kill-storm repro rig for #35 (owens laser crash): parameterized damage hook + honest NEGATIVE

BT_MP_FORCE_DMG=<n> now sets the per-tick probe damage (plain =1 keeps the
original amount) -- kill-storm rigs need lethal ticks.  rig_killstorm.ps1:
offset-port relay + owens shooter under BT_AUTOFIRE vs a respawning victim.

Result: NEGATIVE, twice.  The respawn cycle (death anim + warp + handshake)
caps the harvest at 1-2 kill-teardown windows per 4-minute round, and none
crashed.  With July's 254-volley negative the conclusion firms up: the window
needs the reporter's slow-machine timing, not more attempts here.  The field
net (crash self-report + join.old.log rotation + the sweep guards) means the
next real occurrence names its own site.  Refined theory recorded in the
ledger: six-beam volley vs a target dying mid-volley, 515-class teardown race.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

game/reconstructed/mech4.cpp

@@ -4853,7 +4853,14 @@ void
 							continue;
 						Damage dmg;
 						dmg.damageType   = Damage::ExplosiveDamageType;
-						dmg.damageAmount = kShotDamage;
+						// BT_MP_FORCE_DMG=<n> sets the per-tick damage (>1 --
+						// kill-storm repro rigs, #35: hundreds of victim-death
+						// teardown windows per mission); plain =1 keeps the
+						// original probe amount.
+						{
+							float forced = (float)atof(getenv("BT_MP_FORCE_DMG"));
+							dmg.damageAmount = (forced > 1.0f) ? forced : kShotDamage;
+						}
 						dmg.burstCount   = 1;
 						dmg.impactPoint  = m->localOrigin.linearPosition;
 						Entity::TakeDamageMessage td(

scratchpad/crash_20260726_2316_notes.md

@@ -130,3 +130,18 @@ or at the moment of a KILL?
 - Gitea #35 updated twice (occurrence + trucks-vs-opponents discriminator).
 STILL OWED: Conn Man's join.log (the laser-crash stack); live games-night
 verification of tonight's five fixes.
+
+## #35 kill-storm repro attempts (2026-07-27 00:45-01:05) -- NEGATIVE, insurance armed
+- Theory refined: the six-beam volley vs a target dying MID-VOLLEY (owens =
+  the biggest simultaneous event burst; trucks never die/tear down; the 515
+  class in the beam-hit/interest-teardown neighborhood).
+- BT_MP_FORCE_DMG parameterized (=<n> sets per-tick damage) + rig_killstorm.ps1
+  (owens autofire vs a respawning victim).  TWO 4-minute storms: the respawn
+  cycle limits the harvest to 1-2 kill windows per run -- zero crashes, zero
+  guard fires.  Combined with July's 254-volley negative: the window needs a
+  slow machine's timing (the Surface), not more volleys on this box.
+- FIELD NET now armed on three layers: the crash self-report (584+), join.bat
+  keeping join.old.log, and the sweep guards self-identifying.  The next field
+  occurrence CANNOT be lost.
+- BEST NEXT MOVE: hand the reporter the storm rig -- his machine has the
+  right timing profile.  A one-bat package of rig_killstorm is feasible.

scratchpad/rig_killstorm.ps1

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# KILL-STORM repro rig (#35 owens-laser crash): offset ports (1520), owens
+# shooter under BT_AUTOFIRE with BT_MP_FORCE_DMG killing the victim replicant
+# every ~1s -- hundreds of mid-volley-kill teardown windows per mission.
+$repo    = 'C:\git\bt411'
+$content = Join-Path $repo 'content'
+$scratch = 'C:\Users\EPILECTRIK\AppData\Local\Temp\claude\C--git-bt411\89ab96e9-6cf0-4555-939d-05bf3708745a\scratchpad'
+$exe     = Join-Path $repo 'build\Release\btl4.exe'
+$relaylog = Join-Path $scratch 'ks_relay.log'
+$pidfile  = Join-Path $scratch 'ks_pids.txt'
+
+if (@(Get-NetTCPConnection -State Listen -LocalPort 1520 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Count -gt 0) {
+  "ABORT: port 1520 in use"; exit 1
+}
+Remove-Item $relaylog -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+$pids = @()
+
+$relay = Start-Process -FilePath 'python' `
+    -ArgumentList '-u', (Join-Path $repo 'tools\btconsole.py'), '--relay', '1520',
+                  (Join-Path $content '_KILLSTORM.EGG'), '--bind', '127.0.0.1', '--manual-launch' `
+    -WorkingDirectory $content -PassThru `
+    -RedirectStandardOutput $relaylog `
+    -RedirectStandardError (Join-Path $scratch 'ks.err')
+$pids += $relay.Id
+Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
+"relay pid=$($relay.Id)"
+
+$env:BT_START_INSIDE = '1'
+$env:BT_DEV_GAUGES   = '1'
+$env:BT_RELAY        = '127.0.0.1:1520'
+$env:BT_MATCHLOG     = '0'
+$env:BT_LOG_APPEND   = '1'
+
+# SHOOTER: owens, autofire held, force-kill the victim replicant every ~1s
+$env:BT_LOG = 'ks_shooter.log'; $env:BT_SELF = '127.0.0.1:1502'
+$env:BT_AUTOFIRE = '1'; $env:BT_MP_FORCE_DMG = '400'
+$a = Start-Process -FilePath $exe -ArgumentList '-egg','_KILLSTORM.EGG','-net','1502' `
+        -WorkingDirectory $content -PassThru
+$pids += $a.Id
+Start-Sleep -Seconds 2
+# VICTIM: plain
+Remove-Item Env:\BT_AUTOFIRE, Env:\BT_MP_FORCE_DMG -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+$env:BT_LOG = 'ks_victim.log'; $env:BT_SELF = '127.0.0.1:1602'
+$b = Start-Process -FilePath $exe -ArgumentList '-egg','_KILLSTORM.EGG','-net','1602' `
+        -WorkingDirectory $content -PassThru
+$pids += $b.Id
+
+Set-Content -Path $pidfile -Value $pids
+"shooter=$($a.Id) victim=$($b.Id)"