diff --git a/context/open-questions.md b/context/open-questions.md
index c0055ac..970949b 100644
--- a/context/open-questions.md
+++ b/context/open-questions.md
@@ -254,6 +254,19 @@ register.  ⚠ The audit also flags the damage-economy item as SELF-CONTRADICTOR
   (the databinding trap).  DORMANT in-game (the review context no longer survives the viewpoint
   swap -- the #48 teardown fix) but LIVE the moment the mission-review screen actually runs at
   round end.  Bridge all three through btplayer.cpp accessors before enabling the review screen.
+- **`PoweredSubsystem` AutoConnect is DEAD, and vtable slot +0x40 is misattributed
+  (2026-07-25, found while auditing #47's GetStatusFlags change) [T1 decomp].** The binary
+  (@004b0bd0 tail) calls slot +0x40 with TWO shapes: `(this, 0)` in the outer gate (require
+  `== 0`) and `(this, candidateGenerator)` inside the roster walk (require `!= 0`). That is a
+  ONE-ARG voltage query -- "am I unpowered?" / "would THIS source power me?" -- i.e. the
+  `HasVoltage(source)` family, **not** `GetStatusFlags()`. powersub.cpp:358/372 model both as
+  the no-arg `GetStatusFlags()`, so the outer gate demands "no flags at all" while the inner
+  demands "some flag", and nothing between them can change the value -> **the loop body can
+  never execute and AutoConnect never attaches anything.** Pre-existing (both before and after
+  the #47 damage-tier fix); deliberately NOT fixed on release eve because it is a live
+  power-bus behaviour change that deserves its own playtest cycle. Fix = give slot +0x40 its
+  real signature (`Logical HasVoltage(Subsystem *source = 0)`), restore the two call shapes,
+  and verify a mode-Auto subsystem re-attaches after its generator drops.
 - **Factory capability-roster loops 2-4 are STILL DEAD (task #57 discovery).** mech.cpp's
   post-roster loops add to `heatableSubsystems`(0x51155c)/`weaponRoster`(0x511830)/
   `damageableSubsystems`(0x50e4fc) through the local `SubProxy` stub whose `IsDerivedFrom`
diff --git a/game/reconstructed/heat.cpp b/game/reconstructed/heat.cpp
index 301953d..2e09b51 100644
--- a/game/reconstructed/heat.cpp
+++ b/game/reconstructed/heat.cpp
@@ -222,8 +222,18 @@ Logical
 // carry these; the heat/power families override them.  Base implementations
 // are the neutral defaults the recovered overrides chain into.
 //
+// (#47 follow-up, 2026-07-25) NOT a neutral default: the binary's
+// HeatSink::GetStatusFlags @004add30 OPENS with `call 0x4ac144` --
+// MechSubsystem::GetStatusFlags, the DAMAGE TIER (damageLevel >= 1.0 -> bit 0
+// Destroyed; > 0 -> bit 1 Damaged).  There is no zero-returning
+// HeatableSubsystem override in the image; this stub silently dropped bits 0/1
+// for the ENTIRE heat branch (every weapon/sensor/generator/emitter), which
+// (a) made Destroyed/Damaged unable to reach MechTech's annunciator scan --
+// gutting half the #47 mechalrm table -- and (b) let PoweredSubsystem's
+// AutoConnect gate (`GetStatusFlags() == 0`, powersub.cpp:358) treat a DAMAGED
+// subsystem as pristine.  Chaining the real tier reproduces @004add30 exactly.
 LWord
-	HeatableSubsystem::GetStatusFlags()			{ return 0; }
+	HeatableSubsystem::GetStatusFlags()			{ return MechSubsystem::GetStatusFlags(); }
 Logical
 	HeatableSubsystem::HandleMessage(int)		{ return False; }
 void
diff --git a/game/reconstructed/mechsub.cpp b/game/reconstructed/mechsub.cpp
index 5b3e3e5..846228d 100644
--- a/game/reconstructed/mechsub.cpp
+++ b/game/reconstructed/mechsub.cpp
@@ -282,8 +282,15 @@ void MechSubsystem::SetSubsystemDamageLevel(Scalar level)
 //
 
 //
-// @0x4ac144 -- damage tier from the DamageZone structure level (dz+0x158):
-//   >= 1.0  -> 1   (intact / nominal),  > 0.0 -> 2   (damaged),  else 0 (dead).
+// @0x4ac144 -- the DAMAGE TIER, read from the zone's damageLevel (dz+0x158):
+//   >= 1.0 -> bit 0 (DESTROYED),  > 0.0 -> bit 1 (DAMAGED),  else 0 (pristine).
+// These are TechStatusType bit indices 0/1 -- the low two conditions of the
+// MechTech annunciator scan (#47).  The old comment read the field as a
+// STRUCTURE level ("1.0 = intact / 0 = dead") -- backwards: the engine member
+// is damageLevel, which ACCUMULATES to 1.0 = destroyed (mechdmg.cpp's crit
+// cascade tests `level >= StructureMax` for exactly that).  Behaviour was
+// always right; the comment was a leftover of the same structureLevel
+// misreading that #46 retired.
 //
 LWord
 	MechSubsystem::GetStatusFlags()