(b) The 'tiny explosion' on the ram kill is AUTHORED: crunch res 31 = 'stephit'
(one video object, effect 1008 = ddam5 damage smoke) -- a step/ram squash is
small by design. The FULL explosion res 32 = 'trkdead' = psfx 15 dtrkboom
(fiery omni burst) + psfx 16 dtrkburn (the burning-wreck fire), reached by
WEAPON kills -- which the 1995 binary dispatches [T1]:
- MechWeapon::SendDamageMessage @004b9728 (part_013.c:6765) gates only
"target NOT derived from Mech@0x50bdb4 OR aimed zone set": a non-Mech
boresight target takes the zone=-1 damage UNCONDITIONALLY;
- Missile contact @004be078 dispatches at the struck solid's OWNER entity
with no class test at all.
Port wiring: Mech::WorldStructurePick returns the struck solid's owning entity
(BoxedSolid::GetOwningSimulation; TERRAIN.cpp:107/246 build every static solid
with its Terrain/CulturalIcon/Door entity as owner); the mech4 pick block
designates IT instead of the gBTTerrainEntity sentinel (sentinel = fallback);
the projectile contact path grew the non-mech damage-zoned else-branch
(@004be078 mirror, direct Dispatch). Plain terrain ignores the damage
(ENTITY.cpp:885 zone==-1 guard); an icon's handler maps -1 -> 0 and dies.
Truck armor is WeaponDamagePoints=1 (TRK.DMG): one laser = one dead truck.
(c) The burning fire is dtrkburn.pfx, authored INTO the death package (every
icon family carries 1016: trkdead/bigdead/meddead/msldead/twrdead). There is
NO looping BurningState fire in the binary: the damage-zone effect watcher
ctor @0042a984 has exactly one call site (the Mech ctor, part_012.c:10405), so
icon ExplosionTables are inert, and CulturalIcon has no Performance.
Documented as authentic -- nothing invented.
Verified live (BT_SHOT pixel capture): 26 laser kills, [cult] TakeDamage
type=3 -> DYING res=32 -> DPLIndependantEffect 1015+1016 at the icon origin;
frames show the orange dtrkboom fireball, dtrkburn flames on the fresh wreck,
and the rubble aftermath; ram harness re-run still fires crunch res 31.
Diags: BT_FIRE_AT_ICON (designate nearest ahead icon; live-icon census in
CULTURAL.cpp), BT_FX_TEST="1015,1016".
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
