If you grew up on RuneScape, the skill panel is muscle memory. Twenty-something icons. Each capped at 99. A green bar that fills at a different rate depending on which one you cared about that month.
Signal Decay is not RuneScape. It is an offline-first idle and auto-battler RPG with a sci-fi setting. But the skill system is built for the OSRS muscle memory.
15 lifeskills. 99 levels each. Seven combat skills on top, leveled separately. Roughly 346 hours to 99 in any given skill. Same shape, different planet.
The Skill List
Five gathering skills. Equipped tool tier modifies success chance and yield, RuneScape-style.
- Mining. Ore nodes scaled to skill level. Pickaxe tiers from T1 to T8.
- BioHarvest. The Herblore-adjacent gathering line. Contaminated flora, signal-warped fungi.
- Signal Tapping. Pulling raw signal from the environment. The closest analog to Hunter, but with a different output table.
- Woodcutting. Trees on the planet surface. Hatchet tiers map to gathering speed and yield.
- Fishing. Rod tiers, bait types, water nodes that scale to skill level.
One passive lifeskill.
- Signal Arrays. The Farming-equivalent slot. Multi-channel relay towers upgraded in parallel. Park a job, leave, come back. The passive output feeds other skills.
Eight crafting skills.
- Smelting. Ores to bars. T1 through T8.
- Forging. Bars to weapons and armor.
- Synthesis. Compound materials. The chemistry seat.
- Signal Etching. Inscribing runes onto gear and consumables.
- Gem Resonance. Permanent jewelry through gem forging. 80 craftable rings and amulets.
- Pyrecraft. Heat-driven crafting. Glasswork, ceramics, signal-stable casings.
- Cooking. Food and consumables. Healing in combat.
- Fabrication. The high-tier assembly skill. Tools, equipment frames, structural components.
One combat-side lifeskill.
- Signal Runes. The crafting line for spell costs in Signal Magic combat.
The list is tighter than RuneScape. Fewer skills, denser interaction between them. Every gathering skill feeds at least two crafting skills. Every crafting skill consumes from at least two gathering lines.
The Combat Skills
OSRS levels combat by routing XP through attack styles. Stab gives Attack XP. Aggressive gives Strength XP. Defensive gives Defence XP. Controlled splits.
Signal Decay uses the same model with a wider skill spread. Seven combat skills, each leveled independently:
- Attack. Accuracy.
- Strength. Melee damage.
- Fortitude. The Defence analog. Damage reduction and survivability.
- Ranged. The bow and crossbow line. Stackable ammo.
- Signal. The Magic analog. Staff plus rune-cost spells.
- Speed. Attack interval and dodge math.
- Protocol. A separate combat skill that levels through the Protocol Buffs system, not the programmable Combat Protocols.
The Protocol skill is not the Combat Protocols you write. Two systems, intentionally separate. The skill is a passive progression line that feeds buffs. The Protocols are an authoring layer for combat automation. Players mix them.
Three Combat Families
OSRS has the combat triangle. Signal Decay has three combat families with overlapping skill use:
- Melee. Sword, axe, blade. Levels Attack, Strength, Fortitude.
- Ranged. Bow and crossbow with stackable ammo. Levels Ranged, Speed, Fortitude.
- Signal Magic. Staff plus rune-cost spells. Levels Signal, Speed, Fortitude.
Stance and spell switching mid-fight. The same enemy can be approached three ways with three different XP outcomes.
The 99 Cap
99 is not arbitrary. It is the skill ceiling RuneScape players measure themselves against. Signal Decay matches the cap and matches the grind weight.
Time-to-99 in any skill lands around 346 hours. Comparable to Melvor Idle. Comparable to OSRS for the lighter skills. Heavy enough to feel earned. Light enough that the second 99 is reachable.
There is no Virtual Levels system today. No 200M XP race. The cap is the cap.
What Maps Cleanly
For RuneScape veterans, the translation is direct:
| RuneScape | Signal Decay |
| Mining | Mining |
| Woodcutting | Woodcutting |
| Fishing | Fishing |
| Hunter | Signal Tapping |
| Herblore | BioHarvest |
| Farming | Signal Arrays |
| Smithing | Smelting + Forging |
| Crafting | Pyrecraft + Fabrication |
| Runecrafting | Signal Runes |
| Cooking | Cooking |
| Magic | Signal |
| Attack | Attack |
| Strength | Strength |
| Defence | Fortitude |
| Ranged | Ranged |
What Does Not Map
- No Slayer. Boss fragments and tower milestones replace task-gated kill lists.
- No Prayer. The defensive layer lives inside Fortitude and equipped jewelry from Gem Resonance.
- No Construction. Closest analog is Signal Arrays, but the building is towers, not a player house.
- No Agility. Rolled into Speed.
- No Thieving. Not in the current scope.
The Tier System
OSRS gates gear by skill level. Signal Decay gates by tier.
10 resource tiers across 6 resource types. T1 through T8 feed equipment. T9 and T10 are reserved for consumables, gems, and masterworks. The tier ladder is the progression spine. Every gathering and crafting skill levels through the same ten-step climb, with branching recipes at each step.
Bronze to rune to dragon is one line. T1 to T10 is one ladder with six parallel rails on it.
Why This Shape
The 15-skill cap is deliberate. Every skill has to justify its slot.
OSRS has 28 skills today, accreted over twenty-five years. Signal Decay does not have twenty-five years. The skill list is the surface area of the design. Smaller surface, denser interactions, faster iteration.
If you logged five thousand hours in Gielinor, the loop is going to feel familiar. Different planet. Same panel.
