Movement and Stealth Guide

Movement

Movement & Travel Mechanics

Overview

Movement is your main survival engine: every step can reveal sites, trigger encounters, and reshape your run's risk profile.

Each move does all of this at once:

• spends fatigue (modified by running, stealth state, and Agility)
• spends time (running is faster, stealth is slower)
• can trigger microsleep risk and movement mistakes when exhausted
• can cause disorientation drift when morale is low or fatigue is very low
• rolls biome hazards (damage, injury, hygiene/warmth/fatigue penalties)
• advances world systems like discovery, encounters, and camp/contact pressure

Traversal is therefore not just map travel. It is a high-frequency survival decision loop where pacing, stealth discipline, and recovery timing matter as much as direction.

Basic Movement

Movement Cost

Runtime movement cost:

• Running and stealth are mutually exclusive
• Agility reduces movement fatigue: moveFatigue = (1 - max(0, (AGI - 3) 0.05))
• If leg fractures are active, extra fatigue and injury risk are applied on top

Movement Modifiers

• Movement fatigue is reduced directly by Agility:

• This applies to walking, running, and stealth movement costs

• Load pressure is processed as an ongoing survival drain once carry load exceeds 60% of capacity
• Runtime formula (hourly update): overEffort = max(0, load - cap 0.60), then fatigue drain adds overEffort 0.08 per hour
• If overEffort > 20, there is a 10% hourly chance to gain +1 injury

• Leg fractures add +1.5 extra fatigue per move by default
• Base painful-step injury chance while moving with leg fracture: 12%
• If all fractured legs are splinted: fatigue penalty x0.6, injury chance x0.5
• If carrying a Crutch: fatigue penalty x0.5 and injury chance x0.25 (applies on top of splint modifiers)

• Can trigger when morale < 30 or fatigue < 20
• On trigger, movement direction is replaced by a random cardinal step (you veer off intended route)

Movement Modes

Walking (Default)

• Duration: 1 hour per tile
• Fatigue: 0.25 base
• Safe: Lower risk of accidents
• Efficient: Better for long-distance travel

Running

• Duration: 0.5 hour per tile (2x faster)
• Fatigue: 0.50 (2x fatigue cost)
• Risk: Higher encounter pressure and lower control
• Emergency: Use when speed is critical

Stealth Movement

• Duration: 2 hours per tile (slow, controlled)
• Fatigue: 0.25 base (reduced at Stealth 20+)
• Benefit: Lower visibility, lower detection/noise profile
• Usage: Approaching hostile areas or crossing risky lanes with control

Terrain & Biome Effects

Biome Movement Characteristics

Each biome has unique movement considerations based on BIOME weather/hazard behavior:

Forest

• Shelter: good natural cover
• Stealth: high concealment value
• Notes: safer pacing for long loops

Plain

• Shelter: exposed
• Wind/Heat pressure: can spike attrition
• Notes: efficient transit, but vulnerable to weather fronts

Mountain

• Hazard profile: high injury and fatigue pressure
• Notes: route only with strong reserves

Swamp

• Hazard profile: hygiene/fatigue heavy, infection pressure risk
• Notes: avoid long chains while low on condition

Shore/Lake/River

• Hazard profile: slip/current/wet exposure events
• Notes: route timing matters more than distance

Ruins

• Shelter: partial structure cover
• Risk: high injury/event volatility
• Notes: strong reward, punishing attrition

Road/Railroads

• Transit value: strong route control and orientation
• Risk: encounter pressure and exposed movement
• Notes: use for objective linking, not careless farming

Environmental Hazards During Travel

Weather Impact

• Rain/Precipitation: can increase attrition but also help stealth concealment
• Wind: increases exposure pressure in open biomes
• Cold/Heat extremes: amplify movement mistakes and recovery demands

Microsleep Events

• Severe fatigue can trigger microsleep checks that add time loss and possible injury
• Recovery timing is part of movement mastery, not just health management

Special Movement Actions

Survey

• Duration: 1 hour
• Fatigue: 0.25
• Cooldown: 240 hours (10 days) per tile
• Effect: updates local/world awareness by attempting site/clue/rare-encounter discovery, can reveal tracks/resources/weather hints, and can pin potential local POIs

Explore

• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Fatigue: 0.375
• Mode requirement: world map mode only
• Cooldown: 240 hours (10 days) per tile
• Effect: scouts distant regional activity, primarily undiscovered settlements and nearby bandit camp signs

Explore Site

• Duration: 4 hours
• Fatigue: 2.0
• Cooldown: 240 hours (10 days) per tile
• Effect: explores a discovered site at your location for deeper loot/event rolls, including district-specific outcomes and higher risk/time commitment

Stealth & Concealment

Stealth is not just "move slowly." It is a detection-management system that lets you choose when fights happen.

Core Rules You Must Know

• Stealth and running are mutually exclusive
• Entering stealth lowers movement speed and changes visibility/noise behavior
• Detection checks use multiple factors, not a single stat

How Detection Is Calculated (Player View)

Detection pressure shifts by:

• stealth skill and specialization
• fatigue/noise profile
• weather visibility
• agility contributions
• movement mode (stealth vs normal/run)

In rough weather, stealth gets stronger. In clear, dry, noisy movement, it gets weaker.

Best Times to Toggle Stealth

Use stealth for:

• entering unknown hostile tiles
• bypassing optional fights while overloaded
• scouting points of interest before committing
• retreating after high-noise actions

Drop stealth for:

• secured lanes
• low-threat corridors
• urgent extraction where speed matters more than concealment

Common Mistakes

• staying stealthed on safe roads (time loss)
• sprinting into hostile fog-of-war then reacting too late
• treating stealth as raw combat power instead of encounter control