/adversarial-escalation

name: adversarial-escalation
description: 'Strategy: Progressive pressure escalation — starts with surface-level
  challenges and escalates to fundamental assumption attacks based on defender confidence
  decay.'
type: strategy
tactics:
- dialectical-escalation
dependencies:
  tactics:
  - stress-test-dialectical-escalation
  sops:
  - confidence-calibration
  - debate-architect
  - debate-critic
  - debate-defender
  - debate-judge

Adversarial Escalation Strategy

Progressive pressure: escalate attack sophistication based on defender performance.

Method

1. **debate-architect** designs escalation ladder (surface → structural → foundational) 2. Level 1: **debate-critic** probes surface claims and evidence quality 3. **confidence-calibration** measures defender resilience 4. Level 2: **debate-critic** attacks structural coherence and logical dependencies 5. Level 3: **debate-critic** challenges foundational assumptions and paradigm fit 6. Each level only reached if defender survives previous level

Budget Table

| Parameter | S | M | L | |---|---|---|---| | Debate rounds | 4 | 8 | 12 | | Participating agents | 3 | 5 | 8 | | Coverage dimensions | 3 | 5 | 7 | | External evidence searches | 2 | 5 | 10 |

Orchestration

debate-architect → [design escalation ladder]
→ [for each level]:
    debate-critic (level-appropriate attack)
    → debate-defender → debate-judge
    → confidence-calibration
    → (escalate if survived, terminate if collapsed)
→ debate-transcript-analysis → verdict-synthesis

Subagents

• debate-architect (escalation design)
• debate-critic (multi-level attacks)
• debate-defender (responses)
• debate-judge (level adjudication)
• confidence-calibration (escalation trigger)

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Available Tactics

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

| Tactic | When to use | | --- | --- | | stress-test-dialectical-escalation | Tactic: Progressive debate escalation based on confidence thresholds. Each round increases attack sophistication until defender collapses or proves resilient. |

Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

| SOP | When to use | | --- | --- | | confidence-calibration | Calibrates confidence scores based on debate progression. Determines whether to escalate, continue, or terminate based on cumulative evidence. | | debate-architect | Designs debate structure based on artifact type — selects attack vectors, assigns perspectives, determines escalation ladder, and configures round parameters. | | debate-critic | Generates structured criticism from attack stance using Toulmin model. Produces claims, grounds, warrants, and rebuttals targeting artifact weaknesses. | | debate-defender | Responds to attacks with counter-evidence and counter-arguments. Defends artifact using evidence, clarification, and rebuttal while acknowledging valid criticisms. | | debate-judge | Evaluates debate exchanges, adjudicates argument quality, and produces round verdicts with confidence scores and reasoning. |

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