sots-re/findings/subsystems
alex e9dec36d77 findings: lane AI3 -- the AI stepping order is save player order, and pass 0 writes nothing
Closes five of lane AI2's open items and corrects two published claims.

The stepping order: StrategyServer::ResumePlaying 0x007ddc90 walks the player
array in INDEX ORDER and raises SEResumePlaying at each live player; the app
callback StrategyApp::OnClientEvent 0x00838e10 delivers it inline for humans
and appends it, deduplicated, to the pending queue for AI players. So the AI
players are stepped in save player order, each at most once -- computable from
a save with no live measurement. AI2's search missed it because 0x00b29f98 is
not a pointer to the StrategyApp, it IS the StrategyApp: the enqueue writes the
absolute member address 0x00b29fb4 and never materialises the object base. The
enqueue also has zero direct callers and no vtable slot -- its address is stored
into StrategyServer+0x170 by CreateGame. Lane B6's third blind spot, twice over.

The two passes: `pass` is a tier index, not a plan/act switch. 0x006abb2a picks
between two per-candidate quota fields -- tier 0 takes +0x10, tier 1 takes +0x14
-- and the hub loops `for (i = 0; i <= pass; ++i)`. Every order-emitting exit is
gated pass == 1 (0x006bbd50, 0x006c16c0, 0x006cea50), so pass 0 claims each
task's minimum force in priority order and WRITES NOTHING. That halves the
ModCount arithmetic.

Corrections:
- AI2 §4.2: the nine "no order method" tasks are not planners. All nine emit
  orders at depth 4-9; the depth-4 cut hid it. AITColonize reaches list 7 and
  AITBuildPoliceShips reaches list 3, which is what their names promise.
- AI2 §3: the two priority overrides' flag polarity is inverted. The tunable
  applies when bit 0 of +0x4 is SET, and "committed" is not a supported name.
- AI2 §10.6: the .data invade tunables have no loader. 650 and 750, image
  constants, exactly one reader each and no writer anywhere.

Also: slot 12 named (a preemption permission, 0x006a8d20), slot 13's consumer
found (0x00696620, a range budget -- and the Zuul are exempt, a FOURTH
independent cross-check on AI2's species reading), slot 11's dispatch located.
ServerPlayer+0xf9/+0xfa -- the two bytes that decide whether a player is
AI-controlled -- sit in a hole in the serialised layout and are NOT in the save;
their writer is unfound and is the biggest remaining hole.

Static only; nothing here has run under an instrument. 160 indirect call sites
inside the AI closure are unresolved, so reachability is still a lower bound.
Four predictions with falsifiers in §7.

