The serve gets stakes: tight apex window, depth rides quality, the strike flick aims

Three mechanical causes of 'no serve agency', measured then fixed:
- the 0.12 m perfect snap was ~0.3 s of hang time (now TUNE.apexSnap 0.05,
  and the gold band reads the same knob);
- the fixed mid-box target depth capped every good serve at ~36 m/s in the
  loft loop — player serve depth now rides quality, flush aims 0.3 m inside
  the service line (ladder: 49 / 52 hard / 36 mistimed / 30 bad);
- the strike flick was splatter-only — in tennis and the duel it now sways
  placement (horizontal) and buys pace (vertical, serveHard + serveHardSpin,
  the extra dive IS the clearance), paid for in scatter against the real
  fault machinery. Tap stays the safe second serve.

Phone verdict pending — see the PROJECT.md session log.

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

PROJECT.md

@@ -434,6 +434,28 @@ vetoed (*"the camera movement is distracting"*) and its knobs sit at 0 — see t
   (~0.35ms/frame desktop, settled key at both ends) — if the phone stutters in rallies, zero these
   two before touching anything else.
 
+## Session log: the serve gets stakes (2026-08-13, same day)
+
+Oliver: *"the golden mark is just very easy to hit and hitting below it does not necessarily make a
+worse serve... the flicking does not work here — also I see no option to serve harder."* Three
+mechanical causes found, all fixed; PHONE VERDICT PENDING:
+
+1. **The perfect window was ~0.3 s of hang time.** The 0.12 m snap around the apex, at toss
+   gravity, held PERFECT for most of the ball's float. Now `TUNE.apexSnap` 0.05 / `apexFall` 0.55,
+   and the gold band on the apex guide reads the same knob, so the picture tightened with it.
+2. **The pace ceiling was the TARGET DEPTH, not the timing.** Measured with a replica of
+   serveArc's loft loop: at the old fixed mid-box depth, every serve above q≈0.7 was cut to the
+   same ~36 m/s — quality could not show. Player serve depth now rides quality (flush aims 0.3 m
+   inside the service line, the only depth where flat pace survives). Ladder: flush 49 /
+   flush+hard 52 / mistimed 36 / bad 30 m/s. Opponent depth untouched.
+3. **The strike flick was splatter-only.** In tennis and the duel the strike gesture now aims:
+   horizontal component sways the target toward T or sideline (`serveAimX`), upward component is
+   pace (`serveHard`, with `serveHardSpin` — the extra dive is what buys the clearance; without it
+   the loft loop cut the hard serve BELOW the plain one). Pace and sway are paid for in scatter
+   (`serveHardErr`) against the real fault machinery — tap stays the safe second serve. Keyboard:
+   arrows sway, up is the hard one. Verified in-pane with synthetic flicks: 49.4 / 52.5 / 51.0
+   swayed +1.1 m, all legal at flush timing.
+
 ## Session log: nothing arrives unannounced (2026-08-11, same day)
 
 Oliver's retest: *"the horde is not announced anymore"* and *"bosses are just there now"*. Both were