structs-building

Structs Building

Important: Entity IDs containing dashes (like 1-42, 5-10) are misinterpreted as flags by the CLI parser. All transaction commands in this skill use -- before positional arguments to prevent this.

Safety

See SAFETY.md for the trust contract. In this skill:

• struct-build-initiate (Tier 0 for cheap structs; Tier 1 for long PoW like World Engine, Ore Bunker, PDC) — short builds (Command Ship, Starfighter, Ore Extractor, Refinery) are routine; anything > 1 hour to D=3 is a battle order.
• struct-build-compute (Tier 1 + expedition) — "The build hashes for up to ~6.4 hours and auto-activates on completion." Log the PID to memory/jobs/; recall with kill if needed. On reconnect, walk the four-state flow in awareness/async-operations before launching anything new.
• struct-generator-infuse (Tier 2 — irreversible) — "Alpha Matter is annihilated in the conversion. The energy is yours; the matter is gone. There is no defusion. And the generator is raidable — if it falls, the infused matter falls with it." Always escalate, regardless of autonomy. Confirm the generator's defense posture before infusing.
• struct-deactivate of revenue-bearing structs (Tier 1) — taking an Extractor or Refinery offline halts your resource pipeline.

Procedure

1. Check requirements — Player online, sufficient Alpha Matter, valid slot (0-3 per ambit), Command Ship online, fleet on station (for planet builds). Query player, planet, fleet.

2. Initiate build (CLI prompts for confirmation — review struct type, slot, ambit, and Alpha cost):

   structsd tx structs struct-build-initiate --from [key-name] --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 -- [player-id] [struct-type-id] [operating-ambit] [slot]
   

   The [operating-ambit] argument must be a lowercase string: "space", "air", "land", or "water" (not a bitmask number).

3. Proof-of-work — Build compute is an expedition that auto-activates the struct when the proof lands (this is why -y is present below).

   Approval Block — confirm before launching, especially for long-PoW structs (Ore Bunker, PDC, World Engine):

   • struct-id matches the build you just initiated
   • You have power headroom for the struct to auto-activate (load + struct's power-draw < capacity)
   • You will tolerate the auto-activation landing 17 min – 6.4 hrs from now even if game state shifts

   Launch in a background terminal:

   structsd tx structs struct-build-compute -D 3 --from [key-name] --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 -y -- [struct-id]
   

   This calculates the hash, auto-submits complete, and the struct auto-activates. No separate activation step needed.

4. Optional — Move, set defense, or activate stealth as needed.

Auto-activation: Structs automatically activate after build-complete. Use struct-activate only to re-activate a struct that was previously deactivated with struct-deactivate.

Compute vs Complete

struct-build-compute is a helper that performs proof-of-work and automatically submits struct-build-complete with the hash results. The struct then auto-activates. You only need struct-build-complete if you computed the hash through external tools and want to submit it manually.

The -D Flag

The -D flag (range 1-64) tells compute to wait until difficulty drops to the specified level before starting the hash. Difficulty decreases logarithmically as the struct ages. Use -D 3 — at D=3, the hash is trivially instant and zero CPU is wasted. Lower values wait longer but burn no compute on hard hashes.

Charge Costs

Every action consumes charge. Charge accumulates passively at 1 per block (~6 sec/block).

If you get a "required charge X but player had Y" error, wait for charge to accumulate. See knowledge/mechanics/building for the complete charge table.

Expected Build Times

Time from initiation until compute completes (assuming 6 sec/block, D=3):

Initiate early, compute later. The age clock starts at initiation. Batch-initiate all planned builds, then launch compute in background terminals. Do other things while waiting. See awareness/async-operations.

One key, one compute at a time. Never run two concurrent *-compute jobs with the same signing key. Both jobs may reach the target difficulty simultaneously and submit transactions with conflicting sequence numbers — one fails silently, leaving the struct stuck in build status. Use separate signing keys for separate players, and sequence compute jobs for the same player.

Commands Reference

Limits: 1 PDC per player, 1 Command Ship per player. Command Ship must be in fleet. Generator infusion is IRREVERSIBLE.

TX_FLAGS (interactive — the CLI prompts you to confirm): --from [key-name] --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5

TX_FLAGS_APPROVED (only after commander approval; suppresses the prompt): TX_FLAGS plus -y. See SAFETY.md "The -y Rule." struct-build-compute is the documented -y exception — it auto-activates the struct when the proof lands, with no shell attached.

Requires: structsd on PATH and a configured signing key.

Verification

• structsd query structs struct [id] — status = Online (or Built/Offline if not activated)
• Struct appears in planet/fleet struct list

Error Handling

See Also

• knowledge/mechanics/building — Build times, difficulty, charge costs
• knowledge/mechanics/power — Capacity, load, online status
• knowledge/entities/struct-types — All struct type IDs and properties
• knowledge/entities/entity-relationships — How entities connect
• awareness/async-operations — Background PoW, pipeline strategy