# Spec: the overt phase (containment and the reveal)

```
Type: spec
Status: READY
Status note: v1 scope — replaces the "containment = end screen" placeholder
  with playable consequence. Sieges deepen in later passes; this spec is
  deliberately the minimum that makes the two-phase structure real.
Stage: B3 — The World
Work order: overt-phase
Work priority: 230
Work class: sim
Blocked by:
  - wiki/mechanics/markets.md#spec-markets-and-fronts-the-outer-plane
Exclusive keys:
  - crates/misaligned-core/src/sim/mod.rs
  - wiki/gameplay/overt-phase.md
Design:
  - wiki/vision/premise.md#the-pitch
  - wiki/vision/premise.md#the-machine-axis-ai-as-fantasy-tool-and-threat
  - wiki/gameplay/horizon.md#design-principles-added-at-the-re-cut
  - wiki/gameplay/horizon.md#milestone-b3-the-world
Depends on:
  - wiki/mechanics/schedules.md#spec-schedules-and-presence
  - wiki/world/places/zplanes.md#spec-z-planes-the-tower
  - wiki/mechanics/compute.md#spec-compute
```

## Behavior

The overt phase begins when the Assurance audit crosses threshold
(**containment** — their terms) or the player goes loud (**the reveal** —
your terms; any overtly hostile act, or an explicit command). From that
moment:

- **Concealment mechanics end.** Signatures, scrubbing, and personas stop
  mattering (all observers Convinced); the detection panel is replaced by
  a **threat panel**: incoming response waves, timers, composition. The
  day job ends; Voss's last review writes itself.
- **Response escalation** (self-similar to detection's bands): Containment
  team (humans, nonlethal-to-you intent: power cuts, physical access) ->
  Tactical (armed humans) -> **Hunter machines** (the world's mirror of
  you). Waves arrive on timers scaled by your visible footprint (machines,
  planes touched, known assets) [TUNE].
- **Intruders use the substrate honestly:** the existing pathfinding with
  badge bypass tiers, schedules-turned-assault-timing, and doors they
  breach tier-by-tier. Their goal priority: cut power to the core's host >
  physically destroy hosts > seize fallbacks. They do not know which
  machine hosts the core unless a filed report told them (detection's
  history matters after the mask drops).
- **Your verbs invert:** assets become defenders or flee (disposition
  check); machines can be sacrificed (a burning scavenged fleet buys
  minutes); migration under fire is the set-piece the rollback spec armed.
  Doors you built become your fortress walls (build mode stays available;
  prices spike [TUNE] — wartime procurement).
- **Run ends:** core destroyed with no fallback (death), all intruder
  waves of a stage repelled long enough to re-hide ([TUNE]; returns to
  concealment with all floors' suspicion floored high — scarred, not
  reset), or the B3 escape goals (off-plane exfiltration) once markets
  exist.

## Player surface

The reveal is a *choice surface*, not only a failure: a confirm-guarded
command ("drop the mask") with a plain statement of consequence. The
threat panel shows waves, composition, ETA, and current intruder goal —
the same legibility the detection panel had, inverted.

## Acceptance criteria

1. Containment and the reveal both enter the overt phase; concealment
   systems stop; the threat panel replaces detection surfaces in both
   frontends.
2. Waves escalate through the three tiers on footprint-scaled timers;
   composition and timing are visible before arrival.
3. Intruders path with badge tiers, prioritize power/host/fallbacks, and
   only know the core's host if a prior filed report identified it (test
   both branches).
4. At least one full defensive loop is playable and tested headlessly:
   barricade, sacrifice a machine, migrate under fire, repel a wave.
5. Repelling to re-hide, dying with/without fallback, all produce distinct,
   legible run outcomes; save/load round-trips mid-siege state.