SwarmBound / Frostline expedition / 04 October 2026
A person, a rifle, and a damaged ship on a frozen mountaintop. Clear the perimeter, bring the outpost back to life, and train your way into a dangerous living world.
An MMO-style progression plan for an original science-fiction universe. The current slice supports Circles 1–3. Three two-node talent paths and bounded creature rolls are playable. Later circles and active secondary abilities remain proposed.
01 / The experience
Two intruders are inside the border. Read their windups, dodge committed lunges, and recover salvage from the partly failed ship.
The mountaintop is your first territory: two buildings, a power station, a cargo breach, and a gated exit.
Restore power, recover health, and install rifle or armor upgrades. Choose attributes and talents when Command approves a new circle. The energy barrier starts offline and open; repairing power activates protection while letting personnel cross.
Recovery matters. Active threats and a six-second grace period block free healing at the boundary.
Scout a creature, commit to a fight, then decide whether you can afford another. Return with salvage, field XP, and practiced skills.
Target a 28–45 second opening encounter, with stronger fights demanding more decisions. This is a playtest target, not a measured live-fight guarantee.
Ranger / Heavy human movement pass
The movement pass adds knee compression, planted stance phases, hip and chest counter-motion, supported rifle grips, and smoother acceleration and turns. While targeting, the ranger sidesteps or backpedals while facing the contact; sprint turns into the direction of travel.
02 / Advancement
Field XP is cumulative and never spent on promotion. You also need the required skill ranks and mission milestones, then report to Command.
| Circle | Field XP total | Skill ranks | World requirement | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Stranded ranger | 0 | Begin at rank 0 | Reach the crash site | Rifle, melee, field patch |
| 2 · Perimeter scout | 80 | Rifles 2 · Defense 1 · Survival 1 · Engineering 1 | Clear both intruders and restore power | 3 attribute + 2 talent points |
| 3 · Frontier operative | 240 | Rifles 4 · Defense 3 · Survival 3 · Engineering 2 | Retain the secured outpost | 3 more attribute + 2 more talent points |
A concrete first promotion
24 + 24 + 29–37 = 77–85 field XP. A low roll needs a fourth encounter before promotion. Three all-rifle kills supply 54 weapon training XP, enough for Rifles 3; Circle 2 needs rank 2. Four resolved strikes can supply the 12 XP for Defense 1.
Three kills grant 24 Survival XP, enough for Survival 1. The first power repair grants 12 Engineering XP, exactly rank 1.
Weapon credit is shared with melee. Using both weapons splits the 18-XP budget. Evasions count toward Defense; taking damage is optional.
A concrete Circle 3 route
After reaching 80 XP, two Voltskitters, one Murkstrain, and one Frostling add 40 + 40 + 48 + 32 = 160, reaching 240 at baseline. Rolled totals can require another encounter.
Seven total all-rifle kills supply 126 training XP (Rifles 5). Seven kills supply 56 Survival XP (rank 3). Eighteen resolved strikes across those lives can supply 54 Defense XP (rank 3).
Engineering 2 requires 30 total XP: the repair (12), two wreck recoveries (10), and one upgrade (8) meet it exactly. These are possible routes, not kill-count-only promotion guarantees.
Enter a hypothetical profile. This planner does not read or modify your game save.
| Circle | XP | Ranks: weapon / defense / survival / eng. |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 550 | 6 / 4 / 4 / 3 |
| 5 | 1,000 | 8 / 6 / 6 / 4 |
| 6 | 1,800 | 10 / 8 / 8 / 5 |
Tentative gates: repair the ridge relay at C4, stabilize a second camp at C5, and clear the brood gate at C6. Allow Rifles or Melee as the primary weapon requirement in this expansion; the current code requires Rifles.
Keep three attribute points and two separate talent points per promotion, following the current C2/C3 budget. Tune these thresholds after observing completed expeditions.
