Underground Hatches
When floods come, Moonstalkers shelter in underground hatches — scattered bunkers, abandoned infrastructure, and survival shelters that provide temporary refuge from the rising waters.
What Hatches Are
Origins
Hatches come from various sources:
- Abandoned Selenite infrastructure — Pre-collapse corporate bunkers, maintenance tunnels, emergency shelters
- Pre-collapse bunkers — Military installations, government shelters, private survival bunkers
- Hastily dug survival shelters — Improvised refuges created by early survivors
- Repurposed structures — Basements, subway stations, underground parking converted to shelters
Common Features
All hatches share certain characteristics:
- Flood-sealed entrance — Can be closed against rising water
- Basic life support — Air filtration, enough for flood duration
- Emergency lighting — Usually amber or red emergency systems
- Shared space — Other Moonstalkers can use the same hatch
- No extraction capability — You can shelter, but not teleport out
What Sheltering Provides
Benefits
- Flood survival — You don't die when the water comes
- Inventory retention — You keep everything on your person
- Surface persistence — You stay on the surface for the next low-tide window
- Continued progress — Can accumulate more before extracting
Limitations
- Nothing is banked — If you die after leaving, you lose everything since last extraction
- Shared space risk — Other Moonstalkers may be present
- Potential failure — Hatches can fail (structural damage, flooding, equipment malfunction)
- No safe logout — You can't safely end your session while sheltering
Hatch Conditions
Condition Levels
| Condition | Reliability | Capacity | Comfort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pristine | Very High | Full | Good lighting, working systems |
| Functional | High | Full | Some wear, all systems working |
| Degraded | Moderate | Reduced | Failing systems, water seepage |
| Compromised | Low | Minimal | Emergency use only, may flood |
Failure Scenarios
Hatches can fail in several ways:
- Structural Breach
- Seal fails, water enters. Moonstalkers must evacuate to a higher section or find another hatch mid-flood.
- Life Support Failure
- Air filtration stops. Survivable for short floods, dangerous for extended ones.
- Overcrowding
- Too many Moonstalkers for the available air. Social tension, possible forced departure.
- Complete Collapse
- Rare but fatal. Hatch is destroyed, all occupants die.
Social Dynamics
Shared Shelter
Hatches are natural social spaces where Moonstalkers encounter each other during floods:
- No violence possible inside — Automated defense systems suppress aggression
- Trade opportunities — Exchange resources, information
- Temporary alliances — Form partnerships for the next cycle
- Information sharing — Learn about surface conditions, hazards, opportunities
- Trust building — Repeated encounters create familiarity
The Risk of Trust
While violence is suppressed inside hatches, trust remains earned:
- Someone could follow you out and lead dangers your way
- Information shared could be false or manipulative
- Alliances formed in desperation may not survive daylight
- Your presence tells others you have resources worth protecting
Why Shelter Instead of Extract?
Strategic Reasons
- Insufficient resources — Can't afford the teleportation fee yet
- Mid-contract — Need to complete objective before extraction
- Lucrative area — Want to keep working a valuable zone
- Distance to telepad — Nearest extraction point too far or too dangerous
- Telepad offline — Tidal interference, technical failure, or congestion
- Accumulated knowledge — You know this area now, don't want to lose that context
Open Design Questions
Several hatch-related design decisions remain unresolved:
- Should some hatches be claimable/upgradeable by individual Moonstalkers?
- How are capacity limits enforced when hatches fill up?
- What happens if you're caught outside when floods hit?
- Can hatches be improved through collective Moonstalker effort?
See Open Design Questions for full discussion.