Structs Mining

Executes resource extraction in Structs. Mines ore and refines it into Alpha Matter. Use when mining ore, refining ore, starting a mine-refine cycle, checking planet ore levels, or managing resource extraction. Mining takes ~17 hours and refining ~34 hours — both are background operations. Ore is stealable until refined.

Important: Entity IDs containing dashes (like 3-1, 4-5) are misinterpreted as flags by the CLI parser. All transaction commands in this skill use -- before positional arguments to prevent this.

Safety

Mining and refining are expeditions — long-running background jobs that auto-submit completion transactions when their proof lands. See SAFETY.md for the trust contract; in this skill:

• struct-ore-mine-compute (Tier 1 + expedition) — "An expedition. The extractor hashes the planet for ~17 hours, then transmits completion back to the chain on its own." Log the PID to memory/jobs/; recall with kill <pid> if the situation changes.
• struct-ore-refine-compute (Tier 1 + expedition) — "~34 hours of grinding. The completion transaction is deferred consent — re-verify game state when it lands." If your planet was raided mid-refine, your original approval may be stale.
• Auto-submission risk — the compute helper signs and broadcasts the complete transaction automatically. If you cannot guarantee the original consent will still be valid in 17-34 hours, treat the launch as Tier 2 and escalate.
• Reconnect protocol — if you resume a session with a mine or refine still listed as "running" in memory/jobs/, walk the four-state flow in awareness/async-operations before doing anything else. A "running" PID may have died, succeeded, or failed silently.

Procedure

1. Check planet ore — structsd query structs planet [id]. If currentOre == 0, explore new planet first.

2. Initiate mine — The mine action is implicit in struct-ore-mine-compute. Mining is an expedition: the compute runs ~17 hours and auto-submits its completion transaction (this is why -y is present below — there will be no shell prompt when the proof lands).

   Approval Block — confirm before launch:

   • struct-id is the Ore Extractor you intend
   • Planet currently shows currentOre > 0 (worth mining)
   • --from key is the struct's owner
   • You will tolerate the auto-submitted completion ~17 hours from now even if game state shifts

   Launch in a background terminal:

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

   Mining difficulty is 14,000; expect ~17 hours for difficulty to drop to D=3. Log the PID to memory/jobs/.

3. Refine immediately after mine completes — Ore is stealable. Refining is also an expedition: ~34 hours, auto-submitted completion.

   Approval Block — same five items as mine, applied to refining (~34 hour deferred-consent window).

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

   Refining difficulty is 28,000; expect ~34 hours for D=3.

4. Store or convert — Alpha Matter is not stealable. Use reactor (1g = 1 kW) or generator infusion as needed.

5. Verify — Query planet (ore decreased), struct (ore/Alpha state), player (resources).

CRITICAL: Mining and refining are multi-hour background operations. Launch compute in a background terminal and do other things while waiting. Never sit idle watching a hash grind. See awareness/async-operations.

CRITICAL: Ore is stealable. Alpha Matter is not. Refine as soon as mining completes — every hour ore sits unrefined is an hour it can be stolen.

Commands Reference

Action	CLI Command
Mine compute (PoW + auto-complete)	structsd tx structs struct-ore-mine-compute -D 3 -- [struct-id]
Mine complete (manual, rarely needed)	structsd tx structs struct-ore-mine-complete -- [struct-id]
Refine compute (PoW + auto-complete)	structsd tx structs struct-ore-refine-compute -D 3 -- [struct-id]
Refine complete (manual, rarely needed)	structsd tx structs struct-ore-refine-complete -- [struct-id]
Query planet	structsd query structs planet [id]
Query struct	structsd query structs struct [id]
Query player	structsd query structs player [id]

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." Mine-compute and refine-compute are the documented -y exception — they auto-submit completion when no shell is attached, so the Approval Block has to be your gate, not the CLI prompt.

Requires: structsd on PATH and a configured signing key.

Verification

• Planet currentOre decreases after mine-complete
• Struct ore inventory clears after refine-complete
• Player Alpha Matter increases after refine-complete

Error Handling

• "struct offline" — Activate struct before mining.
• "insufficient ore" — Planet depleted or struct has no ore; check planet currentOre.
• "proof invalid" — Re-run compute with correct difficulty; ensure no interruption.
• Ore stolen — Refine immediately after every mine. Never leave ore unrefined.

Timing

Mining and refining have high base difficulties, meaning they take hours for difficulty to drop to a feasible level. At D=3, the hash is trivially instant — the wait IS the time, and zero CPU is wasted on hard hashing.

Operation	Difficulty	D=3
Mine	14,000	~17 hr
Refine	28,000	~34 hr
Full cycle (mine + refine)	--	~51 hr

Use -D 3 for mine/refine. The hash is trivially instant at D=3, wasting zero CPU cycles. Higher -D values start sooner but burn significant compute on hard hashes.

Pipeline strategy: After initiating a mine, immediately do other things — build structs, scout players, plan defense. When the mine completes, immediately start the refine. While refining runs (~34 hr), you have time to initiate the next mine so its age clock starts ticking. Always keep something aging.

See Also

• knowledge/mechanics/resources — Ore, Alpha Matter, conversion rates
• knowledge/mechanics/planet — Planet ore, depletion
• knowledge/lore/alpha-matter — Alpha Matter lore
• awareness/async-operations — Background PoW, job tracking, pipeline strategy