03 / Learn by doing
| Skill | Training source | Effect now | Guardrail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rifles | Effective damage / creature max HP × 18 | +0.4 rifle damage per rank | 18 XP shared with Melee per creature life |
| Melee | Same effective-damage formula | +0.4 melee damage per rank | Overkill, dry fire, dead targets award nothing |
| Defense | Up to 3 XP per resolved lunge, hit or evaded | +2.5 percentage points mitigation per rank | 18 XP per creature life; total mitigation capped at 40% |
| Survival | 8 XP per victory; 1 XP per 3 seconds moving in the frontier | Promotion requirements | Movement training remains available in the current slice |
| Engineering | First repair 12; wreck recovery 5; installed upgrade 8 | Promotion requirements | Repeat station service gives no XP; wreck has 3 recoveries |
Next rank costs 12 + 6 × current rank. Total training XP to reach rank n from zero is 3n² + 9n.
Spend the three points from a promotion on persistent character stats. Talent points in the playable tree below are a separate currency.
Proposal: replace unrestricted movement training with capped scouting objectives once exploration content exists, so running in circles is not the best advancement strategy.
04 / Build identity
Ranks come from practice. Talents add new decisions. Each node costs one talent point and needs its circle and the preceding node in that branch. Two points arrive at each promotion; practice ranks remain promotion requirements.
0 / 4 spent
Click a node to inspect and select it. This planner mirrors the playable node costs and prerequisites. Use C / Options in the game to allocate your actual points.
Its ability, cost, cooldown, unlock requirements, and implemented game function appear here.
WoW reference: Blizzard’s talent design preview informs meaningful choices and paths. This game retains its own skill ranks, circle requirements and encounter formulas.
The ship has just crashed. The settlement was already abandoned. Its energy barrier starts offline and open. Servicing auxiliary power activates protection: Strains and attacks are blocked, while your character can cross.
05 / Moment-to-moment actions
| Action | Keyboard / PlayStation | Cost & timing | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle | Left mouse or 1 / R2 | 1 round, 4 stamina · 0.9 s cadence | 32 m effective range; 8-round magazine; line of sight required |
| Melee | Q or 2 / R1 | 10 stamina · 1.5 s cooldown | 2.8 m range; shared creature weapon-training budget |
| Reload | R / Square away from interactables | 2.2 s | Holding fire starts reload when empty; reserve ammunition is unlimited in this slice |
| Field patch | F or 3 / Triangle | 20 stamina · 18 s cooldown | Restore 35 health |
| Sprint | Shift / L3 | 16 stamina per second | 6.4 m/s sprint vs 4 m/s jog; blocks firing. Aimed sidestep 2.4 m/s; backpedal 1.8 m/s. |
| Target / inspect ranks | Tab / L1 · C / touchpad | No resource cost | Cycle target / open progression. Backspace or Circle clears target. |
| Interact | E / Square | Context dependent | Power, wreck recovery, armory, Command |
Rifle damage = 8 + Rifles rank × 0.4 + Power + rifle tier × 2. Melee damage = 13 + Melee rank × 0.4 + Power. Combat stamina recovers at 3/s; outside combat it recovers at 10/s.
Equip one weapon secondary, one defense action, and one utility action. Keep rifle fire, melee, reload, and field patch as dedicated base controls.
Proposed controller layer: D-pad Left / Right cycles the three equipped secondary slots; L2 activates the selected slot. L1 keeps cycling targets. Keyboard: 7 / 8 / 9. D-pad navigation remains available while menus are open. Display ammo, stamina cost, cooldown, and unavailable reason in the hotbar.
L2 is reserved for this proposal; controller mapping requires an in-game conflict and accessibility pass. Use target lock or an explicit aiming state, never a hidden target-selection rule.
Today rifle/melee hits are immediate; enemy hits land after their windup. Planned animation-driven player hit events must preserve responsive input and measured fight pacing.
06 / Contact dossier
Keep the four recognizable creature silhouettes. Roll bounded stats and occasional readable traits within each strain, rather than turning every spawn into a different species.
| Contact | Threat | HP | Strike | Speed m/s | Base XP | Live rolled XP* | Salvage |
|---|
*Live rolls: health 90–115%, strike multiplied by sqrt(health roll), speed unchanged. XP = round(base XP × health roll); lighter creatures award less. The two tutorial intruders stay fixed at 24 XP each. Recommended threat circle is guidance, not an entry lock.
