Retune Iron Coast waves, enemy attacks and weapon presentation

docs/iron-coast-retune.md

@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+# Iron Coast pacing and presentation update
+
+The 14 Iron Coast missions now use difficulty-scaled attack groups, clearer
+weapon feedback and distinct enemy/boss patterns. Original campaigns and their
+content definitions are unchanged.
+
+## Wave schedules
+
+Enabled scheduled enemies, including required targets and bosses:
+
+| Mission | Training | Rookie | Veteran | Elite |
+| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
+| I 1 — Breakwater | 25 | 34 | 43 | 52 |
+| I 2 — Tidal Relay | 29 | 40 | 51 | 62 |
+| I 3 — Saltworks Convoy | 32 | 45 | 58 | 71 |
+| I 4 — Stormwall | 35 | 50 | 65 | 84 |
+| I 5 — Cinder Docks | 45 | 64 | 83 | 107 |
+| I 6 — Iron Crown | 64 | 92 | 120 | 145 |
+| II 1 — Nightbreak Inlet | 30 | 43 | 55 | 67 |
+| II 2 — Undertow Run | 31 | 44 | 60 | 76 |
+| II 3 — Stormglass Refinery | 42 | 50 | 62 | 78 |
+| II 4 — Floodgate Zero | 42 | 50 | 62 | 78 |
+| II 5 — Skybreaker Arsenal | 45 | 53 | 65 | 81 |
+| II 6 — Emberwake Shipyards | 46 | 54 | 66 | 82 |
+| II 7 — Siege of the Iron Fleet | 57 | 65 | 77 | 93 |
+| II 8 — Black Tide | 61 | 69 | 81 | 97 |
+
+Counts are not simultaneous enemies or difficulty quotas. The 27 original
+missions have median scheduled totals of 139 / 139 / 228 / 313, but their
+lengths, target durability and attacks differ. Iron Coast now introduces flank
+groups and classic aircraft between objectives, with recovery space before
+bosses. Required targets remain reachable; aircraft leaving the playfield do
+not grant kills or complete objectives.
+
+## Comparison method
+
+The baseline covers all 27 original missions and all 14 Iron Coast missions at
+all four difficulties. Controlled pressure observations use the same firing and
+movement policy, with replenished shields to observe the complete schedule.
+Those measurements describe activity, not ordinary-player survival. Separate
+paid routes use actual inventory, shop transactions and carried shield charge.
+
+Median mean-visible enemies during the controlled observations:
+
+| Difficulty | Original missions | Stage I before → after | Stage II before → after |
+| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
+| Training | 0.65 | 0.28 → 0.52 | 0.22 → 0.42 |
+| Rookie | 0.67 | 0.29 → 0.86 | 0.22 → 0.50 |
+| Veteran | 1.30 | 0.31 → 1.26 | 0.25 → 0.59 |
+| Elite | 1.98 | 0.31 → 1.52 | 0.25 → 0.68 |
+
+The final Elite Iron Crown schedule removes ten extra reinforcements to leave
+recovery space before the Fleet. Its 145 scheduled enemies remain above
+Veteran’s 120. All lower-difficulty schedules are unchanged by that correction.
+
+The final paired Stage I routes complete all six missions at all four settings,
+with 96 full pilot/script-state/RNG save/load checks across baseline and revised
+routes. The Elite finale completes at tick 2,649 with 47 shield using the actual
+loaned Ion Lance and three purchased Field Repairs costing 37,500 credits.
+The same controller’s earlier runs without those purchases died before the
+Fleet; those failures remain recorded. This is one demonstrated paid strategy,
+not a promise that every loadout or movement policy survives.
+
+Stage II completes all eight missions and a finale replay at all four settings
+using carried inventory, paid supplies and normal damage. The lowest observed
+shield is 12 on Elite. Late-miss checks separately verify all mandatory targets
