Squad Ops — Tokenomics Whitepaper

0) Summary

Core idea: Dual‑currency economy.

• Credits (soft, off‑chain): earned by play; used for most gameplay loops.
• $SQUAD (on‑chain): scarce token for QoL, ownership, marketplace, and governance. No combat power.

1) Objectives

• Keep free‑to‑play competitive: $SQUAD must never buy combat stats.
• Create durable token demand via optional utilities, market fees, minting, and governance.
• Use predictable, decaying emissions to avoid runaway inflation and "farm & dump."
• Align long‑term players and creators through locking (veSQUAD) and treasury programs.

2) Economy Overview

• Players earn Credits from Work, Fortune, Missions, and King of the Hill (KOTH).
• Players optionally spend $SQUAD on quality‑of‑life passes, mint fees, marketplace fees, tournament staking, and cosmetic ownership.
• Sinks (burns/treasury) offset emissions and stabilize token velocity.

3) Currencies & Roles

Credits (Soft Currency)

Source: Work (~1k/day), Fortune (~1k/day), Missions, KOTH.

Sinks: training costs, rerolls, mission insurance, crafting/fusion, fast travel/map scans, guild dues, repairs (cosmetic), event entries.

Balance target: 60–90% of daily Credits earned flow back into sinks.

$SQUAD (On‑Chain Token)

Role: utility + governance + marketplace.

Sinks: QoL pass sales, mint fees, marketplace fee, KOTH staking/fees, optional cosmetic upgrades.

4) Supply & Distribution

Distribution

Alternative: 50M total supply using the same percentages if tighter scarcity desired.

5) Token Utility (no stat advantage)

• QoL Passes (7/30 days): auto‑Work, auto‑claim Fortune, mission queue/scheduling, auto‑heal, batch open crates, extra loadouts.
• Minting & Trading: mint merc skins, banners, badges into NFTs; list on marketplace (fees in $SQUAD; partial burn).
• Identity/Community: name changes, guild creation, custom banners / borders.
• Events & KOTH: entry/stake in $SQUAD; a slice to prize pools, a slice burned.
• Governance: map rotations, season themes, event formats via veSQUAD.

6) Emissions & Rewards

Daily emission budget (example): starts at 20,000 $SQUAD/day, decays 1% per week until a 2,000/day floor by ~year 4.

Split of daily budget:

• 40% Competitive pools (KOTH controller share + seasonal tournaments)
• 35% Seasonal objectives (weekly/season cards, exploration routes)
• 15% Creator/Guild bounties (UGC, events)
• 10% Social/retention quests (streaks, referrals)

Fairness controls:

Per‑account soft cap (5–10/day), anti‑bot checks, achievement‑gated rewards.

7) Sinks & Burns

• QoL Pass: 30–70% of price burned, remainder to treasury.
• Mint fees: 50% burned / 50% treasury.
• Marketplace fee: 2.5% in $SQUAD (auto‑convert); 60% burned / 40% treasury.
• KOTH stakes/fees: small burn on loss; winner share from pool.
• Season Pass (cosmetic track): priced in $SQUAD (or split with Credits) with a burn slice.

8) King of the Hill Model

• Challenge stake: small $SQUAD amount to queue.
• Rewards: daily $SQUAD pool + share of challenger fees to current controller and recent challengers.
• Anti‑camp: time‑weighted decay to controller bonus; rotating map modifiers.

9) veSQUAD (Locking for Alignment)

Lock $SQUAD 7–180 days → receive veSQUAD.

Perks:

• Marketplace/QoL fee rebates
• Cosmetic borders
• Governance power
• Curation rights (e.g., feature community maps)

10) Credits Economy Targets

• Current faucet baseline: ~2,000 Credits/player/day → ~10M/day at 5k players.
• Aim for ≥70% average sink rate across training, rerolls, crafting, and travel/scan utilities.
• Add elastic sinks that scale with activity (e.g., reroll/scan prices rise with usage bands).

11) Pricing (initial; tune by telemetry)

• 7‑day Auto‑Work: 5 $SQUAD
• 30‑day QoL bundle: 18 $SQUAD
• Name change: 1 $SQUAD
• Guild creation: 10 $SQUAD
• Mint cosmetic: 0.5–2 $SQUAD (rarity‑based)
• Marketplace fee: 2.5% (60% burned / 40% treasury)

12) Rollout Plan

1. Season 0: stabilize Credits (adjust sinks/faucets); add telemetry dashboards (DAU, ARPPU, sink ratio, token velocity).
2. Season 1: ship QoL Passes purchasable via fiat/Credits; validate demand and limits (no advantage over manual play).
3. Token Launch: launch $SQUAD, enable burning on QoL/mints/fees, start decaying emissions. Provide gas‑sponsored UX.
4. veSQUAD & Governance: introduce locking and votes on cosmetic/community matters.
5. Creator Economy: UGC tools, bounties paid from emissions + treasury.

13) KPIs to Monitor

• Credits: faucet/sink ratio, median balance, inflation index per season.
• $SQUAD: daily active holders, net issuance vs burns, lock ratio (veSQUAD/total), velocity, market depth.
• Engagement: DAU/WAU/MAU, session length, retention (D1/D7/D30), KOTH churn.
• Marketplace: GMV, unique buyers/sellers, fee capture, mint volumes.

14) Chain & UX

• Deploy on low‑fee L2; smart‑account wallets; email/social sign‑in; sponsor gas for critical flows; failover to Credits if wallet not ready.
• Keep game state off‑chain; mint only ownership/market items.

15) Risk & Mitigation

• Speculative pressure: decaying emissions, strong sinks, no stat pay‑to‑win.
• Botting: device/IP heuristics, streak validations, human‑in‑the‑loop challenges, behavior scoring.
• Liquidity shocks: treasury MM budget, time‑staggered unlocks, ve‑locking incentives.

Next Steps

• Parameterize emissions & sinks in a spreadsheet.
• Simulate scenarios (5k → 25k players, varying QoL uptake, different burn ratios).
• Finalize a Season‑1 economy spec + live tuning playbook.