The dark forest needs three things at once: unverifiable intent, sudden tech leaps, and cheap anonymous strikes. Drop one and it fails.

The claim

The dark-forest conclusion, that a civilization should hide and destroy any civilization it detects, follows only if three conditions hold together: intentions cannot be verified at any cost, a rival can overtake you suddenly by a technological leap, and striking is cheap, anonymous and much easier than defending. Remove any one and hiding or striking first is no longer the dominant strategy: verifiable intent permits trust, slow and visible progress permits watching instead of striking, and a strike that reveals the striker makes attacking as dangerous as being seen.