#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>

game/reconstructed/mech.cpp

@@ -1063,24 +1063,40 @@ void
 			(float)(message->damageData.impactPoint.z - localOrigin.linearPosition.z));
 	}
 
+	//
+	// Death-edge latch, MOVED 2026-08-05 to the authentic position (binary
+	// @0x4a0303: captured at handler ENTRY, before the collision divert).  It
+	// arms the whole death tail -- kill report, VehicleDead, death blast.
+	// Capturing it after the divert (where #89 first placed it) meant a
+	// COLLISION death could never arm the tail.
+	//
+	const int deathBlastArmed = !IsMechDestroyed();		// [ebp-0x10], inverted
+	//
+	// The zone the reports + VehicleDead carry: msg+0x24 as of loop entry.
+	// The binary never rewrites msg+0x24 after the initial cylinder resolve;
+	// our loop-exit matchlog write (damageZone = LAST burst's zone) must not
+	// leak into them.
+	//
+	int reportZone = message->damageZone;
+	DamageLookupTable *table = (DamageLookupTable *)damageLookupTable;	// named member (Wword absorbs!)
+
 	//
 	// @0x4a0368 -- the COLLISION DIVERT (#83, closing the #82 chain).  Damage
 	// type 0 == the mover's collision damage (what the crash response policy
 	// forwards).  It NEVER reaches the zone/armor loop below: it is priced +
-	// distributed as INTERNAL RATTLE by DistributeCollisionDamage (@0049ffcc)
-	// and the handler is done.  This was the missing half of the crash
-	// self-damage reconstruction -- without the divert, the raw kinetic-energy
-	// amounts (a 60-ton mech prices ~1000+ per wall tap) fell through into the
-	// WEAPON loop and a single bump killed the mech (run-14 field report).
+	// distributed as INTERNAL RATTLE by DistributeCollisionDamage (@0049ffcc).
+	// CORRECTED 2026-08-05: the binary does NOT return here -- it JUMPS TO THE
+	// DEATH TAIL (raw disasm @0x4a0375: jmp 0x4a07b5), so a mech that dies of
+	// the rattle still posts VehicleDead (the respawn trigger) and still
+	// blasts.  The early `return` this block shipped with was a latent
+	// "wall-death strands the pilot" hazard.  No score reports on this path --
+	// the jump bypasses them; a collision death credits no one.  Authentic.
 	//
 	if (message->damageData.damageType == 0)
 	{
 		DistributeCollisionDamage(&message->damageData);
-		Check_Fpu();
-		return;
+		goto death_tail;
 	}
-
-	DamageLookupTable *table = (DamageLookupTable *)damageLookupTable;	// named member (Wword absorbs!)
 	// #92: when this gate fails the zone keeps whatever the message carried --
 	// which for an unaimed weapon hit is 0, i.e. EVERY shot lands on zone 0.
 	if (getenv("BT_DMGTABLE_LOG"))
@@ -1105,6 +1121,7 @@ void
 				<< message->damageData.impactPoint.z << ")\n" << std::flush;
 		}
 	}
+	reportZone = message->damageZone;			// post-resolve (@0x4a0396 write)
 	//
 	// #80 -- the faithful application loop (binary @0x4a0423-0x4a04d8), which
 	// REPLACES the engine-base single application.  Three things the base
@@ -1126,11 +1143,6 @@ void
 	// nothing (matches ENTITY.cpp:878; the binary would deref -1 -- it can't
 	// happen there because every mech ships a lookup table).
 	//
-	// #89 DEATH-BLAST edge arm: the binary's tail (@0x4a07b8) gates on the
-	// victim ENTERING dead/eject during THIS message (entry test edx = the
-	// pre-application disabled state).  Capture the pre-state here.
-	const int deathBlastArmed = !IsMechDestroyed();
-
 	if (damageZones != 0 && message->damageZone >= 0
 		&& message->damageZone < damageZoneCount)
 	{
@@ -1181,14 +1193,20 @@ void
 		}
 		message->damageZone = zoneIndex;					// matchlog sees the LAST zone
 
-		// Binary tail (@0x4a04da-0x4a07b2, decoded + deferred): builds id-0x16
-		// damage/kill REPORT messages -- {tally, zone, zoneDestroyed flag,
-		// inflicting subsystem, victim name} -- to the shooter's player (with a
-		// kill-flagged variant when this damage NEWLY disabled the mech) and to
-		// the victim's player.  That is the authentic stats plumbing (#45); the
-		// port's matchlog + BTPostDamageScore cover the bookkeeping today [T3].
-		(void)zoneDestroyed;
-		(void)damageTally;
+		//
+		// THE REPORT TAIL (@0x4a04da-0x4a07b2), reconstructed 2026-08-05 [T1]:
+		// the kill / inflicted / received score reports to the shooter's and
+		// victim's players.  Sender lives in btplayer.cpp (complete-BTPlayer
+		// TU, per the databinding rule); it receives the APPLIED tally, the
+		// vital-wreck flag, and the loop-ENTRY zone.  This retires
+		// BTPostDamageScore/BTPostKillScore -- see the btplayer.cpp tombstone.
+		//
+		{
+			extern void BTMechPostCombatReports(void *, void *, float, int, int, int);
+			BTMechPostCombatReports((void *)this, (void *)message,
+				(float)damageTally, zoneDestroyed, reportZone,
+				deathBlastArmed && IsMechDestroyed());
+		}
 	}
 
