Summary
Universal rule for how every station in the game works. This is the mechanical instantiation of Pillar #5 (Delegation Is Progression) — the model that lets the early game be playable-by-paw and the late game be playable-by-delegation, without a mode switch.
The Rule
1. Baseline of 1
Every station has a baseline of 1 in each stat it cares about, representing the player operating it by paw. A station with nobody assigned still works — you, the boss raccoon, are standing at the station doing the thing yourself at the slowest, dumbest rate.
2. Assigned raccoons add their stats on top
Assigning a raccoon to a station adds their relevant stat to the station’s effective value. A Sorter with Cunning 40 assigned to the Loot Sorting Station brings the station’s Cunning to 41 (1 baseline + 40). The raccoon is not replacing the player — they’re joining the player at the station and bringing their skill with them.
3. Capped, upgradeable storage
Every station that holds stuff has a capped queue. When the cap fills, the station refuses new input until the player (or the assigned raccoon) processes what’s there. Caps scale through the Upgrade Desk. This applies to:
- Loot Sorting Station (raw raid pile)
- Scrapping Station (pre-breakdown queue)
- Online Sales (listings storage)
- Pantry (food stores)
- Breeding Pen (active pairs, post-MVP)
- any future station with stored state
Stat Table (Current Stations)
| Station | Stats That Matter | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Raid Board | Cunning | Targeting + dispatch quality |
| Training Corner | Strength? Cunning? | Per session effectiveness (TBD) |
| Loot Sorting Station | Cunning | Sharpness of appraisal hints on ambiguous valuables |
| Scrapping Station | Strength (yield) + Speed (throughput) | Two-stat role for the Scrapper |
| Online Sales | Cunning + Luck | Listing speed + sale price execution (Cunning); bidding war chance (Luck) |
| Gear Bench | Cunning? Strength? | Craft speed + quality (TBD) |
| Pantry | Speed? | Upkeep tick efficiency (TBD) |
| Upgrade Desk | — | Player-only; consumes currency + scrap |
| Breeding Pen | Luck? | Trait inheritance odds (post-MVP) |
Why This Model
- Pillar #5 made mechanical. Progression is measured in tasks the player no longer does. The early game forces the player to stand at every station at 1/1/1; every raccoon hired is a chore taken off their desk.
- No feature-flag progression. There’s no “you unlock the ability to assign raccoons” moment. The system is always on — you just don’t have raccoons to assign yet.
- The tedium lives at baseline. Automation eats tedium; decisions stay on the player’s desk. A Sorter at Cunning 40 removes the chore of squinting at every watch, but the routing decision on that watch is still the player’s call.
- Upgrades have two orthogonal axes. Raccoon stats (better performance per station) and station caps (more breathing room between player touches). Both feed into “less work per session” as the operation grows.
Links
- Vision — Pillar #5, Delegation Is Progression
- Loot Intake — first system built on top of this model
- Stations MOC
Open Questions
- Stat assignments for the stations marked (TBD) — to be locked as those stations get detailed.
- Does the Upgrade Desk itself get a baseline stat, or is it always pure-player? (Current lean: pure-player.)
- Should multi-slot stations exist (e.g., a 2-raccoon Loot Sorting Station late-game) or is it always 1 raccoon per station?