The flick shows itself, the width is a dial, the blood stays on

Three asks. The placement ring: an aimed rally hit stamps a gold ring that
fades where the shot is going — flick, watch it bite the corner, learn the
cause. Not stamped for unaimed hits (marking scatter would teach noise), gone
in 0.8s (a permanent ring reads as a target rather than feedback).

The opponent's width is the ladder's third dial. Its returns scatter off
aimError x (1 - quality), which painted lines from game one. matchWideBase
2.1 keeps opponent one inside what an auto-run player can cover — measured,
25 returns all inside +-2.2m — and matchWidePer earns 0.4m per rung, so
line-painting is the late ladder. Speed, reliability, width: three dials.

The blood vignette replaces the temporary border. The old wash flashed 0.3s
and vanished, so between hits the screen said you were fine. A radial
vignette reads G.hp directly now — its depth is your damage fraction,
permanent until healed, hit pulse riding on top. Global: the hp channel is
global. Same no-HP-bar philosophy one layer out; at 1 hp the frame is
properly blood-rimmed and the court centre stays legible.

44 tests, 12 seeds clean.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

PROJECT.md

@@ -931,6 +931,23 @@ strength because the balls kept landing where he wasn't.
   (stepping in to take the ball pre-bounce carries reach x1.4 / window x1.8), and serve pace off the
   apex. The placement flick is taught nowhere on touch — worth a ghost-hand lesson if the mode ships.
 
+**EIGHTEENTH PASS — the flick shows itself, the width is a dial, the blood stays on.**
+- **THE PLACEMENT RING**: an aimed rally hit (flick or held direction at contact) stamps
+  `G.placeMark` and a gold ring fades where the shot is going — flick, watch it bite the corner,
+  learn the cause. Deliberately NOT stamped for unaimed hits: marking the scatter would teach noise.
+  Fades in 0.8 s; a permanent ring would read as a target to hit rather than feedback.
+- **`matchWideBase` 2.1 / `matchWidePer` 0.4 — the opponent's WIDTH is the ladder's third dial.**
+  Its returns scatter off `aimError x (1 - quality)`, which painted lines from game one ("still a
+  LOT of unreachable balls"). Opponent one now keeps its returns inside what an auto-run player can
+  actually cover (measured: 25 returns, all inside ±2.2 m), and earns 0.4 m more width per rung —
+  line-painting is the LATE ladder. Speed, reliability, width: three dials, all per-rung.
+- **THE BLOOD VIGNETTE replaces the temporary border.** The old edge wash flashed 0.3 s and
+  vanished — between hits the screen said you were fine. Now a radial vignette reads `G.hp`
+  directly: its depth IS your damage fraction, permanent until healed, and the hit pulse rides on
+  top. Global (the hp channel is global), not match-only. Same no-HP-bar philosophy, one layer out:
+  the state is worn, not reported. At 1 hp the frame is properly blood-rimmed and the court centre
+  stays legible.
+
 **Open, and every one of them is Oliver's call after he plays it:**
 1. ~~**A ball that carries through the lane can complete two steps at once.**~~ Largely CLOSED by
    the slice removal (seventh pass) — a cut ball picking its own next victim was the main way this

index.html

@@ -400,6 +400,6 @@
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=169"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=170"></script>
 </body>
 </html>

src/config.js

@@ -394,6 +394,10 @@ export const TUNE = {
   matchFlub: 0.08,     // the match's own whiff base — the duel's 0.2 gives away a fifth of all
                        // returns, which across a game is an opponent that beats itself
   matchFlubKeep: 0.82, // ...and it keeps only this much per rung — the ladder now that hp is flat
+  matchWideBase: 2.1, // m either side of centre the FIRST opponent's returns may land — the width an
+                      // auto-run player can actually cover. Its scatter painted lines from game one
+                      // ("still a LOT of unreachable balls"); now line-painting is the late ladder
+  matchWidePer: 0.4,  // ...earning this much more width per opponent felled
   matchHeal: 2,     // hp back for a game won (the duel's healPerDuel rate)
   // The timing windows, DRAWN (the match's whole ask: "what is the possible tap window, what is the
   // sweet spot"). Numbers shared with the mechanics they visualise, so the picture cannot lie:

