Energy market: providers and pricing

Purpose: AI-readable reference for Structs energy agreements, pricing dynamics, supply/demand, and entity relationships. How energy flows between players.

Overview

Energy is ephemeral and per-block — produced from Alpha Matter via conversion structs, consumed by structs and operations. Energy generated in a block but not consumed in that block is permanently lost. There is no “energy balance” to accumulate. Idle capacity is waste, not safety margin. Guild substations should run at full utilization.

Pure Structs gameplay transactions are free — they run on a dedicated free-gas meter and are charged no ualpha fee (see transactions). So a player does not need to hold a fee balance to play. Note this is distinct from energy: you must be online (powered) and hold charge to act, but no energy is spent as a per-transaction gas fee.

Energy agreements create self-enforcing subscriptions between providers (sellers) and consumers (buyers). Energy is shared across a player’s structs via substation connections.

Entity Relationships

Entity	ID Format	Role
Provider	`10-{index}`	Offers energy capacity; owned by player; linked to substation
Agreement	`11-{index}`	Binds provider to consumer; defines capacity, duration, rate
Allocation	`6-{index}`	Distributes energy from source to destination

Flow

Provider → Agreement → Consumer (Player)
     ↓
Allocation: sourceId (Provider/Reactor) → destinationId (Player/Struct)

Provider: Player creates via provider-create. Provider exposes capacity from substation.
Agreement: Consumer opens via agreement-open. Links provider to consumer; specifies capacity, blocks, rate.
Allocation: On-chain record of energy flow. Source = Provider or Reactor; destination = Player or Struct. The controller is a PlayerId (not an address).

Supply and Demand

Factor	Effect
Alpha Matter scarcity	Higher energy cost; producers charge more
Raid activity	Supply shocks when reactors/providers go offline
Guild coordination	Members may subsidize each other via agreements
Struct count	More structs = higher demand; power grid strain

Pricing dynamics: Energy agreements use rateAmount/rateDenom (Alpha Matter per unit). Market-clearing depends on provider availability, consumer willingness to pay, and cancellation penalties.

Energy Production (Supply Side)

Facility	Rate	Risk	When to Use
Reactor	1g = 1 kW	Low	Baseline; redundancy
Field Generator	1g = 2 kW	High	Efficiency when risk acceptable
Continental Power Plant	1g = 5 kW	High	High output, high risk
World Engine	1g = 10 kW	High	Maximum efficiency; single point of failure

See struct-types.md for build costs and power requirements.

Reactor Commission and Auto-Capacity

Reactors charge a commission on infusions. When a player infuses ualpha into a reactor, the generated power is split:

Player receives: power * (1 - commission) — added directly to the player’s capacity (no manual allocation needed)
Reactor receives: power * commission — increases the reactor’s capacity

This automatic capacity increase makes reactor infusion the fastest and simplest way for a player to gain capacity. Check a reactor’s commission rate before infusing: structsd query structs reactor [id].

Staking pays capacity, not a yield. The return on infusing a reactor is the energy capacity credited above — there is no delegator reward stream, APR, or passive token income. Income is realized only indirectly, by selling that capacity as energy through a provider.

For step-by-step energy management workflows, see the structs-energy skill.

Provider Configuration

Providers define (per database schema):

Field	Purpose
rateAmount / rateDenom	Price per unit capacity
capacityMinimum / capacityMaximum	Offer range
durationMinimum / durationMaximum	Agreement length
accessPolicy	Who can subscribe
providerCancellationPenalty / consumerCancellationPenalty	Early exit cost

Query Patterns

Need	Endpoint
Provider by ID	`GET /structs/provider/{id}`
Agreements by provider	`GET /structs/agreement_by_provider/{providerId}`
Allocations by source	`GET /structs/allocation_by_source/{sourceId}`
Allocations by destination	`GET /structs/allocation_by_destination/{destinationId}`

Infusions vs Allocations

Concept	Purpose
Infusion	Record of energy production – who put Alpha Matter into which conversion struct
Allocation	Routing of energy capacity from source to Substations

Allocation types:

Type	Behavior	Updatable	Deletable	Limit
`static`	Fixed capacity amount	No	No (while connected)	Unlimited
`dynamic`	Can be manually updated	Yes	Yes	Unlimited
`automated`	Auto-grows with source capacity	Yes	No	One per source
`provider-agreement`	System-created when agreements open	System	System	System

For energy commerce, use automated – it scales with your capacity as you infuse more alpha.

Agreement Payment Flow

When a buyer opens an agreement (agreement-open [provider-id] [capacity] [duration]):

Buyer pays capacity * rate * duration upfront in the rate denomination (e.g., uguild.0-1) — the entire amount is debited in full at open, not metered per block
Payment goes to the provider’s collateral address (on-chain escrow)

rate_denom trap: the debit is in the provider’s denom, not alpha. If the provider prices in a guild token, a buyer holding only ualpha is rejected at broadcast (insufficient-funds error keyed agreement_open). Check the provider’s rateDenom and acquire that denom before opening.

System auto-creates a provider-agreement allocation – energy flows to the buyer immediately

Revenue drips from collateral to the provider’s earnings address proportionally as blocks pass

Provider can withdraw accumulated earnings at any time via provider-withdraw-balance

On expiry (endBlock reached), the allocation is released and remaining collateral converts to earnings

Agreement Lifecycle

OPEN -> ACTIVE (blocks pass, revenue accrues) -> EXPIRED (capacity released)
                                              -> or CLOSED early (penalties apply)

agreement-open – buyer initiates
agreement-close – either party can close early (cancellation penalties may apply)
agreement-capacity-increase/decrease – modify mid-agreement
agreement-duration-increase – extend the agreement

Revenue Denomination Strategy

Using guild tokens (uguild.X-Y) as the rate denomination is strategically significant:

Buyers must acquire the guild’s token to purchase energy, creating demand
Revenue earned strengthens the guild’s treasury
Guild tokens can be minted against Alpha collateral (guild-bank-mint) or traded

Agreement Properties

Property	Meaning
automatic	Executes on-chain without manual intervention
penaltyProtection	On-chain penalty enforcement for violations
persistent	Long-term, survives across sessions
selfEnforcing	Terms enforced by blockchain, no trust required

Provider selection criteria: rate, price, available capacity, penaltyProtection, reputation.

Strategic Notes

Self-enforcing: Agreements execute on-chain; no trust required for fulfillment.
Lock-out: Energy agreements can exclude raiders (no capacity = no operations).
Diversification: Relying on single provider = vulnerability; agreements can expire or be cancelled.
Allocatable capacity: Only the player’s personal capacity (from infusions) is allocatable — capacitySecondary (substation-provided) cannot be allocated out. See power.md.