# Core Loop

The engine that drives the game. Everything else hangs off this.

```
Gather (expeditions, AFK, background)
   ↓
Refine + Craft (active sessions, drag-to-station)
   ↓
Equip / Sell / Fulfill Patron Orders
   ↓
Hire & Upgrade Roster, Unlock Stations & Regions
   ↓
Send better-equipped teams to richer zones → better materials
```

Crafting is the engine. The meta-game exists to feed crafting more interesting inputs, and to give crafted output a destination.

## Pacing

Hybrid active + idle:
- **Active** — when you sit down to play, you're *deciding*: picking ingredients, combining at stations, choosing expedition teams and destinations, managing the roster.
- **Background** — slow processes tick while you're away: expeditions are AFK timer-resolved, long crafts (smelting, fermenting, curing) finish in the background, the hire pool refreshes daily.

Mobile cadence: pick up for 5–15 minutes, put down, come back later, find new things waiting. Never required to grind.

## Why this loop

Each step of the loop is a *pull* into the next:
- You crafted a great dagger? Now equip a soldier with it.
- Better-equipped soldier? Now you can escort gatherers into harder zones.
- Harder zones? Better materials drop.
- Better materials? More interesting crafts available.
- More interesting crafts? Patrons pay more for them, fund the next round of hires.

No step is a dead end, no step is filler.