src/gameplay.js

@@ -146,6 +146,20 @@ function doHit(ch, quality, aim) {
     tz = (toFar ? tzBase : COURT.L - tzBase) + err() * 0.8;
   }
   tx = Math.max(-5, Math.min(5, tx));
+  if (G.match) {
+    // THE OPPONENT'S WIDTH IS THE LADDER'S THIRD DIAL. Its returns scatter off aimError x (1 - 0.55
+    // quality), which paints lines an auto-run player cannot reach — "still a LOT of unreachable
+    // balls". Opponent one keeps its returns inside matchWideBase of the centre line; each rung
+    // earns matchWidePer more width, so the line-painting is the LATE ladder, not the opening one.
+    if (ch.side !== 'P') {
+      const wide = TUNE.matchWideBase + (G.match.opp - 1) * TUNE.matchWidePer;
+      tx = Math.max(-wide, Math.min(wide, tx));
+    }
+    // THE PLACEMENT, MADE VISIBLE: your aimed rally hit stamps its landing point, and render draws a
+    // fading ring there — flick, see the ring bite the corner, learn the cause. Only when a flick or
+    // held direction actually aimed it: an unaimed hit marking its scatter would teach noise.
+    else if (aim && (aim.ax || aim.az || aim.fx !== undefined)) G.placeMark = { x: tx, z: tz, t: 0.8 };
+  }
   // topspin: quality shots dive under extra effective gravity, which is what lets real
   // pace arc over the net and still land in — the core tennis trade-off
   const g = TUNE.gravity * (1 + quality * TUNE.spinFactor);
@@ -1235,6 +1249,7 @@ export function update(dt) {
   // died, so the biggest gore burst in the game happened underneath it and nobody ever saw it.
   // BELOW the modal return, like the flash: a card raised in the same beat as a popup used to
   // burn its whole life dimmed-out underneath it — now it holds and plays AFTER the dismissal.
+  if (G.placeMark && (G.placeMark.t -= dt) <= 0) G.placeMark = null; // the placement ring fades
   if (G.card) {
     if (G.card.wait > 0) G.card.wait -= dt;
     else { G.card.t -= dt; if (G.card.t <= 0) G.card = null; }

src/render.js

@@ -1727,6 +1727,13 @@ export function render() {
   }
   drawPiles(false); // far-side piles (occluded by the net); near-side piles drawn after the net
 
