---
title: G6 socket honesty + G4 saturation budget — Build Spec (review-hardened)
date: 2026-07-21
tags: [build-spec, combat, sockets, netcode, presentation, lantern, guidelines]
permalink: gamevault/03-design/socket-honesty-saturation-build-spec
---

# G6 socket honesty + G4 saturation budget — Build Spec

> The review-hardened design for the 07-21 pass applying [[Combat_Attack_Feel_Guidelines]] **G6** (cast grammar
> for the 4-socket kit: SpecialSlam damage-at-contact + the zone fill telegraph) and **G4** (the co-op saturation
> budget). Pre-code adversarial review `wf_98bf1268-51b` (3 lenses → per-finding refutation critics): **13
> confirmed / 1 refuted** — every confirmed finding folded in below (marked ►). Post-impl diff review
> `wf_9757d214-b91`: **5 confirmed (all low) / 6 refuted**, all five fixed same-session (corpse-free census +
> solo gate on the ally scale; client connect-latch death-clears; ClassSelectReceiveSystem pending-clear parity;
> the no-slot-fallback + live-steer contract tests). Final suite **429/429**.
> Implementation log: [[2026-07-21_G6_G4_Socket_Honesty_Saturation_H]].

## Slice 1 — Cone socket (SpecialSlam) damage-at-contact

The Cone archetype (`AbilityFireSystem` Cone branch) damaged AT FIRE, ~0.35 s before the slam animation's visual
contact — the same dishonesty melee fixed 07-20 (`TuningAuditTools` carried the NOTE). Fix = the
`MeleeCleavePending` schedule-and-consume idiom on the socket kit:

- **`ConeContactPending { uint ResolveTick; byte Socket }`** — server-only, NOT replicated, baked zeroed on the
  player (PlayerAuthoring, next to MeleeCleavePending).
- **Knob 32 `ConeContactTicks`** (Count 32→33), default **21** (~0.35 s), clamp ≥ 0, **0 = legacy at-fire**
  (the MeleeContactTicks sentinel contract). Doc-pinned: keep < `CastFacingTicks` 26 (a resting gamepad stick
  resolves a MOVE-facing slam past the cast window) and note default 21 sits 1 tick under WarriorCone cooldown 22.
  `DebugTuningReport` +1 field (dev-protocol bump; wire type stays unconditional).
- **Fire-due check BEFORE the socket loop** (per player, isServer + hasPending): wrap-safe
  `ResolveTick != 0 && !IsNewerThan(serverTick)` → rebuild the cone from LIVE state (ResolveAim now, folded
  `EffectiveSocketStats[Socket]` now, live target snapshot) → DamageEvent + knockback → consume by zeroing.
- ► **Re-validate the armed socket at resolve** (bounds + SparkId still maps to a Cone archetype) — the dev
  SetClass op `Clear()`s the loadout mid-flight; mismatch = consume-drop, never a slam with foreign stats.
  SetClass also zeroes the pending next to its SocketCooldown reset.
- **Early-flush**: a recast with a still-armed pending fires it first (re-validated), then re-arms — no knob
  combination can lose a slam (the melee C0/C12 contract; reachable: cooldown-reduction mods under cooldown 22).
- ► **hasPending fallback**: knob 0 OR a missing pending slot (plain test worlds) → the legacy immediate path.
- ► **Death-clear** (the review's biggest catch — a SHIPPED bug): melee's "death gate" never existed. An armed
  pending FREEZES through death (`WithDisabled<Dead>` merely skips) and fires from the RESPAWN position once Dead
  re-disables. `PlayerDeathStateSystem`'s isDead branch now zeroes **both** `MeleeCleavePending` (the shipped
  melee variant) and `ConeContactPending` — idempotent default-writes, rollback-safe (client copies always zero).
- **One `FireCone` helper** shared by legacy/due-fire/early-flush (one resolve path, no drift).
- ► **Tests need a REAL fixture** (no AbilityFireSystem harness existed): GameServer-flagged world +
  `NetworkTime` with `IsFirstTimeFullyPredictingTick` (the `Flags` field is **internal** — test-only reflection
  write) + AbilityDatabase blob with a Cone def + `InputBufferData<PlayerInput>` press/release command pairs
  (a held InputEvent re-fires across the cooldown edge — the MeleeComboTests C6 lesson, buffer-shaped).

## Slice 2 — Zone fill telegraph (WildStar-grade honesty for player zones)

Zones (Vortex/LightZone) had NO client telegraph — server-only `ZoneEffect`, first pulse one full period
(30 t) after spawn.

- **Wire change** (ghost-hash churn, dev peers rebuild together): `[GhostField]` on `ZoneEffect.CasterNetworkId`
  (G3 ownership tint), `.Radius` (quantized ×100; the drawn rim = the TRUE folded damage radius, G2) and
  `.NextTick` (fill arrival = the damage moment). `DamagePerPulse`/`ExpireTick` stay server-only. Ownerless
  interpolated ghost → server mutations just propagate.
- `PulsePeriodTicks = 30` hoisted to `ZoneEffect` (single source for ZonePulseSystem + the client fill window).
- **`ZoneTelegraphSystem`** (client, PresentationSystemGroup, observe-only): ► templated on
  **GeyserTelegraphSystem** (the shipped implementation of exactly this mechanism — shared `BuildDisc` unit mesh
  + MPB alpha + pooled GOs + prune + the `_armed`/`_lastFired` value-latch), NOT the per-frame-mesh enemy-wedge
  system. Only new primitive: `FeedbackFx.BuildRing` (the always-on rim). Fill disc scales `Radius × fill`,
  `fill = 1 − saturate(lead / PulsePeriodTicks)`; each server re-stamp naturally resets it (the persistent-zone
  encoding). Pulse cue on the countdown CROSSING, latched per NextTick value + was-counting-down arm-guard
  (the Geyser ★ contract — never edge-detect).
- ► **Evaluated on `NetworkTime.InterpolationTick`** (fallback ServerTick), a DELIBERATE divergence from the
  Geyser precedent: a geyser threatens the PREDICTED local player; a zone's observables (enemy HP drops, vortex
  pull) live on the INTERPOLATED timeline the zone renders on. The predicted tick would complete the fill ~RTT
  early and pin it at full — invisible on loopback, 20-40 % of the bar wrong at internet RTTs.
- Tint: mine = warm (LightZone) / teal (Vortex); ally = dim cool-blue, same shapes; never red (G3).

