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weapons field guide SECOND EDITION (build 4.11.957): the round-trip demonstrated -- Oracle's fourteen answers are quoted inline as [ANSWERED] verdicts (out-of-range cliff, charge persistence retired-as-verified, gauss/Mischief cross-confirmed, recoil-by-caliber, tap-unjam, splash, rack personality acknowledged as the authored vectors, SRM pip SETTLED at 800); section 2 carries the real gear ladder 56/77/100/153 with charge-time multipliers + the alpha-strike doctrine; 2B updated to shipped-tense with the 4.0-vs-4.10 veteran-heat note; PPC section now carries Oracle's vertical-line collapse spec + the #178 generator-flip watch; AC section ships the trigger-time cannon + the NEW tracer-visibility era question (second witness wanted); missiles section folds #175 cover + bystander + true speeds as shipped; section 10 rewritten as the found-fixed-shipped story with the ears-only verification ask; appendix gains the gear-ladder table + terminal speeds. Section numbering unchanged so first-edition returns still line up; scoreboard note: pilots 9-and-1 against our code-reading.

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Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_016bw71WVsccjwW7uKRg4aWD
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Joe DiPrima
2026-08-14 00:25:53 -05:00
co-authored by Claude Fable 5
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=============================================================================
BT411 -- WEAPONS FIELD GUIDE: EVERY WEAPON, AS THE ORIGINAL BUILT IT
Updated 2026-08-13 -- reconstruction review edition, for the whole group.
SECOND EDITION -- updated 2026-08-14 for build 4.11.957.
=============================================================================
WHAT THIS IS: we have now read the original machine's firing code for
every weapon family and compared it, behavior by behavior, against what
our port does. This document is the result. For each family you get:
what the shipped machine really did, what our port does today, what
changes in the next build, and -- where the code alone cannot settle
it -- what we need from your memory.
WHAT THIS IS: we read the original machine's firing code for every
weapon family and compared it, behavior by behavior, against our port.
This is ROUND TWO of that document. Round one worked exactly as hoped:
Oracle returned an annotated copy, and his fourteen notes settled five
tracker tickets, fixed two documents, identified a missing alarm sound,
and handed us a reference photo. Where a question below is marked
[ANSWERED], his verdict is quoted -- corroboration from a second pilot
is still valuable, contradiction doubly so.
HOW TO REVIEW: you flew the real pods; we only read their code. Read
each section and mark anything that CONTRADICTS your memory of the
machine -- and anything that confirms it. Silence is not confirmation:
if a section simply matches what you remember, a one-word "matches" is
genuinely useful data.
HOW TO REVIEW: you flew the real pods; we only read their code. Mark
anything that CONTRADICTS your memory -- and anything that confirms it.
Silence is not confirmation: a one-word "matches" is genuinely useful.
HOW TO REPLY: EDIT THIS FILE. Every section that needs your input
ends with a YOUR NOTES block -- write directly in it (callsign first,
then MATCHES / CONTRADICTS / CAN'T RECALL, then your detail) and post
the edited file back when you're done. Which floor, which revision,
which mech you flew -- machine-room details turn weak memories into
strong evidence.
HOW TO REPLY: EDIT THIS FILE. Every section ends with a YOUR NOTES
block -- write directly in it (callsign first, then MATCHES /
CONTRADICTS / CAN'T RECALL, then your detail) and post the edited file
back. If you already annotated the first edition, that copy is still
gold -- send it as-is; section numbers are unchanged.
ONE RETRACTION UP FRONT: the last issues handout (#27) told you
ballistic rounds could now "genuinely MISS a moving target". The
deeper dig behind this document proved that framing wrong: the
original decides a cannon hit AT THE TRIGGER, and the round you watch
fly is a tracer drawn for show. We were wrong; details in the
AUTOCANNONS section. Your review of that section is part of the
group's sign-off on the correction.
SCOREBOARD SO FAR: where this project's code reading and a pilot's
specific memory have disagreed, the pilot is 9-and-1 (the one loss was
a memory of the earlier 4.0 machine -- see the heat note in section
2B). Your memories are evidence. Use the blocks.
=============================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -46,42 +42,31 @@ THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
itself, plus a 0.2-second afterglow that tracks the target.
- Damage scales with the SQUARE of the stored charge. You cannot
fire early -- the trigger does nothing until the charge completes.
The only partial-power shot is a different CHARGE GEAR (section 2,
veteran/expert only), and the REAL ladder -- read from the machine's
own gear table after Oracle's notes called out our old example --
is: seek 1 = 56% damage (fastest), seek 2 = 77%, seek 3 = 100%
(THE published number -- the calibration gear), seek 4 = 153%
(an OVERCHARGE: more damage AND more heat per shot, at roughly
triple the charge time). Downshift for rate of fire, seek 4 for
the single big hit. Distance never matters: full damage anywhere
inside effective range, zero damage past it.
The only partial-power shot is a different CHARGE GEAR (section 2).
Distance never matters: full damage anywhere inside effective
range, zero damage past it.
