Claude (auto-RE)
1efc3f567d
speed_law.py locks onto the player entity once and samples its position while holding each throttle input, differentiating over 1-second windows. no throttle -> ~420 (CruisingVelocity 350) RT held -> ~1 530 (MaximumVelocity 1200) LT held -> ~125 (MinimumVelocity 100) release -> back to cruise, from either direction So the throttle SELECTS a target speed rather than adding thrust — which is what a reimplementation would most likely have assumed from Acceleration/Deceleration alone. Those govern the convergence rate instead: ~440 units/s^2 measured on release (Deceleration 500) and ~470-560 under RT (Acceleration 600). Recorded as 🟡: measured world speeds run ~1.2-1.3x the definition numbers in all three regimes while the HUD shows the definition value exactly (350 at cruise), so world coordinates are a constant multiple (~1.25) of the definition's velocity unit; the spread is wider than the constant is precise because the craft manoeuvres while sampled. Three traps documented: RT/LT are analogue triggers (the button verb is a silent no-op and the first run measured an unflown craft), per-sample differentiation aliases against the guest's update rate (0, 1519, 1985, 0, 2681 for smooth flight), and the player entity only enters the typed scan ~15 s in while the craft dies within minutes if nobody flies it. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01NptfmpjdpNCKEez6d2xvA9
57 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
57 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
# The throttle is a TARGET-SPEED selector — measured against the definition (2026-08-13)
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**Status: ✅ for the shape of the law, 🟡 for the unit scale.**
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The unit definition gives `MinimumVelocity 100`, `CruisingVelocity 350`,
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`MaximumVelocity 1200`, `Acceleration 600` and `Deceleration 500` for
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`UN_f001_TCAF_DeltaSaber_T_Player` ([values](captures/unit-runtime-fields.csv)),
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but not **how** the game applies them. This measures it.
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Method — [`tools/re-capture/speed_law.py`](../../tools/re-capture/speed_law.py):
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lock onto the player entity once, then sample its own position triple in guest RAM
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while holding each throttle input in turn (8 s per phase, 20 Hz). Speed is
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differentiated over **1-second windows**, never per sample.
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## Result
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| phase | measured speed (1 s windows) | settles to | definition field |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| no throttle | 367 403 471 365 463 463 365 | **~420** | `CruisingVelocity` 350 |
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| `RT` held | 1041 1376 1551 1379 1596 1510 1620 | **~1 530** | `MaximumVelocity` 1200 |
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| release | 1314 672 432 452 432 450 408 | back to **~440** | — |
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| `LT` held | 203 121 135 121 115 146 122 | **~125** | `MinimumVelocity` 100 |
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| release | 369 451 427 425 445 390 465 | back to **~430** | — |
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So the throttle **selects a target speed** — minimum / cruise / maximum — and the
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craft converges to it; releasing either trigger returns it to cruise. It is not a
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force model with the throttle adding thrust, which is what a reimplementation would
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most likely have assumed from `Acceleration`/`Deceleration` alone. Those two fields
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govern the **convergence rate**: the release phase falls ~1 314 → ~432 in about two
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seconds (~440 units/s², against `Deceleration` 500) and the `RT` phase climbs ~420 →
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~1 550 in two to three seconds (~470–560 units/s², against `Acceleration` 600).
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## 🟡 The unit scale
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Measured world-space speeds run **≈1.2–1.3× the definition numbers** in all three
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regimes (cruise 1.21, maximum 1.28, minimum 1.32). The HUD, meanwhile, reads
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**350** at cruise — the definition value exactly. So the definition's velocity unit
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is the HUD's, and entity world coordinates are a constant multiple of it, close to
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**1.25**. The spread across regimes is larger than the constant itself is precise,
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because the craft is manoeuvring under fire while sampled (straight-line
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displacement per window under-reads a curving path), so this is recorded as a
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measured range rather than a pinned constant.
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## Traps
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* **`RT`/`LT` are analogue triggers**, so `vgamepad trig RT 1.0` holds the throttle;
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the button verb `hold RT` is a **silent no-op**. The first run of this probe
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measured the drift of a craft nobody was flying.
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* **Do not differentiate per sample.** The guest updates the position slower than
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20 Hz, so per-sample differences alternate between 0 and a double step —
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`0, 1519, 1985, 0, 2681…` for a craft flying smoothly.
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* **Bind late, measure fast.** The player entity is not in the typed-entity scan
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for the first ~15 s of a mission, and the craft dies within a few minutes if
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nobody is flying it — one earlier attempt ended at `GAME OVER` mid-probe.
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Raw samples: [`captures/speed-law-throttle-phases.csv`](captures/speed-law-throttle-phases.csv).
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