#45/#134 authentic score/death report tail -- replaces the scoring stand-ins

Reconstructs the dark-gap tail of Mech::TakeDamageMessageHandler
(@0x4a02f4-0x4a0890, raw disasm): the three id-0x16 score reports (kill to
the shooter's player / type-0 wire-fidelity / received to the victim's
player) and the BT 0x38-byte VehicleDeadMessage extension {killed-by player,
kill zone} dispatched from the death tail.  Retires BTPostDamageScore /
BTPostKillScore and the per-hit inflicted credit (never existed in 1995:
@0x4c0200 is bound in no handler-table entry -- byte-scan receipt in
decomp-reference).  Suicides now dispatch and the handler negates the award
(the #134 panic penalty).  Collision divert falls through to the death tail
per @0x4a0375 (wall deaths respawn + blast; no score).  ScoreMessage fields
renamed to decoded truth (vitalHit/zoneIndex/subsysID) + wire asserts;
console VTVDamaged points_transfered corrected (Round(award), not Now()).

Benches: scorekill.sh cross-node kill (kills=1 award=4.88, killedBy=2:1
zone=3, single death cycle), scoreself.sh suicide (type=2 award=-39.00
kills=0), deathblast2.sh re-verified (72 bursts at ~9u).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

context/combat-damage.md

@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ zones — mid-fight darkening DOES accumulate when mechs live long enough.
 **Field logs confirm dominance**: Rajel's night-9 log alone has 12 bay-fire events (LRM10
 455-490 pts); ConnMan 10; the "salvo barely dented my armor" reporter was dying to their OWN
 cook-offs. **The real lever is HEAT** (bay fire arms at the bin heat-watcher's FAILURE level;
-the [[heat-and-coolant]]/#96 too-hot economy arms it constantly) plus player training: EJECT
+the [[subsystems]] heat/#96 too-hot economy arms it constantly) plus player training: EJECT
 **hold** purges the burning bay (`DumpAmmo` → "bay fire EXTINGUISHED"); pod players were
 manual-trained to purge ([[pod-hardware]] §Manual), testers are not. Novice sim gates also
 suppress the whole path ([[experience-levels]]).
@@ -569,7 +569,9 @@ percent tables, MadCat) — see #73 on the tracker.
 ## layers are now fixed and live-verified
 The recovery: the un-exported gap held `Mech::TakeDamageMessageHandler @0x4a0230` (found via the
 Mech **message table @0x50bdf8** — rows `{id, name, handler}`: 0x12 TakeDamage, 0x14 PlayerLink,
-0x15 RealMaxSpeed, 0x16 BalanceCoolant, 0x17/0x18 Set/ClearBurningState, 0x19 EjectPilot @0x49f854,
+0x15 RealMaxSpeed, 0x16 BalanceCoolant, 0x17/0x18 Set/ClearBurningState (⚠ label/body mismatch:
+the 0x17 handler @0x49f674 randomizes position + graphicAlarm(2) + re-enables sim — not burning;
+possibly a shifted name row, cf. the factory ClassID mislabels — open-questions), 0x19 EjectPilot @0x49f854,
 0x1a DuckRequest @0x49fa00) and the **crit-chance roll `@0x4a0164`**:
 `p = clamp(0.7·damageLevel² + 0.01, 0..1)`, gated on the player's `simLive` flag (+0x25c — novice
 never crits), rolled per BURST on the current zone (skip if the zone is already burning). The
@@ -582,12 +584,58 @@ entirely — multi-burst under-applied (burst-1)×) is superseded. `MechSubsyste
 @0x4ac0bc` is real (zone damage → destroyed alarms → **vital-subsystem kill**: owner
 `graphicAlarm` level 9, the #28 machinery — CLASSMAP's "HandleMessage@4ac0bc" was a mislabel).
 Live-verified: `[subarmor]` shows parsed scales at spawn; `[critroll] zone=3 -> Myomers subLvl=1`
-— a full chain crit destroying a subsystem. Still deferred [T4→documented]: the `damageType==0`
-COLLISION divert (@0x4a0368 → `0x49ffcc`, its own distribution) and the **id-0x16 damage/kill
-reports** to shooter+victim players (@0x4a04da-0x4a07b2 — the authentic stats plumbing, feeds #45:
-`{tally, zone, destroyed-flag, inflicting subsystem, victim name}`, kill-flagged variant on newly
-disabled, plus a killed-by block gated on movementMode 9/10). Diags: `BT_CRIT_LOG` (`[subarmor]` +
-`[critroll]`), `BT_DMG_LOG`.
+— a full chain crit destroying a subsystem. The `damageType==0` COLLISION divert (@0x4a0368 →
+`0x49ffcc`) and the id-0x16 report tail are BOTH reconstructed — see the next section. Diags:
+`BT_CRIT_LOG` (`[subarmor]` + `[critroll]`), `BT_DMG_LOG`.
+
+## ✅ THE AUTHENTIC SCORE/DEATH REPORT TAIL (2026-08-05, #45/#134) [T1 raw disasm, T2 both benches]
+The rest of `Mech::TakeDamageMessageHandler` (@0x4a02f4-0x4a0890, dark-gap raw disasm) is now
+reconstructed: `BTMechPostCombatReports` + `BTMechPostVehicleDead` (btplayer.cpp), called from the
+handler at the binary's exact positions (mech.cpp). Retires `BTPostDamageScore`/`BTPostKillScore`.
+
+**Entry sequence** [T1]: gyro bounce → death-edge latch `[ebp-0x10]` (was-destroyed at ENTRY —
+before the divert!) → `lastInflictingID` stamp (mech+0x43c ← msg inflictor) → shooter resolve
+(registry find → `shooter+0x190` = shooter's PLAYER; victim's = `mech+0x190`) → **collision divert
+JUMPS TO THE DEATH TAIL** (@0x4a0375 `jmp 0x4a07b5`, NOT a return — a wall/fall death still posts
+VehicleDead + blasts, but skips the score blocks: collision deaths credit no one). Our old early
+`return` here was a latent "wall-death strands the pilot" hazard, fixed with the move.
+
+**The three id-0x16 reports** (all `Player::ScoreMessageID` 0x16, sizeof 0x3C — layout in
+btplayer.hpp, static_assert-locked; `scoreAward`=APPLIED tally in all three):
+- **A @0x4a04da, newly destroyed** → type 2 KillScore to the SHOOTER's player. Basis (+0x24) =
+  the VICTIM role's `killBonus` (role+0x1c). senderMechID = the victim. Suicide (eject charge,
+  self-damage) IS dispatched — the handler negates the award (@0x4c03ab `fchs`) and skips
+  `killCount++`: **the #134 panic penalty, live** (bench: `type=2 award=-39.00 kills=0`).
+- **B @0x4a05d9, not newly killed && tally≠0** → type 0 to the shooter. The ONLY registered 0x16
+  receiver Verify-rejects type 0 → 1995 folded an UNINITIALIZED stack float into the shooter's
+  score on every non-lethal hit (real 1995 bug — @0x4c0200, the handler that accepts type 0, is
+  in NO table entry: dead code). Port sends it for wire fidelity, banks award 0.
+- **C @0x4a06c0, tally>0 (kills included)** → type 1 DamageReceivedScore to the VICTIM's player.
+  Basis = INTENDED damage (burstCount×amount). senderMechID = the INFLICTOR. Feeds the received
+  penalty (`CalcDamageReceivedScore` returns the NEGATIVE) + the operator-console VTVDamaged line
+  (gated `GetConsoleHost()` && !`suppressConsole` — which is why that field is named that).
+Reports carry the LOOP-ENTRY zone (msg+0x24, never rewritten mid-loop), the vital-wreck flag, and
+`inflictingSubsystemID` (msg+0x5c, engine T0 name).
+
+**Score model consequence** [T1]: 1995 pod scoring = **kill awards + received-damage penalties +
+death costs. No per-hit inflicted credit** (the port's old per-hit crediting — and the #95 salvo
+fix on top of it — were inventions riding the dead @0x4c0200 channel; both retired).
+Kill award = `(victimKillBonus + tally) × killerRole.damageInflictedModifier ×
+(victimAvgZoneDamage@0x354 × damageBias + 1.0) × (victimTonnage/killerTonnage)`; same-team kill in
+a non-FFA game = `-friendlyFirePenalty` basis (inline strcmp of `teamName@0x20c`, gate
+`freeForAll@0x250==0`); self-kill negates the whole award.
+
+**The death tail** (@0x4a07b5, shared by the divert): gate = was-alive-at-entry && movementMode
+9|10 → **`Player::VehicleDeadMessage` id 0x17 to the mech's OWN player** — the respawn trigger,
+in the BT 0x38-byte extension `{deathCount -1, dropZone Null, +0x2c killed-by PLAYER EntityID,
++0x34 kill zone}` (bench: `killedBy=2:1 zone=3` cross-node) — then the death Explosion (id 3,
+0x5C, model 0x31; port fires the authored death list from the transition instead, #42) and the
+#89 SplashDamage (re-verified after the reorder: 72 bursts at ~9u). The old mech4
+death-transition dispatch site (which was flagged [T3 sender-undecoded]) is retired — this IS
+that sender. The #55 NULL-playerLink fallback + DEAD_NOTIFY forensics moved into the bridge.
+Benches: `scratchpad/night12/scorekill.sh` (cross-node kill: killer `kills=1 award=4.88`,
+victim respawns, death #1 single-cycle) + `scoreself.sh` (#134 negation). Collision-death tail
+fallthrough is inspection-tier [T3] — shares the benched tail code; field wall-deaths exercise it.
 