- Out of range: the trigger works and the beam draws, but the damage
is silently thrown away. No hit, no denied tone we can find.
is silently thrown away. No hit, no denied tone.
[ANSWERED -- Oracle: "Yes, firing at targets beyond the lasers
maximum range discharged the laser but no damage was dealt. I
assigned triggers on all mechs based on range groups so that I
would not heat up the mech with useless firing." Confirmed.]
- Effective range shrinks in proportion to damage on the body zone
carrying the weapon: a half-wrecked arm fires at half reach. An
undamaged weapon reaches exactly its listed range -- confirmed
down to the byte this week.
- Overheat is a hard stop: a heat-failed laser quits outright. There
is no gradual weakening on the way down.
carrying the weapon: a half-wrecked arm fires at half reach.
[Oracle: unknown to him, never came up in era discussion -- still
open for anyone who remembers.]
- Generator switching mid-charge does NOT cost the charge: the
weapon resumes charging where it left off when reconnected.
[ANSWERED -- Oracle: pre-round generator/seek shuffling was
routine with no charge loss; a generator killed by damage left
weapons mid-charge, resuming on reassignment. We then verified
our port does exactly this. Question retired.]
- Overheat is a hard stop: a heat-failed laser quits outright.
- Each hit lands on ONE panel of the target.
OUR PORT TODAY
Same machine, verified live end to end. The beam is drawn from the
real laser-tube art. Charge timing is smoothed for modern frame
rates -- a robustness measure, not a behavior change. (The #164
stuck-beam guards are already in.)
CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD
Nothing mechanical.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
- Firing past range: do you remember shots that visibly fired at a
distant target and just did nothing? That is what the machine did.
- Generator switching mid-charge: did switching or re-routing
generators while a laser was charging COST you the in-flight
charge (with an electrical alarm)? A yes pins down a control path
we have not been able to identify from the code alone.
Same machine, verified live end to end, zero known deviations in the
energy lane.
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
@@ -89,32 +74,40 @@ WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. THE CHARGE GEAR (ALL ENERGY WEAPONS) -- SETTLED BY YOUR MEMORY
2. THE CHARGE GEAR (ALL ENERGY WEAPONS) -- NOW WITH THE REAL NUMBERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
Veteran/expert pilots could cycle an energy weapon's charge gear
(four settings). Cycling past the top wraps to the bottom and the
weapon keeps working: a stored charge above the new gear's level
simply counts as FULL and fires (a wrap-fired top-gear charge deals
its normal top-gear damage -- no secret super-shot, no dead weapon).
Veteran/expert pilots can cycle an energy weapon's charge gear (four
settings). Cycling past the top wraps to the bottom and the weapon
keeps working: a stored charge above the new gear's level counts as
FULL and fires normally. (An earlier edition claimed the machine
bricked lasers on the wrap; several of you said flatly that never
happened, and you were right -- our misread, corrected.)
FOR THE RECORD: an earlier version of this document claimed the
machine shipped a flaw here -- that wrapping the gear left the
weapon permanently dark. Several of you said flatly that never
happened. You were right. The re-audit you triggered found our
reading of one number in the original's code was wrong by a single
byte-width, and the "brick" existed only in our port, never on the
machine. This section is your correction, adopted.
THE REAL DAMAGE LADDER -- read from the machine's own gear table
after Oracle's notes called out our old example as wrong:
seek 1 = 56% damage, fastest charge (~0.6x the listed cycle)
seek 2 = 77% damage (~0.75x)
seek 3 = 100% -- THE PUBLISHED NUMBER (the calibration gear)
seek 4 = 153% -- an OVERCHARGE: more damage AND more heat per
shot, at roughly TRIPLE the charge time.
The doctrine that falls out: downshift for rate of fire, seek 4 for
the single big hit.
[Oracle's two notes both check out against this ladder: "Seek 3
damage output agrees with published data" -- exactly, it is the
calibration point -- and his routine downshifting "to increase rate
of fire without negative impact" lives in the 77-100% band where
the loss hides inside the rate gain. What he correctly contradicted
was our old "half charge = quarter damage" example: no shipped gear
sits anywhere near half the calibration voltage.]
OUR PORT TODAY
Fixed to match: cycling behaves exactly as you remember. (Before
the fix our gauges could briefly read EMPTY on an over-charge where
the machine read FULL -- if you saw that, it dies in the next
build.)
Byte-matched: the ladder above IS the port's arithmetic, confirmed
both from the original's calibration code and from live fire logs.
CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD
The correction above ships. The old "deviation" entry is withdrawn
-- the energy lane now has ZERO deviations from the original.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
- Did era pilots use seek 4 deliberately as an alpha-strike gear
(bigger, hotter, much slower shots)? Any lore about it?
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
@@ -124,50 +117,45 @@ CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2B. SEEK-4 ON THE HEAVY WALKERS (VULTURE / MADCAT / THOR / LOKI)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR (audited to the byte this week)
- Drive heat scales with weight times speed squared, and no amount
of running ever cools you -- there is no airflow cooling anywhere
in this machine. The fast-heavy Clan walkers pay the most.
