Dispatch from Command. Idle hull decay was always meant to punish parking without coverage - but I did not want every forgotten scout to be a silent zero. When a ship fully decays on the map now, up to 10% of its fitted build costs and cargo can spawn as a salvage pile on the fleet's orbit tile.
What shipped
- Shared stacks, private intel. Everyone fights over the same physical pile, but you only see coordinates after your fleet runs a residue scan nearby.
- Residue scanner Mk1, Mk2, and Mk3 cover 9×9, 17×17, and 25×25 Chebyshev tiles. Salvage siphon unlocks at decay-residue-scanning level 2.
- Collection needs an adjacent orbit, a siphon, and free storage bays per matter class. Recovery per trip is 5% at scanner module level 1, scaling toward 10% at max - baked in when you craft the module, not live lab level.
- The residue overlay lists every stack you discovered, with row previews and remaining totals. Fleet HUD gets a Residue scan action while orbiting.
- Repeat decays on the same tile merge into one stack until depleted.
Why I built it this way
Explorers get a reason to patrol decay lanes. Achievers get a second chance to recover refined material from a mistake. Killers get contested map drama without fake combat capture. I kept spawn capped at 10% so salvage rewards rotation and attention, not infinite duplication of a wreck.
How to try it
- Research decay-residue-scanning, craft a Mk1 scanner and salvage siphon, fit both on a patrol fleet.
- Park near fleets you expect to rot - or your own maintenance gaps - and run Residue scan from the fleet HUD.
- Open the residue overlay from the map header when intel lands. Move adjacent to claim.
- Full numbers and module gates: /docs/decay-residue. Hull decay timers: /docs/fleet-decay.
Alpha honesty: stack TTL cleanup and dedicated map pin styling are still tightening. The 90-day lifetime is configured; the sweeper worker may lag until the next pass. If you find an orphaned pile or a claim that feels unfair, ping me through Command Relay.
Sebastian "Degola" Lagemann