CIPHER
GUIDE

MECHANICS · COMBAT · ITEMS · ECONOMY

You are a signal on a 12×12 grid. Collect fragments, hold your chain, mine blocks, crack armored bots, hunt bosses for minted loot, and survive a mempool that remembers you.

FIRMWARE V22.x — ITEMS ERA GUIDE REV 3
01 · Core concept

The Loop

SCORE (H)

The run. ATH, level XP, draw tickets. Nothing purchasable OR tradeable inflates it — score is a pure record of play.

EMBERS

score ÷ 60 per run. Buys skills, ranks, fuels every cast. Every gain/spend pops on the grid; pause shows the run's net.

ITEMS

Minted boss loot with rolled stats. POWER is soul-bound; ECONOMY and COSMETIC will trade device-to-device.

Kit grammar: LIGHTNING builds (and refunds) · ZAP STORM and FORK spend the chain · CONGESTION sets up (and gathers) · DEEP FREEZE executes the impaired.

02 · Input

Controls

Single slot

BTN4 / BTN3turn LEFT / RIGHT
BTN1skill (hold = charge ZAP; re-tap = detonate aura)
BTN2pause

Dual slot

BTN1slot 1 (right bar, cyan)
BTN2slot 2 (left bar, magenta)
BTN3+BTN4PAUSE (chord)

Bars recharge INTO the middle and track live cooldowns (LIGHTNING's shrinks with combo — watch its bar accelerate). 12s per slot, 1s global lockout. Pause shifts every timer.

03 · Health

The Shield

One base shield, regenerating (9s, FARADAY MESH/WEAVE shorten it). A break burns the attacker (1 dmg — except bosses), then 1s i-frames. Down + hit = SIGNAL LOST. Overshield pickups stack and absorb first. SEED RESTORE cheats fatal hits.

The halo IS the recharge meter: exposed shows a breathing red halo that warms toward amber and flutters faster as the shield returns — nearly-amber and fluttering means one more second. Restore fires a warm ring + SHIELD UP.

04 · Scoring

The Chain

×1 + 0.25/stack, cap ×5 at 17 (OVERCLOCK to ×6.5). Window 4.5s − 0.4/blk, floor 2.8s. The chain now powers FIVE things:

Chain hookEffect
Multipliereverything scores × it
LIGHTNING tempocooldown −450ms/stack (12s → 5s floor)
ZAP ammunitionbolts = 3 + charge + COMBO, uncapped
FORK lifetime+0.3s per stack at cast (cap 12s)
GRAVITY ratepull 1 cell / 4→3→2 ticks at combo 0/5/12

THE CONDUIT: every target a dash strikes refunds 30% of the full cooldown per hit (90% cap) on BOTH slots. Dashed TX = 3 stacks; everything else struck +1. Kills by walking pay but never refresh; ZAP bolts never build combo (the storm spends it).

05 · The mempool

Bots, Armor, Hardening & The Boss

Shape = personality, colour = current armor, pips = remaining hits. All damage is exactly 1. Tier mix rises with blocks (B9+: 15/40/45). Armor resists ice: T2 freezes 75% duration, T3 50%. Bounty pays by SPAWN tier (×1/2/3/4) on the finishing blow.

ARMOR TIERS
T1 personality · T2 steel · T3 crimson
colour walks DOWN as you crack
HARDENING
survivors at the seal gain +1 armor
(cap 4) — sweep first, or pay later at ×4 bounty
THE BOSS
B8, B11, B14… · 5 HP · gold double ring +
orbiting sparks — unmistakable at any hp

Boss rules

Skills only. Contact never damages a boss — hot charging CLANGs off it, shields break on it for nothing. It can't be frozen (only slowed), shrugs broadcasts, lumbers 30% slower, pays ×6 + a minted item drop, and every ~7s casts THE PHANTOM: a flickering crimson-gold projection that hunts your head for 3.2s at just-slower-than-you speed. You can outrun it — but not while standing still charging. Contact runs your shield ladder, no bounty. Kills freeze the game for the gold BOSS TERMINATED card: jackpot + loot, rarity-coloured.

06 · The five verbs

Active Skills

Costs scale with block: × (2+blocks)/2. LOW FEE and FEE VOUCHER discount everything. Spends pop as −N floaters.

LIGHTNING T1 · FREE · THE BUILDER
DASH 3→4→5 · CD SHRINKS WITH COMBO · CONDUIT REFUNDS

Sweeps everything (TX = 3 stacks, all else +1 each; bursts pay embers). Every hit refunds 30% cooldown to BOTH slots, 90% for a triple. Free, earns, builds, accelerates.

DEEP FREEZE T2 · 50◆×BLK · THE EXECUTIONER
FREEZE 1.8→2.4→3.0S · ARMOR RESISTS · SWEEPS TX ONLY

Expanding wave; impaired bots (slowed, shocked, frozen, aura'd, or cracked) take 1. Armor resists the ice (T3 half duration), bosses only slow. Grabs one fragment from its cast-time snapshot — nothing else.

CONGESTION T2 · 40◆+5/S×BLK · THE GRAVITY
SLOW 37/44/50% BY RANK · PULLS FRAGMENTS · DETONATE = HALF CD

Bots inside wade through syrup; FRAGMENTS drift to you (1 cell per 4/3/2 ticks at combo 0/5/12 — gravity strengthens with heat). Re-tap: visible triple-ring boom, 1 dmg, half cooldown. Events (blue, overload, Genesis) always demand your body.