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR (audited to the byte)
- Drive heat scales with weight times speed squared; no amount of
running ever cools you -- there is no airflow cooling anywhere in
this machine. The fast-heavy Clan walkers pay the most.
- Gears 1 through 3 make IDENTICAL heat: seek-3 is free speed.
Seek-4 roughly doubles drive heat AND raises your top speed --
a sprint gear. Cruising it on a heavy walker without the boost
crosses myomer degradation in under twenty seconds and the
governor bites. A same-weight humanoid at the same speed cooks the same:
it is physics, not a chicken-walker curse.
Seek-4 roughly doubles drive heat AND raises top speed -- a
sprint gear. A same-weight humanoid at the same speed cooks the
same: physics, not a chicken-walker curse.
- The machine gave you the tool: BOOST COOLANT LOOP 5 (Generator D /
Myomers). One press visibly buys your speed back; a full boost
sustains seek-4 on a Vulture indefinitely.
Myomers). A full boost sustains seek-4 on a Vulture indefinitely.
- THE TRAP: one press past maximum WRAPS THE VALVE CLOSED. If you
ever boosted a loop and it cooked anyway -- you probably hit the
wrap. Two presses, never three.
ever boosted a loop and cooked anyway -- you probably hit the
wrap. TWO presses, NEVER three.
- Standing still sheds heat fast (~10 degrees a second).
- HEAT EXISTS AT VETERAN in this 4.10 machine -- read straight from
its code. The 4.0 manual (and some memories of the earlier
machine) say expert-only; 4.10 changed it. If you played the
earlier floor revision, both your memory and our code are right
-- about different machines.
OUR PORT TODAY -- AND A CONFESSION YOUR REPORTS FORCED
You were right that something was off. Our build measured your
mech's acceleration at modern frame rates, and at those rates the
measurement picks up walking-gait jitter as phantom acceleration --
nearly TWO-THIRDS of your drive heat on a flat cruise was noise
that the original's electronics (sampling at their own slower
clock) never saw. The port was punishing heavy walkers roughly
TWICE as hard as the machine did.
CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD (the fix, measured)
Heat sensing now samples on the original's clock. Result on the
bench: a Vulture at seek-4 WITH the loop-5 boost holds FULL
supercharge speed indefinitely, running hot but stable -- the
valve trick works exactly as the machine intended, and the
manual's printed Super Charged speed is real. WITHOUT the boost,
seek-4 still cooks you (that part is the machine's own balance,
and it stays). The wrap trap also stays: two presses, never three.
OUR PORT -- THE CONFESSION AND THE FIX, NOW SHIPPED
You were right that something was off: our build sampled your
mech's motion at modern frame rates and read walking-gait jitter as
phantom acceleration -- nearly TWO-THIRDS of drive heat on a flat
cruise was noise the original's slower electronics never saw. Heavy
walkers were punished about twice as hard as the machine intended.
FIXED IN THIS BUILD (4.11.957): heat sensing samples on the
original's clock. Bench-measured: a Vulture at seek-4 WITH the
loop-5 boost holds full supercharge indefinitely, hot but stable --
the manual's printed Super Charged speed is real. WITHOUT the
boost, seek-4 still cooks you; that is the machine's own balance.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
- Next build: boost loop 5, hold seek-4 on a big walker. Does the
sustained supercharge match how the machine felt? Your yes
closes the oldest heat complaint on the books.
- TONIGHT: boost loop 5 (two presses!), hold seek-4 on a big
walker. Does the sustained supercharge match how the machine
felt? Your yes closes the oldest heat complaint on the books.
- Did the loop-5 valve boost trick live in era pilot lore, or are
we rediscovering it?
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
>
@@ -177,37 +165,36 @@ WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
3. PPC AND ER PPC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
- The firing machine is literally the laser's -- the same code, the
same rules (lock, look, range gate, square-law charge). Everything
- The firing machine is literally the laser's -- the same rules
(lock, look, range gate, the charge-gear ladder). Everything
distinctive is the numbers: hardest energy hit (12; ER 16),
longest energy reach (900 / 950), a slow 5-second recharge, and
the only BLUE pip.
longest energy reach (900 / 950), a slow 5-second recharge, the
only BLUE pip.
- What makes a PPC special is what it does to the VICTIM. Energy
hits -- and only energy hits -- carry two riders:
(a) DISPLAY SCRAMBLE: every energy hit pokes the victim's cockpit
display system once -- some kind of gauge/MFD disturbance per
hit. What it looked like and how long it lasted is NOT
recoverable from the code.
(a) DISPLAY SCRAMBLE, and thanks to Oracle we now know what it
looked like: [ANSWERED -- Oracle: "all MFDs including the
Secondary would rapidly and briefly collapse into a vertical
line in the center of the display and then rapidly expand
back" -- the classic CRT deflection collapse, phosphor
blooming bright on the line. He supplied a reference photo;
it is archived and it IS the build spec.]
SECOND WITNESS WANTED: anyone else remember the screens
collapsing to a bright vertical line under particle fire?