 ## (HISTORICAL — the gap as found 2026-07-29, superseded above) [T1]
 The authored crit machinery exists and is reconstructed — `Mech__DamageZone::CriticalHit @0049ccc4`

context/decomp-reference.md

@@ -247,9 +247,36 @@ From the weapon `.SUB` records + the charge-curve `.data` constants (PE-parsed a
 ### Binary message tables decoded 2026-07-20 (glass input audit) [T1]
 16-byte HandlerEntry {id, namePtr, fnPtr, 0} rows in section_dump. Per-receiver-class id spaces.
 - **Mech (entity)** @0x50BDF8..: 0x12 TakeDamage@004a0230, 0x14 PlayerLink@0049f624, 0x15
-  RealMaxSpeed@0049f604, **0x16 BalanceCoolant@0049f728 (WIRED 2026-07-21, issue #20**: press-only, NO novice guard; sets every condenser valveState@0x1D0=1 then the shared redistribute @0049f788 == BTRecomputeCondenserValves; verify BT_BALTEST=1 + BT_VALVE_LOG=1**)**, 0x17 SetBurningState@0049f674, 0x18
+  RealMaxSpeed@0049f604, **0x16 BalanceCoolant@0049f728 (WIRED 2026-07-21, issue #20**: press-only, NO novice guard; sets every condenser valveState@0x1D0=1 then the shared redistribute @0049f788 == BTRecomputeCondenserValves; verify BT_BALTEST=1 + BT_VALVE_LOG=1**)**, 0x17 SetBurningState@0049f674 (⚠ body mismatch — randomizes position, graphicAlarm 2, sim re-arm; see open-questions), 0x18
   ClearBurningState@0049f700, **0x19 EjectPilot@0049f854**, **0x1a DuckRequest@0049fa00** (the
   manual's CROUCH; streamed button 0x13 sends it — unreconstructed).
+- **BTPlayer** (byte-scanned 2026-08-05, file 0x112dxx; 20-byte rows {id, namePtr, fn, 0, 0} — 6
+  entries EXACTLY, matching the T0 PLAYER.h enum): **0x15 DropZoneReply@0x4bffd0, 0x16
+  Score@0x4c02e4** (the type-1/2 switch — BT shadows the engine id with its override), **0x17
+  VehicleDead@0x4c05c4, 0x18 MissionStarting@0x4bfbe8, 0x19 MissionEnding@0x4bfc20, 0x1a
+  ScoreUpdate@0x4c02a8** (= Player::NextMessageID). **@0x4c0200 ("ScoreInflicted", type-0-only,
+  Verify line 0x18b) is in NO entry — dead code in 1995.** The 1995 type-0 path therefore lands in
+  @0x4c02e4's Verify arm and folds an UNINITIALIZED [ebp-0xc] into currentScore (real bug; port
+  banks 0). @0x4c02e4 internals [T1 raw]: `+0x40==4` MissionEnding gate; registry-find msg+0x34;
+  case 1 = `(ownTonnage/senderTonnage) × role->CalcDamageReceivedScore(basis)` + the
+  console VTVDamaged post (ConsoleHost && !suppressConsole@0x258; **arg 6 = Round(AWARD)** — an
+  ST0-arg __ftol @0x4dcd94 the decompiler rendered argless; the old "Now()" read was wrong); case
+  2 = kill: `CalcKillScore@0x4c052c` × (senderTonnage/ownTonnage), self-kill `fchs`, dual
+  `killCount@0x27c++` (shooter + victim's player — the phantom partner increment, masked by
+  replication), StatusMessage{type 0 Destroyed, victim player, 6.0s} from pool @0x512f6c with
+  vtable @0x513344, clear-target @0x4b04d8 via `playerVehicle+0x128` roster head when the dead
+  mech == `objectiveMech@0x284`. `CalcKillScore@0x4c052c` [T1]: same-team (strcmp
+  `teamName@0x20c`, gate `freeForAll@0x250==0`) → `-friendlyFirePenalty(role+0x14)`; else
+  `victimMech->avgZoneDamage@0x354 × damageBias(role+0x18) + 1.0` (const @0x4c05c0); result ×
+  `(basis + tally) × damageInflictedModifier(role+0xC)`. **ScenarioRole offsets** (Node base):
+  +0xC inflictedMod, +0x10 receivedMod, +0x14 ffPenalty, +0x18 damageBias, +0x1C killBonus,
+  +0x20 specialCaseDeathPenalty. **mech+0x354** = average zone damageLevel (computed with the
+  subsystem average @0x358 by the telemetry refresher, part_012.c:9515). **Wire layouts**
+  (static_assert-locked, btplayer.hpp): ScoreMessage 0x3C {+0x1c scoreAward=tally, +0x20 type,
+  +0x24 basis, +0x28 vitalHit, +0x2c zone, +0x30 subsysID(=TakeDamageMessage+0x5c,
+  inflictingSubsystemID [T0]), +0x34 senderMechID}; BT VehicleDeadMessage 0x38 {engine 0x28 +
+  0x28=0, +0x2c killed-by PLAYER EntityID, +0x34 kill zone}. Senders: the TakeDamage report tail
+  — see [[combat-damage]].
 - **HeatableSubsystem** @0x50E41C: {3, "ToggleCooling"→@004ad6f8}. **Disassembled 2026-07-20**
   (`tools/disas2.py 0x4ad6f8`): a per-subsystem coolant on/off TOGGLE (NOT a multi-level "cycle
   priority" — that's the emergent effect, not the mechanism):

