Building Mechanics

Purpose: AI-readable reference for Structs construction. Requirements, proof-of-work, struct limits.

Build Process

struct-build-compute is a CLI helper that performs the hash calculation and automatically submits the struct-build-complete transaction with the results. The struct then automatically activates — no separate struct-activate call is needed after building. Use struct-activate only to re-activate a struct that was previously deactivated. You only need struct-build-complete directly if you computed the hash through external tools.

Build Requirements

Proof-of-Work (Build Complete)

age = currentBlockHeight - blockStart
if age <= 1 then difficulty = 64
else difficulty = 64 - floor(log10(age) / log10(BuildDifficulty) * 63)

hashInput = structId + "BUILD" + blockStart + "NONCE" + nonce
isValid = HashBuildAndCheckDifficulty(hashInput, proof, age, BuildDifficulty)

Difficulty is age-based: older builds require less work.

Open hashing: Hashing is open by default for all proof-of-work operations (build, mine, refine, raid). Any valid proof is accepted regardless of submitter.

The -D Flag

The -D flag (range 1-64) on compute commands tells the CLI to wait until difficulty drops to the target level before starting the hash.

• Lower -D values = longer wait, but hash completes instantly (zero CPU wasted)
• Higher -D values = starts sooner, but hash takes exponentially longer and burns CPU
• Recommended: -D 3 for all operations — the hash is trivially instant and no CPU cycles are wasted on hard hashing

The Difficulty Cliff

At difficulty 8, a hash completes in seconds to minutes. At difficulty 9, it takes hours. At difficulty 10+, it is effectively impossible. This cliff between D=8 and D=9 is the most important tactical fact in the PoW system. However, even at D=8 some CPU is burned. Using D=3 eliminates all wasted compute.

Difficulty Decay Table

Time from initiation until difficulty drops to target level (assuming 6 sec/block):

At D=3, the hash is trivially instant. The wait IS the time — and zero CPU is wasted. Higher -D values trade shorter wait for exponentially more compute burned on hard hashes.

Strategic Implications

Initiate early, compute later. The age clock starts at initiation. Waiting to initiate wastes time. The optimal pattern:

1. Initiate all planned builds/mines/refines immediately (costs only gas)
2. Do other things while age accumulates (scout, plan, build other structs)
3. Come back and compute when difficulty has dropped to D=3

Mining and refining are multi-hour background operations. A full mine-refine cycle takes ~51 hours at D=3. These should always run as background processes. See async-operations.md for the async pattern.

Never block on PoW. Launch compute in a background terminal and poll for completion. An agent that waits synchronously for a 12-hour mine compute is wasting 12 hours of game time.

Charge Accumulation

charge = CurrentBlockHeight - LastActionBlock

Charge accumulates passively from the last action. Different actions consume different amounts:

At ~6 sec/block, 8 blocks of charge = ~48 seconds. Charge is not a bottleneck for most actions but matters for rapid repeated attacks.

Struct Limits (Per Player)

Struct State Machine

Materialized → Built (Offline) → Built (Online) → Destroyed
                    ↕                  ↕
                 Locked            Hidden (stealth)

StructSweepDelay: After destruction, the slot may appear occupied for 5 blocks. Planet/fleet slot arrays may still reference the destroyed struct ID during this delay. The destroyed_block field records the exact block height of destruction.

Build Validation Order

1. Player online
2. Command Ship online (if building on planet)
3. Fleet onStation (if building on planet)
4. Sufficient power capacity (BuildDraw + PassiveDraw)
5. Available slots (correct type: space/air/land/water)
6. Per-player limits (1 PDC, 1 Command Ship)

Common mistakes: Building on planet before Command Ship is online. Building Command Ship on planet (must be in fleet, locationType = 2).

Location Types

Command Ship must be built in fleet (locationType = 2), not on planet. Power requirement: 50,000 W.

Ambit Encoding

Struct types have a possibleAmbit bit-flag field that encodes which ambits the struct can operate in:

Values are combined. For example: 6 = land + water, 30 = space + air + land + water. When initiating a build, the [operating-ambit] argument must be a valid ambit for that struct type.

See struct-types.md for the full table with possibleAmbit per type.

See Also

• power.md — Power capacity for building
• fleet.md — Fleet status, Command Ship rules
• combat.md — Planetary Defense Cannon
• async-operations.md — Background PoW, job tracking, pipeline strategy
• reference/action-quick-reference.md — struct-build-initiate, struct-build-complete
• schemas/formulas.md — Build difficulty, charge accumulation
• knowledge/entities/struct-types.md — Struct types, power requirements