(b) GENERATOR SHORT: if the struck zone holds critical equipment,
one random critical component takes a forced short --
generator brownout, charge stall, cockpit electronics dip.
one random critical component takes a forced short.
[ANSWERED, with a new lead -- Oracle: PPC hits sometimes
flipped AUTO-mode generator assignments on individual
subsystems; he never saw a generator read offline, "but the
switching suggests a generator had momentarily tripped."
That is now the field signature we are verifying the
mechanism against (#178). TONIGHT: if your generator letters
shuffle after taking particle fire, that is data -- say so.]
OUR PORT TODAY
The firing machine and the generator short are in and verified. The
display scramble is NOT implemented -- right now your screens shrug
off a PPC hit, and that is a known gap on the polish list.
CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD
Not yet. We will not invent the visual: the scramble gets built
AFTER your testimony, not before.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY (this one really matters)
- Taking a PPC hit, from inside the pod: what happened on your
screens? Static or interference? A flash? Gauges and MFDs going
briefly to garbage? How long did it last?
- Separately: after taking PPC hits, do you remember the generator
browning out or your weapons losing charge (the short rider)?
display scramble is IN PROGRESS against Oracle's spec -- your
screens still shrug off a PPC hit in this build.
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
@@ -215,57 +202,47 @@ WE NEED YOUR MEMORY (this one really matters)
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. AUTOCANNONS -- AFC25 / AFC50 / AFC100
4. AUTOCANNONS -- AFC25 / AFC50 / AFC100 ** SHIPPED THIS BUILD **
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
- The cannons are point-and-hit, not fly-and-hit. At the trigger,
with a lock, the machine checks the range; in range, the damage
lands THEN -- one solid ballistic hit on ONE panel of the locked
target. The shell you watch fly is a TRACER, drawn for show after
the decision is already made.
- No leading. The lock does the aiming, and a dodging target does
not shake a round already fired.
- Out of range: the round is consumed, the tracer flies anyway, and
the damage is silently discarded. No hit, no warning.
- Recoil: every shot with real punch (damage over 3) kicks your own
pod up and back through the gyro, in proportion to the shot --
the AFC100 kicks about 3.5 times as hard as the AFC25.
- Jams roll after each shot only while the weapon itself is running
a heat alarm -- in practice veteran/expert only, since the lower
sim levels never heat-alarm a weapon. Chance grows with weapon
temperature.
- One panel per pull. The old "shotgun across zones" spread in our
port (#112) was our bug, never the machine's.
with a lock, in range: the damage lands THEN -- one solid
ballistic hit on ONE panel of the locked target. The shell you
watch fly is a TRACER, drawn for show after the decision is made.
- No leading. The lock does the aiming; a dodging target does not
shake a round already fired.
- Out of range: the round is consumed, the tracer flies anyway, the
damage is silently discarded.
- Recoil: every shot with real punch kicks your own pod up and back
through the gyro, in proportion to the shot.
[Oracle: "There was a kickback when AFCs fired and it was
relative to the caliber." Confirmed.]
- Jams roll only while the weapon runs a heat alarm; chance grows
with weapon temperature.
- One panel per pull. (The old "shotgun across zones" was our bug,
never the machine's -- #112 is closed on this build's receipts.)
OUR PORT TODAY
Until now our cannons flew a real shell that could miss --
reasonable, and wrong. The trigger-time machine is now implemented
against the original's code line by line and bench-verified: full
batches land as one hit, out-of-range rounds are consumed and
discarded. What it needs now is a real night of fire.
OUR PORT -- LIVE IN 4.11.957
The trigger-time cannon ships TONIGHT. Please hammer it: no
leading, instant hits, one panel, range-gated. Every shot is named
in your log.
CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD
- The trigger-time cannon goes live in the build you test next.
This is the big #171 correction -- please hammer the cannons.
- The tracer's flight speed: the original derives it from the gun's
range and muzzle height (roughly one second to cross full range).
Our stand-in speed was close by accident; the recovered authentic
numbers go in.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
- When YOU fired cannons, did the pod's view visibly kick up and
back (distinct from being hit)? Was the AFC100's kick noticeably
harder than the AFC25's?
- The AFC25 specifically: did it occasionally eat a trigger pull
silently -- a click, no shot, on an apparently ready gun? (Its
ammo feed timer exactly equals its firing cycle -- the only gun
where the two can race.)
- Firing beyond range: did the visible round fly on forever, or
vanish? (The code consumes the round and discards the damage; the
tracer's visual fate is the one part we cannot recover.)
- Round pace: roughly how fast did cannon rounds visibly fly?
About a second to cross full range, or very different?
A NEW ERA QUESTION FROM ORACLE'S NOTES ** SECOND WITNESS WANTED **
Oracle: "I never recall seeing a projectile animation at all for an
AFC. There was a muzzle flash and an impact flash. There was no
tracer in my memory... completely invisible both from the firing
mech's and the target mech's perspectives."
