diff --git a/docs/re/BACKLOG.md b/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
index 9f2d634..4c22c57 100644
--- a/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
+++ b/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
@@ -546,6 +546,20 @@ search cannot find a *schedule*.
   line in every run reads `UN_e007_ADAN_Turret`, because `SYLPH_HUNT`/`KEEPOUT`
   were built for turrets. **42 kills were the wrong 42.** **Test: a pilot that
   prioritises `e010` over `e007`**, watching `deployed` jump from 41.
+* ✅🚧 **(2026-08-24) `SYLPH_PREFER` works; the blocker is now COMBAT, not RE.**
+  Preference knob added (matching units ×0.05, others ×4.0). One clean 320 s run
+  (**0 stalls**): 8 turret kills vs **2** `e010` — real effect (was ~1 across ALL
+  prior runs) but weak; commitment + proximity keep pulling back to turrets, which
+  outnumber attackers 108:16 in craft. `deployed` stayed **41**, no advance.
+  🚧 **Quantified blocker:** phase 1 fields **16** `Attacker_S` craft; at 2 per
+  320 s clearing them needs **~2560 s ≈ 43 min** of verified-live flight across
+  many chained attaches, against a ~2-in-5 freeze rate.
+  **Everything needed to OBSERVE the advance is built and validated** — roster
+  link, liveness, stall witness, chained attaches, discard rule. What is missing
+  is a pilot good enough to finish the objective. **User's choice:** (1) invest in
+  the pilot (game-playing, uncertain); (2) accept the static answer (structure,
+  rosters, routes, objective texts all decoded and cross-confirmed; only the
+  *trigger* is inferred); (3) one 40+ min chained run betting against freezes.
   🔴 `SYLPH_HZ=3` refuted as a lever: it gave the LOWEST frame rate (8/s) with the
   most kills, so pilot polling is not the throttle.
 * ~~🚧 BLOCKER: t=210/240 unreachable in one turn~~ — **superseded, see above**;
diff --git a/docs/re/mission-objectives-text.md b/docs/re/mission-objectives-text.md
index 99c7b50..405b26f 100644
--- a/docs/re/mission-objectives-text.md
+++ b/docs/re/mission-objectives-text.md
@@ -73,3 +73,63 @@ not new decoding — and the existing probe watching `deployed`.
 
 This is 🟡, not ✅: the objective text is certain, but that *this particular
 objective* gates the phase advance is inference from the script's structure.
+
+---
+
+# The target-preference knob works, and the blocker is now combat, not RE (2026-08-24)
+
+## ✅ `SYLPH_PREFER` added and measured
+
+`pilot.py` gained a target-preference knob: a unit-name substring whose matches
+get their target score multiplied by 0.05 and everything else by 4.0. With
+`SYLPH_PREFER=e010`, one clean 320 s run (witness: **0 stalls**):
+
+| killed | count |
+|---|---|
+| `UN_e007_ADAN_Turret` | 8 |
+| `UN_e010_ADAN_Attacker_S` | **2** |
+
+The preference is real — `e010` kills went from about one *across all previous
+runs* to two in a single run — but it is **weak**: turrets still outnumber
+attackers 4:1 in the kill log. Target commitment (`COMMIT_MAX`, `COMMIT_DROP`)
+and simple proximity keep pulling the nose back to turrets, which are far more
+numerous.
+
+`deployed` stayed at **41** throughout. No phase advance.
+
+## 🚧 The blocker, quantified
+
+Phase 1's roster, by craft rather than by squadron:
+
+| unit | members | craft (`sum(n)`) |
+|---|---|---|
+| `UN_e007_ADAN_Turret` | 12 | **108** |
+| `UN_e106_ADAN_Destroyer` | 7 | 7 |
+| `UN_f001_TCAF_DeltaSaber_T` | 7 | 7 |
+| **`UN_e010_ADAN_Attacker_S`** | **4** | **16** |
+
+Clearing the marked attackers means destroying **16 craft**. At the measured rate
+of 2 per 320 s that is **~2560 s — roughly 43 minutes** of continuous
+verified-live flight, across many chained attaches, with a freeze rate of about
+two runs in five.
+
+**This is no longer a reverse-engineering problem.** Everything needed to observe
+the phase advance is built and validated: the roster link, the liveness read, the
+stall witness, chained attaches, the discard rule. What is missing is a pilot
+good enough to actually complete the mission objective, and that is game-playing
+work with an uncertain payoff.
+
+## The choice, which is the user's to make
+
+1. **Invest in the pilot** — better target selection, missiles, using the
+   marker/lock the script keeps referring to. Uncertain, potentially several
+   iterations, and drifts away from RE.
+2. **Accept the static answer.** The phase structure, per-phase rosters, route
+   paths and objective texts are all decoded and cross-confirmed. Only the
+   *trigger* is inferred rather than observed, and it is inferred from the game's
+   own guide script naming the objective outright.
+3. **One very long run** — 40+ minutes of chained attaches — betting against the
+   freeze rate.
+
+Recorded rather than chosen, because it is a question about how much effort this
+one confirmation is worth, not a technical unknown.
diff --git a/tools/re-capture/pilot.py b/tools/re-capture/pilot.py
index dd4bcda..79abfdd 100644
--- a/tools/re-capture/pilot.py
+++ b/tools/re-capture/pilot.py
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ KILL_TURRETS = os.environ.get("SYLPH_KILL_TURRETS") == "1"
 