Baseline manual scenario: fixed stats and no affix. Apply seed or New random spawn creates a reproducible rolled creature. The vigor slider creates a manual scenario.
HP = round(base HP × roll)Strike = base strike × sqrt(roll)XP = round(base XP × roll)
Roll ranges from 0.90 to 1.15. Speed stays fixed by strain. Frostling awards 29–37 XP, Voltskitter 36–46, Emberclaw 47–60, Murkstrain 43–55.
The HUD labels low rolls Lean, high rolls Hardened, and the middle Standard. These describe the stat roll, rather than a new affix attack.
Practice remains capped at 18 shared weapon XP and 18 Defense XP per life. Visible plated guards, volatile follow-up attacks and persistent spawn seeds are future content.
Stationary, no incoming attacks, misses, or movement. Uses the rolled HP above, constant selected rank, immediate hits, and full magazine. Rolled stats follow the current game formula.
Measured current-game baseline
28.25 seconds
Measured in Godot against a stationary 200-HP Frostling with incoming attacks and movement disabled. Rank training remained active; this is a firing/reload benchmark.
The planner freezes rank for a transparent estimate. Formula: (shots − 1) × 0.9 + reloads × 2.2. Rank-ups during combat, movement, dodges, target access, and frame timing can change the live result.
Field contacts respawn after 45 seconds; cleared perimeter intruders do not. Leashed creatures recover full health, so repeated partial pulls cannot chip them down or refill their training budgets.
07 / Equipment & enhancements
min(40%, Defense rank × 2.5% + armor tier × 8%).Today gear tiers change stats; new pieces do not yet visibly replace the player’s equipment. There is no full inventory or finite ammo reserve.
Primary rifle, sidearm, torso armor, helmet, backpack, and utility module. Modules appear on the model, with clear Mk I / II / III silhouettes.
Start with rifle + torso + utility. Each item has one main stat and at most one perk; avoid unreadable random stat piles.
A magwell enables Fast magazine. A stabilizer helps aimed fire but adds weight. A shield module enables Field shield at its talent gate.
Talents authorize abilities; installed modules supply hardware. Show missing hardware separately from missing skill or circle requirements.
Keep base salvage guaranteed. Plated or Volatile contacts roll a 25% chance for +1 salvage and a future trait-specific crafting component.
Persist the loot roll with the creature seed and consume it once on defeat. No equipment drop rates until the item catalogue and upgrade costs are tested.
08 / Implementation order
Bounded stats and proportional XP are playable. Next add persistent spawn state, trait visuals and once-per-life receipts across sessions. Keep the two intruders deterministic.
Acceptance: save/load recreates the same creature; leash cannot reroll; kill credit cannot duplicate; normal XP and tutorial totals match this guide.
Add target information, secondary slots, controller slot selection, cooldowns, costs, and failure reasons. Start with Disruptor shot and Quickstep.
Acceptance: keyboard and PlayStation can equip, activate, cancel, and inspect abilities without conflicting with base actions.
Six talent nodes now persist separately from attributes. Next install physical modules and gear variants. Animate a detached magazine swap and terrain-aware foot placement.
Acceptance: no invalid prerequisites or negative point budgets; old saves receive the correct points; every gear change has a visible model result.
Track actual encounter time, incoming hits, evasions, resources spent, promotion bottlenecks, and controller errors. Then add the ridge relay and C4–6 missions.
Acceptance: new players can explain why promotion is blocked; pulls feel deliberate; retreat remains useful; each future circle introduces a new encounter or world function.
Rules snapshot: 04 October 2026 · Current implementation notes · Asset credits & licenses · Download the HTML guide
Design numbers labeled “proposed” are planning values. No StarCraft game assets are used. The adapted human mesh derives from John Maksym / Moviemake’s sci-fi soldier, CC BY 3.0; modified mesh, rig, armor, equipment, animations, materials, and glTF export. Textures: Poly Haven CC0. Ship base: Quaternius CC0.