night-16 field intelligence (build 913, 20260812): tracker housekept -- 6 field-verified closes (#162/#156/#154/#135/#169/#128), #165 FAIL detail + #76 Nanook comment, 4 new tickets (#170 menu-relaunch NULL-callback crash = top defect, #171 ballistic hitscan era question ON HOLD, #172 leak first-flash edge, #173 chicken-walker myomer overheat); KB gains the night-16 section + the spawn-discharge/generator-bias heat note [T3]

context/open-questions.md

@@ -1194,3 +1194,32 @@ DATAPOINT (2026-08-11, the #162 retest wave): the kd4/kd8 benches audit this exp
 and saw **0 inst=R DMG rows across three 4-node runs and one 8-node melee** (35 deaths total)
 on build ~900 -- the behavior did not reproduce on the bench rig; whatever produced the
 night-15 field rows needs field conditions (steam wire seam?) the LAN relay path lacks.
+
+## Night-16 playtest intelligence (build 4.11.913, 2026-08-12) [T2 player testimony + log receipts]
+Field-verified CLOSED this night: #162 (K/D exact all night, 3 independent confirms), #156
+(fade), #154 (gen voice at trip), #135 (leak flashes the right lamp), #169 (lobby layout),
+#128 (no ram leaks; ram crits land on gyro/torso progressively, myomer crits unobtainable --
+consistent with internals-only, see #103). Logs: `scratchpad/night16/` + Oracle notes.
+
+- **#170 -- post-mission menu-relaunch crash (TOP defect).** `[fe] mission over -- relaunching
+  the menu` -> `[crash] UNHANDLED EXCEPTION code=0xc0000005 addr=0x0 access=8 target=0x0`.
+  7 hits / 3 machines / identical module-relative stack, all frames in a Steam-family DLL;
+  a NULL function-pointer call dispatched by a Steam callback across the mission-teardown ->
+  menu-relaunch boundary. Intermittent (10 relaunches -> 3 crashes in one log). [T4 hypothesis:
+  callback left registered across teardown; possibly a #163/#156 teardown-ORDER regression.]
+  Players report it as "crash while joining lobby" -- it is not the join.
+- **#171 -- ballistic/missile hitscan era question (HOLD until group consensus).** Era witnesses
+  (Oracle, Lynx, Sauron; Dplotta softer; Draco DISSENTS) recall AFC/Gauss as instant-hit,
+  no lead, no flight animation, single-panel damage, no splash. 913 field observations: locked
+  AFC50 misses a perpendicular mover unless led; ballistics AND SRM/Streak/Narc hit beyond the
+  rangefinder max without limit; energy weapons DO stop damaging at rangefinder max (=> at least
+  one unmapped range-gating mechanism exists). The projectile flight clocks are [T1] from the
+  decomp (#168) -- reconcile: hit-resolved-at-trigger with cosmetic projectile? speeds/ranges
+  off? undiscovered range gate? Pod-hardware ground truth possible end of month.
+- **#172 -- leak lamp first-flash delayed/absent.** Elengil: flash only on the SECOND voice line
+  (x2 spawns, AFC50/Zanin Neko); once ABSENT for an entire fatal leak (5-6 voice repetitions,
+  no flash on any MFD, died ~9:38PM CT -- the match's only death, receipt findable in night16).
+  Distinct from the closed #135: this is the SET-edge / first-flash arming path.
+- **#173 -- chicken-walker seek-4 myomer overheat** (see [[subsystems]] night-16 note).
+- Nanook lost the coolant MFD glass window, recovered only by config edit -> #76 comment
+  (in-game layout-reset recovery path).

context/subsystems.md

@@ -338,3 +338,18 @@ forward at the respawn (physical lever / HOTAS — exactly who reported it) had
 speed in the spike frames.  The calibration facts above (constants byte-exact, dt-normalised
 kinetic term) all STAND; the in-life governor (running hot at sustained top speed derates the
 myomers) is authentic and remains.
+
+## Spawn-discharge loop heat + per-chassis generator bias (night-16 field, 2026-08-12) [T3 field-observed, mechanism plausible-authentic]
+Oracle's explanation for the long-standing "missiles cook off on one side first" reports
+(Lynx): at spawn ALL weapons start discharged, and the initial CHARGE of the energy weapons
+dumps heat into their loops; generator assignments are biased per chassis (Avatar: BOTH large
+lasers on GeneratorA), so that side's loops start hot and a missile launcher sharing the side
+cooks off first even if the player fires only missiles. Not yet verified against the authored
+data -- verify via BTL4.RES generator/loop assignments before treating as established. [T3]
+
+Related open defect/question: **#173** -- Vulture (and per Oracle ALL large chicken walkers)
+cannot run seek-4 myomers without immediate overheat, loop 5 pegged, heat only sheds near
+standstill (Elengil; Oracle repro). Investigate myomer heat rate + loop-5 capacity vs authored
+data for those chassis; authored-balance vs port-artifact undecided. The myomer drive-heat
+FORMULA is verified faithful (#137, above) -- if the rate is right, the question moves to the
+authored loop capacity / condenser assignments.