Pace was the missing dial, and the reachability test finally exists

"there are still balls which are basically not reachable with auto run..
please recheck" — and, asked twice: "did you write tests for the last issues
we encountered?" The straight answer: no. The unreachable-balls issue only
ever had config assertions, which is why it came back twice.

Pace is the ladder's fourth dial. Width alone never fixed reachability
because the returns left at ~27 m/s, crossing to the baseline in ~0.6s — less
than auto-run needs from the far corner. matchOppPace 0.78 puts opponent one
at ~20 m/s (measured live: twelve returns, 20.0-20.7), a quarter more flight
time, and matchOppPacePer hands it back per rung.

The vignette deepens: dmg x 0.8, cap 0.85, and the clean centre shrinks with
damage instead of only the rim darkening.

And the reachability regression the issue always deserved: a headless 90s
autopilot soak asserting at least 10 returns sampled and at most 15% that
never came within volley reach. Sabotage-verified. Its honest limit is
recorded in PROJECT.md: the autopilot attends perfectly and taps
frame-precisely, so it out-covers a human — it is a floor against
catastrophic regressions, not a proxy for the thumb. Oliver's playtest stays
the real gate.

46 tests, 15 seeds clean.

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

PROJECT.md

@@ -948,6 +948,25 @@ strength because the balls kept landing where he wasn't.
   the state is worn, not reported. At 1 hp the frame is properly blood-rimmed and the court centre
   stays legible.
 
+**NINETEENTH PASS — pace was the missing dial, and the reachability test finally exists.** Oliver:
+*"the vignette can get more pronounced and there are still balls which are basically not reachable
+with auto run.. please recheck"* — plus, asked twice and deserving a straight answer: *"did you
+write tests for the last issues we encountered?"* **No — the unreachable-balls issue only ever had
+config assertions, which is exactly why it came back twice.**
+- **Pace, the ladder's FOURTH dial** (`matchOppPace` 0.78, `matchOppPacePer` 0.05/rung): width alone
+  never fixed reachability because the returns left at ~27 m/s — crossing to your baseline in
+  ~0.6 s, less than auto-run needs from the far corner. Opponent one now returns at ~20 m/s
+  (measured live: twelve returns, 20.0-20.7), a quarter more flight time; the rungs take it back.
+- **The vignette deepens**: `dmg * 0.8` (was 0.5), cap 0.85, and the clean centre SHRINKS with
+  damage rather than only the rim darkening.
+- **The REACHABILITY REGRESSION** (the test this issue always deserved): a headless 90 s autopilot
+  soak — auto-run, fixed tap window, no placement — asserting ≥10 returns sampled and ≤15% that
+  never came within volley reach. Sabotage-verified: cranked knobs trip the suite.
+  **Its honest limit, recorded so nobody overtrusts it**: the autopilot attends perfectly and taps
+  frame-precisely, so it OUT-COVERS a human — knob-legal-but-hostile values still pass it. It is a
+  floor against catastrophic regressions, not a proxy for Oliver's thumb; his playtest stays the
+  real gate for "reachable".
+
 **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