context/multiplayer.md

@@ -881,8 +881,10 @@ transition, HUD all landed since P6): console egg → mesh → RunningMission on
    REMAINING note is closed.
 5. ✅ **2-window driving — RESOLVED (tasks #48/#51).** Keyboard MP turning was restored at the root
    (the `pilotArray[1]` shrunk-span overrun fix, task #51); `BT_KEY_NOFOCUS` exists for automated
-   harnesses. DEATHS scoring lights via the existing BTPostKillScore MP branch. Respawn is
-   reconstructed (task #52 — see item 3b).
+   harnesses. DEATHS scoring lights via the kill/death report flow (2026-08-05: now the AUTHENTIC
+   report tail in the victim's TakeDamage handler — BTMechPostCombatReports, replacing
+   BTPostKillScore; same cross-node reroute, see [[combat-damage]] §report tail). Respawn is
+   reconstructed (task #52 — see item 3b; the VehicleDead sender moved to the same tail).
 
 ## Key Relationships
 - Base: [[wintesla-port]] (L4NET). Depends on: [[locomotion]] (update writer), [[combat-damage]]

context/open-questions.md

@@ -931,6 +931,28 @@ register.  ⚠ The audit also flags the damage-economy item as SELF-CONTRADICTOR
   but is never CALLED, like the salvo mirror was thought to be, or a missing ForceUpdate).  A
   LIVENESS audit (does a live call path reach each reconstructed fn?) would catch this class.
 
+## Score/death report tail residuals (2026-08-05, #45/#134 reconstruction — the tail itself is DONE + benched, [[combat-damage]])
+- **Mech-table 0x17 "SetBurningState" label/body MISMATCH.** The recovered name row says
+  Set/ClearBurningState for 0x17/0x18, but @0x49f674's body randomizes the mech's position from
+  two scaled randoms, rebuilds localToWorld, sets graphicAlarm level 2, ForceUpdates and clears
+  the not-simulated flag — nothing burns. Possibly a shifted name row (cf. the factory ClassID
+  mislabels). Neither handler is reconstructed (nothing in the port sends mech-0x17/0x18);
+  identify the real bodies before wiring. The DEATH-tail id-0x17 message that was once labeled
+  "SetBurningState dispatch" is RESOLVED: it is Player::VehicleDeadMessage (player table, not mech).
+- **Does @0x4c05c4 (VehicleDead handler) CONSUME the BT extension fields** (+0x2c killed-by
+  player, +0x34 kill zone)? The function is not in the export; our #52 reconstruction predates
+  the fields. If it reads them, the likely consumer is a killed-by console post
+  (ConsolePlayerMechDeathWithoutHonor / a killed-by line) + maybe an RP-style "DestroyedBy"
+  status banner on the victim. The port SENDS them faithfully; raw-disasm the handler to close.
+- **Collision-death tail fallthrough is inspection-tier [T3]:** the divert now falls to the death
+  tail (VehicleDead + blast) per @0x4a0375, but no live wall-death bench has run; field
+  wall-deaths exercise it nightly (watch for DEAD_NOTIFY on collision deaths).
+- **The 1995 type-0 uninit-award bug** (documented in [[decomp-reference]] §BTPlayer table): the
+  shipped binary folds an uninitialized stack float into the shooter's score on every non-lethal
+  hit's type-0 report. Era scoreboards looked sane — worth understanding WHY (dispatch path may
+  deterministically leave ~0 at [ebp-0xc]; or replicant-player reroute delivery differs). Port
+  deviates safely (award=0). Curiosity, not a blocker.
+
 ## Rendering follow-ups (non-blocking)
 - ~~Per-pilot mech PAINT (color/badge/patch)~~ — **DONE 2026-07-17, verified live** (crimson MadCat +
   yellow VGL emblems + hip hazard stripes). Mechanics + the vehicletable color/badge/patch name