Dune/docs/IX_LEADER_SKILLS.md

Basic Ixians with Leader Skills

Connected development prototype, 21 September 2026. Genuine Basic Ixian setup supports all fourteen Skills; normal starts are labelled previews, while complete-mode/publication acceptance remains gated. The 18 October registered selected-deck/World scope supersedes the old single-family/no-module admission, not printed powers.

4 October Advanced continuation: native Ixians and/or CHOAM with classic opponents, distinct required family decks and all fourteen skills now compose under the bounded native contract. Advanced Ixian support, skilled Suk rescue and subsequent native substitution use original physical counters. Foreign-ghola revival remains Advanced-only under native Tleilaxu conditions; current optional scope follows18 October above.

Setup and configuration

Use Basic or Advanced2–6 with the selected Ix deck; other registered selected factions, including native Ecaz/Moritani, follow the shared contract. An Ixian seat is not required merely to select its ordinary deck. Existing supported World, Tech/Advanced Strongholds and independent-card combinations use the canonical scope above. The real private Ixian starting-card choice still precedes skill offers/assignments, Traitors and Face Dancers; the first Storm retains actual HMS placement and all seven Cyborgs/thirteen Suboids.

Fresh Advanced Ixian setup with Harkonnen now includes the extra starting card in the inspected pool; both Harkonnen cards come from its shuffled remainder. Basic and already-opened old-count Advanced drafts keep the separate extra draw. Selection and the complete card deal still precede Skill assignment. Source cutover.

Create and ready a fresh local lobby, then follow the backed-up version-checked prototype entry using profile leader-skills. The shared initializer retains the Tleilaxu integration.

Connected interactions

• Planetologist calculates each gathered origin's range using only cyborgs selected from that origin. Selected sectors within the same territory share their moving group. Its range bonus independently survives native movement cancellation; a three-territory cyborg move still opens the proper Karama window. Independent city ornithopters do not create that native window.
• Sandmaster routes can enter or leave the HMS interior through its current pointer. Adjacency belongs to the room, respects the storm and never turns the interior into a shortcut or relocates the HMS. Interior battles and spice effects remain distinct from the external pointing sector.
• Suk Graduate finishes rescue before native substitution. Kept cyborgs and cyborgs returned to reserves are excluded from the actual Tank-loss map. Where more than one reserve-rescue origin is possible, the player explicitly selects it; only cyborgs truly lost in each sector can be substituted there. Normal rescued-force origins need no extra choice because no subsequent effect here depends on them. This exposes existing physical choices, not a new rescue power.
• Rihani finishes its private exchange before substitution. A saved receipt binds original losses, physical counters, cards and the declared exchange. Substitution allow, decline and cancellation all resume mandatory then optional winner cleanup; Planetologist substitutes cannot escape disposal.
• Thumper, the additional Harvester and Amal are the expansion's green Special cards eligible for Planetologist substitution. Exact physical identities, names and effects are checked. Their native effects do not execute during substitution; other cards in the engine's broad Special bucket are excluded.

Sources and interpretation

Existing Leader Skills rules, Planetologist contract, Suk Graduate contract, Sandmaster routes and Ix rules supply the established powers, physical custody and skill-before-faction precedence. Rescue-sector selection records the physical choice needed to compose those powers without reviving an already rescued counter.

The canonical green Ix card inventory was checked directly against the printed components visible in this component photograph. This is physical component evidence, not a retailer's rules interpretation. Thumper also appears in the existing designer Planetologist example. The private source archive records SHA-256 6d2eb22889059edc8b35b9cd1178b6907312132b1b41768051d15abcc9c89125. Sandtrout is a brown Spice card; red/blue battle cards do not qualify.

Verification and remaining scope

npm test -- ix-skills
node --import tsx tools/faction-games.ts --profile ix-skills --out /private/new-ix-skills-samples

The sample profile adds Tleilaxu, Emperor, Guild, Harkonnen and Fremen in order and preserves stable scenario ordinals 26–30. Focused tests use all fourteen genuine assignments and conserved battle/movement positions, with legal actions from existing AI profiles, controls, private views, strict rejection and JSON continuation. In-memory authenticated recovery verifies exactly one concurrent starting-card choice, subsequent private setup and unchanged seats. Final source-bound check/build, samples, browser and preservation reports remain private. These are playability checks, not AI strength studies.

Additional faction/module combinations, unresolved Sandmaster eligibility during native HMS relocation and other missing Leader Skill effects remain separate work. Existing Banker, Mentat and Diplomat questions remain in the decision register; Smuggler uses the later provisional modifier policy. Full AI implementation and difficulty tuning wait until all non-AI game features are complete.