The forge (+0 … +9)
A copy's own ladder in three bands - the odds, the bill and the price of every mark - and a provably fair die.
A piece of equipment can be tempered from +0 to +9, and is written that way: Mining Laser II +7. The ladder belongs to one copy for its whole life; a grade is a separate item, bought or found at +0, never made from the grade below (equipment). The attempt is made at a station’s bench: Enter makes it, S chooses whether to spend a seal. Guns are worked at the Arms wing; tools, cargo bays and shield cells at the Mining post. A fitted copy can be worked without unfitting it.
Three bands
| Band | Marks | Opens at | On failure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stamp (Safe) | +1 … +3 | level 1 | the bill burns; the mark stays |
| Draw (Slip) | +4 … +6 | level 10 | the bill burns; the mark drops one, never below +3 |
| Quench (Break) | +7 … +9 | level 16 | run open: the copy is destroyed. Sealed: the mark drops two, never below +6 |
A band is a ratchet: once a copy has entered one, no failure takes it back out. The rank screen lists the bands by the code’s names, Safe / Slip / Break.
The ladder
The chance is printed on the ticket before you press anything, and it is a number the server sent. The Stamp band costs credits only; from +4 every attempt takes one element a miner produced and one component that came off a wreck or down a road.
| Mark | Band | Chance | Credits | Element (type A / type B) | Component | Bonus at this mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +1 | Stamp | 92% | 400 | - | - | +0.8% |
| +2 | Stamp | 82% | 600 | - | - | +1.8% |
| +3 | Stamp | 72% | 800 | - | - | +3.0% |
| +4 | Draw | 62% | 1,200 | tantalum 2 / cryo_salt 1 |
focusing_lens 1 |
+4.7% |
| +5 | Draw | 54% | 2,000 | tantalum 3 / cryo_salt 2 |
focusing_lens 1 |
+6.7% |
| +6 | Draw | 46% | 3,200 | tantalum 4 / cryo_salt 3 |
field_coil 1 |
+9.0% |
| +7 | Quench | 40% | 1,500 | tantalum 2 / cryo_salt 1 |
field_coil 1 |
+11.6% |
| +8 | Quench | 34% | 4,000 | tantalum 3 / cryo_salt 2 |
field_coil 1 |
+14.6% |
| +9 | Quench | 28% | 8,000 | iridium 1 / void_glass 1 |
field_coil 2 |
+18.0% |
Which element a copy asks for is its type’s, so the bill says what the gun is:
| Type | Element +4 … +8 | Element at +9 |
|---|---|---|
| A - Rapid, Breaker and Siege guns | tantalum (iron and platinum rock) |
iridium |
| B - Close and Precision guns, Mining tools, Cargo Bay | cryo_salt (ice rock only) |
void_glass |
| Shield Cell | cryo_salt, type B counts |
iridium |
A Siege gun asks twice the element and the same credits. The bonus moves the one number the item is bought for - damage on a gun or tool, space on a bay, shield on a cell - and is capped so that a +9 never outruns three quarters of the step to the next grade. Nothing in the game requires a mark above +3.
The seal
A sealed attempt that fails does not destroy the copy; the mark drops by two. A seal does not change the odds, and it is spent whether the attempt takes or not. It is offered at +7 and above only - below that a failure costs materials, and a seal would be a worse deal than running open. The Arms wing keeps assay_seal on its shelf at 4,000 credits, never sold out; convoy holds on the deep lanes carry them too (convoys); no wreck ever drops one.
Issued gear - the Registry’s own laser, cannon and bay - may be stamped and drawn to +6 and is refused at +7: it is not yours to lose.
The die is provably fair
Every roll is made on the server, keyed on a secret the player has never seen; nothing from the client is in the input. The same attempt always yields the same number - pulling the cable, crashing the server, re-sending the request changes nothing. The SHA-256 of the secret is published while the week runs and the secret after it closes; a player who kept their results can recompute every roll made against them. Every copy carries its own record - attempts and takes - and the account carries lifetime attempts, takes and breaks.
The Naming
At +9, and only there, the same bench offers one more operation. It takes one belt_heart, the rarest thing a rock gives up (elements), and a name of up to 24 characters; it cannot fail, cannot be undone, and is refused on issued gear. The named copy then stands at the counter until a second pilot gives it a hand, and that hand draws one of twelve traits from the witness’s Compact’s four. A trait is a word on the item today; it moves no number.
What is not sold
Temper protection, luck, or a failed attempt’s refund is never sold for real money - in any form. Protection is in the game, bought with credits, and the credits are earned by playing.