Blood Lineage — Player Request Backlog (disposition)

Status: IN PROGRESS — owner disposition 2026-08-01 (standing idea 25326)
Parents: index.md, kingdom.md, progression.md, vision.md
Related: prior heir work task 25283 (HEIR_ROSTER_SOFT_CAP 6→12)

Design Fit Gate (MANDATORY — all games)

Player feedback is input, not a mandate. Classify every ask:

Fit class	Action
HAVE	Verify / discoverability only
INTENTIONAL	Do not clobber (caps, one-type-per-territory, army-first recruit)
GAP	Build toward design
TUNE	Numbers/copy inside existing systems
BUG	Code → design + scenario_test
DESIGN_PASS	Needs explicit design decision before code (see L2)

Same gate as DF/DT/Zoo: darkness-falls/player-request-backlog.md, dark-tower/player-request-backlog.md, zoo-simulator/player-request-backlog.md.

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How to use

SELECT id, character_level, status, created_at, feedback_text
FROM claude.player_feedback
WHERE game_type = 'BLOOD_LINEAGE' AND feedback_type = 'FEEDBACK'
  AND status IN ('NEW','VIEWED','ACTIONABLE','QUEUED')
ORDER BY created_at DESC;

As of 2026-08-01: ~634 open (390 VIEWED / 212 QUEUED / 24 NEW / 8 ACTIONABLE). Volume is concentrated on dynasty fertility / heir caps from highly engaged players.

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KEEP — with design fit (owner 2026-08-01)

ID	Theme	Fit	Design truth	Allowed build
L1	Select heir apparent (listed options)	GAP	Dynasty needs player-directed succession	Voice menu of eligible living heirs; do not invent free “any random cousin” without rules
L2	Raise heir roster beyond current soft cap / “unlimited”	DESIGN_PASS (not blind uncap)	DIRECT_HEIR_CAP=5 (ruler’s own living children); HEIR_ROSTER_SOFT_CAP=12 (was 6). Target paced family ~3 (2–4). Unlimited rejected so view heirs stays speakable (progression.md). “63” is speech/typo of 6+3, not a third cap.	Design pass required before further code: evaluate soft-cap raise and/or ISP upsell (e.g. Dynasty Scroll / Heir Codex) that raises soft cap with free path remaining meaningful. Cadet fertility bugs fixed first so the existing 12-cap is honest
L3	Cadet / non-throne branches need children	GAP/BUG	Cadet branches are designed to grow; births pause at soft cap	Fix fertility/cadet birth paths; announce who had the child (fb 10621)
L4	Arranged marriage suite (heirs/siblings)	GAP	Marriage exists; suite for siblings/claimants incomplete or buggy	Extend marriage to designed relatives; fix blocked marriage (ACTIONABLE 10882)
L5	Family tree: living vs full dynasty	TUNE	Tree exists	Split commands or filters (alive vs full) without unbounded dump
L6	Food storage vs population	TUNE/BUG	Soft food storage + granary path designed (kingdom.md food storage); overflow held not silent loss	Verify live path matches design; free GRANARY discoverability
L7	Build menu shows all buildable / starting buildings	HAVE discoverability	Starting capital: 2 farms; full BUILDING_COSTS list	Complete spoken build list; “starting buildings” on status
L8	Soldiers-per-unit on recruit	GAP (clarity)	Unit strengths exist in military design	Recruit copy speaks unit count/strength
L11	Prestige spend discoverability	HAVE discoverability	prestige.md	Help/status “what prestige buys”
L13	Army → recruit onboarding	HAVE + GAP	Vision: army-first is intentional; opaque today	Guided path: create army → recruit N into army (vision loop-fix)

L2 design-pass brief (owner 2026-08-01)

Problem: Players experience “only 6 heirs / no more children” as a dynasty-ender. Soft cap is now 12, but perception and possible fertility bugs remain.

Constraints: Unlimited is off the table for voice. Free path must stay playable.

Design pass must decide:

1. Is 12 still the right free soft cap, or should free be higher (e.g. 16–20)?
2. ISP upsell? Paid “Dynasty Expansion” / similar that raises HEIR_ROSTER_SOFT_CAP (and maybe direct-child cap) without paywalling core succession. Mirror food-storage Granary Expansion pattern in kingdom.md.
3. How does paid expansion interact with Current Season / fairness if any Lineage competitive surface exists?
4. Copy when growth stops must name both caps (direct 5 vs roster soft cap).