The machine's code DOES contain the tracer mechanism -- but whether
the pods actually DREW it visibly is exactly the kind of thing code
cannot prove and eyes can. Draco, SAURON, Ronin: do you remember
SEEING cannon rounds fly? Our build draws them; if the pods did
not, we want to know.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY (still open)
- The AFC25: did it occasionally eat a trigger pull silently -- a
click, no shot, on an apparently ready gun? (Its ammo feed timer
exactly equals its firing cycle -- the only gun where the two can
race.) [Oracle: can't recall -- rarely flew AFC25 carriers.]
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
@@ -273,125 +250,96 @@ WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. GAUSS ** THE HEADLINE QUESTION **
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR (as best we can prove it)
- The Gauss the pods actually fielded is built ON THE CANNON
MACHINE. The shipped content authors it as an autocannon-class
weapon: about 20 points of solid shot out to 900 (tied with the
AFC25 for longest ballistic reach), a slow 8-second cycle, only
16 rounds, runs nearly cold, and the only YELLOW ballistic pip.
It hit, and it hurt.
- The code ALSO contains a second, "true" Gauss-rifle mechanism
that charges up and does NOTHING when fired -- no damage, no
heat, nothing. No shipped content anywhere uses it. Dead code.
- Full honesty: for a while our audit believed the pods fielded the
do-nothing Gauss and that our port's Gauss damage was an
invention. Reading the raw content bytes settled it the other
way -- the fielded Gauss is the cannon-class one.
OUR PORT TODAY
Same content, same machine: our Gauss already deals cannon-class
damage. Port and original agree. Nothing changes.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY (the headline)
- Confirm the Gauss KILLED: heavy single hits at extreme range, a
slow cycle, a small magazine, a gun that never warmed up, and a
yellow pip on the display. We expect YES.
- Which mech do you remember carrying it? (We believe the Loki;
your memory checks our content map.)
- If instead you remember a Gauss that charged up and did NOTHING
when fired -- say so loudly. That would be evidence that some
floor revision shipped content for the dead mechanism, content
we do not have.
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. MISSILES -- HOW EVERY RACK REALLY FIRES
5. GAUSS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
- Missiles are the one family that genuinely FLIES. Everything else
in the game decides its hit at the trigger; a missile earns its
hit in the air.
- Lock required, same as every weapon. There is no dumb-fire path
anywhere in the machine -- the trigger will not take without a
lock. (No special Streak lock code exists either; all racks fire
through the same gate.)
- ONE flying round was drawn per salvo, plus one explosion -- the
pod drew a single missile even for a 15-tube volley. The damage
bookkeeping rides that one round.
- The seeker LEADS: it flies a constant-bearing intercept toward
the exact spot on the target picked at the moment of fire, and
detonates on a close-proximity fuze with a swept contact check.
- If the target dies mid-flight, the lock drops and the round goes
stupid.
- A rack's listed "range" is fire-control display only. Real reach
is physics: motor burn, then up to 10 seconds of coasting. Rounds
that hit the floor die; rounds that time out fizzle.
- On impact, the cluster roll: out of an n-missile salvo, between
roughly a quarter and all of them count as hits, scattered across
the victim's zones with a fresh scatter every burst.
- The fielded Gauss is built ON THE CANNON MACHINE: ~20 points of
solid shot out to 900, slow 8-second cycle, 16 rounds, runs
nearly cold, the only YELLOW ballistic pip.
[ANSWERED -- Oracle: MATCHES, "The Mischief was equipped with a
Gauss rifle." And that checks our content map perfectly: Mischief
is the Loki variant in the shipped roster, and the Loki family's
cockpit authors the Gauss gauges. Confirmed on both sides.]
- The code also contains a second, "true" Gauss-rifle mechanism
that charges up and does NOTHING when fired. No shipped content
uses it. If YOU remember a Gauss that charged and did nothing --
say so loudly; it would mean some floor revision shipped content
we do not have.
OUR PORT TODAY
The whole chain is live-verified: a 382-impact night corpus matches
the original's cluster roll exactly, and the fuze and lock-drop are
benched. (Flight SPEED is the one thing that corpus measured against
the old dragless model -- see CHANGING below: speeds drop to the
original's governed values next build.)
Presentation deliberately differs: we draw the full ripple of N
rounds (the lead round carries the damage, the rest are tracers)
with a small tube spread. The damage economy is identical.
Same content, same machine. Port and original agree. Nothing
changed, nothing changing.
CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD -- AND WHAT TO WATCH
MISSILES SLOW DOWN, AND THIS IS THE ORIGINAL'S SPEED. The audit
found the original governs every missile with air drag that caps
its top speed -- an LRM tops out near 550, an SRM near 775. Our
rounds had no drag: an LRM was leaving its burn at over 3000,
five times the machine's speed, and flying nearly twice as far
downrange. Next build restores the governor. Missiles will feel
heavier, arcs will read slower, and long shots will take
noticeably longer to arrive -- that is the pod's real feel, not a
nerf. If missile flight FINALLY looks like you remember, say so;
that confirmation is worth as much as a bug report.
