Gate
From SpiralKnights
Gates are entrances into the Clockworks used by the Spiral Knights to explore Cradle.
Gates are either active, permitting knights to travel down into the Clockworks, or dormant, with a countdown timer showing when they will become active.
There are four parts in a gate:
- Control Panel - Used on active gates to go adventuring
- Display Monitor - Visually shows the gate's name
- Mineral Deposit Box - Used on dormant gates for gate construction
- Totem - Shows either the current strata themes(active gates) or the current construction status (dormant gates)
Contents
Active Gates
Active gates are open for exploration by knights. Although a few are permanent, such as the tutorial gates and the former Firefly Gate, most are constructed by players in the Arcade and have different thematic levels depending on the construction process. The Arcade contains 8 gates at any time, of which the leftmost 4 are active and the rightmost 4 are dormant. Every two days, the leftmost gate disappears and all remaining gates are shifted left, causing a dormant gate to become active and a new dormant gate to be created; thus, each gate remains active for 8 days.
To enter a gate, go to the Control Panel and use your ATTACK key to access the options.
Tiers and Strata
Each gate contains three tiers of increasing difficulty separated by subtowns. Each tier is subdivided into two strata, each containing 3-5 floors populated with levels appropriate to the stratum's theme. Between these strata lies a Clockwork Terminal, a safe floor where you can change equipment, heal yourself, and buy recipes from Basil.
Players can enter the gate at the start of a tier or by joining an existing adventuring party. Most levels end with an elevator allowing knights to either descend to the next floor for 10CE or return to Haven; however, the elevators leading to a subtown or terminal are free, and so they descend automatically.
Gate Progress
Entrance to a subtown, the first levels of tiers 2 and 3, is only free for that gate if a knight has reached that subtown from the previous tier in a previous run. Clearance for free tier entrance is separate for each gate, so new runs from the top are required as new gates become active. Gate progress is shown on the Progress tab of the Character window; free entry is marked by a filled star, while paid entry is marked by an empty star.
- Tier 1 - Depth 0-7; always free entry
- Tier 2 - Depth 8-17; paid entry: 200 crowns
- Tier 3 - Depth 18-28; paid entry: 500 crowns
Level Rotation
Aside from levels having multiple possible versions, the next depth's level changes in real time if there is more than one possible level for that depth. The current next level can be seen on the monitor at the lift to the next depth, and on the Gate Map of your current adventure, which is accessed from the 
Main Menu icon in the top left corner of the screen.
On the Gate Map, there is a line leading from your current level (marked with a red circle and a "person" icon) to the next location. Each possible level is divided by arrows pointing left or right, or a question mark. The arrows indicate which direction the levels at the next depth are rotating in. Question marks mean that depth's next level is constantly changing, so the next level cannot be determined, and the line which usually indicates what the next level will be becomes a branch pointing to all possible levels. With enough waiting, it is possible to take the most desirable route down, barring the randomized 
depths.
The interval at which depths can change the path varies or may be random, although most of the time it changes around every 5 (3 to 7) minutes. It is possible for the levels to move left/right and the line leading to the level to change at the same time, bypassing what should have been the "next" level entirely. Levels continue to rotate even as you play through your current one, so you may wait an elevator for the desired level to appear. The next level is not locked in until all party members step on the lift; the monitor may change while heat is being distributed, but the level has already been chosen.
Each individual depth usually takes the same amount of time to rotate one level. This mean that depths which have previously taken extended periods of time to rotate will probably take extended periods of time to rotate again. While as aforementioned, depths usually change every 3 to 7 minutes, the complete range of possibilities lies between about 1:45 and 20 minutes.
Additionally, the rate at which levels change appears to be dependent upon the direction of rotation of the current depth, and the direction of the next. There seems to be tendency towards longer wait times if both rotate the same direction, and a tendency towards shorter times if they rotate in opposite directions. This can be pictured as two overlapping gears(the two levels), from which the knight is about to drop from the top one to the bottom one(descending further into the clockworks). If they both rotate opposite directions, the knight will quickly pass over every possibility on the lower gear(shorter wait times). If they both rotate the same direction, then the closer they are to the same speed, the longer the knight will spend waiting for a specific level.[1]
Dormant Gates
Dormant gates appear to the right side of the Arcade and have 8 days of gate construction before becoming active gates. You can see an exact day:hour:minute:second countdown indicator in the display when interacting with the mineral deposit area. During this time players can deposit minerals to create thematic levels within each stratum.
When the countdown timer reaches zero, the gate becomes active with whatever levels that have been constructed.
Gate Names
When a new gate is generated in the Arcade, it is randomly assigned a color and a symbol to give it a name. Below is a list of known colors and symbols.
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There currently are 182 (= 13 colors * 14 symbols) possible combinations.
Level Icons
Clockwork depths have level icons that denote the type of level Knights will delve into. There are three things Knights should look for:
- Background color: This indicates the elemental theme of the depth and determines which status ailments will appear.
- Icon: This determines the map style and layout of the depth.
- Icon color: This tells Knights what kind of monsters lurk in the depth, and in turn which damage type to expect.
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Stratum Themes
Each gate can have up to 6 strata. A tier has 2 strata. The themes can be seen in the totem, and in the case of dormant gates they can also be seen in the gate construction information. There are 10 possible stratum themes.
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