Independent review: ranged accuracy and vertical movement

Approved for local testing. No blocking correctness defect found in the selected change. This review covers implementation and compatibility; it does not certify game balance or authorize deployment.

Verified scope

• Compared the complete current catalog with docs/tuning/evidence/2026-09-09-accuracy-vertical-adoption/parts-before.json. Exactly eight ranged weapon Accuracy fields increased by two. Every other catalog field is unchanged, including melee, ammunition and Overdrive profiles. The retained archive hash matches its change record.
• Ordinary movement pays terrain entry cost plus the absolute elevation difference, without a height limit. Intact Jump legs waive the elevation surcharge in both directions and gain no climbing Heat. Destroyed Jump legs use ordinary costs.
• Paid descents can continue through later waypoints and cause no fall damage, Prone condition or fall RNG draw. Forced movement retains collision damage and Throw's own Prone effect.
• Reachability, forward and reverse distance fields, route previews and the finite unreachable-distance bound use the selected movement rules. Reaction continuation rechecks current movement capability and costs.
• New saves use the paid-elevation capability marker and retain resolved rules. Historical saves without the new flag restore legacy movement with their embedded catalog. Captured pre-change fall and Jump-climbing fixtures reproduce exact events, snapshots and the next RNG result.
• New-game UI removes fall controls and shows paid elevation guidance. Legacy sessions retain their fall controls, confirmation preference and climbing-Heat preview. The stale Jump-Heat help statement was corrected during review.

Validation

Independently ran 120 passing tests: 90 focused combat, attack, catalog and CLI tests; 20 AI tests; and 10 new vertical-movement tests. Combat example J now has hit totals 23 and 18. Unrelated ammunition and penetration tests isolate their actual mechanisms; the AI modifier test uses a target below the hit-probability ceiling.

The root agent also reported ten passing desktop browser checks covering ordinary and Jump ascent/descent, continued paths and legacy fall/Heat resumes. The complete project suite was still pending when this review was recorded; it is not included in the independent pass count.

Permanent offensive Enraged and existing melee tuning remain selected. Historical study results were not rewritten. The increased accuracy and revised movement need fresh playtesting before drawing new balance conclusions.

Final integrated verification

The parent subsequently completed the full suite: 549 tests across 78 files passed, and TypeScript checks passed. Its 26 browser checks covered desktop/tablet movement, legacy controls and board stability. The reviewer independently checked the three added cases for combined capabilities, downhill Throw and Overwatch disabling Jump legs; approval is unchanged.