+remain reachable and objectives can finish; those observer checks replenish
+shields and are not survival results.
+
+The final package metadata passes actual 45-mod resource validation and exact
+save-pin roundtrips at every difficulty. Gameplay measurements use the frozen
+runtime definitions/scripts; the final version-number, README and blank-line
+whitespace corrections do not change gameplay tokens.
+
+## Enemy silhouettes and attacks
+
+Scouts and interceptors retain 24×24 logical bodies; turrets and siege units
+remain 32×32, and skimmers remain 32×24. Those footprints fit their original
+game roles; the update changes movement and firing rather than enlarging every
+enemy. Scouts now enter, attack and break away. Interceptors make a faster
+lateral pass and reversing exit. Ground units retain reachable firing lanes.
+
+Aim locks at the start of each short salvo. Difficulty adjusts warning time,
+shot speed, salvo length and recovery. Ordinary muzzle feedback uses compact
+cues instead of explosion blooms. Enemy projectile artwork is 6–7 logical
+pixels wide. Its visible size does not change the engine’s existing hostile
+projectile collision threshold.
+
+The first six bosses now have different patrols, dives, health phases and
+warning/recovery sequences. Definition health is 240 / 280 / 320 / 360 / 400 / 420,
+within the range of comparable original bosses; normal difficulty scaling applies.
+The first three use 84×56
+bodies, the next two 96×64 and Iron Crown 108×72. Stage II bosses retain their
+existing distinct bodies, health, damage and rewards, with revised attack timing.
+
+## Weapons and feedback
+
+Pulse Cannon, Seeker Swarm, Ion Lance, Railburst Cannon and Depth Charge retain
+their damage, targeting, cooldowns, effective ranges and prices. Pulse, rail and
+depth-charge shots use more compact artwork; brief hit arcs replace oversized
+explosions. Seeker artwork stays larger because the smaller trial lost readability.
+Audio is gated to actual attacks and hits, reducing sustained overlapping noise.
+
+| Weapon | Price | Role |
+| --- | ---: | --- |
+| Pulse Cannon | 185,000 | Primary weapon augmentation |
+| Seeker Swarm | 285,000 | Selectable homing missiles |
+| Ion Lance | 425,000 | Selectable penetrating beam |
+| Railburst Cannon | 685,000 | Selectable piercing rail shot |
+| Depth Charge | 525,000 | Selectable ground attack |
+
+Controlled damage comparisons cover 125 cases; 30 complete gameplay-state
+comparisons preserve damage, trajectories, RNG, collision, cooldowns and health
+while allowing cosmetic effects/audio to differ. SD/HD enemy and boss captures
+also check silhouettes, warning periods and firing feedback. Those bounded
+checks do not establish every loadout’s balance or hardware audio quality.
+
+## Using the update
+
+Enable **Iron Coast — Complete Campaign** or **Iron Coast II — Black Tide** in
+Mods and apply at the main menu. Dependencies select automatically. Existing
+pilots may receive the normal changed-mod warning; accepting it preserves saved
+equipment and progression. Use Ctrl to fire, Alt/Shift to cycle equipment, Z for
+Special and Space for owned bombs. Select mission-provided repairs before
+using Special; they consume actual items. Mission 6 lends an Ion Lance when
+inventory space permits—select it and hold Fire.
+
+Package-local acceptance files describe their recorded versions. Retained
+pre-retune 1.0 results are historical; they are not new-version playthrough claims.

