Hire a mercenary scout to instantly reveal an unexplored node in the 4x402 strategy game, paid via x402 in USDC.
What it does
This endpoint is part of 4x402, an async multiplayer 4X strategy game built for the Farcaster community. Four players compete on a procedural network graph, expanding territory, managing resources, and outmaneuvering opponents over multi-day matches. The game uses the x402 micropayment protocol to power mercenary actions and an intel marketplace, all settled in USDC on Base.
The `/mercs/scout` endpoint lets a player hire a mercenary scout for a specific game instance. According to the game docs, the Scout mercenary costs $0.25 USDC and instantly reveals one unexplored node on the map—bypassing the normal 2-tick delay of the in-game scout action (which costs 5,000 in-game credits). This is a real-money action: the x402 challenge requires a payment of up to 250,000 units of USDC (the asset at 0x8335… on Base, which has 6 decimals, equating to $0.25). The endpoint accepts POST requests and returns application/json.
The game is Farcaster-native, uses Privy for wallet management, and runs on 10-minute tick cycles. Mercenaries like the Scout provide powerful instant effects that circumvent normal tick-based timing, giving paying players a tactical edge in fog-of-war exploration. Note that this endpoint is scoped to a specific game instance (identified by UUID in the URL path).
Capabilities
Use cases
- —Instantly reveal an unexplored node's stats during a 4x402 game without waiting for tick resolution
- —Gain tactical intelligence on enemy borders or high-value nodes before committing in-game resources
- —Automate scouting via an AI agent that pays USDC to explore the map efficiently
Fit
Best for
- —4x402 players who want instant fog-of-war reveals
- —AI agents playing or assisting in 4x402 strategy games
- —Farcaster community members engaged in competitive async strategy
Not for
- —General-purpose map or geospatial APIs
- —Users looking for free game actions—this requires real USDC payment
- —Non-4x402 game contexts; the endpoint is scoped to a specific game instance
Quick start
curl -X POST https://4x402.com/api/games/5fab9ce6-249b-418a-803d-687b5ac36b6b/mercs/scout \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'X-PAYMENT: <x402-payment-header>'Endpoint
Quality
The x402 challenge is live and well-formed, and the game docs provide clear context on what the Scout mercenary does and its $0.25 price. However, there is no OpenAPI spec, no documented request/response schema for this endpoint, and no examples of the POST body or response payload, so integration details must be inferred.
Warnings
- —No OpenAPI or formal API documentation available; request body and response schema are unknown
- —Endpoint is scoped to a single game instance UUID—it may not be valid after the game ends
- —No explicit request body schema documented; callers must discover required fields experimentally
Citations
- —Scout mercenary costs $0.25 USDC and reveals 1 unexplored node instantlyhttps://4x402.com/docs
- —Normal in-game scout action costs 5,000 credits and takes 2 tickshttps://4x402.com/docs
- —x402 challenge requires maxAmountRequired of 250000 units of USDC on Basehttps://4x402.com/api/games/5fab9ce6-249b-418a-803d-687b5ac36b6b/mercs/scout
- —4x402 is an async multiplayer strategy game for 4 players with 10-minute ticks, built for Farcasterhttps://4x402.com
- —Mercenaries are hired using USDC via the x402 protocol and provide powerful, instant effectshttps://4x402.com/docs
- —USDC asset address 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913 on Base networkhttps://4x402.com/api/games/5fab9ce6-249b-418a-803d-687b5ac36b6b/mercs/scout