4.9 KiB
Smuggler battle collection
20 September 2026. Prototyped, with Partial rules coverage. New battles in the base-faction Leader Skills preview connect the lower Smuggler effect in Basic and Advanced games. Public module, mode and publication gates remain closed.
Native Discovery legal participation — 6 October 2026
Three genuine native Skills/Discovery/Tech captures had legal hidden-trainer
plans but no bot candidate: the policy recomputed full-state module admission
against a player view that intentionally lacks private/internal configuration.
The engine now projects smugglerCollectionSupported beside the existing
saved battle format flag; bots use that authoritative rule result rather than
reconstructing the module profile. Modified-strength and multiple-positive-pile
guards still apply to each actual plan. No public mode or strategy tuning is
added. A real trainer-plan regression fails before and passes after repair;
all three original captures finish without rejection. Source trees/counts and
limits are in the native Discovery evidence.
Rule and timing contract
The source follow-up combines the printed reveal-time collection with the common requirement that the selected skilled leader survive. The card does not require winning or retaining forces. A captured skilled leader grants its lower effect to its controller.
At public plan reveal the server records the battle, controller, selected leader, plans, skill posture and territory's existing spice. The amount is the smaller of that single pile and the unmodified disc strength. This pending amount is not personal spice and cannot fund a sealed plan or another payment. After survival is known, the server transfers it once, including for a surviving loser, before Sandmaster adds any after-victory spice. A pile drained to zero cannot receive Sandmaster's addition. This deferred settlement and ordering remain explicit timing inferences, not a newly discovered publisher ruling.
A weapon death, opposing or mutual Traitor, or Lasgun–Shield explosion voids the collection. A successful sole own Traitor call can leave the Smuggler alive and eligible. A void receipt changes no pile; it cannot restore spice destroyed by an explosion. Capture return/death cleanup follows settlement without paying the original owner. This board transfer is neither bank income nor another player's payment, so it does not invoke Banker or Bureaucrat payment handling.
Connected behavior
- A shared admission quote serves the server, player controls and four AI profiles. Public mode flags and the player's own chosen plan determine the guard; an opponent's concealed cards do not control eligibility.
- Guidance explains the pending amount, survival and spending restriction. Collection is automatic, with the existing faction-colored action notice and an explanatory chronicle entry; there is no confirmation step.
- AI candidates omit optional Kwisatz when selecting Smuggler and reject other unsupported modified plans. Native face-up skilled discs remain unavailable to battle selection; captives and existing mandatory concealment retain their legal paths. UI availability and the submitted Kwisatz value share one check.
- Versioned, signed reveal receipts survive private JSON/SQLite continuation. Reads/actions reject changed plans, receipts, pile or identity. Public views expose the selected leader, controller and pending amount only after reveal; the internal binding frame is never projected. Concurrent final votes use the existing versioned room write to prevent duplicate collection.
- Battles already saved without the new version keep their original behavior. Subsequent battles use the new flow. There is no database migration or reset.
Boundaries and evidence
Kwisatz, separate trainer bonuses and Stunner still await the existing modifier question; no user answer is assumed. Expansion rosters/cards, the independent Ecaz card variant, other optional modules and multiple positive piles remain guarded before the Smuggler plan seals. These development restrictions are not rules that forbid those combinations in the physical game. Stone Burner and other expansion combinations therefore have no connected acceptance claim here.
Focused engine tests cover winners/losers in both modes, empty/short piles, zero surviving forces, death and Traitor outcomes, explosion, capture custody, Sandmaster order, corruption, immutable rejection, legacy continuation and all four bot profiles. SQLite tests cover authenticated restart, private projection, concurrent final votes and replay rejection. Browser and full-game sample scope, required check/build/HTTP results, preservation and verified Git delivery are recorded in the private source-bound checkpoint and commit message. This does not certify every Leader Skill or combined-module interaction.