Building structs: construct and position

Building turns power headroom + charge into capability: extractors/refineries (production), generators (power), and combat/defense structs. Alpha Matter funds power/infusion/trade, not the build tx itself. The mechanics are simple — initiate, prove the work, it auto-activates — so the skill that matters is deciding what to build, in what order, with the power to run it.

Conventions (TX_FLAGS, -- rule, the -D 3 PoW policy, the per-player charge bar, one-tx-at-a-time) are in conventions.md.

When to use it

• You have power headroom (and Alpha to infuse if you need more capacity) and want more infrastructure or military.
• Starting out and need the first base (Command Ship → extractor → refinery → power).
• Adding defense (shields, defenders, PDC) ahead of a refine window or a threat.
• Repositioning the Command Ship, assigning defenders, or stealthing a unit.
• Converting Alpha to power via generator infusion.

Decisions

Build-order by phase (beginner default):

1. Command Ship (if you don't have one online) — required for all planet ops and your raid shield. Build in fleet, not on the planet.
2. Ore Extractor → Ore Refinery — start the production pipeline (structs-production).
3. Power — a Reactor infusion or a Field Generator so the above stays online (structs-energy).
4. Defense before your first big refine — at least one shield struct; keep the Command Ship online.
5. Expand — more defense (Ore Bunkers/OSGs are unlimited now), then military.

Always pre-check power. Initiate needs headroom for BuildDraw only; complete then applies PassiveDraw (sequential — not summed). For equal draws (all current types), peak = one draw, not 2×. Use scripts/power-budget.sh [player-id] --type [struct-type-id] to project PassiveDraw after activation. If it won't fit, raise capacity first or the struct will materialize but never come online.

Advanced considerations:

• Defense scaling: Orbital Shield Generator and Ore Bunker are unlimited per player — stack them (power permitting) to drive your planetary shield well past a single set. Everything else is 1 per player.
• What to build to kill what: the Battleship is the armour-piercing answer to Tanks and to armoured power generators; planetary structs are tough (6/8/10 HP). Match builds to the threat — see structs-combat.
• Decisions live in playbooks/phases/early-game and playbooks/meta/economy-of-force.

Procedure

1. Pre-check — player online (capacity covers load); BuildDraw headroom; valid open slot (0-3 per ambit, correct ambit for the type); for planet builds: Command Ship online and fleet onStation. Run scripts/power-budget.sh to confirm headroom.

2. Initiate (CLI prompts — review type, ambit, slot; builds cost charge + power, not Alpha). [operating-ambit] is a lowercase string space/air/land/water, not a bitmask:

   structsd tx structs struct-build-initiate TX_FLAGS -- [player-id] [struct-type-id] [operating-ambit] [slot]
   

3. Compute (expedition, auto-completes + auto-activates) — this is the documented -y exception.

   Approval Block — struct id matches the build; you have power headroom for it to auto-activate; you accept the auto-activation landing minutes-to-hours later even if state shifts.

   nohup structsd tx structs struct-build-compute -D 3 --from [key] --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 -y -- [struct-id] \
     > memory/jobs/build-[struct-id].log 2>&1 & echo $! > memory/jobs/build-[struct-id].pid
   

4. Then move / set defense / stealth as needed (below). No separate activate step — build-complete auto-activates. struct-activate is only for re-activating something you deactivated.

struct-build-compute performs the PoW and auto-submits struct-build-complete; you only call struct-build-complete directly if you hashed externally.

Struct catalog (the numbers that drive decisions)

Full table: knowledge/entities/struct-types. Key current values:

Charge costs (from your per-player bar): build-initiate 8, trash 8, activate 2, defense-change 1, Command Ship move 3, stealth activate 2. Deactivate (single or batch) is free and works even while offline. Full charge table and PoW decay times: knowledge/mechanics/building.

Build times (initiation → D=3 complete, ~6 s/block)

Initiate early, compute later — the age clock starts at initiation, and difficulty decays from 64 (fresh, impossible) to 1 (aged, instant). Batch-initiate, then compute in the background once it has decayed. One compute at a time per key (two concurrent computes on the same key collide on sequence numbers — one fails silently). Different keys run in parallel. See hashing.md — fresh vs aged anchor.

Manage existing structs

• Move (Command Ship only — it's the one movable struct): struct-move TX_FLAGS -- [cmd-ship-id] [new-ambit] [new-slot] [new-location]. The chain rejects struct-move on any other struct.
• Defense assignment: struct-defense-set TX_FLAGS -- [defender-id] [protected-id] / struct-defense-clear TX_FLAGS -- [defender-id] (1 charge). Only fleet types (canDefend: true) can be assigned.
• Stealth (Stealth Bomber, Submersible): struct-stealth-activate / struct-stealth-deactivate (2 charge to activate).
• Deactivate / re-activate: struct-deactivate frees its power (free, and works even while you're offline — a recovery lever); struct-activate brings it back (2 charge, requires you online). Deactivate many at once with struct-deactivate-batch -- [id1,id2,...] (up to 65). Taking an Extractor/Refinery offline halts your pipeline (Tier 1).
• Trash (Tier 2, IRREVERSIBLE): struct-trash TX_FLAGS -- [struct-id] permanently destroys a built struct you own to free its slot (costs 8 charge, same as building it). There is no undo and nothing is refunded. To abort an unfinished build instead, use struct-build-cancel.
• Generator infuse (Tier 2, IRREVERSIBLE): struct-generator-infuse TX_FLAGS -- [struct-id] [amount]ualpha. Alpha Matter is annihilated into energy — no defusion, and a raided generator takes the infused matter with it. Always escalate; confirm the generator's defense posture first. See structs-energy.

Commands reference

TX_FLAGS / TX_FLAGS_APPROVED per conventions.md. Requires structsd on PATH and a signing key.

Verification

• structsd query structs struct [id] — status Online (or Built/Offline if power-starved).
• Struct appears in the planet/fleet struct list.
• After generator infuse: player capacity rises; broadcast ≠ success, so query to confirm.

Errors

See also

• knowledge/entities/struct-types — full catalog (HP, charge, limits, weapons)
• knowledge/mechanics/building — PoW decay, charge table
• playbooks/phases/early-game / playbooks/meta/economy-of-force — build priorities
• structs-energy — power for builds; structs-combat — what to build vs threats
• awareness/async-operations — background PoW