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+# Games-night crash, 2026-07-26 ~23:14-23:17 (build 4.11.584 / 2b0506d+)
+
+Evidence preserved from the session transcript — BOTH operator_1.log and
+operator_relay.log truncated on restart before they could be copied.  (Fix
+that: logs must rotate, not truncate.)
+
+## Timeline (relay, 23:08 session — log now lost)
+- 23:08:28 session up, roster 8 seats
+- 23:10:14 LAUNCH trim 6/8; ALL SIX READY in 8s (map=cavern — the artrucks
+  fix verified live); RunMission pair 23:10:35/39; clock 600s
+- 23:14:07 game[172.56.165.252 host=5 tag=10.99.0.4] dropped: closed  (one
+  player's client died mid-round)
+- ~23:15 operator reports EVERYONE froze/crashed (mid-round, ~5 min early)
+- 23:16:25 pods re-ACKing eggs (mass relaunch); operator's own pod dropped
+  "mid-load" = the crash below; 23:17:33 Elengil dropped mid-load too
+- 23:16:34 re-staged egg = 22 chunks (7 pilots incl. newcomer Draco)
+- HELLO storms with stale hostIDs 8/9/10/12 -> REJOIN identity resyncs (the
+  8-seat template vs trimmed-6 remap; recovered as designed)
+
+## The captured crash (operator's pod, during the 23:16 RELOAD, not mid-round)
+```
+[cyl] table 'lok2' layers=7
+[score] pilot roster built: 7 scoring pilot(s)
+[crash] UNHANDLED EXCEPTION code=0xc0000005 addr=0x58990d (btl4+0x4990d) access=0 target=0x1d0
+[crash] stack: btl4+0x4990d btl4+0x14caf btl4+0x16cc9 btl4+0x11f13 btl4+0xdc041
+        btl4+0x9c0ce btl4+0x29e55 btl4+0x28556 btl4+0x98b76 btl4+0x98c5f
+        btl4+0x121373 btl4+0xdb7d6 btl4+0xcc6a btl4+0x17e80c (ntdll...)
+```
+PDB-resolved (dist/BT411_4.11.584.pdb):
+```
+btl4+0x4990d  CreateReservoirSubsystem+0x13d     <- null->0x1d0 read
+btl4+0x14caf  Mech::Mech+0x91f
+btl4+0x16cc9  Mech::Make+0x29
+btl4+0x11f13  BTL4Application::MakeViewpointEntity+0x63
+btl4+0xdc041  Application::MakeAndLinkViewpointEntity+0x11
+```
+Operator's own mech = blkhawk (loaded fine 5x earlier tonight), so the poison
+is likely roster/egg STATE, not the operator's chassis.
+
+## The 23:19 egg (captured) — TWO anomalies
+```
+p1 vulture  Draco        <- first appearance tonight (new player)
+p2 lok2     SAURON
+p3 bhk1     Elengil      <- DUPLICATE
+p4 sunder   RajelAran
+p5 bhk1     Elengil      <- DUPLICATE (ghost seat!)
+p6 thr1     Conn Man     <- first appearance tonight
+p7 blkhawk  epilectrik
+```
+A DUPLICATE PILOT (Elengil on seats 3 AND 5) — formed during the post-crash
+chaos (she crashed 23:17:33 and rejoined; reclaim-by-identity missed under the
+ABORT churn).  The operator asked earlier "is our seat code letting multiple
+claims happen?" — inverted form confirmed: one identity, two seats.
+
+## Hypotheses for the load crash (untested, in order)
+1. DUPLICATE PILOT in the egg -> mission construction reads a half-claimed
+   roster entry -> CreateReservoirSubsystem gets null spec (+0x1d0).  Explains
+   everyone crashing regardless of own mech.
+2. A first-appearance chassis (vulture / thr1 / madcat-in-egg) with a broken
+   reservoir spec in the RES.
+3. The mid-round freeze (~23:15) is a SEPARATE bug: mass stall after one peer
+   dropped mid-mission (reliable-channel wait on a dead host?) — 23:14:07 drop
+   precedes the freeze by ~1 min.  Unproven; logs lost.
+
+## TODO (post-night)
+- Repro solo: 1-seat eggs per suspect chassis (vulture, thr1, madcat); then a
+  crafted DUPLICATE-pilot egg.  Convict via the same stack.
+- Read CreateReservoirSubsystem in decomp/reconstruction: what lives at +0x1d0
+  of WHICH pointer; make the factory fail loud, not deref null.
+- Seat code: reclaim-by-identity under ROUND-ABORT churn can double-seat one
+  identity.  Find the race, add a same-identity sweep before assign.
+- Mid-mission peer-drop: what do surviving pods do?  (mass freeze suspect)
+- LOGS MUST ROTATE, NOT TRUNCATE (operator_1.log, operator_relay.log) — tonight
+  lost the crash block and the whole 23:08 session to truncation.
+- Matchlog HDR should include map= (had to dig the map out of egg diffs).
+
+## Round ~23:24-23:34 datapoints (clean full round, clock expiry, 4 matchlogs)
+- vulture (Draco) and thr1 (Conn Man) LOADED AND PLAYED -> both CLEARED as
+  reservoir-crash suspects -> duplicate-pilot egg hypothesis strengthened.
+- Draco CLOSED HIS WINDOW mid-round: round stayed stable for everyone else ->
+  a mid-round exit does not by itself cause the mass freeze; 23:15's trigger
+  is still unknown (timing? who? state?).
+- NEW BUG (identity swap): round-end reshuffle walk-up-assigned SAURON onto
+  Draco's HELD seat (.6).  Assign line stamped callsign='SAURON' but the egg
+  kept the HELD pref -> SAURON's plasma showed 'Draco', and his score this
+  round would credit 'Draco'.  Fix: a walk-up assign to a DIFFERENT identity
+  must overwrite the held pref (holds are for the SAME identity returning).
+
+## OWENS LASER CRASH (operator report at night's end, ~23:45)
+- Player report: a user in OWENS crashed when firing lasers -- "again"; a
+  previous (unfiled, verbal) report exists of the same thing.  Operator
+  believes it was Conn Man both times.
+- CONFIRMED: the 23:14:07 mid-round drop (172.56.165.252) WAS Conn Man (IP ->
+  callsign 4/4 tonight).  So the likely chain: owens laser crash -> his client
+  died 23:14:07 -> mass freeze ~23:15 -> relaunch storm -> duplicate-pilot egg
+  -> reservoir load crash.  One bug, three acts.
+- He switched to thr1 immediately after (classic switch-away-from-crasher).
+- Owens was in NO played round tonight until then (only the never-launched
+  22:49 artrucks staging) -- consistent with the old report.
+- EVIDENCE TO COLLECT from Conn Man: content\join.log (has the [crash] stack;
+  resolve vs dist/BT411_4.11.584.pdb) + his crash-round matchlog
+  (content\matchlog_* stamped ~00:08-00:14 HIS clock; crash = never uploaded;
+  final FIRE lines = the weapon at the moment of death).
+- REPRO PATH: solo + BT_FORCE_MODEL=owens (btl4mssn.cpp), fire lasers.  If
+  deterministic -> local stack + real debugging -> faithful fix.