# Proactive ramming: a negative result (do not re-attempt straight-line pursuit)

**Question.** The bot declined visible ram opportunities ("it could jump over the
enemy and shred it"). The proactive `opportunity` gate was relaxed to fire from a
closable range (`dist < 200`, energy lead `> 15`, was `dist < 50`). Did it convert?
**No** — a log-replay diagnosis (no new battles), 49 rounds/arm: it fires, never
reaches contact.

## The five measurements

| # | Diagnostic | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | **opportunity -> contact** | **0/6** (base), **0/40** (ring), **0/12** (ringhot), **0/1** (nopower) |
| 2 | **abort reasons** | `triggerGone` **94/108 (87%)**, `duration` 14, `stuck` **0**, `bulletRain` **0** |
| 3 | **closest approach in an opportunity episode** | never below ~80 px; base closest **median 126 px** |
| 4 | **ticks spent during ram** | `<40: 10, 40-80: 16, 80-120: 60, 120-200: 165, >=200: 85` |
| 5 | **A/B, `oldram` vs `base`** | p=**0.69**, damage **279 vs 284**, survival **17/49 vs 16/49** (p=1.0) |

The only proactive conversion in the corpus came from a **finisher** (enemy at
16 -> 1 energy), not an opportunity. Two smoking guns: a base episode ran the FULL
60-tick `duration` cap and closed only **198 -> 171 px**; a perfectly aligned
(`delta ~= 0 deg`), full-speed-8 episode closed **195 -> 114 px** then PLATEAUED.

## Why it cannot work (the geometric reason)

Both bots have `MAX_SPEED = 8`. A straight-line pursuit can **never** catch an
evading equal-speed opponent: every turn spent turning is a turn the evader pulls
away, and any juke re-opens the gap. Closing requires **interception** (cutting
off the escape path) or **cornering**, not chasing. That is a *movement* problem,
and it is disproportionate to **0.6 damage per contact** (one-shot; NOT 0.6/turn).
Corroboration: cornering was independently refuted (wall-adjacent enemies are
*less* predictable; closest approach to DrussGT in 15 rounds was 118.7 px). Both
routes to point-blank have now failed for the same underlying reason.

## The one exception: the finisher

The finisher (`enemy < 20 energy`, `dist < 300`, we are healthier) DOES convert,
because a **<20-energy DrussGT stops fleeing**: that episode closed at 6-8 px/tick
and reached contact. It is kept and is now the **default** gate. The rare
`desperation` case (both < 5 energy, `dist < 150`) is kept as a cheap last-ditch
play. `opportunity` and `plan` are OFF by default.

**Re-enable for re-testing:** `TR_RAM_OPPORTUNITY=1` (with `TR_RAM_OPP_DIST`,
`TR_RAM_OPP_MARGIN`) restores the proactive gate; `TR_RAM_PLAN=1` restores the
change-of-plan trigger. Verified live: the same ModularBot-vs-RamFire battle logs
**0 opportunity ON** by default and **4 opportunity ON** with `TR_RAM_OPPORTUNITY=1`.

## The two dead code paths, dealt with

1. **`bulletRain` abort — units fixed.** `onHitByBullet` accumulated bullet
   **firepower**, while `TR_RAM_ABORT_DMG = 0.5`/turn implied a *damage* rate. The
   server's damage is `calcBulletDamage(p) = 4p` (plus `2*(p-1)` above 1), so the
   abort was ~4x too insensitive and never fired (max observed `dmgRate` 0.27 in
   all 108 OFF lines). It now accumulates **real energy** via `bulletDamage()` and
   the threshold is `TR_RAM_ABORT_DMG = 2.0` **energy/turn** over 15 turns (~30 HP)
   — the same effective bar for normal firepower, now in correct units. The live
   run reports `dmgRate=1.07/turn` (was 0.27) and does not abort the finisher.
2. **`ramStuckTicks` — removed.** It required `dist < 5 px` on consecutive ticks,
   but two 18 px radii make contact occur at ~36 px and collision resolution
   rewinds positions — so the closest approach is ~36 px and the counter could
   never increment (diagnostic: `stuck 0`). Removed rather than documented as
   protection it cannot provide; the 60-tick `duration` cap is the only self-abort.

## Do not re-attempt a proactive straight-line ram

Do **not** re-relax the opportunity gate, add "get closer" logic to satisfy it, or
add a new chase trigger. Any future attempt at forcing point-blank must be an
**interception/cornering** movement problem (predict the escape path and occupy
it), and must clear the same `opportunity -> contact` bar above. Proactive ramming
is worth at most 0.6 damage per contact and measured **zero** outcome change.