User: struck a mech ~4x, still standing -- but the [dmghit] trace showed the
DIRECT victim taking 16 applications for 8 impacts while the intended splash
bystander took 0. Root cause: BTApplySplashDamage delivered splash through the
shooter's SubsystemMessageManager::AddDamageMessage, which CONSOLIDATES every
damage message of a frame onto the FIRST hit entity (commonDamageInformation.
entityHit, messmgr.cpp:279). The direct hit registered the primary as the common
entity, so the bystander's splash was consolidated onto the primary too -- the
excluded direct victim took 8 direct + 8 mis-routed splash = 2x, and the real
bystander took nothing.
Fix: deliver splash with a DIRECT e->Dispatch to each victim, matching the T0
source (EXPLODE.cpp:246 target_entity->Dispatch); Dispatch reroutes cross-pod for
a replicant on its own. Verified (BT_DMG_LOG): 8 impacts -> 8 dmghit on the
direct victim + 8 on the bystander (was 16/0); no death; per-hit 5.83.
KB: combat-damage.md warns not to route splash through the consolidating msgmgr.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