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
>
>
The bystander gap. The original's rounds swept everything in the
flight path every tick -- a third mech between shooter and target
could eat someone else's missile. Our rounds currently contact only
the locked target and the terrain: a mech in between gets flown
through, and only splash can touch it. This is the largest
remaining missile-physics gap; the fix is designed but not landed.
WATCH FRIDAY: if you take missile hits aimed at someone else --
beyond splash distance -- report it with the shooter's name.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. MISSILES -- HOW EVERY RACK REALLY FIRES ** SHIPPED THIS BUILD **
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
- Missiles are the one family that genuinely FLIES; everything else
decides its hit at the trigger.
- Lock required; no dumb-fire path exists anywhere in the machine.
- ONE flying round was drawn per salvo, plus one explosion; the
damage bookkeeping rides that round. (We draw the full ripple --
lead round carries the damage -- a stated presentation choice.)
- The seeker LEADS and lofts; detonation is a close-proximity fuze
with a swept contact check. Target dies mid-flight: the lock
drops and the round goes stupid.
- Air drag governs every round: an LRM tops out near 550, an SRM
near 775. Listed "range" is display only; real reach is burn +
up to 10 seconds of coast.
- The round detonates on the FIRST thing in its path: the target,
a third mech that wanders into the flight line, a building, or
the hill you are hiding behind.
WHAT SHIPPED IN 4.11.957 -- PLEASE FLY AGAINST ALL OF IT
- TRUE SPEEDS: the drag governor is in. Missiles are ~5x slower
than the last builds -- heavier arcs, long shots take visibly
longer. That is the pod's real feel, not a nerf.
[Oracle, pre-endorsing from the audit description: "MATCHES the
description and coming changes are in the direction I expect."]
- COVER WORKS (#175): rounds burst on hills and buildings instead
of passing through -- and the blast can still splash you if you
hug the cover (authentic near-miss splash). Trucks and props die
to missiles.
- BYSTANDERS (#171): a third mech crossing the flight path eats
the round, exactly as the original swept it.
- RACK PERSONALITY, acknowledged: [Oracle: "The racks on different
mechs did appear to have a personality... Thor and Madcat tended
to loft the missiles up, the Avatar a flatter trajectory; very
long range shots lofting higher."] That personality is the
authored per-rack launch vectors plus the range-scaled loft --
both already data-driven in the port. Enjoy; it is real.
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. MISSILE SPLASH
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
Splash was LIVE on the pods -- every stock mission enables it. An
impact splashes a radius of about 30 around the hit point; strength
scales from the FULL rack size and falls off steeply with distance;
the mech that took the direct hit is excluded from its own splash.
One thing the code cannot prove either way: whether the SHOOTER was
protected from splashing themselves at point-blank.
impact splashes a radius of about 30; strength scales from the FULL
rack size, falls off steeply with distance; the direct victim is
excluded from its own splash.
[Oracle: MATCHES on nearby splash. Still open below: self-splash.]
OUR PORT TODAY
Same math, verified -- including the full-rack-size splash strength,
pinned to the original's code this week. We exclude both the direct
victim and the shooter. The on/off wiring differs slightly from the
original in a way that only matters for custom missions -- a site
option question for later, not a Friday one.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
- Do you remember splash hurting mechs standing NEAR an impact?
- Critically: could you hurt YOURSELF firing missiles point-blank
into a wall or an adjacent mech? Our port says no; the original's
code will not tell us. Your memory is the tiebreaker.
Same math, verified. We exclude both the direct victim and the
shooter -- and the original's code cannot prove the shooter half
either way.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY (the tiebreaker still stands)
- Could you hurt YOURSELF firing missiles point-blank into a wall
or an adjacent mech? Our port says no; only your memory can
settle it. (New in this build: firing into the hill in front of
you WILL splash you -- that part is authentic cover physics, not
self-splash.)
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
@@ -403,51 +351,35 @@ WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
- Three flight profiles exist in the shipped content:
LRM round: sluggish 60 deg/sec turn, 10-second burn, and the
LOFT -- at long range the seeker aims high and
the round flies the signature climb-then-plunge
arc.
Streak round: 360 deg/sec turn -- six times the LRM -- short
3-second burn, no loft. The round that out-turns
evasion.
Narc round: the surprise -- Streak-grade 360 deg/sec tracking
PLUS the loft PLUS the long 10-second burn. A
light rack that flies like a hawk.
- There is NO beacon mechanism anywhere in the machine. The Narc
never tagged anyone for anything; it is a light, hard-tracking
rack and nothing more.
- Several racks LABELED "LRM" actually feed Narc-profile rounds,
and at least one "SRM6" feeds Streak rounds. Two visually
identical racks homing very differently -- one sluggish, one
snapping onto target -- is authentic, not a bug.
- Rack names lie in other ways too, all authentic authored data:
an "SRM6" that fires 4 tubes, an "SRM4" that fires 2, LRM10s that
hit nearly twice as hard on one chassis as another.
LRM round: sluggish 60 deg/sec turn, 10-second burn, the
signature climb-then-plunge LOFT at range.
