Mint a ship
A Pilot is an ERC-721 ship with its art and traits generated by the contract. There is no off-chain image server holding the ship together. The tokenURI returns the metadata and SVG.
Field manual
ABOUT PILOT PROTOCOL
Pilot Protocol is an on-chain arcade collection where the NFT is not just a profile picture. It is the ship you fly, the record you build, and the thing you can permanently lose.
Fly missions
You pick a ship, pick a difficulty, and start a mission. The ship is locked while that mission is active so it cannot be repaired, forged, transferred, or sent into another run before the result is settled.
Settle the run
When the run ends, the backend relayer finalizes the result on-chain. The contract updates kills, XP, PILOT rewards, parts, mission stats, and NFT life loss.
Live with the result
If a ship loses its last NFT life, it burns. That is not flavor text. The token is marked destroyed, removed from normal play, and moved into the memorial layer.
The Short Version
You mint a ship from the Academy. The contract gives it traits, a weapon type, a palette, a max-life count, and its SVG. That ship can enter arcade missions. Missions can award PILOT, XP, kills, parts, and leaderboard records.
The risk is real. A mission uses run lives inside the game, but the NFT also has permanent lives on-chain. Failed runs can remove an NFT life. At zero, the ship burns and becomes part of the memorial side of the protocol.
The whole thing is meant to feel closer to an arcade cabinet with consequences than a normal mint site. You can play it casually, but the contract treats the ship like it matters.
What Lives Mean
NFT lives
NFT lives live in the ship contract. They are the serious lives. These are shown as hearts on ship pages and in the hangar. Repair kits can restore them while the ship is alive and unlocked.
If NFT lives hit zero, the ship is burned. Burned ships cannot be repaired or used again.
Run lives
Run lives are the lives inside a single arcade session. They reset when a new run starts. Losing all run lives does not automatically mean the NFT burns, but it can cause one NFT life to be removed during settlement.
The separation matters because the game can be tense without making every hit a permanent contract event.
Why Missions Lock
A ship is locked as soon as a mission starts. That is intentional. Without the lock, a player could start losing, leave the app, buy a repair kit, transfer the ship, forge it, or start over before the bad result lands.
The lock keeps the game honest. If something goes wrong, the recovery screen is there so the player can finish or time out the unresolved mission instead of being stranded with a confusing contract state.
Rewards and Progress
PILOT
PILOT is the gameplay reward token. It is used by the Forge and can be earned from finalized missions.
Parts
Parts are ERC-1155 rewards. They currently record mission drops and leave room for future crafting and upgrade systems.
Stats
Kills, XP, mission clears, and leaderboard entries come from finalized mission data. If it did not settle, it should not count.
Official Collections
Blessings and Shop Items
Blessings come from memorial offerings and can attach a temporary boost to a living ship. Shop items are soulbound utility items tied to a ship, not tradeable inventory for flipping.
The app shows active blessings, shields, beacons, boosters, Warden's Mark, and hard-mode restrictions before you send a ship into play. That matters because players should know what protection or bonus they are carrying before the run starts.
Revenue Routing
Paid mint revenue is routed through the mint splitter. The intended current split is 70% to the project wallet and 30% to Signal Return. Shop item revenue follows the shop contract path, currently 20% project wallet and 80% Signal Return.
Signal Return exists so part of the economy can flow back into the protocol vault instead of every payment disappearing into a normal treasury. Distribution is designed around paginated batches because a contract should not try to pay every holder in one giant loop.
What Is On-Chain
ChainBase
Ship tokenERC-721
PartsERC-1155
Reward tokenPILOT
ArtOn-chain SVG
Game settlementRelayed on-chain transaction
Mint split70% project wallet / 30% Signal Return
Shop split20% project wallet / 80% Signal Return
Before You Play
- Do not start a mission with a ship you are not willing to risk.
- Do not close the app during settlement if the run has ended. Let the relayer finish.
- If a mission is stuck, use the recovery flow before shopping, repairing, forging, or starting again.
- Hard mode disables most shop protection. Memorial blessings are different and can still matter.
- Always check the wallet confirmation. If the network fee or contract address looks wrong, stop.
FAQ
Can I lose the NFT?
Yes. NFT lives are permanent on-chain lives. Run lives are only for the arcade session. If the mission settlement takes the last NFT life, the ship burns.
Can I repair a burned ship?
No. Repair kits cannot revive a burned ship. Once a ship is burned, that is the end of its playable life.
What if my phone dies or I close the app mid-run?
The ship remains locked to that active mission. You can return and recover or finalize the session. The lock exists because otherwise players could dodge a bad result by leaving.
Why is there a relayer?
The game result still has to reach the contract. The relayer handles that finalization path so the app can settle sessions cleanly while the contract checks that the sender is trusted.
Are the leaderboards fully on-chain?
The final sessions are emitted by the contract, then indexed for display. Keeping every leaderboard sort directly inside the contract would be expensive and awkward for players.
What do parts do right now?
Parts are ERC-1155 rewards from missions. They are part of the long-term economy and crafting direction. They are visible proof of gameplay now, and the design leaves room for deeper crafting later.
What is Signal Return?
Signal Return is the vault side of the project. Mint and shop revenue can flow into it, and distribution is designed to happen in batches so the system does not try to loop through everyone in one transaction.
Who can move emergency funds?
Emergency controls are owner-only. They should be controlled by the project Safe or governance path, not a casual hot wallet. They exist for recovery, not day-to-day withdrawals.