docs/iron-coast.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Iron Coast content packages
 
-Iron Coast contains six independently toggleable mission mods, five shared
+Iron Coast Stage I contains six independently toggleable mission mods, five shared
 weapon and enemy mods, a shared soundtrack, six stage boss mods, and an optional
 campaign assembly mod. Enable **Iron
 Coast — Complete Campaign** (`iron_coast_campaign`) to select the full campaign
@@ -13,6 +13,13 @@ needed by another enabled mod remain selected. The Mods manager validates versio
 and dependency order and applies the change at the main menu. The new weapons can also be used in the original campaigns;
 the enemy packages can be referenced from other missions.
 
+Stage II — **Black Tide** adds eight more independent missions, eight bosses,
+three shared enemies, two weapons and a three-track soundtrack. Enable
+`iron_coast_stage2_campaign` to select that route and its dependencies. See
+[Black Tide’s package instructions](../mods/iron_coast_stage2_campaign/README.md).
+The [pacing and presentation update](iron-coast-retune.md) documents the current
+waves, enemy patterns, weapon feedback and all four difficulty comparisons.
+
 | Package | Content |
 | --- | --- |
 | `iron_coast_campaign` | Links all six missions into one campaign without replacing mission scripts or artwork |
@@ -35,7 +42,9 @@ the enemy packages can be referenced from other missions.
 | `seeker_swarm` | Selectable homing missile volleys |
 | `ion_lance` | Selectable penetrating beam |
 
-All packages are version 1.0.0 and use mod API 1. Every mission requires
+All packages use mod API 1. Retuned enemies, bosses and missions use patch
+versions 1.0.1 (Iron Crown 1.0.2); the five retuned weapons use 1.1.0.
+Unchanged packages retain 1.0.0. Every Stage I mission requires
 compatible 1.x versions of its five shared content mods, soundtrack and stage
 boss. The campaign assembly requires all six mission packages; shared dependencies are selected transitively.
 Save compatibility records each enabled package's exact version and content
@@ -54,7 +63,7 @@ retains that dependency; the confirmation lists the actual affected packages.
 
 ## Mission 1: Breakwater
 
-The player raids a coastal industrial harbor. Ten scouts cover the approach,
+The player raids a coastal industrial harbor. Difficulty-scaled scouts cover the approach,
 four ground turrets protect the docks, two destructible supply depots release
 repair kits, and the command ship arrives at step 720. Destroy at least two
 turrets and the command ship to finish. Surviving turrets stop at y=72 and the boss stays in the playfield until
@@ -153,8 +162,9 @@ MUS score played through the same FM synthesizer as the original game music;
 its source composition, generated score and provenance are included.
 
 The generated mod assets are included in Git, so a fresh checkout includes
-the complete content packages. The original base-game asset catalog is still
-required locally to play the game and remains excluded from version control.
+the complete content packages. The original base-game asset catalog is included in the standalone
+`RustRaptor/data/` folder and tracked in this repository. Local review captures
+and build caches remain excluded from version control.
 To rebuild the mission assets from their included generated masters, run:
 
 ```sh

docs/resume-checkpoint.md

@@ -21,15 +21,26 @@ current enemy snapshots. A finite 16,384-property Rhai map limit fixes documente
 queries failing on ordinary enemy groups; operation, command and 64 KiB saved-state
 limits remain unchanged. All 45 modding regression tests pass. Three actual 1080p
 SDL captures (menu, S1 Wave 7, S3 Wave 9) match the previous binary byte for byte.
-Windows cross-build, PE imports and shared-data verification pass; this source
-revision still needs its own native Windows CI result.
+Windows cross-build, PE imports and shared-data verification pass. This API
+revision passed its own native Windows CI at 5,340 frames: 360 tests passed,
+zero failed and 26 were ignored. The subsequent 5,341-frame artwork append
+has a separate CI observation; the 360-test result is not relabeled for it.
 
-Iron Coast retuning is active in `.reference/campaign-retune-20261017/`.
-The baseline covers all 27 original and 14 mod missions at all four difficulties.
-Mission waves, enemy movement, bosses and weapon presentation are being validated
-in a combined private mod overlay before application. The working mod packages
-have not yet been replaced. The 45-picture terrain context sample found visible
-road-material seams; affected artwork remains held for repair.
+Iron Coast’s final retune is applied to the working packages: 14 scaled mission
+schedules, five shared enemy AIs, 14 boss patterns and five weapons’ visual/audio
+feedback. The combined 45-package overlay passes resource validation and save
+pins; paid routes complete both stages at all four difficulties. Stage I Elite
+uses the documented loan and legitimately purchased repairs; earlier failing
+policies remain preserved. See `docs/iron-coast-retune.md` for counts and limits.
+All six bounded SD/HD flight screenshots and three actual menu screenshots
+have been reviewed. The shop, mod diagnostics and mission selector remain
+readable, and the new versions appear correctly. These are presentation checks,
+not a claim of exhaustive human playtesting.
+
+HD continuation remains active. Four more boss frames have genuine World
+captures awaiting material review; unused-picture and retained-detail trials
+remain private. The terrain context sample found road-material seams, so those
+15 tiles remain held. No whole-remaster completion is claimed.
 
 # Earlier 5,339-frame checkpoint — retained historical observation