neon-sprawl/docs/game-design/gigs.md

Gigs (combat roles)

Vision-level design for combat identity: what you bring to a fight, how you progress, and how you swap roles. Vocabulary (gig, sub-gig) and the gigs ↔ skills seams (gear, crafting, consumables, rep) stay in skills.md; this doc is the gig artifact proper.

Implementation anchors: Epic 5 — PvE combat; gig XP/progression will need alignment with Epic 2 — Classless progression when data models split.

What a gig is

A gig is the combat role on an outing: which abilities you run, how the party reads you (tank, support, control, damage, etc.), and tuning expectations. It is not a non-combat profession—skills cover gather/craft (skills.md).

Fiction may say contract, loadout, or job; specs use gig.

Gig roster

Open: final count and names. Start from a small roster with clear party niches so LFG and encounter design stay legible; grow over content seasons.

Starter archetypes to cover (working labels, not final):

Niche	Job in a fight
Mitigation / control	Hold space, reduce harm to the group
Healing / cleansing	Recover HP, strip bad states
Damage (single / cleave)	Primary threat removal
Utility / debuff	Weaken targets, enable others

Cyberpunk paint (netrunner overlay, street sam, corp tech, etc.) layers on these mechanical niches—open which niches map to launch gigs.

Main gig + sub-gig

Agreed: every loadout has a main gig and a sub-gig (FFXI-style). The sub adds limited cross-gig abilities without second-main power—a large creative space as the roster grows (skills.md hybrid rationale).

• Effective sub level: at main per-gig level X, sub contributes abilities up to ⌊X / 2⌋, capped by the sub-gig’s own stored level (see XP below)—exact min / rounding TBD.
• Hub-only changes to main or sub (Hub swap).

Still open:

• Combat gear: almost certainly main-gig–restricted for equip; sub feeds abilities only—confirm in content pass.
• Consumables: baseline for all; some items amplify on matching gig (e.g. medic)—does sub-gig count for amp? Open.
• PvP: gig + sub balance, brackets, templates—open.
• UI: two gig strips, sub ability styling, loadout summary for party—open.

Progression

Agreed: per-gig level/XP (and later mastery/perks on that gig). No shared combat rank that levels every gig at once. Maining every gig on one character is allowed; slow leveling makes that a long-term goal (skills.md seams).

Agreed — gig XP award timing: only the main gig earns gig XP from combat (and any other gig-level awards). The sub-gig earns no XP toward its own progression while equipped as sub—it only reads its stored level for ability unlocks. To level a gig you ran as sub, swap it to main at a hub and play with it primary. UI should make clear that gig XP (bars, flytext) applies to main only.

Open:

• Curves: same philosophy as skills (soft feel, more XP per level)—per-gig tables vs global template TBD.
• Mastery/perks on gigs vs flat level gates—open (E2.M3-style expression).

Hub swap

Agreed: no on-the-fly swap. Changing main gig, sub-gig, or both only at a safe hub—city, home base, or other data-tagged swap site. Not in the field, not mid-combat.

Open:

• Which locations qualify (faction terminals, apartments, guild halls, etc.).
• Fees, rep gates, cooldowns, tutorial exceptions.
• Loadout UX after swap: auto-unequip invalid combat gear vs player-managed presets per gig pair.
• Party: what happens if someone swaps while grouped—open (session lock vs free swap at hub).

Party, LFG, encounters

Intent: gigs give a plain language for recruitment (“need mitigation,” “need cleanse”) and for encounter assumptions (required niches vs flexible).

Open:

• LFG tags and filters (map 1:1 to gigs vs to niches).
• Mandatory roles in instanced content vs open-world flex.
• Group scaling (E5.M4) vs gig composition—design pass with encounters.

PvE vs PvP

Open: whether all gigs are PvP-viable on launch, templates (PvP loadout subset), or security-band restrictions (overview risk stubs). Sub-gig rules may differ by mode.

Story

Gig-scoped storylines and main-quest-style arcs live per gig on one character; faction rep stays character-wide (skills.md seams). Open: how much mandatory gig story vs optional.

Gear & consumables (summary)

• Combat gear: gig-restricted equip; after hub swap, player fixes loadout for new main gig.
• Crafting combat gear: no gig requirement—skills only; can craft for trade.
• Consumables: anyone can use; some scale with gig match.

Detail: seams table in skills.md.

Decisions log (gig-focused)

Topic	Direction	Status
Sub-gig slot	FFXI-style; ~½ main effective cap; hub change	Agreed (skills.md)
Hub swap	Safe hubs only; not in field / combat	Agreed
Combat progression	Per-gig tracks	Agreed
Gig roster size & names	Small launch set; clear niches	Open
Gig XP award timing	Main gig only; sub-gig earns no XP (level that gig as main to progress it)	Agreed
Sub-gig + consumable amp	—	Open
LFG / party tags	—	Open
PvP gig rules	—	Open

Next artifacts

• Abilities — gig-locked kits, sub-gig ability rules, telegraphs (Epic 5).
• Combat pillars — PvE readability, TTK, risk (overview).
• Items — equip tags per gig; crafted vs dropped.