ghidra/addresses.d/lane-ai3.json: 15 entries, 1,105 -> 1,120, no duplicates,
validated to a scratch path.
2026-09-08 15:29:53 -04:00
..
.keep.md scaffold RE campaign: board, backlog, findings template, verify tree 2026-09-07 14:40:44 -04:00
ai-stepping-and-passes.md findings: lane AI3 -- the AI stepping order is save player order, and pass 0 writes nothing 2026-09-08 15:29:53 -04:00
ai-task-system.md lane AI2: the AI's task selection loop, the priority table, and the order-method -> TurnCommands map 2026-09-08 14:43:41 -04:00
ai-turn-logic.md lane H: five live probes, the oracle restored, and a harness perturbation bisected to one hook 2026-09-08 13:53:36 -04:00
battle-load-profile.md battle-load: profile filed, bug parked; sampler + resume recipe kept 2026-09-07 16:43:14 -04:00
data-model.md data-model: fix example section path (CRAIC, caught by vfs oracle) 2026-09-07 17:41:45 -04:00
data-parsers.md verify: mars data parsers proven 100% on 1595 files; catalogs; tech-tree graph 2026-09-07 15:22:55 -04:00
determinism-oracle.md lane H: five live probes, the oracle restored, and a harness perturbation bisected to one hook 2026-09-08 13:53:36 -04:00
eventlive-verification.md lane V: live verification of the event-posting model against an advance prediction 2026-09-08 05:59:22 -04:00
events.md events: 161 call sites are spread over 113 functions, not 110 2026-09-08 02:47:42 -04:00
formula-gaps.md income-term: the output -> money chain read from the instruction stream; the BnkEl oracle goes 6/25 -> 25/25 2026-09-08 13:49:48 -04:00
fpu-precision-sensitivity.md lane F: x87 precision sensitivity measured; STATE_CHECKSUM 3.5 closed 2026-09-08 05:07:53 -04:00
golden-trace-recapture.md lane X: x86 displacement xref scanner; pin sizeof(ObservedTech) and its append site 2026-09-08 04:44:18 -04:00
income-term.md lane C3: ComputeOutput on the turn path -- the money ComputeBudget actually sums 2026-09-08 14:50:50 -04:00
loader-prototypes.md lane S: std::string is 0x1c binary-wide; ObservedTech element fully mapped 2026-09-08 05:09:33 -04:00
movefleet-position-rounding.md lane M: MoveFleet position rounding closed; VM140 released; types 2-5 still uncovered 2026-09-08 03:51:39 -04:00
multiplayer-gamespy.md board: lane P2 nav classifier; type 2 is the Liir drive, a naming error not a gap 2026-09-08 12:45:27 -04:00
multiplayer-tier0-verified.md lane W2: VM housekeeping notes for the multiplayer recipe (SOTSUI2 left registered, SOTSB staged not registered, -ExecutionPolicy Bypass gotcha) 2026-09-08 15:26:42 -04:00
observedtech-append.md lane S: std::string is 0x1c binary-wide; ObservedTech element fully mapped 2026-09-08 05:09:33 -04:00
output-term.md lane C3: ComputeOutput on the turn path -- the money ComputeBudget actually sums 2026-09-08 14:50:50 -04:00
output-turn-path.md lane C3: ComputeOutput on the turn path -- the money ComputeBudget actually sums 2026-09-08 14:50:50 -04:00
path-solver.md lane P2: the path solver read from the instruction stream, and OrderFleetMove's three failure bits 2026-09-08 12:43:34 -04:00
rcex-explained.md lane W2: multiplayer Tier 0 played end to end with no server; ModCount/Frame/Status watchpoints; rcex explained 2026-09-08 15:23:52 -04:00
running-the-game.md verified: real saves parse; ServerPlayer/StarFleet/StarShip confirmed, ServerSystem conditional gaps listed; game-run recipe 2026-09-07 16:09:28 -04:00
setresearched-cascade.md lane U: the unlock cascade, implemented and live-verified 2026-09-08 06:57:37 -04:00
ship-construction.md findings: ship construction -- the build queue read byte for byte, and the missing destroyer is the AI's 2026-09-08 14:54:03 -04:00
strategic-turn-internals.md lane T2: the treaty-turn stamp, and Player.Status's real writer 2026-09-08 14:52:44 -04:00
strings-and-config.md strings/config: battle-load smoking gun (affinity), lockstep sim, net map, Mods override 2026-09-07 14:58:36 -04:00
system-visibility-prediction.md lane E3: the prediction's outcome, leaf for leaf 2026-09-08 13:39:30 -04:00
system-visibility-record.md lane E3: the per-system visibility record read from the instruction stream, and the prediction before the build 2026-09-08 13:26:46 -04:00
tech-effects.md b2 static findings: tech effects corrections, full g_TechIdNames dump; contract 176->211 2026-09-08 00:01:04 -04:00
treaty-turn-stamp.md lane T2: re-measure H02 on main 2fd0852 (C3 + B6 merged) -- same +26 / +14 / +12x3, 0 regressed, so the phase is orthogonal to both 2026-09-08 15:04:36 -04:00
ui-screen-map.md board: lane P2 nav classifier; type 2 is the Liir drive, a naming error not a gap 2026-09-08 12:45:27 -04:00
unlock-cascade.md lane K: StrategyServer::OnAllCombatDone_Tail mapped, 36 phases from the instruction stream 2026-09-08 08:47:08 -04:00