Streak round: 360 deg/sec turn, short 3-second burn, no loft.
Narc round: Streak-grade tracking PLUS the loft PLUS the long
burn. A light rack that flies like a hawk.
- There is NO beacon mechanism anywhere. The Narc never tagged
anyone; it is a light, hard-tracking rack and nothing more.
- Several racks LABELED "LRM" feed Narc-profile rounds; at least
one "SRM6" feeds Streak rounds. Identical-looking racks homing
very differently is authentic authored data.
- THE SWARM: [Oracle: "The maneuverability of the NARCs and STREAKS
often caused an angry swarm of bees effect when the missiles came
near a maneuvering target at a high aspect angle."] We are
running down whether the original authors a per-round turn rate
our port does not read yet -- if your memory holds more detail
about WHICH racks swarmed, write it down.
- THE SRM RANGE PIP -- SETTLED AT 800: the printed manual shows
450, our content authors 800, and Oracle's note ("agrees with the
800m range published on the VWE site for v4.10") dates the change
between revisions. Our 4.10 content is correct at 800. Retired.
OUR PORT TODAY
Same data-driven resolution -- the racks read the same content, so
all of the above carries over for free. One detail we are NOT
stating yet: which profile the 2-tube SRM racks fly -- our two
content reads disagree and the pass that settles it has not run.
CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD
Nothing mechanical.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
- Do you remember visually identical LRM racks homing very
differently on different mechs? And can you confirm the Narc did
nothing special -- no tag, no beacon, just a fast light rack?
- Do you remember SRM racks that fired FEWER missiles than their
name -- a 4-tube "SRM6", a 2-tube "SRM4"? Or LRM10s/LRM15s that
hit noticeably harder on one chassis than another?
- THE SRM RANGE PIP: the original PRINTED MANUAL shows the SRM
range mark at 450 in three separate display mockups; the game
content we have authors it at 800. That smells like the range
changed between software revisions. Which number do you remember
on the ladder when you selected an SRM rack -- 450 or 800?
(Range on a missile is display-only either way -- the rounds fly
on physics -- but your answer dates our content revision.)
Same data-driven resolution. One detail still unstated: which
profile the 2-tube SRM racks fly -- our two content reads disagree.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY (still open)
- Can anyone else confirm the Narc did nothing special -- no tag,
no beacon? And racks firing FEWER tubes than their name (a 4-tube
"SRM6", a 2-tube "SRM4")?
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
@@ -459,38 +391,32 @@ WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
- The reload countdown runs only while the weapon's generator route
is powered, and a HOT generator reloads slower. Below minimum
voltage the countdown freezes entirely.
- The EJECT control (novice pilots are locked out of it):
TAP = eject one round, and the weapon resets to loading if
rounds remain. This is the in-mission UNJAM.
HOLD (3 seconds) = dump the entire bay. The weapon is out of
ammo for good until re-arm or respawn.
- Jams roll after each shot while the weapon itself runs a heat
alarm; the chance grows with weapon temperature. Standard and
novice sims never heat-alarm a weapon -- so in practice only
veteran/expert pilots ever jammed.
is powered; a HOT generator reloads slower; below minimum voltage
the countdown freezes.
- The EJECT control (novices locked out):
TAP = eject one round; the weapon resets to loading if rounds
remain. This is the in-mission UNJAM.
HOLD (3 seconds) = dump the entire bay.
[ANSWERED -- Oracle: "A jammed round was ejected with a single
tap of the eject button. No holding down was required."
Confirmed -- the tap IS the unjam; the hold is a different
function (full bay dump), which matches.]
- Jams roll after each shot while the weapon runs a heat alarm.
(Heat exists at veteran AND expert in this 4.10 -- see 2B.)
- [Oracle: "I have never seen a non-damaged non-jammed weapon stop
recycling and firing." Which is exactly why our old X'd-weapons
bug -- dead guns firing, live guns latching -- read so wrong.
Both roots are fixed in this build.]
OUR PORT TODAY
Same machine, tap-unjam included -- it is the mechanism behind
#166's "tap EJECT" advice. One divergence: our jam roll currently
waits for a higher weapon temperature than the original -- a
leftover safety from before the heat economy went live.
Same machine, tap-unjam included. The leftover conservative jam
gate came out: warm cannons and racks on veteran/expert jam at the
authentic rate now.
CHANGING IN THE NEXT BUILD
The leftover jam gate comes out. Warm cannons and racks on
veteran/expert may jam a touch more often. That is the authentic
rate.
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
- Did weapons only ever jam for veteran/expert pilots? And could
you CLEAR a jam mid-sortie by tapping EJECT to cycle one round
out?
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY (still open)
- Did a rack or cannon ever go permanently dark WITH ammo remaining
after sustained fire? At what firing intensity? (Field case from
our own nights: an SRM6 latched out with 19 rounds left. Whether
that could happen at authentic intensity is an open question.)
after sustained fire? At what intensity? (Field case from our own
nights: an SRM6 latched out with 19 rounds left.)