 
 HUNT = os.environ.get("SYLPH_HUNT") == "1"
+PREFER = os.environ.get("SYLPH_PREFER", "")
 
 
 class Pilot:
@@ -389,6 +390,15 @@ class Pilot:
             lead = self.lead_point(p, v, d)
             theta = ang(lead - me_p, fwd)
             score = d * (1.0 + 3.0 * (theta / math.pi) ** 2)
+            # SYLPH_PREFER biases target choice toward a unit-name substring.
+            # Stage 02's phase-1 objective is stated outright in the guide
+            # script -- "the attackers with the orange markers" -- i.e. e010,
+            # but every kill in every run so far was an e007 turret, because
+            # HUNT made turrets targets and KEEPOUT was tuned for them
+            # (mission-objectives-text.md). Without this the pilot cannot be
+            # pointed at the thing the mission actually asks for.
+            if PREFER:
+                score *= 0.05 if PREFER in nm else 4.0
             if score < bestscore:
                 best, bestscore = (off, nm, lead, lead - me_p, d, r), score
         return best
diff --git a/tools/re-capture/wave7_session.sh b/tools/re-capture/wave7_session.sh
index e100655..68f7b56 100755
--- a/tools/re-capture/wave7_session.sh
+++ b/tools/re-capture/wave7_session.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ for try in 1 2 3; do
   echo "--- bind attempt $try failed, retrying"; sleep 5
 done
 if [ "$BOUND" = 1 ]; then
-  SYLPH_HUNT="$HUNT" SYLPH_KILL_TURRETS=1 SYLPH_KEEPOUT="${SYLPH_KEEPOUT:-1400}" SYLPH_HZ="${SYLPH_HZ:-8.0}" nohup python3 "$SD/pilot.py" "$CFG" "$SECS" \
+  SYLPH_HUNT="$HUNT" SYLPH_KILL_TURRETS=1 SYLPH_KEEPOUT="${SYLPH_KEEPOUT:-1400}" SYLPH_HZ="${SYLPH_HZ:-8.0}" SYLPH_PREFER="${SYLPH_PREFER:-}" nohup python3 "$SD/pilot.py" "$CFG" "$SECS" \
       </dev/null >/tmp/live-pilot.log 2>&1 &
   PILOT=$!; echo "--- pilot (SYLPH_HUNT=$HUNT)"
 else echo "BIND FAILED after 3 attempts -- aborting, an unattended run tests nothing"; exit 4; fi