Build independent base gameplay and source-bound native verification

docs/player-lifecycle.md

@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ Native reconnect reservation and handoff remain separate from new-character admi
 
 ## Placement
 
-Prison placement uses 25 candidates on a 5×5 grid, spaced 1.5m apart and bounded to 3m from the authored prison center. Candidates remain inside the existing enclosure. Terrain height and slope, physical scene/character occupancy, and pending reservations can reject a slot. Connection IDs 1 and 13 receive no special or shared position. Disconnected physical bodies still obstruct the native query.
+Prison placement searches a 4×4 lattice with axis coordinates -4.5, -1.5, 1.5 and 4.5m relative to the authored center. The four inner positions are checked first, then eight edge positions, then four corners. Neighboring centers are 3m apart and remain 1.5m inside walls positioned at ±6m. The inner and edge positions are within 5m of the prison center. Terrain height and slope, physical scene/character occupancy, and pending reservations can reject a slot. Connection IDs 1 and 13 receive no special or shared position. Disconnected physical bodies still obstruct the native query.
 
 If every candidate is occupied or pending, admission waits and retries. Lack of a clear slot does not consume the native spawn-failure budget. Later arrivals first search bounded clear ground near a conscious friendly survivor outside a vehicle, with terrain-height and line-of-sight checks, then try the same prison grid. Placement does not imply a navigable route or safe proximity to enemies.
 
-A nominal 25-point grid does not prove 12-player physical capacity. Native scene bounds can reduce capacity; the opt-in fixture requires at least 11 additional available positions around one actual controlled prisoner. Manual crowding, movement, collision and spawn usability are still required.
+The previous 25-point grid passed reservation enumeration but exhausted at eight actual actors (archive `native-2026-09-19-062251`). Adding a ring to 49 candidates while keeping the central positions first still exhausted at nine (`native-2026-09-19-062847`). Diagnostics showed character world bounds about 4×4m; the old 1.5m lattice left adjacent candidates inside those conservative query bounds. The replacement 3m lattice changes packing rather than weakening the query or lowering the required population. All sixteen candidates still pass through the unchanged clearance predicate. The prisoner fixture must populate one real player plus eleven additional physical actors before capacity is accepted; this new packing awaits that native result. Manual crowding, movement, collision and spawn usability remain required.
 
 ## Finalization and cleanup