Phonons vs the Combat Engine

Phonon Shards (Sanskrit letters) and Phonon Chords (Sanskrit words) are the classic ARPG-depth socket crafting layer. They are not a combat-verb system and do not control perspective or automatic Special Takedowns.

Gunfeel ownership · FS-GUN-001 / 008 / 009

• Receiver: Aim Assist baselines (Magnetism / Stickiness / Rotation / Strafing) + Fire Mode + cadence unit; also the art subclass body on the Class Frame.
• Frame archetype: cadence number, recoil pattern, Impact / Mag / Range band bias (data only — same Class Frame look).
• Class: Frame chassis look (one mesh per Class).
• Parts: never rewrite AA or cadence.
• Sniper Optics: long-range Optics do not rewrite AA (ADS / zoom / initial accuracy only).
• Band enum (Year-1): Low · Mid · Mid-High · High · Very High.
• Float maps: TBD-AA-FLOAT / TBD-IMR-FLOAT.

Art / mesh lean lock · FS-GUN-004 / 006 · lean mesh 2026-10-20

• Class = Spine: one core chassis per Class; everything attaches to the Spine.
• Frame archetype = data only: Adaptive, Aggressive, Precision, Rapid-Fire, Lightweight, High-Impact, specialties (cadence · Impact / Mag / Range · gunfeel). Does not change Spine art.
• Receiver = subclass body: one mesh per Type; seats onto Class Spine before Barrel.
• Tip-share Classes: Receiver owns length + universal Barrel tip socket.
• Gatling: three Class-scaled Receiver bodies (Rifle / Machine Gun / Heavy Gun).
• Shared kinetic Barrels: one Soft Object Path 5-pack for Rifle Auto/Pulse/Scout/SMG + Hand Cannon + Sidearm + MG (fully shrouded).
• Player / Refit word: Barrel.
• Hand Cannon + Sidearm: Underlug (visible under-barrel block) instead of Brace; no Front Grip.
• Bow: Limbs · Quiver/String · Sight · Grip · Stabilizer (not Front Grip).
• Own Barrel meshes: Shotgun / Sniper / Gatling×3 / Heavy / GL.
• Rocket: Tube + Backblast Collar (rear exhaust — not Warhead).
• Modules: Mag / Stock|Brace / Optic / Grip / Front Grip (long-gun only) / Underlug (pistols) / Bow Stabilizer — unless keyed (Sniper Optic; Coil / Rail / Emitter; Tube / Backblast Collar; Limbs / Prod; Cylinder; GL Year-1 Breech — drums later).
• Specialty Frames: share the Class Spine. Sniper reuses Rifle Spine.
• Assembly: Class Spine → Receiver → modules.

What Phonons Do

• Socket into guns, melee weapons, and armor for ARPG packages: ED%, +skills, FCR, auras, teleport armor, Meditation/Conviction sticks, resist, etc.
• On firearms: Phonon Chords add item power on top of frame + perk crafting — they are a first-class gun progression path, not melee-only.
• Full catalogs: volume 08 (Atman, Prajna, Rahasya, Shoka, Dhairya, Ananta, …).

What Phonons Do Not Affect

• Not required for FPP/TPP, Melee Drive, Precision Fire, or automatic Special Takedowns (which always pull to TPP).
• Do not change aiming, FOV, Shift-Out, camera blends, Flow move-speed numbers, or the shared Aim Assist / gunfeel baseline (Range, Bloom, Magnetism, Stability, etc.).
• Do not replace gun Frame+perk crafting — Frames/perks remain the FPS identity layer; Phonons are the ARPG socket layer on the same gun.

Empty sockets / no Chord equipped: combat engine still runs at full baseline.