GENOPOOLDocument GP-DOC-10: Field Operations
Capture & Caging
The capture loop targets 45-90 s, 100% skill, 0% RNG. The containment fight plan
derives from the specimen's genome, the hourly seed and its wariness
(plan = f(genome, hourSeed, wariness)), so it is deterministic, learnable, and provably
fair: two Handlers facing the same specimen play the same fight. Access to the
attempt goes through the engagement lock (see Wild Spawns): a
locked specimen cannot be contested (or spooked) by anyone else until the lock releases.
The loop, second by second
| T | Phase | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 0 s | Detection | Specimens are visible in the world; the Field Scanner ping (cooldown 5 s, free and unlimited) adds a directional arrow if a spawn is ≤ 40 tiles. Landmark scan stations ping to 80 tiles: free comfort, not a bought item. |
| 0-5 s | Engagement | Within 24 tiles, engage to lock the specimen: an ENGAGED badge (with your Handler name) is visible to everyone. Timeout 120 s, one active lock per Handler. Walking off (> 40 tiles), disconnecting, or abandoning releases the lock. |
| 5-25 s | Approach | Alert radius 12 tiles (6 crouched). Sprinting into the radius = Alert → 20-tile flight (2× max; the 3rd = the specimen leaves the world). While locked, only your alerts count: nobody can spook your engaged specimen. Cover breaks line of sight. |
| 25-27 s | Sheet (on engagement) | Engaging opens the complete genome sheet, free (legal duty: an informed decision): the 8 stats, the species, the carried alleles (recessives included), the Q rank and the specimen's temper, a preview of the fight parameters, pure and public. Walking away or RELEASE costs nothing. No spend is committed at this stage. The field scan (hold 2.0 s at ≤ 6 tiles) remains the out-of-engagement ritual; a clean scan shows the same preview. |
| 32 s | Cast | THROW LASSO at ≤ 8 tiles, lock required. The fight begins and the specimen's wandering freezes (HOLD, 40 s max); during the fight your Handler is auto-reeled toward the specimen at walk speed; final server validation requires a position ≤ 2 tiles at resolution. |
| 32-62 s | Containment fight | One vertical rail, one input: hold to lift the lasso loop, release to let it fall (damped bounce at the bottom). Keeping the specimen's token inside the loop fills the CONTAINMENT gauge; losing it drains the gauge. Full = captured; empty or 30 s = escaped. The agitation plan is a seeded, deterministic mix of morphology archetypes: dart (AGI), sweep (SPD), sink (mass), flick (JNT). Difficulty scales with the rarity percentile of the genome: a shorter loop, a faster drain, a livelier plan. |
| 62 s | Resolution | Your input trace (1 bit per tick) is sent to the server, which re-simulates the whole fight with the same pure function: a trace that did not win is refused and nothing is spent. Success: -1 lasso charge, specimen into the field satchel, and out of the world for everyone ("SPECIMEN CAPTURED BY <HANDLER>"), with a celebration scaled to the Q rank (and a PERFECT CONTAINMENT stamp for a near-flawless fight, cosmetic only). Failure: wariness +1 (the fight hardens one notch), relocation, your lock holds; 2 failures = the specimen escapes you for good (it stays in the world for other Handlers). |
A Q3/Q4 reads at distance (a distinct scanner aura) so tension rises before the scan, but the decision is always 100% informed before any spend. Nothing random is ever paid for.
The scan is the legal firewall
The scan reveals 100% of the genome for free, before any decision to pay. The Handler pays only for a known good at a known price. This is the containment of the gambling triad (price + stake + chance): there is no chance left unresolved at the moment of payment.
Capture → holding → cage
Only the cage mints on-chain. This is the demographic valve: on-chain population = cages sold. Released specimens mint nothing.
| Stage | v0 rule | Currency |
|---|---|---|
| Field satchel | 3 slots. Off-chain transport, not playable, not listable. | - |
| Deposit / transfer | Free at any station → holding at the paddock. | free |
| Holding (temporary, 14 days) | Playable in races for 14 days without minting. Not breedable, not listable, not showcase-able. | free |
| Containment Cage | Any time in the window: cage = mint the Certified Specimen Sheet (Metaplex Core NFT) into the wallet. Price fixed 3 USDC, independent of rarity. | 3 USDC |
| Release | At day 14 without a cage → automatic release (nothing minted, back to the pool). Voluntary release allowed any time. | free |
- Free scan, paid cage. The price is fixed and rarity-independent, so the upside of a nugget belongs to the Handler; the operator is paid on resale (5% enforced Metaplex Core royalties). This fixed price is the legal firewall: the cost never tracks the value of what you found.
- The cage is the only mint. Releasing costs nothing and mints nothing, which is exactly what makes the on-chain population equal to cages sold: the anti-inflation valve on the creature census.
For how specimens are generated and ranked, see Wild Spawns. For what happens to a caged specimen next (trading, royalties, the registry), see Economy and the Marketplace & Registry.