## Slice 3 — Cone client-cue honesty (CombatFeedbackSystem)

- ► **`TickWindowMath.FireStartRaw(nextFireRaw, cooldownTicks)`** — the ONE home of the window-start
  reconstruction (`FireActive` refactored onto it; unit-pinned incl. the wrap-to-zero NonZero coercion).
- ► **Contact latched ONCE at the socket fire edge** (`_pendingConeConnectTick = FireStartRaw + knob`, the melee
  C14 idiom) — per-frame reconstruction can skip/double-fire the one-shot when a cooldown stat-mod lands
  mid-window. Arc reveal life derives from the knob (reveal completes AT contact, C13). Connect package
  (bite/thunk/kick/rumble) fires at the contact tick via `EvaluateConeConnect` (aim recomputed live).
- ► **`NearestEnemyInCone` extracted** — the socket-fire branch, `EvaluateMeleeConnect` and the new deferred
  cone eval all route through one scan (the third inline copy was the B4/B5 duplication class).
- ► **`TuningConfig.Defaults()` fallback at every client tcfg read site** — fixes a SHIPPED release-build bug:
  the dev TuningConfig singleton is editor-only (`DevTuningReceiveSystem` is `#if UNITY_EDITOR`), so player
  builds read `default(TuningConfig)` → contact knobs 0 → connect cues fired ~0.35 s before server damage.
  Release cue timing now matches the release server's Defaults()-driven damage timing.

## Slice 4 — G4 co-op saturation budget

- **`SaturationMath.AllyScale(enemies, start, full, floor)`** — ► in **ProjectM.Client** (the HudVisualMath
  presentation-math precedent; the tests asmdef references Client). Note: EnemyMarkerSystem's pip fade equals
  `AllyScale(count, start, 2·start, floor)` — a later pass can retrofit.
- FeelConfig: `AllyFxDegradeStart` 8 · `AllyFxDegradeFull` 16 · `AllyFxFloor` 0.35 (+ ResetDefaults stamps).
- ► **Degrade set = what is actually ALLY-attributed** (the plan's "remote emit counts" targeted a path that
  doesn't exist — remote swings draw arc meshes, not particles; enemy hit/death bursts are UNATTRIBUTED
  health-edge FX shared with the local player): remote slash arc **brightness** (life stays contact-honest per
  C13), remote-player shakes (`HitShakeRemote`, `RemotePlayerDeathShake`), and the stress package's own emits.
  Local-player FX untouched; **enemy telegraphs never degrade** (structurally separate system — no knob).
- ► **`CombatStressDebug.StressAllyFx`** — editor-only static in the Debug family with a
  `[RuntimeInitializeOnLoadMethod(SubsystemRegistration)]` reset (the static-presentation-bridge ★ rule), NOT in
  FeelConfig (`FeelProfileService.SaveCurrent` snapshots every FeelConfig field — a captured profile would
  re-arm stress mode on Apply). While on, CombatFeedbackSystem synthesizes the ally package at 3 orbiting fake
  casters every ~0.5 s.
- DebugOverlay `- Saturation (G4) -`: "Spawn 12 Drowners" (reuses `DebugOp.SpawnEnemy = 14`; valid in DevSandbox
  because GymSub bakes GymTag + GymEnemyRoster) + the stress toggle.

## Loadout note (surfaced by the live proof)

No current frame loadout sockets `WarriorCone` (Bathynaut = Vortex/Blink/HookPull/LightZone; Harpooner =
HookPull/Blink/DecoyWisp/LightZone) — the Cone/SpecialSlam path is **dormant in-game** until a loadout carries
it. The pass still fixed it now (G6 says every socket declares its grammar; the archetype is live for any future
Spark), and the live proof injected the spark directly.

## Validation record

L1 console clean · L2 **427/427** EditMode (5 cone-schedule tests incl. death-clear + socket-swap drop; 3
FireStartRaw; 5 SaturationMath; knob 32 auto-covered by the TuningConfig round-trip) · **live server proof**:
pending stamped tick 9101 → resolve 9122; dummy HP 340 held through 9121, 340→318 across the 9122 boundary with
the pending consumed atomically, under real ~4-tick batching. Zone GhostFields live-verified on the client
(`caster=1 radius=2.5 next=<stamped>`, `DamagePerPulse` correctly NOT replicated) · telegraph rendering
screenshot-verified (teal local rim at true radius) · L3 overlay rows verified.

## Related

- [[Combat_Attack_Feel_Guidelines]] — the grammar this implements (G2/G3/G4/G6 sections)
- [[2026-07-20_Melee_Feel_Forks_B]] — the melee predecessor (idioms C0/C12/C13/C14 reused here)
- [[Geyser_Build_Spec]] — the periodic-tick telegraph contract (the ★ latch rule)
- [[2026-07-21_G6_G4_Socket_Honesty_Saturation_H]] — implementation session log