equipment-progression · diff
git:20260912.620e743 to git:20260912.c1de365
19 added, 19 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: equipment-progression
- description: Pick one equipment economy — horizontal consumable weapons, vertical armor/weapon trees, or affix crafting — and implement slots, tiers, and upgrade costs. Use for loot, Great Fairy stars, Fuse, Diablo affixes.
+ description: Engine-neutral equipment economy. Pick one growth model per slot — replace, upgrade in place, affix-craft, or fuse. Use for loot, crafting, loadout caps, set bonuses.
---
# Equipment Progression
- Ask first. Do not mix economies on the same slot.
+ Ask which column each *slot* uses. Mixing columns on the same instance is the usual failure.
- | Column | What grows | What dies |
+ | Column | What the player keeps | What "upgrade" means |
|---|---|---|
- | A Horizontal (BotW weapons) | Next drop from the world | This instance. No repair |
- | B Vertical tree (MH / Souls weapons) | Same weapon, ores + parts | Nothing; you commit to a branch |
- | C Affix craft (Diablo) | Rerolls on one base | Time and currency |
- | D Fuse (TotK) | Function + a durability bump on a consumable | The fused material |
+ | A Replace | Nothing; next drop is the upgrade | Find a better instance |
+ | B Tree | The same instance | Spend mats, pick a branch |
+ | C Affix | The same base | Reroll / add / masterwork stats |
+ | D Fuse | The same instance + a spent mat | Function changes; may add wear |
+ | E Eternal | A named unique | Cooldown or bond, not a town repair |
- BotW uses **A for weapons** and **B for armor** (Great Fairies, 4 stars). That split is the point.
+ Legal split: weapons A + armor B. Illegal: one sword that both shatters *and* trees to endgame.
- ## Rules
+ ## Rules that do not belong to any franchise
- 1. Do not let a weapon both shatter and upgrade to endgame on the same instance, unless shatter only happens to junk branches.
- 2. Armor upgrades spend *world* materials (dragon parts, star fragments). The recipe is map gravity.
- 3. Set bonuses unlock at +2 or full set, never at +0/+1.
- 4. Slot caps are difficulty. Expanding the weapon page is an exploration reward (Korok-like), not a shop dump.
- 5. Attack lives on the item. Defense lives on the body. Cooking/elixirs are temporary layers.
+ 1. Attack lives on the item. Defense lives on the body. Buff food is a third, timed layer.
+ 2. Set bonuses open at mid-tier or full set, never at +0.
+ 3. Slot caps are difficulty. Expanding a page is a reward, not a vendor dump on minute one.
+ 4. An upgrade recipe must name the missing mat *and* the region class it comes from. That is map gravity.
+ 5. Failed upgrades are readable. Do not swallow materials into a silent RNG without a tell.
## Data
```
- Item { id, slot: weapon|bow|shield|armor, tier, attack, defense,
- set_id, durability_hits?, upgrade[4]{ mats[] } }
+ Item { id, slot, column: A|B|C|D|E, tier,
+ attack?, defense?, set_id?,
+ wear?, upgrade[]{ mats[], unlocks? } }
```
- Failed upgrade must name the missing mats and the region class they come from.
-
## Accept
- Starter weapon cannot carry the finale unless it is a named exception (Master Sword). Player can point at a mountain and know which upgrade mat lives there.
+ The starter item in a Replace slot cannot finish the game unless it is tagged Eternal. The player can look at a mountain and know why they would go there for a mat. Inventory is tight enough that discard is a real choice.