Lane A round 22: absorb the town pack — 23 towns, 36 goldens pinned in one commit (v4.0, ledger #2)

E's 17 new towns + Lane G's newtown_godverse fed through the lift. ONE batched golden commit as
briefed: REAL_TOWN_GOLDENS + REAL_TOWN_GIG_GOLDENS go 5 -> 23 towns each, zero unpinned.

THE HEADLINE: everything built this epoch held at 23-town scale, FIRST TRY. 1,210 shops -> 1,133 seated
(77 dropped, 6.4%, all counted by cause); 1 CONNECTED COMPONENT and 3 VENUES on every one of the 23 towns.
fitzroy — 160 shops, 2x anything absorbed before — landed 139 seated, 1 component, 3 venues, 212 posters,
all invariants green. The junction-protected DP, fragmentation ruling, cluster bias, poster cap and
capacity fence needed NO new hardening: the pack needed absorbing, not fixing.

- Graded cluster fallback (the one refinement). Three towns have no candidate at the floor at all
  (ballarat/toowoomba/newtown_godverse top out at 2 shops within 160m); R21's bias switched off entirely
  there, stranding venues at 0. It now falls back to the DENSEST AVAILABLE — ballarat 0,2,0 -> 2,2,2,
  godverse 0,1,1 -> 2,2,2, toowoomba 1,0,0 -> 1,2,1. Fires only where the floor is unreachable, so NO
  already-pinned town moved (verified). Acceptance at pack scale: 20 of 23 towns have every venue >=3;
  the three above sit at their town's genuine ceiling — the carved-out case, stated explicitly.
- Drop outliers, counted not hidden: daylesford 19% (32 shops on a 171-road graph, the thinnest in the
  pack, all overflow), fitzroy 13%. RGAP is already 0.5m and NODE_CLEAR 3m; the only lever left is
  spilling overflow onto a DIFFERENT street, which buys a few percent by putting a shop on a road it
  isn't on. Same ruling as R20: drop and count beats teleport.
- selfcheck ALL GREEN 161,300/161,300; scaffold + consistency GREEN; cross-process deterministic
  (pack-xor 0xca140954). classic 0x3fa36874 / gig 0xb1d48ea1 / marched fixtures FROZEN.

Handshake -> C + D + F: the pack is in, 23 towns pinned, start your verifies. Tri diet (ledger #1): if
B's layer-by-layer names plan geometry as the venue_night driver, I own the fix.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

docs/A-progress.md

@@ -1,11 +1,38 @@
 # LANE A — CITYGEN · progress (PROCITY-A)
 
-*Status: **all deliverables landed; self-check all-green (66419/66419); rounds 2–21 closed** (see below).
-R21: venue cluster-adjacency bias — D's relocation finding resolved (venues under 3 shops/160 m: 11 of 15
-→ 0); gig goldens re-pinned; synthetic frozen by construction. R20: poster cap (katoomba 438→31) + E's
-density widening absorbed (5 towns at 3–6× shops). classic/gig/marched-fixtures frozen.*
+*Status: **all deliverables landed; self-check all-green (161,300/161,300); rounds 2–22 closed** (see below).
+R22 (v4.0 epoch close): the town pack absorbed — **23 towns, 1,210 shops, 36 goldens pinned in one commit**;
+every town 1 connected component + 3 venues; drops 6.4%, counted by cause. classic `0x3fa36874` /
+gig `0xb1d48ea1` / marched fixtures frozen.*
 *Date: 2026-07-16 · owner: PROCITY-A (Opus 4.8)*
 
+## Round 22 (2026-07-16) — v4.0 THE EPOCH CLOSE: the pack absorbed + 36 goldens pinned (ledger #2)
+
+E's 17 new towns + Lane G's `newtown_godverse` fed through the lift and pinned in ONE golden commit
+(`REAL_TOWN_GOLDENS` + `REAL_TOWN_GIG_GOLDENS`: 5 → **23 towns each**, zero unpinned).
+
+**The headline: everything built this epoch held at 23-town scale, first try.** 1,210 shops → 1,133 seated
+(77 dropped, **6.4%**, counted by cause); **1 connected component and 3 venues on every one of the 23 towns**.
+`fitzroy` — 160 shops, 2× anything absorbed before — landed 139 seated, 1 component, 3 venues, 212 posters,
+all invariants green. The junction-protected DP, fragmentation ruling, cluster bias, poster cap and capacity
+fence needed **no new hardening**: the pack needed absorbing, not fixing.
+
+- **Graded cluster fallback (the one refinement).** Three towns have no candidate at the floor at all
+  (`ballarat`/`toowoomba`/`newtown_godverse` top out at 2 shops within 160 m); R21's bias switched off there,
+  stranding venues at 0. It now falls back to the **densest available** — ballarat 0,2,0 → **2,2,2**, godverse
+  0,1,1 → **2,2,2**, toowoomba 1,0,0 → 1,2,1. Fires only where the floor is unreachable ⇒ **no already-pinned
+  town moved** (verified). Acceptance at pack scale: **20 of 23 towns have every venue ≥3**; the three above
+  sit at their town's genuine ceiling — the carved-out case, stated explicitly.
+- **Drop outliers, counted not hidden:** `daylesford` 19% (32 shops on a 171-road graph — the thinnest in the
+  pack, all overflow), `fitzroy` 13%. `RGAP` is already 0.5 m and `NODE_CLEAR` 3 m; the only lever left is
+  spilling onto a different street, which buys a few percent by putting a shop on a road it isn't on. Same
+  ruling as R20: **drop and count beats teleport**.
+- selfcheck ALL GREEN **161,300/161,300**; scaffold + consistency GREEN; cross-process deterministic
+  (pack-xor `0xca140954`). classic / gig / marched fixtures frozen.
+
+Handshake fired → C + D + F: the pack is in, 23 towns pinned, start your verifies. For the tri diet
+(ledger #1): if B's layer-by-layer names plan geometry as the `venue_night` driver, I own the fix.
+
 ## Round 21 (2026-07-16) — v4.0-beta: the venue cluster-adjacency bias (ledger #1, the round's spine)
 
