Impact-FX FORENSICS wave: the i860 specialfx engine, per-round detonations, the ram economy closed

The "we're off the rails" reinvestigation -- a 5-thread evidence workflow
(logs / PFX data / RES model lists / decomp / port audit) + the i860 firmware
decode, then surgical fixes.  Every claim tiered; the wrong turns are on the
record in the KB alongside the corrections.

THE OLD-STYLE SPECIALFX ENGINE [T1, firmware-decoded from VREND.MNG]:
rebuilt scratchpad/i860dis.py (binutils opcode table); mapped the dispatch
(data+0xdd0c; sfx trigger 0xf040cda0, install 0xf040cdc0, step ~0xf0413698,
instance init 0xf04128d8); decoded the heat model EXACTLY: per 30Hz board
frame h *= cool_a; RGB_ch = h_old*(h_new*cook_ch - 0.25) + 0.25 (K=0.25 =
the ember floor @VA 0xF080; kill at h <= 1e-4 @0xF0A0); alpha fades cool_b
x RAW dt (PER-SECOND -- the x30 scaling made laser hits invisible); 7s cap;
y_off = the kill plane; "variance" is DEAD DATA (binary reads "variance",
INI authors "varience").  The 13 descriptors (PPCHit/LaserHit/MissileHit/
Chunks/Sparks/Fireball...) parse from BTDPL.INI and render via the BTPfx
layer -- heat bursts draw the FIERY sheet (brightness over fire), .PFX keeps
GRAYSCALE (authored colours: DNBOOM orange, DDAM gray).

HIT-PACKAGE CENSUS [T1, RES byte-verified]: ppchit=[8] lzrhit=[9] mghit=[7,11]
canhit=[11] mslhit=[10,12,1023] explode=[6]; all 8 mech death lists identical.
Effect routing corrected in BOTH consumers: <100 = specialfx, >=1000 = psfx.

"SILVER MIST x5" ROOT CAUSE: SHKWAVE.PFX (mslhit's 1023) authors maxIssue=5
relPeriod=0.2 rate=1 -- the ONE file where rate contradicts the window; the
emitter trusted rate -> 5 shells at exactly 1Hz.  Emission rate now always
maxIssue/releasePeriod.

PER-ROUND DETONATIONS [T1 @004bef78]: every missile round spawns its own
ExplosionModelFile at ITS impact (hull + terrain) -- a volley ripples 12
fireballs like the demos; rack-tube launch spread [T3] (GUIDED rounds only --
the slot-0 deflection sent every AFC100 shell 3.4deg left/2.5deg down: the
phantom "4th gold beam"); replicant salvos detonate too (launcher index rides
the visual push).  Missile damage bundles through the shooter's messmgr with
the launcher's subsystemID (mslhit fires at the consolidated point; the
binary's dedup CONFIRMED [T1 @0049b784] -- a workflow agent's per-record
claim REFUTED by direct decomp read).

DAMAGE-BAND SEMANTICS [T1]: MechDeathHandler fires the CURRENT band effect on
any damage rise (the binary's changed-flag coalescing) -- a mauled mech under
fire smokes/burns per hit; bands 3/4 are authored fire plumes.

THE RAM ECONOMY -- CLOSED (3 layers, measured live):
 1. armor = POINTS (every zone: damageScale = 1/armorPoints, armor 50-140;
    the [zone-armor] BT_DMG_LOG dump);
 2. StaticBounce prices rams with authored moverMass ~1.3e6 -> ~59,000 pts
    @10m/s; the binary dispatches it RAW but pod MP dropped it on the local
    replicant (MECH.CPP:986 warns) -- ram damage was NETWORK-INERT; our
    task-#47 replicant forwarding surfaced it as a one-shot.  Port
    normalizes x1e-3 to the point economy [T3];
 3. contact EDGE (ramLastVictim/ramContactLinger): the binary's bounce made
    separation implicit; our gait-derived velocity re-priced full rams at
    60Hz (the respawn explode-loop).  One bump = one hit; pressed = BLOCK.

PLUS: sfx size x0.5 + 1.25m visibility floor + hot-phase occlusion [T3];
particle pool 2048->8192 (missile traffic starved laser bursts -- the
"intermittent effects"); replicant beam aging (a lost beam-END record pinned
a stale beam on forever); UV-variant noise stamps (mask-safe mirror/swap);
no scroll on particle stamps (material-path only); BT_FX_TEST/fxshot.py
self-verification harness ([beam-draw]/[zone-armor]/[collide-tx] telemetry).

KB: rendering.md (specialfx engine + census + closeout), combat-damage.md
(ram economy + band semantics).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

game/reconstructed/mislanch.cpp

@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@
 // shooter's frame (up-tilted rack launch); damage <= 0 = a VISUAL-ONLY round.
 extern void BTPushProjectile(const Point3D &muzzle, void *shooter, void *target,
 							 const Point3D &targetPos, Scalar speed, Scalar damage,
-							 const Vector3D *launch_velocity = 0, int guided = 1);
+							 const Vector3D *launch_velocity = 0, int guided = 1,
+							 int weapon_subsys = -1);
 
 //###########################################################################
 // Port-side salvo replication state (missile-visibility wave).
@@ -305,7 +306,8 @@ void MissileLauncher::FireWeapon()
 	int nmiss = (missileCount > 0 && missileCount < 40) ? missileCount : 1;
 	for (int i = 0; i < nmiss; ++i)
 		BTPushProjectile(muzzle, o, target, targetPos, speed, damageData.damageAmount,
-						 &launchVelocity);
+						 &launchVelocity, 1,
+						 subsystemID /*messmgr explosion bundling at impact (task #7)*/);
 
 	// Salvo replication (missile-visibility wave): bump the fire counter + stamp
 	// the aim point; the extended update record carries both to peer nodes.
@@ -376,7 +378,8 @@ void
 			n = (missileCount > 0 && missileCount < 40) ? missileCount : 1;
 		for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
 			BTPushProjectile(mz, owner, 0 /*no entity: aim point only*/,
-							 rec->salvoTarget, spd, 0.0f /*VISUAL*/, &launchVelocity);
+							 rec->salvoTarget, spd, 0.0f /*VISUAL*/, &launchVelocity, 1,
+							 subsystemID /*per-round detonation resolve on this node*/);
 		if (getenv("BT_PROJ_LOG"))
 			DEBUG_STREAM << "[projectile] REPLICANT salvo x" << n
 				<< " at(" << rec->salvoTarget.x << "," << rec->salvoTarget.y