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# Imposter tactics — guide (generic tier)

Reference notes, design rationale, and negative results (1).

#### 1. Before chasing a 'behavior bug', check whether a gated action's cooldown is even reachable in a realistic run
`generic` · **negative result** · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_ · _see related: U0534 (other tier)_

Before treating a rarely-firing gated action as a behavior/conversion bug, compute whether its cooldown is even reachable within a realistic run: cooldowns that decrement only during active operation and reset on certain events (e.g. an interruption) can require more uninterrupted time than most runs ever provide, so 'it almost never fired' may be a mechanics ceiling, not a logic failure. Gate opt-in plays on the OBSERVED/configured cooldown versus the action's worst-case setup budget, never a hardcoded default, and re-audit every cooldown-dependent behavior whenever a balance/timing constant changes. If the readiness state (ready-since, last-fired, cooldown-remaining) lives in state but nothing emits it, add explicit readiness/cooldown tracing FIRST so logs can distinguish 'on cooldown' from 'ready but no valid target'.
  <sub>sources: claude-code:25488cd9-61d5-4231-bd87-e2744b6db043, claude-code:4ec865f5-bcbc-44f1-b109-a27d69f55506, codex:019e7174-3079-7351-b8ea-b1bfcb917ff4, codex:claude-code:ff9f693c-b88a-419d-be7a-efc46750dc23</sub>
