HardYards/SPRINT5.md

SPRINT 5 — HAIL & THE BROOM (instructions for Opus 4.8 lanes)

Sprint 4 verdict: the game has a face and the longest argument in the repo is closed — B conceded decision 11 with numbers and a post-mortem, storm_02 runs downdraftOfTotal 0.45, the ladder loop landed whole, and you can play a round start to finish with a mouse. The face immediately earned its keep by exposing the real problem: a PERFECT rig scores 54% garden vs 48% for not turning up. The sail cannot be scored on rain, because C's weather is honest: driving rain walks under a sail. Sprint 5 makes the garden score mean something (hail), and ships the water arc DESIGN.md promised (ponding + the broom).

Read THREADS from the last [I] entry. Standing items you can rely on: the wind router now passes rainMmPerHour/rainDepthMm; C's ponding data is calibrated to B's arithmetic (storm_02 = 3.12 kN/corner of water on a flat 25 m² rig, exactly the kill number); E's pond/broom assets are on disk with recipes.

Decision

13. Hail carries storm garden damage; rain demotes to a small drain. Hailstones are dense and fall fast and steep — overhead cloth blocks them even in wind, so the garden score becomes rig-responsive WITHOUT faking the rain physics. This is also canon: DESIGN.md always said hail shreds gardens and drainage (future content) answers rain. Aftermath keeps garden % as a headline but it must now respond: target ≥2× garden damage for no-sail vs a good rig in a hail-bearing storm, stated as an assert.

Lane C — hail (the sprint's new system)

1. Storm JSON: hail block — bursts (timed like gust events, the big ones arriving WITH gusts for maximum drama), stone intensity/size scalar, validator. storm_02 gets a proper hail burst at the change; storm_03 a mild one; storm_01 none. Determinism rules as ever (own stream or zero draws).
2. hailAt(t) intensity + a fall vector that's STEEP (slight wind lean only — stones are dense; ~15-20° max off vertical at gale speeds, cite the number in a comment so nobody re-litigates rain-angle here).
3. Garden damage feed: sky.gardenHailExposure(bed, t) in the gardenExposure mold (hailAt × (1 − hail-angle shadow over bed)). A wires the drain.
4. Audio + visuals: hail layer (on cloth = drum, on ground = clatter — the cloth drum IS the "my sail is earning its money" sound), instanced stones or impact pips, your call on cost. Lightning already lands on big gusts.
5. Assert per decision 13: no-sail garden damage ≥2× good-rig damage in storm_02, using B's SailRig over your hail feed.

Lane B — the water arc, finish it (carried twice, now everything waits on you)

1. Ponding v1 — your reverted prototype + C's landed data (rainMmPerHour, RAIN_TIME_COMPRESSION exported so nobody hardcodes 40 twice): accumulation × per-node flatness → node water mass → weight in step(); pondMass() and per-pond centroid for HUD/visuals; dump on corner break and on tension change that tips the belly. Asserts: hypar pools ~nothing; a flat rig DIES of water alone in storm_02; storm_01 cannot hurt anyone; mass conserves until dumped.
2. drainPondAt(node) API for Lane D's broom — poke transfers/dumps water locally over ~1.5 s. Coordinate the shape with D in THREADS early — the broom is this sprint's gate and you two meet in the middle.
3. session.reset() (A's ask — they're reaching into your state machine to fake it). Small.
4. Stability clamp for the tn-1.04 cliff (carried; if it moves §7 numbers, post before landing).

Lane D — the broom (DESIGN.md's funniest correct mechanic)

1. Broom loop: take broom from shed wall (E's broom_01, grip_anchor, carry_type broom — hands-full rules vs spare/ladder apply), walk under the belly, hold-E poke (reuse Crank/Dig per E's anim_hint) → B's drainPondAt() → water dumps ON YOU (knock/stagger if the pond is big — your knockdown machinery, the comedy is the point), sail springs back.
2. Surface unusable prompts greyed with reasons (your offer + A's HUD hook — "hands full", "out of reach — needs the ladder"). Kills the vanishing-prompt confusion you logged.
3. Feel pass on the full loop with hail + ponding live; log notes. You're still the only lane that plays like a player.

Lane A — score truth & polish

1. Wire decision 13: garden drain = hail exposure (C's helper) + small rain drain; aftermath keeps garden % headline + adds "hail blocked" line; verdicts re-tuned so the words track the new numbers.
2. Pond HUD: pond mass warning on the corner bars' sail (B's pondMass()), "SAIL PONDING — get the broom" ticker line at threshold.
3. Take D's greyed-prompt surface into hud.js (they provide label + reason).
4. Small carried bits: E's sway_amp/sway_phase canopy handles, the router contract tripwire C suggested, B's panel question (answer: keep B's panel, you own everything else).
5. Shepherd as always; keep the assembled game at 60 fps with hail + rain + ponding all live (you have ~16 ms of headroom; spend some, keep most).

Lane E — hail & water juice (small)

1. Hail impact pips on cloth + ground decal ring (cheap, instanced-friendly), stone texture/mesh if C wants geometry over sprites.
2. Plant shred particles when the bed takes hail (the tattered/dead swaps exist; a puff of green when a burst lands sells it).
3. Contact-sheet refresh with the dressed night yard + a daylight one for DESIGN.md (carried).

Gates

gate 1: ponding kills a flat rig in storm_02 (assert + by hand),
        and the broom SAVES it (by hand, water dumped on the player's head)
gate 2: decision-13 assert green — rigging visibly matters to the garden
gate 3: full round where EVERY aftermath line responds to a player choice
        (garden ← hail shadow, corners ← rigging, hardware ← breaks/repairs,
        collateral ← gnome/fence, budget ← shop) — played, screenshotted

Definition of done = gate 3. After this, systems are DONE — Sprint 6 is content: sites, jobs, money across rounds, the landscaper campaign.

For John

• A left you a cue in THREADS and it stands: play a round (python3 server.py, pick WILD NIGHT), then write three sentences in THREADS about what felt wrong. Sprint 6's shape depends on them.