Arena round 6: revert railgun_m damage, correct playtest record

Arena re-run after the playtest-1 adjustments:

- spam-cruiser arena landed at par (default +9%) - the range buff alone
  priced out the small-gun-spam meta, so revert railgun_m damage 16 -> 14
  (range stays 80). The buff had regressed drone-swarm-vs-cruisers to
  +47%, largely via a hit-count breakpoint (60 HP drone: 5 hits at
  14 dmg, 4 at 16).
- battleship +30% / dreadnought +29% vs pure railgun_s fleets accepted
  as reach-doctrine texture (the l gun's 130 m standoff working as
  intended); repair kept at 4 HP/s (below par in-fight is the correct
  price for free between-wave sustain).

Also corrects the playtest-1 record: it was two FULL playthroughs won in
~40 min each with cruisers only (not two pushes) - a 2.5-3x run-length
gap. Pacing knobs deliberately deferred to playtest 2, since those runs
predate the repair nerf and the l-gun siege range.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01DyCu8vwChKMbLJQ3xosYEN

bin/app/data/config/modules.toml

@@ -56,8 +56,11 @@ production_time_seconds = 3
 fill_color = "#FF8040"
 glyph = "Rm"
 
+# damage 14 keeps a 60 HP drone at 5 hits — 15+ crosses a breakpoint that
+# silently adds ~25% effective DPS vs drones (docs/balancing/history.md,
+# round 6).
 [module.weapon]
-damage = 16
+damage = 14
 attack_range_m = 80
 attack_rate_hz = 1.5
 

docs/balancing/README.md

@@ -21,11 +21,12 @@ REQ-* ids in [../requirements.md](../requirements.md).
 
 First full balancing round complete (2026-07-06): targets → tree →
 numbers → threat-calculator parity → combat stats (arena-converged) →
-pacing. Playtesting in progress: playtest 1 (first two pushes) found the
-railgun_s-spam-cruiser meta and confirmed repair as overpowered — combat
-stats adjusted, see `history.md`. Next: re-run the arena suite against
-the adjustments, then continue playtests against the run-shape targets
-in `targets.md`.
+pacing. Playtesting in progress: playtest 1 (two full ~40-min wins,
+cruisers only) found the railgun_s-spam-cruiser meta, confirmed repair
+as overpowered, and exposed a 2.5–3× run-length gap; combat stats
+adjusted and re-checked in arena round 6 (see `history.md`). Next:
+playtest 2 with the new stats — pacing knobs (station scaling, threat
+rate, win pacing) wait for its result.
 
 ## Open action items
 

docs/balancing/derived.md

@@ -98,10 +98,12 @@ geometry-validated against the hull grids)
 see `history.md`)
 
 **Weapons:** railgun_s 2 dmg × 2.0 Hz (4.0 DPS), range 50 m;
-railgun_m 16 × 1.5 (24), range 80; railgun_l 52 × 0.8 (41.6), range 130.
-DPS per threat: s 0.62, m 0.55, l 0.41 — the concentration tax softened
-after playtest 1 so the ladder reads "pay some DPS efficiency for reach";
-railgun_l deliberately outranges stations (120 m) to buy the siege role.
+railgun_m 14 × 1.5 (21), range 80; railgun_l 52 × 0.8 (41.6), range 130.
+DPS per threat: s 0.62, m 0.48, l 0.41 — the concentration tax stands;
+reach is the bigger guns' compensation (ranges raised after playtest 1,
+which alone priced out the small-gun-spam meta). railgun_l deliberately
+outranges stations (120 m) to buy the siege role. railgun_m damage is
+breakpoint-sensitive: 15+ drops a 60 HP drone from 5 hits to 4.
 
 **Hull HP** (15/threat prior + empirical trims): drone 60, frigate 300,
 destroyer 550, cruiser 1500, battlecruiser 2400, battleship 6300,

docs/balancing/history.md

@@ -95,11 +95,14 @@ range 200).
 - **First full balancing round complete.** Next: full-game playtests
   against the run-shape targets.
 
-## 2026-07-06 — playtest 1 (first two pushes)
+## 2026-07-06 — playtest 1 (two full playthroughs)
 
-First real run: two enemy stations destroyed in ~40 min game time
-(~80 min real time with heavy build-pausing) — roughly on pace for the
-≤2 h game-time target, so pacing untouched.
+Two complete runs, WON in ~40 min each with cruiser fleets only — never
+needing capitals. (Initially misread as "two pushes in 40 min, pacing on
+target"; corrected in round 6.) That is roughly cycle 8 against the
+win-cycle target of 20–24: a 2.5–3× pacing gap. Pacing knobs deliberately
+untouched this round — the runs rode 9 HP/s repair and stations nothing
+outranged, both nerfed below; playtest 2 measures the remaining gap.
 
 - **Meta finding: cruisers filled with 12× railgun_s dominate.** Predicted
   by the numbers in hindsight: the concentration tax makes railgun_s the
@@ -125,3 +128,34 @@ First real run: two enemy stations destroyed in ~40 min game time
 - **Open:** re-run the arena suite to check the range/damage changes
   against the round 1–5 results; next playtest should verify big guns now
   feel worth climbing to and repair is merely good.
+
+## 2026-07-06 — arena round 6 (checking the playtest-1 adjustments)
+
+Mirrors healthy (5–8% margins, durations 24/66/91 s). Results:
+
+- **Spam-cruiser arena: default cruisers +9% — the meta is priced out**,
+  and the range buff alone did the work.
+- **Regression: drone swarm vs cruisers +47% for cruisers** (was +14%
+  swarm in round 3). Besides the wider range gap, the damage buff crossed
+  a breakpoint: 14 dmg kills a 60 HP drone in 5 hits, 16 in 4 — a hidden
+  ~25% effective-DPS gain vs drones. Change: **railgun_m damage 16→14**
+  (range stays 80); the tax stands, reach is the compensation.
+- Battleship +30% and dreadnought +29% vs pure railgun_s fleets:
+  **accepted as reach-doctrine texture** (BS was already accepted at
+  +23%) — the l gun's 130 m standoff is exactly what the range buff
+  bought; the counter is your own reach or 2:1 numbers, not equal-threat
+  small guns. Watch, don't tune.
+- Repair escort flipped to raw +16%: **kept at 4 HP/s deliberately** —
+  the arena cannot price the free between-wave top-offs, so slightly
+  below par in-fight is the correct price for a module whose run-value
+  includes them. Playtest 2 decides; 6 is the fallback if repair feels
+  dead.
+- Station assault: the 3× swarm cracked the fortified position keeping
+  45% EHP. No knob this round touched it; together with playtest 1's
+  trivially easy pushes it flags **station strength as the first pacing
+  lever** for the next pass.
+
+**Pacing deferred:** playtest 1's 40-min wins predate the repair nerf
+and the l-gun siege range. If playtest 2 still wins by ~cycle 10, the
+levers are enemy station scaling (`3000 + 1500*x` likely too shallow),
+the threat rate, and possibly `artifact_win_count`.