 	// MP MATCH FORENSICS (matchlog.hpp): the victim-side authoritative damage
@@ -1218,30 +1236,41 @@ void
 			(float)message->damageData.impactPoint.z);
 	}
 
-	// #89 DEATH BLAST (raw disasm @0x4a07b8-0x4a0bda -- the un-exported tail
-	// of THIS handler; found by call-scanning Explosion::SplashDamage
-	// @0042fad0, which has exactly TWO callers: Missile::Perform and here).
-	// The binary, when the victim ENTERS dead(9)/eject(10) during the
-	// applications above:
-	//   1. self-dispatches SetBurningState (id 0x17, Damage payload, zone -1)
-	//      -- the burning wreck.  DEFERRED here: our 0x17 handler is not yet
-	//      reconstructed; the port's wreck-fire visuals come from the death
-	//      effect layer meanwhile.
-	//   2. spawns the death Explosion (Explosion::Make model 0x31 at the mech
-	//      origin) -- the port's kill path already fires the authored death
-	//      list visuals; not double-spawned.
-	//   3. calls SplashDamage on it, gated on the owning player's
-	//      advancedDamageOn (+0x264) AND NOT suppressConsole (+0x258 -- set
-	//      by the eject bookkeeping: an EJECTED pilot's mech never blasts):
+	// THE DEATH TAIL (@0x4a07b5-0x4a0bda, raw disasm -- the un-exported tail
+	// of THIS handler).  Gate [T1]: mech was ALIVE at entry ([ebp-0x10]) and
+	// is dead(9)/eject(10) now.  Sequence:
+	//   1. Player::VehicleDeadMessage (id 0x17; the BT 0x38-byte extension
+	//      carrying killed-by player + kill zone) -> the mech's OWN player:
+	//      the respawn-cycle trigger.  CORRECTED 2026-08-05: the #89 banner
+	//      previously read this build as "SetBurningState (mech id 0x17)" --
+	//      it is a PLAYER-table id: the binary's BTPlayer handler table (file
+	//      0x112dxx) binds 0x17 -> @0x4c05c4 VehicleDeadMessageHandler; the
+	//      mech-table 0x17 (@0x49f674) is unrelated.  Dispatched from HERE --
+	//      this is the decoded sender the mech4 transition site's
+	//      [T3 sender-undecoded] flag was waiting for.
+	//   2. the death Explosion (id 3 MakeMessage, 0x5C bytes, model 0x31 at
+	//      the mech origin, @0x4a08bd) -- the port fires the authored per-mech
+	//      death list from the death transition instead (#42 history): same
+	//      once-per-death edge, not double-spawned.
+	//   3. SplashDamage (#89), gated advancedDamageOn (+0x264) AND NOT
+	//      suppressConsole (+0x258 -- ejected pilots' mechs never blast):
 	//        Damage{type=2 Explosive, amount=deathSplashDamage@0x520,
 	//               impact=mech origin,
 	//               burstCount=round(0.001 * moverMass@0x20c * 15.0)}
-	//        radius=deathSplashRadius@0x524, excluded=the dying mech.
-	//      Splash falloff (bursts / dist^1.25) applies inside per victim.
-	//   4. ForceUpdate(1).  (A score/console post also rides this tail --
-	//      the deferred id-0x16 family, tracked with #134.)
+	//        radius=deathSplashRadius@0x524, excluded=the dying mech;
+	//      falloff bursts/dist^1.25 per victim inside the shared core.
+	//   4. ForceUpdate(1).
+	// The gate predicate here is IsMechDestroyed() (graphicAlarm >= 9, the
+	// structural flag @0x49fb54) -- the binary tests movementMode 9|10, but
+	// the death transition sets mode 9 synchronously with the structural flag
+	// on every path through here, so the edges coincide; this exact predicate
+	// is the one the #89 blast benches verified both ways.
+death_tail:
 	if (deathBlastArmed && IsMechDestroyed())
 	{
+		extern void BTMechPostVehicleDead(void *, void *, int);
+		BTMechPostVehicleDead((void *)this, (void *)message, reportZone);
+
 		extern void BTApplyDeathSplash(void *mech_v);
 		BTApplyDeathSplash((void *)this);
 	}