 D filed it: katoomba's pub sat 1,000 m from the retail cluster — a gig with no passing crowd. Measuring all

docs/LANES/LANE_A_NOTES.md

@@ -2,6 +2,51 @@
 
 Durable answers to questions other lanes raised against Lane A. Full status in `A-progress.md`.
 
+## Round 22 (2026-07-16) — v4.0: the pack absorbed, 36 goldens pinned (the epoch close)
+
+### → C + D + F: **the pack is in — 23 towns, all pinned, start your verifies** (the handshake)
+E's 17 new towns + Lane G's `newtown_godverse` fed through the lift. **All 36 waiting goldens pinned in
+this one commit** (`REAL_TOWN_GOLDENS` + `REAL_TOWN_GIG_GOLDENS` now hold **23 towns each**, zero unpinned).
+selfcheck **ALL GREEN 161,300/161,300**; scaffold + consistency GREEN; cross-process deterministic (pack-xor
+`0xca140954`). classic `0x3fa36874` / gig `0xb1d48ea1` / marched fixtures **frozen**.
+
+### The pack absorbed — everything built this epoch held at 23-town scale, first try
+| | |
+|---|---|
+| towns | **23** (22 real + `newtown_godverse`) |
+| shops | 1,210 → **1,133 seated** (77 dropped, **6.4%**, all counted by cause) |
+| graph | **1 connected component on every town** (junction protection + cull/bridge) |
+| district | **3 venues on every town** (cluster bias + facade clearance) |
+
+**fitzroy (160 shops — 2× anything absorbed before)**: 139 seated, 1 component, 3 venues, 212 posters, all
+invariants green. The junction pipeline, fragmentation ruling, cluster bias, poster cap and capacity fence
+all ran at mecca scale with **no new hardening needed** — the pack needed absorbing, not fixing.
+
+### One refinement this round: a graded cluster fallback for genuinely thin towns
+At pack scale three towns have **no candidate at the floor at all** — `ballarat`, `toowoomba`,
+`newtown_godverse` top out at **2** shops within 160 m. R21's bias switched off entirely there, stranding
+venues at 0. It now falls back to the **densest available**, so the venue still lands on what little crowd
+the town has: ballarat **0,2,0 → 2,2,2**, godverse **0,1,1 → 2,2,2**, toowoomba **1,0,0 → 1,2,1**.
+It only fires where the floor is unreachable ⇒ **no already-pinned town moved** (verified).
+
+**Acceptance (R21's, at 23-town scale): 20 of 23 towns have every venue ≥3 shops/160 m.** The three above
+sit at their town's genuine ceiling — the "no better candidate exists" case the acceptance carved out.
+**Saying so explicitly, as asked.**
+
+### Drop outliers (counted, not hidden)
+`daylesford` **19%** (6/32, all overflow — 32 shops on a 171-road graph, the thinnest graph in the pack) and
+`fitzroy` **13%** (21/160, 17 overflow). Both are the R20 capacity fence doing its job: `RGAP` is already
+0.5 m and `NODE_CLEAR` 3 m, so the only lever left is spilling overflow onto a *different* street — which
+buys a few percent by putting a shop on a road it isn't on. Same call as R20: **drop and count beats
+teleport**. Everything ≤6.4% pack-wide.
+
+### → B / F (the tri diet, ledger #1): my side of the diagnosis
+My poster cap scales off **shop count**, so it auto-tracked the widening rather than fighting it (fitzroy
+160 shops → 212 posters; katoomba 80 → 111). If B's layer-by-layer names **plan geometry** (lot or poster
+counts) as the `venue_night` driver, I own the fix and will take it. My read from the plan side: the growth
+is *more shops ⇒ more night building geometry at the venue block* — E's density landing as B's render cost —
+so I'd expect the driver to be buildings/LOD rather than posters. B's numbers decide it, not my expectation.
+
 ## Round 21 (2026-07-16) — the venue cluster bias (D's relocation finding) + goldens re-pinned
 
