Codex Rift Operation

Running the Rift

A Rift Complex goes through a fixed series of states, from the bare gate to the open, extracting rift. The state stands at the top right of the Rift console, on terminals and monitors. Each step costs energy from the store of the Power Injection Array.

The states

State	Meaning	What happens next
UNBUILT	The gate is not formed.	Finish the gate.
STRUCTURE VALID	The gate is formed, but not every structure is linked and formed.	The console lists what is missing.
LINKED	Everything is complete, but there is not enough energy for the calibration.	Feed energy.
POWER READY	There is enough energy for the calibration.	Calibration starts by itself.
CALIBRATING	The complex calibrates itself.	STANDBY when done.
STANDBY	Ready: scans, research and dialing are possible.	Dial an address.
DIALING	The rift is being opened.	STABILIZING.
STABILIZING	The field is built up.	ONLINE, or a fault if the stability is too low.
ONLINE	The rift is open.	Start jobs.
EXTRACTING	The rift is open and at least one job works a deposit here.
SHUTDOWN	Controlled shutdown.	STANDBY.
FAULT	Something went wrong; the console shows why.	Fix it and press Acknowledge.

Calibration

Once everything is complete and the store holds the whole calibration, the complex calibrates for 200 ticks and draws 4,000,000 FE evenly over this time. When the energy runs out in between, it goes back to LINKED and goes on later where it stopped.

A finished calibration is kept, also when a structure breaks or is unlinked. In STANDBY the complex then falls back to STRUCTURE VALID (or UNBUILT, if the gate itself is no longer formed) and waits. Observatory tasks and research cannot start meanwhile. Once everything is complete again, it goes straight back to STANDBY without a new calibration.

Observatory tasks and research only run on a calibrated complex.

Difficulty of an address

Every address has a difficulty of at least 1. It grows slowly with the distance from the origin and fast with the phase:

difficulty = 1 + 0.35 × ln(1 + distance / 64) + 0.045 × phase²

Here the distance is the straight distance of the address from 0 / 0 / 0 (the phase does not count), and the phase goes from 0 to 16 minus one. A few examples: the origin at phase 0 has 1; an address 1,000 away at phase 0 about 2; phase 4 adds 0.72, phase 8 adds 2.88, phase 15 adds about 10.

The difficulty multiplies the energy of dialing, the upkeep of the open rift, a focused probe and every extracted unit, and it shortens the reach of the towers.

Dialing

Select a locked address of your atlas in the console and press Dial (only in STANDBY). The console shows the cost first ("Dial: … FE"). The complex needs in store:

• the dial: 12,000,000 FE times the difficulty, and
• the upkeep of the whole stabilisation: 20,000 FE per tick times the difficulty, for 120 ticks.

Dialing then takes 100 ticks and draws the dial energy evenly. The address's dimension is fixed at this moment: later changes of data packs or mods no longer change it.

Stabilising and the field

For 120 ticks the field grows to what the towers can hold at this address, see Stabilization Tower. If that is below 0.65 (65 % by default), the complex stops with the fault "Field stability … below the required …. Safe shutdown." Otherwise the rift is ONLINE.

The stability depends on the dimension (restless, anomalous and high-phase dimensions hold worse) and on the reach of the towers, which shrinks once the difficulty is above 4. The research lines Phase Anchors I and II extend the reach.

The open rift

• Every tick costs the upkeep: 20,000 FE times the difficulty. Without it the complex stops with the fault "Energy exhausted: … FE stored, … FE needed."
• The stability is checked every tick.
• The time the rift stays open counts as observation of the address: after 600 ticks its deposits are surveyed, after 1,800 ticks its reserves analysed (50 % of the time with Deep Survey). The time adds up over several visits. See Research and signals.
• The extraction jobs at this address work, see Mining.

Shutting down

Shut down in the console closes the rift in a controlled way: 40 ticks, then STANDBY. It works while dialing, stabilising and open. The jobs stop and wait for the rift ("waiting for rift"). Nothing is lost.

Faults

A fault stops the rift at once; the jobs wait. The console shows the reason in red. Fix the cause and press Acknowledge: the complex then finds its state again by itself (STANDBY, if it is complete and calibrated).

Fault	Cause and fix
… at x y z is no longer formed.	A linked structure broke. Repair it at the position shown.
… missing: … of … formed.	A kind of structure is missing or not formed (for example 3 of 4 towers).
Energy exhausted: … FE stored, … FE needed.	The store ran dry while dialing, stabilising or open. Feed more energy, or choose an easier address.
Field stability … below the required …. Safe shutdown.	The towers cannot hold this address. Research Phase Anchors, or choose a calmer, nearer or lower-phase address.
The Rift Gate ring is broken.	The gate is no longer formed. Repair the ring.

Paused complexes

When the gate or a linked structure lies in an unloaded chunk, the complex pauses completely: no upkeep, no fault, no progress. The console shows "Paused: … not loaded", monitors "Paused: …". It goes on as soon as everything is loaded again. A structure that was unloaded is checked again before it counts.

Caution

Energy for the whole stay The dial only checks the energy for dialing and stabilising. Keep feeding the Power Injection Array while the rift is open: the upkeep plus the extraction can be far more than your hatches let in, and an empty store ends in a fault.