- name
- structs-mining
- description
- 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.
Structs Mining
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.
Procedure
- Check planet ore —
structsd query structs planet [id]. IfcurrentOre == 0, explore new planet first. - Initiate mine — The mine action is implicit in
struct-ore-mine-compute. 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. Compute auto-submits the complete transaction. - Refine immediately after mine completes — Ore is stealable. Launch refine in background:
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. Compute auto-submits the complete transaction. - Store or convert — Alpha Matter is not stealable. Use reactor (1g = 1 kW) or generator infusion as needed.
- 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] |
Common tx flags: --from [key-name] --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 -y.
Verification
- Planet
currentOredecreases 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