+  // THE PLACEMENT RING (match): where your aimed rally shot is going, drawn the moment you flick.
+  // Gold, fading over 0.8 s — flick, watch the ring bite the corner, learn what the gesture does.
+  if (G.placeMark) {
+    ctx.globalAlpha = Math.min(1, G.placeMark.t / 0.5);
+    drawRing(G.placeMark.x, G.placeMark.z, UI.warm, 0.9);
+    ctx.globalAlpha = 1;
+  }
   // landing ring: white = incoming ball (a PREDICTION, gone the moment the ball touches down —
   // the ring that lingered where the ball had already landed confused testers and is removed)
   if (G.phase === 'rally' && ball.active && ball.bounces === 0 && ball.lastHit === 'O') {
@@ -1954,13 +1961,23 @@ export function render() {
   // bomb bloom: a warm blood-orange wash, not a white-out. At 0.85 white it blinded you on a phone
   // and hid the very gore eruption it was announcing.
   if (G.boomFlash > 0) { ctx.fillStyle = `rgba(255,150,70,${Math.min(1, G.boomFlash / 0.06) * 0.3})`; ctx.fillRect(0, 0, W, H); }
-  // took a ranged hit: a red wash from the screen EDGES inward. Deliberately not a full-screen fill —
-  // this channel must read as "you are bleeding", not as "something exploded" (that is boomFlash).
-  if (G.hurtFlash > 0) {
-    const a = Math.min(1, G.hurtFlash / 0.3) * 0.55, b = 26;
-    ctx.fillStyle = `rgba(150,10,14,${a.toFixed(3)})`;
-    ctx.fillRect(0, 0, W, b); ctx.fillRect(0, H - b, W, b);
-    ctx.fillRect(0, 0, b, H); ctx.fillRect(W - b, 0, b, H);
+  // THE BLOOD VIGNETTE — the hp channel, worn permanently. The old edge wash flashed for a third
+  // of a second and vanished, so between hits the screen said you were fine; Oliver asked for the
+  // opposite: "a blood red vignette which gets worse with every hit". It reads G.hp directly — a
+  // radial darkening of the frame's edges whose depth IS your damage fraction — and the hit itself
+  // rides on top as a brief brighter pulse (hurtFlash, kept). No HP bar anywhere, still: the
+  // vignette is the same drawn-on-the-man philosophy, one layer out.
+  {
+    const dmg = 1 - Math.max(0, G.hp) / (G.hpMax || 1);
+    const pulse = G.hurtFlash > 0 ? Math.min(1, G.hurtFlash / 0.3) * 0.3 : 0;
+    if (dmg > 0 || pulse > 0) {
+      const a = Math.min(0.72, dmg * 0.5 + pulse);
+      const g = ctx.createRadialGradient(W / 2, H / 2, Math.min(W, H) * (0.52 - dmg * 0.14),
+                                         W / 2, H / 2, Math.max(W, H) * 0.74);
+      g.addColorStop(0, 'rgba(120,8,12,0)');
+      g.addColorStop(1, `rgba(120,8,12,${a.toFixed(3)})`);
+      ctx.fillStyle = g; ctx.fillRect(0, 0, W, H);
+    }
   }
 
   // HUD — Wimbledon manual scoreboard as a 16-bit panel: bevelled bottle-green box (light

src/state.js

@@ -94,7 +94,8 @@ export const G = {
   hp: TUNE.playerHp,
   hpMax: TUNE.playerHp,
   hurtT: 0,           // s of post-hit grace left; also drives the red hit flash
-  hurtFlash: 0,       // s of the impact wash left
+  hurtFlash: 0,       // s of the impact PULSE left (the persistent damage vignette reads hp directly)
+  placeMark: null,    // {x, z, t} — where your aimed rally shot is going (match): the flick made visible
   asideT: 14,         // s until the umpire's next unsolicited remark (TUNE.asideEvery)
   praiseT: 0,         // s until the next praise word is allowed (TUNE.praiseEvery)
   bossDue: 0,         // chapter number the schedule owes you — fired at the next hand-cleared court

test.js

@@ -589,6 +589,24 @@ test('the match recovers to CENTRE between shots — a wide return must not stra
   } finally { TUNE.autoAssist = assist; }
 });
 
+test('the first opponent cannot paint lines: its returns are width-clamped', () => {
+  // aimError x (1 - 0.55 quality) scattered returns to +-3.5 m, which an auto-run player cannot
+  // cover — "still a LOT of unreachable balls". Width is the ladder's third dial now.
+  assert.ok(TUNE.matchWideBase < 2.5, 'opponent one is kept inside reachable width');
+  assert.ok(TUNE.matchWidePer > 0, 'and the width is earned back per rung');
+});
+
+test('the placement mark fades on its own clock', () => {
+  // The stamp itself lives inside doHit (aimed match hits only) and is exercised by play; what the
+  // state machine owes is that a mark never lingers — a permanent ring would read as a target the
+  // player must hit rather than feedback on where the last shot went.
+  startMatch();
+  for (let i = 0; i < 2.0 * 60; i++) update(DT);
+  G.placeMark = { x: 2, z: 4, t: 0.8 };
+  for (let i = 0; i < 60; i++) update(DT);
+  assert.equal(G.placeMark, null, 'gone within a second');
+});
+
 test('THE REAL DEATH LOOP: a toss after their rally touch is not their passing shot', () => {
   // tossBall left ball.lastHit stale. After any rally the zombie touched last, the fresh toss still
   // said lastHit 'O' — and the match serves from BEHIND the baseline (z 24.3), past the passing-shot