Do not implement ISP until this pass is written and owner-signed. Bugfix fertility under current 12-cap proceeds in parallel.

L2 design-pass RESULT (2026-08-06) — written, awaiting owner sign-off

Answers the four questions above in order. No code change was made and none should be made from this section alone: the free 6→12 raise is still design-only in code, and it must ship first.

1. Is 12 the right free soft cap? YES — keep HEIR_ROSTER_SOFT_CAP = 12 and DECLINE a further free raise to 16–20. The arithmetic is the argument: a full direct line is 5 (DIRECT_HEIR_CAP), and roughly 3 siblings each producing ~2 cadets is ~6 more, so a fully-realised dynasty lands near 11 — 12 leaves headroom without making view heirs unspeakable. Raising free further buys little and costs voice clarity. Unlimited stays REJECTED for the same reason (summarize-after-6 rule).

2. ISP upsell? APPROVE the design, ship nothing yet. DYNASTY_EXPANSION, 80 Royal Seals, +4 soft roster per purchase, max 2 purchases → effective soft cap 12 / 16 / 20. Mirrors the Granary Expansion pattern in kingdom.md: paid encouragement that never paywalls the core loop. No new SMAPI SKU — it uses the existing seal packs.

Hard constraint: paid must NEVER raise DIRECT_HEIR_CAP. It stays 5, free, forever. Raising it with money would paywall succession depth itself, which is the one thing this whole design refuses to do. The paid lever touches cadet-branch room only.

3. Competitive fairness. Realm Power (Eternal Realm Ledger) = territory + buildings + army + prestige. A cadet birth contributes +2 prestige, which is negligible against those terms, and the paid stack is bounded at 2 purchases — so the maximum paid advantage stays inside noise AND inside the voice summarize rule. No fairness objection.

4. Stop-copy (voice-safe, names both caps).

• DIRECT cap reached: "The royal couple can raise no more children of their own. The direct line holds five living children of the ruler. Cadet branches may still grow if the house roster has room."
• ROSTER cap reached: "The living house roster is full at twelve. No more births until a claimant dies or leaves the line. Say view heirs to hear the succession, or buy dynasty expansion to open more room for cadet branches."
• AT MAX (both expansions bought): "The dynasty rolls are fully expanded. The house can hold no more living claimants."

Ship order, non-negotiable: (a) land the free 6→12 code change, (b) fix cadet fertility so the 12-cap is honest, (c) only then implement the ISP. Selling roster room while cadet branches are still bugged would be selling a fix.

Status: AWAITING OWNER GREENLIGHT before any ISP implementation — same gate as Granary Expansion.

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L9 — CONFIRMED: building rules (owner 2026-08-01)

From kingdom.md build flow (authoritative):

1. Terrain building slot caps (e.g. PLAINS highest) — intentional scarcity (kingdom.md strategic constraint).
2. One of each building type per territory — building type not already present in territory.
3. Multiple different types are allowed until slots are full (e.g. farm + barracks + wall).
4. Not “unlimited stacks of every building” — that would clobber the slot tradeoff. Endgame depth is building upgrades inside slots (endgame.md), not infinite types.

Player ask “multiple building types per territory”:

• If they mean different types in one territory → already designed HAVE.
• If they mean many of the same type → INTENTIONAL no (except designed multi-instance like starting dual farms + upgrade-second-farm path).
• If menu hides valid types → BUG (L7).

Disposition L9: CONFIRM one building type per territory + slot caps. No design change. Fix discoverability/bugs only.

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DEFER

ID	Theme	Why
L10	Kingdom/dynasty name creativity	Low priority content lists
L2 unlimited as literal	Rejected by progression design; use DESIGN_PASS above

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DECLINE / noise

• “Action every feedback I ever filed” — not a mandate
• Remove army-first recruit without design re-open
• Silent unlimited heirs

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BUG escalate

Theme	Sample	Notes
Fertility / marriage blocked under cap	10761–10762, 10882, 10702	Fix toward progression rules
Territory numbering after conquest	11009, 10711, 10920	Re-open (was 25303 closed unreproducible)
Gold vanish	10754, 10992	Economy integrity
Famine despite food workers	10675	Production/consumption
Recruit fails / assign overflow	11056, 10922, 10813	Army + worker math
Royal seals under-grant	10681	Currency
Login streak wrong	10731–10732	Streak
Rulers list more broken / whats new double	10997, 11019	Voice pagination
Party mode glitch	10982	Multiplayer

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Queue linkage (2026-08-01)

• 25359 — Dynasty fertility/marriage + territory # + economy bugs (caps stay honest)
• 25360 — Dynasty UX KEEP + build/recruit/prestige clarity (L9 uniqueness preserved)
• 25361 — L2 DESIGN PASS — soft cap vs ISP Dynasty Expansion (no unlimited)

Standing idea 25326 stays open for next live cycle.

