Service Manuals

Every device in Silicon Pirates ships with internal-style documentation covering how it behaves, how it fails, and how to recover it, just like a real lab. All 18 devices are documented below. The same content is also searchable live in-game via the terminal's man <topic> command and the Library panel.

Documented Like a Real Lab -- Searchable In-Game, Too

Application hosts

Hardware that does nothing until you install software on it. All three need an attached NAS share before anything will install, and running services fill that share faster than anything else in the game — see the Player Guide for the full directory.

• 1U Application Server — the entry model. A host for software rather than a device with a job -- 6 CPU and 6 RAM units, enough for a runtime plus two or three modest services.
• 2U Application Server — the middle model at 14/16 units. The first with room for a real hosting stack: runtime, metrics, a database host and something to sell on top of it.
• 4U Application Server — the top model at 32/40 units. Enough headroom to run the entire software directory at once, if the storage and the power feed can take it.

Compute

• 1U AI Server — dual-GPU inference box. Distinct from a hosted-game server in that its whole economy is a compute-rental curve rather than a player-count simulation.
• 1U Server — general-purpose compute with no specialized hardware profile. Just a power port and a NIC; whatever job it does comes entirely from what you wire it into and what contract or system you point it at.
• Crypto Rig starter — negligible idle draw, enormous headroom once mining. The gap between its 10W typical and 1000W max is the widest of any device in the roster; power planning for this one is really about the mining state, not the idle state.
• Gambling Server Mid Game server — hosts up to two concurrent titles. Distinct from a plain server: install a game, start a hosted session, and it starts pulling in real players instead of just sitting there powered on.
• Terminal Server — the only device with a real interactive shell built in, rather than borrowing console access through a KVM. Every other device's terminal diagnostics ultimately run through this one (or a KVM console) somewhere in the rack.

Networking

• 1U Edge Router — the only device in the roster that can hold the ISP uplink. Everything the rack does that touches the outside world routes through whichever router owns that connection.
• 1U Firewall — router-adjacent, deep-packet-inspection enabled. Sits alongside (not instead of) a router: it doesn't hold the ISP uplink itself, but it's what actually earns the defensive benefit of "properly configured" security posture.
• 4-Port Switch — cheapest way to fan a single uplink out to multiple client devices. Purely a Layer-2 extension: it has no DHCP smarts of its own and doesn't participate in IP assignment.
• 8-Port Switch — same unmanaged behavior as the 4-port model, more room to grow. Same Layer-2-only role: it extends a segment without touching DHCP, firewall rules, or IP assignment.

Power Distribution

• 1U Compact PDU — smaller footprint, smaller everything. Same "in" port + switched outlets shape as the standard 1U PDU, just fewer of each and a lower ceiling.
• 1U Heavy-Duty PDU — the real workhorse. Same wiring shape as the standard PDU (one grid "in" port, switched outlets) but built around a much bigger power budget.
• 1U Industrial PDU — 1000W, 12 outlets. Covers a NAS or Game Server near its real ceiling alongside everyday gear on one unit, no daisy-chaining required.
• 1U Datacenter PDU — 1500W, 12 outlets. The top of the power ladder, room for an AI Server, a maxed Crypto Rig, and everything else on one circuit.
• 1U PDU — entry-level power distribution. Nine ports total: one "in" that must be wired to a Residential Grid slot before anything downstream draws real power, and 8 switched outlets feeding whatever you rack next to it.
• 1U Rack UPS — battery buffer for the whole chain wired to it. Same power-port shape as a PDU (an "in" to the grid, outlets downstream), but it stores charge instead of just passing load through.

Storage

• 1U Backup Appliance — purpose-built backup target, not a primary-storage device. Everything about its spec sheet is tuned for "the thing a real share mirrors to," not for serving a demanding client directly.
• 1U NAS Server — baseline storage tier. The device most other systems (hosted games, crypto rigs, client contracts) depend on indirectly, since they all need somewhere to actually put data.
• 2U RAID NAS — big, fast, still not disaster-proof alone. The performance tier of the NAS lineup: more disks, more capacity, and by far the highest IOPS rating in the roster.

Terminal / Diagnostics

• 1U KVM Console — console-over-IP for up to 4 devices. Gives real terminal access to whatever's wired to it without needing a dedicated Terminal Server device racked as well.

Multiplayer / Comms

• 1U Comm Device — the first real step toward multiplayer. Own and power one to open a live directory of other active players; a registered account is needed to actually use it, buying and racking one unregistered is fine, it just won't show the list yet.

Game Systems & Mechanics

Everything that happens across the whole rack rather than inside one device -- the Active Services Monitor, Client Contracts, reputation and progression, the marketplace, hacker debt, thermal simulation, dynamic electricity pricing, disaster recovery, redundancy and failover, and a troubleshooting quick-reference all live on one page:

• Redundancy & Failover — how to build a rack that survives losing any single component, what the Redundant PSU upgrade does, and why a failover keeps your uptime streak alive when an ordinary failure would reset it.
• Game Systems & Mechanics Manual — the Active Services Monitor, Client Contracts and progression, the marketplace, hacker debt (one of three recurring hacker collectives), fire/smoke hazards, thermal simulation, utility billing and dynamic pricing, disaster recovery, session/save reset, and troubleshooting.