not overlap: external armor is swap-friendly Combat gear (gig-restricted); Cybernetics is not that bucket. |
| Crafting combat gear | No gig or gig level requirement. Who can build it depends on skills (e.g. Gunsmith, Edgesmith, Hardshell, Softshell, Rigging (gear) for powered frames and deployables), recipes, rep, facilities—never on owning a gig or its level. A character can craft combat gear they cannot equip or combat-deploy (wrong gig, low gig level, etc.): valid for trade, stock, or group play. Equip / wear / combat deploy / activation stays gig-restricted as Combat gear above. |
| Make → combat (non-consumables) | Agreed default: Most non-consumable Make outputs are gig-gated when used in combat—weapons, armor, Rigging combat deployables, and similar—via equip, wear, or combat deployment. Craft is always skill/recipe/rep (plus world gates); gig gates field use, not the bench. Exceptions: Cybernetics (not gig-gated); Consumables (see row below—carry/use baseline not gig-gated); purely non-combat Make (e.g. Food synth, civilian tools)—data-tagged per item (open catalog). |
| Consumables | Unlike most non-consumable Make products, carry and use are not gig-gated by default—anyone can pop a stim or patch. Passive potency can scale with gig match: e.g. a medic-tagged bonus applies if main or sub-gig matches (see gigs.md). Others use a baseline. Active abilities from consumables (if any) follow their own rules—open. Other items may have no gig hook—data-driven per item. |
| Rep / story | Hybrid. Faction / world reputation stays character-wide where it fits (one person, one web of grudges). Narrative also includes gig storylines and main-quest-style arcs tied to a gig—mentor paths, employer chains, identity stories that assume you are that role for a chapter. State for those arcs is per gig (or per gig branch) on the same character; switching gigs does not erase character rep, but gig plot progress is its own track. |
| Alts / multi-gig mastery | One avatar still reduces alt pressure for economy and story. Maining every gig is not a design problem for now: gig leveling is intentionally slow, so fully progressing (or “maxing”) every gig is a long-term time investment, not something handed out quickly. Players who put in that time may legitimately be strong in every gig on one character. Revisit only if pacing, live balance, or PvP show harm. |
Player-facing readability
- Combat: UI shows main gig, sub-gig, levels/tracks, combat abilities, and combat gear the main gig can use (mismatched gear disabled or greyed). Deployables (Rigging-built, etc.): show whether this gig may combat-deploy the item even if you crafted it with skills. Consumable tooltips for passive amps can show baseline vs. boosted when main or sub matches the item’s gig hook.
- Cybernetics vs external armor: Hardshell, Softshell, and Rigging-built powered pieces show on the combat loadout strip when equipped (swap-friendly, gig-matched). Cybernetics shows as character chrome—always relevant, not gig-disabled—separate UI lane (Seams Cybernetics / implants).
- Non-combat / crafting: skill list, category filters, XP with source hints where helpful; mastery branches when E2.M3-style systems exist. Crafting combat-facing Make uses skill/recipe gates only—not gigs (optional hint if you can’t equip or combat-deploy the product on your current gig).
- Story: journal or quest UI can separate character / faction threads from gig threads so players see which arc belongs to which gig.
- Use gig / skill consistently in specs and tools; flavor text can vary.
Decisions log
| Topic | Direction | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Vocabulary | Gig = combat role; skill = non-combat only | Agreed |
| Combat gear | Gig-restricted equip / wear / combat deploy / activation; includes Rigging combat deployables; non-combat tools skill-gated | Agreed |
| Make non-consumables + combat | Default gig-gated in combat; craft skill-only—vast majority of Make non-consumables | Agreed |
| Rigging deployables | Anyone with skill can craft; combat deploy gig-matched (e.g. drone gig kit) | Agreed |
| Cybernetics / implants | Semi-permanent augments—character-wide, not gig-gated; replacement costs and likely turns old unit into scrap / salvage feedstock | Agreed |
| Hardshell / Softshell / Rigging vs Cybernetics | External armor (Hardshell, Softshell, Rigging powered shells) = swappable combat gear, gig-restricted; Cybernetics = body-integrated implants—no overlap | Agreed |
| Armor split + powered | Hardshell = rigid; Softshell = flexible; powered / systems armor Make = Rigging (gear) | Agreed |
| Crafting combat gear | Skill/recipe/rep (etc.) only—not gig or gig level; craft-for-others OK | Agreed |
| Consumables | Baseline for all; passive gig amp from main or sub (gigs.md) | Agreed |
| Rep / story | Character-wide rep; gig-scoped storylines and main quests (per-gig progress on one avatar) | Agreed |
| Multi-gig mastery | OK for now; slow gig leveling makes “all gigs” a time goal, not a loophole | Agreed (revisit if balance/PvP needs) |
| Combat vs. non-combat | Gigs for combat; skills for gather/craft/etc. | Agreed |
| Professions (economy) | No separate profession system; economy identity from skills + rep | Agreed (overview) |
| Primary skill XP | Do the activity | Agreed |
| Failure XP | Open; decided per skill / activity once mechanics exist (not the same as death penalty) | Open |
| Skill caps | Soft; progressively more XP per level (data-driven curves) | Agreed |
| Gig swap rules | Hub-only (city / home base / designated site)—not in the field or mid-fight | Agreed |
| Sub-gig | FFXI-style slot agreed; sub abilities up to ~½ main gig level (formula TBD); wide build space | Agreed |
| Combat progression | Per gig—separate level/XP (and mastery) per gig; no shared combat rank | Agreed |
| Social skills category | No dedicated Social skill family or tracked negotiation/fixer/fence skills—outcomes live in rep, quests, economy, and other systems if we need them | Agreed |
| Refine vs Synth-chem prep | Refine = physical materials (ore, glass, steel, scrap metals → usable grades); Synth-chem prep = bio/chem streams (precursors, reagents, lab-oriented outputs) | Agreed |
| Refine vs Fab tech | Refine = smelt/purify/grade base materials; Fab tech = fabricate chips, PCBs, solenoids, and similar components—may consume refined materials, does not overlap the refine loop | Agreed |
| Fab tech vs Data scrub | Fab tech = physical fab; Data scrub = abstract data—datasets, firmware wipes, logical reuse of salvaged parts—not the same skill fantasy | Agreed |
| Low-gig specialist | Viable to focus progression on skills (gather/craft/tech) with low gig levels; economy loops must not hard-gate on high gig rank | Agreed |
| Skill roster size | Opening v0 list is strong; add skills pre-launch as needed—breadth is a feature | Agreed |
| Food synth | Make skill kept—rations, street kitchens, food economy loops | Agreed |
| Gunsmith vs Edgesmith | Gunsmith = firearms / ballistics; Edgesmith = non-gun melee, thrown (non-ballistic), stun batons, monowire-style—same craft/equip Seams as other combat gear | Agreed |
| Gig XP award | Main gig only; sub-gig earns no XP—see gigs.md | Agreed |
| Epic 2 doc split | Align modules when gig data model is chosen | TBD |
Next artifacts
- gigs.md — gig roster, hub UX, recruitment deferred; PvP gig rules open indefinite (overall PvP scope TBD).
- Abilities — gig-locked vs. item-locked vs. skill-gated.
- Items — equip / combat-deploy: gig rules for combat gear (armor, Rigging deployables, etc.); cybernetics character-wide (not gig-gated); craft: skills only—never gig level (Seams Make → combat (non-consumables)).
- brainstorm/hack-bodyguard-missions.md — group skill (hack) + gig (bodyguard) instances (brainstorm).