25360 delivery — SHIPPED STATE (2026-08-24)

audited each of its seven items against the live Java before building anything. Three were already delivered by earlier passes and needed no work; four were real gaps and were built.

ID	State found	Disposition
L1 Select heir apparent	Already delivered. renders renderHeirDesignationPicker — one spoken option per living child, with name, ordinal and number synonyms. Candidates are living SON and DAUGHTER only, which MATCHES the design line "do not invent free any random cousin without rules".	No change
L4 Arranged marriage suite	Already delivered. The service is NOT orphaned: arrangeHeirMarriage is called at :611, listMarriageEligibleHeirs at 319, 494, 589. Eligible relations: SON, DAUGHTER, BROTHER, SISTER, GRANDSON, GRANDDAUGHTER.	No change
L13 Army then recruit onboarding	Already delivered. Recruit with no army speaks "You need to create an army first before you can recruit units. Say create army followed by a name, for example create army Iron Legion." and offers a create-army option; create-army success answers "Your new force awaits soldiers. Say recruit units to fill its ranks."	No change
L5 Family tree living vs full	GAP. viewFamily filtered on getIsAlive() in all three places, so the house's dead were unreachable.	Built — view full family.
L7 Build menu	GAP. The spoken list was hand-written and omitted five buildable types — granary, armory, mana well, academy, library — so a player who only heard the menu could not reach them. Starting buildings were never named.	Built — menu derived from the constants; capital names what stands.
L8 Recruit speaks strength	GAP. Menu spoke gold cost only, and success read "Army strength: N units" where N was the unit COUNT — so a mob of militia was reported stronger than a few knights.	Built — cost and strength per unit; count and combat strength named separately.
L11 Prestige discoverability	GAP. Only the post-victory empire screen explained the spend; view dynasty gave a bare points total.	Built — spend spoken where the total is, and in kingdom help.

What shipped

• L5 — view full family, also "whole house", "full dynasty", "ancestors", "the fallen". Renders the living tree, then "The fallen, N members of the house", naming up to SPOKEN_FALLEN_DETAIL_CAP = 4 oldest-first and rolling the rest into one line. Deliberately smaller than SPOKEN_HEIR_DETAIL_CAP = 6: the dead are history, not a choice the player is making, and they accumulate without limit across generations. Says nothing when nobody has died. Routed through the EXISTING end-anchored view-noun patterns in , so "full family" can never be swallowed by the bare "family" alternative.
• L7 — all 16 buildings spoken, grouped economy / military / magic / knowledge / defense, each with its gold cost and its prerequisite, for example "Granary, 200 gold, needs a farm". The L9 rule is stated aloud: "One of each building type per territory, so spread new types across your lands." The capital line now reads "...building slots used, already standing, 2 farms" — the starting buildings readout the item asked for, and it is spoken on status as well as the build menu, because the KEEP line says "starting buildings on status" and a player who never opens the build menu would otherwise never learn their capital was seeded with two farms. A build granary option is offered directly, which also serves L6 discoverability.
• L8 — recruit menu speaks "Militia, 50 gold, strength 5" per unit and closes with "Strength is the combat power one soldier adds to an army." Success reads "That army now has N units, combat strength M."
• L11 — view dynasty follows the points total with what prestige BUYS, and kingdom help carries the same explanation. Both uses are real and share ONE pool on LineageDynasty: edicts subtract from it () and 10 percent carries into the next dynasty (, capped at 2000).

Anti-drift note

The L7 and L8 menus are derived from the constants, never re-typed as literals. The previous hand-written lists are exactly why five buildings went unspeakable and why the spoken prices could drift from what the game charges. The same session fixed a brittle scenario test caused by the identical mistake in a design table, so the rule is: if a number can be computed, it must not be hand-written.

Changelog

• 2026-08-01 — Owner: all recommended KEEP; L2 = design pass (fit + optional ISP upsell); L9 = confirm one building type per territory + slots. Design Fit Gate locked. Epics 25359–25361.