7.9 KiB
Items (loot, craft, equip)
Vision for what exists in the world as tangible “things”: how items are categorized, acquired, gated by gigs vs skills, and how they connect to combat, economy, and quests.
Schema ownership: E3.M3 — ItemizationAndInventorySchema versions ItemDef (template), ItemInstance (per-item state: stack, durability hook, binds), and InventorySlot (containers)—that is where rarity, quality, stack rules, and equipment metadata land. Broader loop and slices: Epic 3; authored data under content/ when wired.
Seams (authoritative detail): skills.md — Seams (gigs ↔ skills). Actions from items: abilities.md Item-linked actions. Hybrid vocabulary: progression.md.
Buckets (design-facing)
These overlap in data; they are lenses for writers and systems.
| Bucket | Role | Gig vs skill (summary) |
|---|---|---|
| Combat gear | Weapons, Hardshell / Softshell / Rigging-built powered shells worn as loadout, combat deployables (e.g. fight drones)—swap-friendly | Craft: skills only. Equip / wear / combat-deploy / activation in combat: gig-tagged (Seams). |
| Cybernetics | Body-integrated augments—semi-permanent | Craft / install: skills + world gates. Not removed by gig swap; not the same bucket as external armor (Seams). |
| Consumables | Stims, patches, ammo-adjacent one-shots, etc. | Carry / use baseline not gig-gated; passive amps may scale with main or sub gig match (open actives per item). |
| Non-combat Make | Tools, Food synth outputs, civ gear, utility Rigging (harnesses, survey drones, backpacks) | Craft: recipe skills. Use: skill-gated when the item defines a specialty; some utilities have no use gate (Seams). |
| Materials & intermediates | Ores, refinery grades, components, data objects, organics | Feed recipes and economy depth; usually no gig hook unless a piece is explicitly hybrid (open). |
Acquisition
- Crafted: Primary fantasy for durables that matter in combat and economy—player-made goods stay relevant across stages (Epic 3 success criteria). Recipe pipeline & benches: crafting.md.
- Dropped / looted / salvaged: Feed gather–refine–craft loops and world fiction; tuning is content + economy policy (open drop tables). World-sourced raw (nodes, yields): gathering.md.
- Mission & vendor rewards: Can grant items or skill XP separately from combat XP pipes (progression.md); avoid double-dipping the same milestone without intent (open reward UX).
- Trade: Craft-for-others is valid even when the buyer cannot equip or combat-deploy the product (Seams Crafting combat gear). Faucets, sinks, listings: economy.md.
Rarity, quality, and readability
- Rarity (or tier) signals expectations: availability, mod slots, repair cost, faction hooks—exact bands data-driven later.
- Quality within a tier may reflect craft skill, recipe mastery, or material grade—open math; directionally crafting should compete with drops where the economy needs it.
- Tooltips should expose gig match for combat gear and consumable amps, intended skill for specialty non-combat tools, and a clear lane for cybernetics vs external armor (skills.md Player-facing readability).
Gig swap and loadouts
- Hub-only gig swap: combat gear may invalidate until the player re-banks or re-equips; cybernetics stay.
- Presets (per gig pair, per role) vs manual fix-up—open UX (gigs.md, abilities.md).
Epic 3 module map
Design buckets above are not 1:1 types in data—they inform tags and metadata on ItemDef / ItemInstance. Module responsibilities from Epic 3:
| Module | Role | Ties to this doc |
|---|---|---|
| E3.M1 | Nodes, gather, yields | Materials; feeds refine/craft |
| E3.M2 | Recipes, craft execution | Crafted acquisition; skills-only bench |
| E3.M3 | ItemDef / ItemInstance / slots |
All buckets; rarity/quality/stack/equip |
| E3.M4 | Durability, repair, sinks | Open questions; death-loss-recovery.md |
| E3.M5 | Faucets/sinks policy | Drops vs craft balance; trade velocity |
Decisions log
| Topic | Direction | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Craft vs equip split | Bench = skill/recipe; combat field use of most non-consumable Make = gig-gated | Agreed (Seams) |
| Cybernetics vs armor | No bucket overlap; chrome is character-scoped; plates are loadout | Agreed |
| Consumable baseline | Anyone can use; optional gig-tuned passive potency | Agreed direction |
| Craft without gig | Allowed; trade and group play supported | Agreed |
| Player crafting relevance | Crafting is a primary progression lane—not only consumables | Agreed (Epic 3) |
Open questions
- Durability, repair, sinks—when items leave the economy (E3.M4); how hard death hits gear (open—death-loss-recovery.md).
- Binding, insurance, theft in which security tiers (overview.md risk stubs; death-loss-recovery.md Open questions).
- Named crafter, provenance, counterfeits—social/economy flavor vs implementation cost.
- Stacking, charges, mod slots—per category defaults.
Where to read next
| Topic | Document / module |
|---|---|
| Gig ↔ item rules (detail) | skills.md Seams |
| Abilities from items | abilities.md |
| Combat pillars (vision stub) | overview.md — Combat pillars |
| Epic 3 loop & slices | Epic 3 |
| Gathering vision (nodes, contesting) | gathering.md |
| Gather module | E3.M1 |
| Crafting vision (recipes, pipeline, quality) | crafting.md |
| Recipes & craft pipeline (runtime) | E3.M2 |
| Item schema & inventory | E3.M3 |
| Sinks & durability | E3.M4 |
| Death, loss & recovery | death-loss-recovery.md |
| Economy vision (faucets, trade, policy) | economy.md |
| Economy policy (runtime) | E3.M5 |
| Encounter loot routing | E5.M3, E7.M2 |