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fix(sim): lower transcendence threshold so the mechanic fires in default runs - #37

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csheldrick merged 1 commit into
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claude/noet-galimulator-comparison-tbtz5p
Jun 29, 2026
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csheldrick merged 1 commit into
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claude/noet-galimulator-comparison-tbtz5p

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Summary

Transcendence is a named, documented mechanic ("high-tech empires may ascend and leave the galaxy in a blaze of glory") that tallies in the headless report but produced 0 events across the entire default 3000-tick run. The pickMood transcending entry condition required techLevel > 2.2 && wealth > 800. Starting empire techLevel is 0.1–0.5; under the war-heavy conditions of the default run, effective tech growth is ~0.00072/tick, making 2.2 unreachable before most empires collapse.

One-line fix: lower to techLevel > 1.5 && wealth > 600. At the same growth rate, 1.5 is reachable in ~1,400 ticks, allowing longer-lived empires to eventually enter the transcending mood and ascend.

Change

src/sim/Tick.ts — pickMood, line 1641

-["transcending", state.transcendenceEnabled !== false && emp.techLevel > 2.2 && emp.wealth > 800 ? 1.2 : 0],
+["transcending", state.transcendenceEnabled !== false && emp.techLevel > 1.5 && emp.wealth > 600 ? 1.2 : 0],

No state shape changes. No new RNG calls. No new event types. upgradeState and SAVE_VERSION untouched.

Validation (seed 42, 400 stars, milestones 1000/3000)

Metric Before After
Transcended 0 1
Wars declared 831 892
Empires collapsed 210 215
Determinism replay ✓ passed ✓ passed
--assert-health gate ✓ passed ✓ passed
tsc -b typecheck ✓ ✓
vite build ✓ ✓

1 transcendence by tick 3000 is within the healthy 1–3 target range. Wars and collapses shift because one transcendence removes an empire mid-run, altering downstream PRNG consumption — determinism is preserved within the new simulation flow.


Generated by Claude Code

…000-tick runs

The pickMood transcending entry condition required techLevel > 2.2 and wealth > 800.
Starting empire techLevel is 0.1–0.5; under the war-heavy conditions typical of the
default run, effective tech growth is ~0.00072/tick, making 2.2 unreachable before
most empires collapse. Result: 0 transcendences in 3000 ticks despite transcendence
being a documented named mechanic.

Lower thresholds to techLevel > 1.5 and wealth > 600. At the same effective growth
rate, 1.5 is reachable in ~1,400 ticks, allowing longer-lived empires to enter the
transcending mood and eventually ascend.

Validated on seed 42, 400 stars, milestones 1000/3000:
- Before: 0 transcended, 831 wars, 210 collapses
- After:  1 transcended, 892 wars, 215 collapses
- Determinism replay: ✓ passed
- Health gate (--assert-health): ✓ passed
- Build: ✓ clean

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01NHgnAtqrdvG7bQk2NQcVE9
@csheldrick
csheldrick merged commit 96c8c4a into main Jun 29, 2026
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@csheldrick
csheldrick deleted the claude/noet-galimulator-comparison-tbtz5p branch June 29, 2026 23:35
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2 participants