Resource Economics

Resource Interdependencies

The four resources form a directed graph with feedback loops:

        ┌─── HDD ◄──── Rigs ◄──── Buy Orders ◄──── Money ───┐
        │                                                      │
        ▼                                                      │
  Card Storage ──► Thread Capacity ──► Thread Output ──► Money/Stamps
        ▲                                                      │
        │                                                      │
        └─── RAM ◄──── Rigs ◄──── Buy Orders ◄──── Money ────┘

The critical insight is that HDD and RAM are not directly fungible. HDD limits your card collection size; RAM limits your concurrent thread count. A 10:1 HDD:RAM ratio on Dan’s Laptop (5,750:256) means RAM is almost always the binding constraint early on.

HDD Economics

HDD consumption by card type:

Category	Typical HDD Cost	Notes
Basic income cards	2-5	Negligible per card, scales with copies
Shards	1,275 each	Major HDD sink — 3 shards = 3,825 HDD
Constructs	272-7,650	One-time investment, enables factories
Buy Orders	50-255	Temporary (consumed on resolution)
Defensive permanents	50-3,400	Airgapped Architecture is the most expensive
Malware	10-170	Injected, not chosen. Net Memory Leak is devastating

HDD bottleneck analysis: On Dan’s Laptop (5,750 HDD), you can hold roughly 4 shards before running out of space. This severely limits spell access. The jump to Polish Server (20,700 HDD) or Data Center Rack (63,250 HDD) is where the game opens up. At 63K HDD, you can comfortably hold 20+ shards, multiple constructs, and a full income card portfolio.

Shard economy dominates HDD planning. A single Level 3 Security spell like Buffer Overflow requires 3 Advanced Security Shards (3 × 1,275 = 3,825 HDD just for the arguments). Factor in the spell itself (1,955 HDD) and you’re looking at 5,780 HDD for one attack. Plan your shard reserves against your HDD budget.

RAM Allocation Strategy

RAM is consumed only by running threads and mounted permanents. Key RAM costs:

Thread Type	RAM Cost	Duration	RAM-Hours per Cycle
Bid Stamps	2	24h	48
Flip Stamps	2	24h	48
Postage Accumulation	1	36h	36
Pattern Mining	128	48h	6,144
Key Cracking	765	60h	45,900
Memory Leak Exploit	289	24h	6,936

Optimal RAM allocation follows a priority queue:

1. Auto-run income threads (Bid Stamps, Flip Stamps, Postage Accumulation) — low RAM, high value
2. Factory processes (Pattern Mining, Signal Generation) — moderate RAM, card generation
3. Reserve for manual spells (Entropy Wipe, Network Scan, hack spells) — variable
4. Key Cracking only when RAM budget allows (765 RAM is a major commitment)

Money Flow Analysis

Money sources by throughput:

Source	Money/Day	Requirements	Reliability
Flip Stamps (single)	140	2 stamps/day input	Steady, auto-run
Flip Stamps (×10 batch)	1,400	20 stamps/day input	Steady, scalable
Corporate Gig	350	Comms tree access	Steady, auto-run
Decent Investment	233 (amortized)	200 money upfront	One-time per card
Script Kiddie kill	~24 (amortized)	Combat capability	Every 21 days
Darknet Collective kill	~1,290 (amortized)	4 L3 spells	Every 31 days

Flip Stamps batch merging is the money printing press. At ×20, you generate 2,800 money/day — enough to buy a Data Center Rack every 4.3 days. The constraint is stamp input (40 stamps/day consumed).

Stamp Economy and Leaderboard Pressure

Stamp accumulation creates a tension: more stamps = higher leaderboard position = more adversary attention. The adversary wake thresholds create natural “danger zones”:

Stamps	New Threats Unlocked
1,000	Script Kiddie
3,000	Darknet Collective (!)
5,000	Corporate Spy
8,000	Hacktivist Collective
10,000	Cyber Police
20,000	PLEX-9
50,000	The Agency
75,000	Gideon
500,000	The Overmind

The 3,000 stamp threshold is the most dangerous cliff — the Darknet Collective wakes with 36 HP, 2 attacks per 18h cycle, and a devastating spell pool. Players should either have Favor From Above ready or accept significant incoming damage at this point.

Stamps can also be spent on certain cards (Flip Stamps costs 2 stamps/cycle). This creates a paradox: spending stamps for money reduces your leaderboard position but also reduces adversary targeting. In competitive worlds, this can be a deliberate strategy to “fly under the radar.”