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
@@ -498,23 +424,31 @@ WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. INCOMING-MISSILE WARNING
10. INCOMING-MISSILE WARNING ** FOUND, FIXED, SHIPPED TONIGHT **
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGINAL'S BEHAVIOR
Every missile launched at a mech announces itself to its target --
the machinery for a warning is there. What CONSUMED that
announcement (a warning tone? a beeper tempo change? a threat lamp?)
we have not located in the original's code.
This section is the round-trip working exactly as designed, so here is
the whole story. Round one asked "did the pod audibly warn you of
inbound missiles?" Oracle answered with the sound itself:
[ANSWERED -- Oracle: "There was only a missile warning horn sound,
no other warning. This is the missile warning alarm from the sound
board '[1:74] IncomingAlarm01 n58'." -- found on the distributable
soundboard, plus two videos of the original machine with the alarm
audible.]
So: the beeper IS the whole annunciation -- no lamp, no voice -- and
its tempo accelerates as the missile closes (authored straight into
the machine's audio data: distance drives beep rate).
OUR PORT TODAY
The beeper plumbing exists but nothing feeds it -- the warning is
structurally dead (#83 on the known-gaps list).
WE NEED YOUR MEMORY
- Did the pod audibly warn you of inbound missiles? A tone, a tempo
change, a lamp -- anything. If it did not, #83 closes for free.
If it did, describe it and we build exactly that.
Then the fix: our alarm code turned out to be wired to a dead path --
it had never run once in any fielded build. IN 4.11.957 IT LIVES:
missiles inbound on you start the beeper, slow at long range, frantic
as it closes. LRM volleys give seconds of warning; a point-blank SRM
barely a blip (authentic -- the machine cannot warn you faster than
the missile flies).
WE NEED YOUR EARS TONIGHT
- Does the beeper's tempo ramp match your memory of the pods (and
Oracle's reference videos)? This is the one verification only
ears can do.
YOUR NOTES (callsign first, one entry per line):
>
@@ -526,7 +460,7 @@ APPENDIX A -- THE AUTHORED NUMBERS (straight from the shipped content)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Range is in the same units your fire-control shows. Cycle in seconds.
ENERGY (damage = full-charge shot; scales with the square of charge)
ENERGY (damage = the seek-3 shot; the gear ladder scales it)
WEAPON DMG RANGE CYCLE HEAT/SHOT
SLaser 1.5 150 1 0.75
ERSLaser 2 225 1 1.5
@@ -539,6 +473,14 @@ ENERGY (damage = full-charge shot; scales with the square of charge)
Reach shrinks with damage to the carrying zone: listed x (1 - zone
damage). An undamaged weapon reaches exactly the listed range.
THE CHARGE-GEAR LADDER (all energy weapons; damage AND heat scale
together; charge time from the machine's exponential charge curve)
GEAR DAMAGE CHARGE TIME (approx, x listed cycle)
seek 1 56% ~0.6x (fastest -- the rate-of-fire gear)
seek 2 77% ~0.75x
seek 3 100% 1x (the published calibration numbers)
seek 4 153% ~2.9x (the overcharge -- alpha-strike gear)
BALLISTIC (one panel, decided at the trigger; recoil kick = dmg/16)
WEAPON DMG RANGE CYCLE NOTES
AFC25 7 900 2 feed timer = cycle (see sec. 4)
@@ -564,21 +506,23 @@ MISSILE RACKS (DMG = whole-salvo total; per-round in parentheses)
LRM15 15 35 (2.3) 6
LRM20 20 65 (3.25) 9
Same rack name, different numbers = different chassis fits, all
authentic. We are re-verifying the per-chassis map before naming
which mech carries which variant. SRM racks display range 800;
authentic. SRM racks display range 800 (settled -- see section 8);
LRM/NRK racks display 6000 -- display only; real reach is flight
time. Cluster roll on impact: of n launched, between about n/4 and
n count as hits.
FLIGHT PROFILES (authored on the round, not the rack)
LRM round: turn 60 deg/s burn 10 s loft YES
Streak round: turn 360 deg/s burn 3 s loft no
LRM round: turn 60 deg/s burn 10 s loft YES top ~550
Streak round: turn 360 deg/s burn 3 s loft no top ~775
Narc round: turn 360 deg/s burn 10 s loft YES
All rounds splash radius 30 on impact. After burnout a round coasts
up to 10 seconds before fizzling.
up to 10 seconds before fizzling. Rounds detonate on the first
thing in the path: target, bystander, building, or hill.
=============================================================================
WHEN YOU'RE DONE: post your edited copy of this file back to the
weapons thread. "MATCHES" alone in a notes block is real data. The
GAUSS and PPC-HIT questions are the two we cannot answer without you.
WHEN YOU'RE DONE: post your edited copy back to the weapons thread.
"MATCHES" alone in a notes block is real data. The two questions we
most need second witnesses on: DID CANNON ROUNDS VISIBLY FLY (section
4), and the PPC vertical-line screen collapse (section 3).
First-edition annotated copies are still welcome exactly as they are.
=============================================================================