{
  "_comment": "EXPLORATION — the player's reach. Tether tech is the BLUEPRINT only (effects: {}) — the player installs it as a build on a world (data/builds.json, the build carries the effect): Tether Level 2 → a TETHER - LEVEL 2 build on a world holding a level-1 tether (→ tether-l2), Tether Level 3 → a TETHER - LEVEL 3 build on a world holding a level-2 tether (→ tether-l3). Radius = 5,120 × 2^(level−1) (data/tether.json). Tether Anchoring and Signal Amplification grant capability flags (seam) that future mechanics read. Node contract: `requires` = parents that must be RESEARCHED first (the DAG edges — authoritative); `unlocks` = what completing the tech opens: `builds` (ids in data/builds.json the tech makes available — the build's own `requires` is the authoritative gate, this list is the declaration, and the test keeps the two in lock-step) and `research` (a readable mirror of the children's `requires` edges); `effects` = what the scene applies on completion. `starting` = already researched on a fresh run, so its children are available the first time the console opens. duration is in research.timeUnit (seconds); 0 = granted, never researched.",
  "starting": ["tether_l1"],
  "nodes": {
    "tether_l1": {
      "label": "Tether Level 1",
      "description": "Your first circle of open space: a level-1 tether anchored on the home world, a 5,120 m ring of flyable void. Everything inside the line is yours to work; everything beyond it is a wall. This is the tether you launched with.",
      "icon": "tether",
      "duration": 0,
      "requires": [],
      "unlocks": { "builds": [], "research": ["tether_l2", "signal_amp"] },
      "effects": {}
    },
    "tether_l2": {
      "label": "Tether Level 2",
      "description": "A second stage of field power. The blueprint for a stronger tether: install it with a TETHER - LEVEL 2 build on a world that holds a level-1 tether (200 minerals, 20 s — data/builds.json) and that world's boundary ring pulls out to 10,240 m.",
      "icon": "tether",
      "duration": 60,
      "requires": ["tether_l1"],
      "unlocks": { "builds": ["tether-l2"], "research": ["tether_l3", "tether_anchors"] },
      "effects": {}
    },
    "tether_l3": {
      "label": "Tether Level 3",
      "description": "A third stage of field power. The blueprint for the strongest tether: install it with a TETHER - LEVEL 3 build on a world that holds a level-2 tether (300 minerals, 30 s — data/builds.json) and that world's boundary ring pulls out to 20,480 m — the outer belt of an average system sits comfortably inside it.",
      "icon": "tether3",
      "duration": 150,
      "requires": ["tether_l2"],
      "unlocks": { "builds": ["tether-l3"], "research": [] },
      "effects": {}
    },
    "tether_anchors": {
      "label": "Tether Anchoring",
      "description": "Tether relays that bolt to worlds and stations you hold. Their zones stitch into your own — the union of every ring you anchor becomes open space, with no wall between them.",
      "icon": "anchor",
      "duration": 120,
      "requires": ["tether_l2"],
      "unlocks": { "builds": [], "research": [] },
      "effects": { "capability": "tether-anchors" }
    },
    "signal_amp": {
      "label": "Signal Amplification",
      "description": "Booster coils for the ship's long-range array. Faint emissions — distant beacons, far stations, half-dead transponders — resolve at range, and scans return cleaner hits.",
      "icon": "signal",
      "duration": 60,
      "requires": ["tether_l1"],
      "unlocks": { "builds": [], "research": [] },
      "effects": { "capability": "signal-amplification" }
    }
  }
}