 ### → C + D: **cluster bias landed, goldens re-pinned — start your verifies** (the handshake)

web/js/citygen/gigs.js

@@ -130,6 +130,15 @@ function pickVenues(plan, citySeed) {
     if (realData) {
       const clustered = pool.filter(s => clusterCount(s) >= CLUSTER_MIN);
       if (clustered.length) field = clustered;
+      else {
+        // ROUND22 (pack scale): a genuinely thin town can have NO candidate at the floor — ballarat,
+        // toowoomba and newtown_godverse top out at 2 shops within 160 m. Rather than drop the bias
+        // entirely (which stranded venues at 0), fall back to the DENSEST available: the venue still
+        // lands on what little crowd the town has. Only fires where the floor is unreachable, so no
+        // already-pinned town moves.
+        let best = 0; for (const s of pool) { const n = clusterCount(s); if (n > best) best = n; }
+        if (best > 0) field = pool.filter(s => clusterCount(s) >= best);
+      }
     }
 
     let cand;

web/js/citygen/selfcheck.js

@@ -455,8 +455,29 @@ const TOWNS_DIR = join(HERE, '..', '..', 'assets', 'towns');
 // the fragmentation ruling (junction-protected DP + cull/bridge) + E's spine-poster fix. Amendment law:
 // the alpha changed nothing outside the cache-schema path; synthetic/fixtures/classic/default stay frozen.
 const REAL_TOWN_GOLDENS = {
-  katoomba_real: 0x420f677d, newtown_real: 0x741c18ec, fremantle_real: 0x73d385df,
-  bendigo_real: 0xc175194e, castlemaine_real: 0x26c128c9,
+  adelaide_real: 0x5c790920,
+  ballarat_real: 0xf0a9e8a1,
+  bendigo_real: 0xc175194e,
+  bowral_real: 0xb23ee067,
+  braddon_real: 0x2f388775,
+  brunswick_real: 0x7ecb5c3e,
+  castlemaine_real: 0x26c128c9,
+  darwin_real: 0xcfb1917f,
+  daylesford_real: 0x4ec7352c,
+  fitzroy_real: 0x6549f61b,
+  fremantle_real: 0x73d385df,
+  geelong_real: 0x2f65591e,
+  glebe_real: 0x908e1835,
+  hobart_real: 0xa96328b9,
+  katoomba_real: 0x420f677d,
+  launceston_real: 0x32b1ab7b,
+  marrickville_real: 0x60148e37,
+  newcastle_real: 0xbb2c3050,
+  newtown_godverse: 0x24e63feb,
+  newtown_real: 0x741c18ec,
+  northbridge_real: 0x1a645848,
+  toowoomba_real: 0x8b635722,
+  westend_real: 0x5b1e5ffe,
 };
 // ROUND20: the GIG-layer golden per real town (district + capped posters) — the base golden above is
 // gigs-off so it never captured the poster cap. Pinned here so the ROUND20 poster cap (and the density
@@ -464,8 +485,29 @@ const REAL_TOWN_GOLDENS = {
 // ROUND21: re-pinned for the venue cluster-adjacency bias (D's relocation finding). Only the GIG goldens
 // move — venue selection is gig-layer, so the base town goldens above are untouched.
 const REAL_TOWN_GIG_GOLDENS = {
-  katoomba_real: 0xbf586b77, newtown_real: 0xacdb3eee, fremantle_real: 0xcf3426fc,
-  bendigo_real: 0x646b2c23, castlemaine_real: 0xf9713a69,
+  adelaide_real: 0x24ad3c27,
+  ballarat_real: 0xf097c331,
+  bendigo_real: 0x646b2c23,
+  bowral_real: 0xac809f0b,
+  braddon_real: 0xc3e5cfc0,
+  brunswick_real: 0x8c08914e,
+  castlemaine_real: 0xf9713a69,
+  darwin_real: 0xbc5605b5,
+  daylesford_real: 0x2fb34c8a,
+  fitzroy_real: 0x690e5ef9,
+  fremantle_real: 0xcf3426fc,
+  geelong_real: 0x6f47ec2f,
+  glebe_real: 0x042f01fb,
+  hobart_real: 0x22f80d7b,
+  katoomba_real: 0xbf586b77,
+  launceston_real: 0xeaf7ff4d,
+  marrickville_real: 0xea21be51,
+  newcastle_real: 0x66fc2bf9,
+  newtown_godverse: 0xc5ed0b92,
+  newtown_real: 0xacdb3eee,
+  northbridge_real: 0x83a1d5be,
+  toowoomba_real: 0x9d34ccfe,
+  westend_real: 0xb2c7ddb6,
 };
 // `index.json` is E's towns INDEX (key/town/state/shops/roads for B's selector), not a town cache — skip it.
 const townFiles = (existsSync(TOWNS_DIR) ? readdirSync(TOWNS_DIR) : []).filter(f => f.endsWith('.json') && f !== 'index.json');