Core Ladders

Status: Active

This page compresses the cross-cutting ladders that need to stay consistent across phases.

Station Ladder

Milestone	Phase Anchor	Station Change	Unlock Focus
Frontier Start	Phase 01	Establish Workbench and Forge	Early gear, tools, utility, and readable recipe browsing
Cold and Brood Expansion	Phase 02	Expand starter station recipe families	Snow, silk, and summon-support gear lines
Archive Breakthrough	Phase 03	Unlock Field Anvil	Upgrades, Etch Scrolls, grapnel hardware, and boss-material conversion
Mid-Frontier Expansion	Phase 04 to Phase 06	Expand Forge and Field Anvil branches	Martial lines, resilience lines, skimmer gear, and desert utility
Worldshift Breakthrough	Phase 07	Unlock Relic Table	Relic fusion, summon components, essence utility, and Worldshift conversions
Deep Frontier Expansion	Phase 08 to Phase 12	Expand all active stations	Deep alloys, essence branches, advanced tack, and stronger mobility lines
Temple Attunement	Phase 13	Expand Relic Table into breach attunement	Wayshrine support, relic-slot growth, breach preparation
Breach Synthesis	Phase 14 to Phase 15	Expand high-tier conversion lines	Endgame crafting, prestige gear, and repeated-cluster value
Horizon Capstone	Phase 16	Final synthesis branch	Capstone gear and final conversion paths

Gear Capability Ladder

Band	Capabilities Allowed	Capabilities Held Back	Notes
Frontier	Speed, step-height comfort, short jump upgrades, terrain comfort, early grapnel utility, short glide hints	Sustained hover, true flight, unrestricted air dominance	Travel should already feel better than vanilla early on
Deep Frontier	Long jumps, climb support, reliable gliding, hover bursts, strong fall forgiveness, mount and grapnel synergy	Permanent unrestricted flight	Vertical route mastery becomes a real part of combat and exploration
Breach	Sustained glide, stable hover control, controlled flight, storm and breach traversal support	Full final capstone movement	Air play becomes legitimate without deleting all route design
Finale	Capstone air or void traversal	Nothing except post-credits excess	Final mobility should feel earned, not casual

World-Layer Ladder

Milestone	Phase Anchor	Layer Change
Living Caves Online	Phase 01	Surface and living caves become the main opening loop
Low-Sky Access	Phase 03	Watchspires, rooflines, and grapnel-friendly sky routes matter
Nether Frontier and Worldshift	Phase 07	Nether routes enter the ladder and old biomes reactivate
High-Sky Hunt Layer	Phase 09	Frost roosts and stronger sky hunts begin
Temple to Breach Layer	Phase 13	Wayshrines and breach routes connect the late game
Horizon Capstone	Phase 16	Final world layer resolves the full ladder

Fortification Ladder

Tier	Typical Examples	Expected Pressure
Soft	Wood doors, fence gates, basic fences, weak barricades	Normal hostile mobs can pressure these over readable time windows
Medium	Reinforced wood, stone-backed entries, stronger gates	Normal pressure slows down sharply; raids, elites, and long nights matter more
Hard	Iron-grade entries, fortified gates, heavy barrier segments	Ordinary hostiles should rarely matter; serious breach pressure comes from events, elites, bosses, or very long windows

Review Rule

If a phase page, system page, or pack page contradicts one of these ladders, treat it as a real inconsistency and resolve it before implementation starts.