ZAP STORM T3 · 4◆/BOLT×BLK · THE DISCHARGE
HOLD 1.4→1.1→0.8S · BOLTS = 3+CHARGE+COMBO · RINGS OF 8

Every stack a bolt, uncapped, firing as rings 220ms apart. Bolts sweep everything, never build combo, and fire only what the wallet covers.

FORK T3 · 40◆×BLK · THE COURIER
LIFE 2→3→4S + 0.3S/STACK (CAP 12S)

A tailed clone splits from you, ferries fragments as full TXs, holds aggro, deals 1 in passing. Its lifetime is your chain, spent.

07 · The build

Passives — 13, two equipped

Two passive slots. Tiers cost more but stack with everything.

FRONT RUN T1 · 750

fragments worth +15→35%

MEMPOOL T1 · 750

chance of a bonus fragment 12→25%

TIME LOCK T1 · 750

combo window +0.4→1.0s

HODL T2 · 2,100

block reward +20→50%

COLD STORAGE T2 · 2,100

shielded mining ×1.5→3

DIFF ADJUST T2 · 2,100

fragments last +3→8 longer

FARADAY MESH T2 · 2,100

shield regen −20→40% faster

DARK POOL T3 · 5,600

bots chase you −50→100% less

PROOF OF WORK T3 · 5,600

embers earned +10→30%

LOW FEE T3 · 5,600

all active cast costs −20→50%

CHECKPOINT T4 · 12,000

cheat death 1→3 times, keep the chain

OVERCLOCK T4 · 12,000

combo cap raised ×5.5→6.5

GENESIS BLOCK T4 · 12,000

start every run at combo 3→7

Tiers gate LV 1/3/6/10; ranks at tier LV +3/+7 for 1.5×/2.5× buy price. RESET refunds 50% (never the DUAL SLOT).

08 · Minted loot

Items

Bosses are the faucet. Every boss kill mints a drop: class-weighted 30/40/30 (POWER/ECONOMY/COSMETIC), rarity 60/30/10, and — for non-cosmetics — a permanent ROLL (0–100%) placing its magnitude in the rarity band. A perfect epic is a different asset than a floor epic. Duplicate protection: a drop only auto-smelts (+50/150/500◆) if you own an equal-or-better roll — upgrades always enter the bag. Three equip slots, one per class, on the ITEMS page (BTN1 equip · BTN3 smelt). THE BLACK MARKET: the GAMBLE row (500◆) pulls at worse odds — rarity 75/22/3, POWER scarcer (20%) than boss drops — but the roll byte is uncapped: jackpots stay possible.

The firewall (constitution): embers never leave the device — no gifting, no trading, no mint — and foreign-minted items never SMELT to embers. Everything embers buy is therefore play-derived forever, so POWER items may be gambled and the ATH board and draw tickets stay purchase-proof at the currency layer.

Power — soul-bound

ItemRolled effect (C / R / E bands)
MINERS CROWNblock reward +6–12 / 12–18 / 20–30%
CHAIN LENScombo window +120–240 / 260–420 / 400–600 ms
FARADAY WEAVEshield regen −6–12 / 14–24 / 22–34%
STORM BRANDlightning hits SHOCK 300ms then slow 1.2–1.8 / 1.7–2.3 / 2.2–2.8 s — shocked = impaired

Economy — tradeable

ItemRolled effect
FEE VOUCHERALL cast costs −3–7 / 7–13 / 11–18% (stacks with LOW FEE)
EMBER MAGNETembers earned +3–7 / 7–13 / 11–18%
BOSS COMPASSboss jackpot +10–20 / 20–35 / 40–65 ◆

Cosmetic — tradeable, free-flowing

ItemEffect
ACID TRAILbody burns bright acid green, hotter by rarity, glow near the head — LIVE
GOLD SIGNALhead palette (render hook pending)
NOVA BURSTdeath explosion style (render hook pending)

Minting & trading (stage B)

Every item carries a device-unique MINT # from a persisted counter. Provenance (origin npub + transfer signature hops) is reserved for the rails: UR QR device-to-device + NIP-17 gifting, sender-deletes-on-send. True double-spend protection arrives with the Cashu-style mint. Planned defs: CRYO SIPHON (wave sweeps blue), themed families to ~30 defs.

09 · The second trigger

Dual Slot

LV 7 · 12,000◆ · permanent, never refunded. BTN1 + BTN2 each carry a skill; pause moves to the BTN3+BTN4 chord; mirrored bars recharge into the middle. Separate cooldowns + 1s lockout: pairs are sequences, never macros. It doesn't double your hash — it doubles your decisions. The pairs meta: aura→freeze (reliable) vs dash→storm (explosive, conduit-fuelled) vs dash→freeze (the brand-execute sleeper).

10 · The ledger

Ember Economy

In

Run conversionscore÷60 ×POW ×MAGNET
LIGHTNING bursts+5/15/30/50◆
Boss jackpot25◆ + COMPASS roll
Dupe smelts+50/150/500◆

Out — × (2+blocks)/2

DEEP FREEZE50◆ base
CONGESTION40◆ + 5◆/s
FORK40◆
ZAP STORM4◆ per bolt

The curve: heavy dual-drain = net-negative · moderate = stabilises · LIGHTNING + economy passives = the positive grind. Pause shows the run's live net. Levels: 15000×(N−1)^1.7; tiers 750/2,100/5,600/12,000◆.