fix(combat): persist death and retarget on kill

Keep the velocity-only NPC adaptation inside the locomotion family so authoritative Dead motion remains persistent. Route selection clears through a dedicated combat target controller that reacquires the closest eligible creature when retail Auto Target conditions apply.

Co-Authored-By: Codex <codex@openai.com>

docs/plans/2026-04-11-roadmap.md

@@ -497,7 +497,7 @@ behavior. Estimated 17–26 days focused work, 3–5 weeks calendar.
 - **Wave 4.4e implemented — exact missile ammo number (live gate pending).** Pure Core reproduces retail's thrown-weapon-vs-separate-ammo resolution over the ordered player equipment list and its zero-to-one count normalization. Relevant equipment/stack events update authored missile indicator `0x10000194` with the DAT font. Warning-free Release build and 4,754-pass / 5-skip suite are green; AP-101 is retired.
 - **M2 held-object parenting shipped and live-gated 2026-07-11.** The combat toggle now ports `GetDefaultCombatMode` over ordered equipped contents, so a bow requests Missile instead of the old hardcoded Melee. CreateObject preserves parent/placement/timestamp fields, `0xF749` ParentEvent is handled, and `EquippedChildRenderController` renders the weapon as a separate child composed from the animated hand part + holding frame + child placement frame. Live gate passed: bow selected missile stance, rendered in-hand, followed animation, unequipped cleanly, and melee remained correct. App Release builds with zero warnings; the full 4,765-pass / 5-skip suite is green. AP-111 is retired; research: `docs/research/2026-07-11-combat-default-and-parent-event-pseudocode.md`.
 - **M2 local attack receive funnel implemented 2026-07-11; live gate pending.** Retail `ExecuteAttack` only sends the request; ACE chooses the concrete melee/missile action and returns it in a non-autonomous mt-0 `UpdateMotion`. The local branch now runs that state through the same constructor-defaulted `MoveToInterpretedState` funnel and 15-bit action-stamp gate as remotes, then applies sticky/long-jump tails. The old local-only direct `Commands[]` replay is deleted. Shared conversion lives in `InboundInterpretedMotionFactory`; research: `docs/research/2026-07-11-local-combat-motion-pseudocode.md`.
-- **M2 basic retail combat bar implemented 2026-07-11; corrective live visual gate pending.** Production mounts authored `gmCombatUI` LayoutDesc `0x21000073`, shows it only for Melee/Missile, and routes mouse plus keyboard through one `CombatAttackController`. Corrections now include the right-to-left red charge meter, silent control-only `AttackDone(ActionCancelled)`, persistent Dead cycles despite zero-velocity position updates, and target-frame Keep in View that preserves manual viewer-offset orbit. Matching retail x86 recovered exact 1.0-second normal and 0.8-second dual-wield power-up times. Research: `docs/research/2026-07-11-retail-combat-bar-pseudocode.md`, `docs/research/2026-07-11-combat-target-camera-pseudocode.md`, `docs/research/2026-07-11-combat-live-gate-corrections-pseudocode.md`; AP-24/AP-95 retired, AP-110 narrowed, AP-112 records the remaining advanced/Recklessness and command-interpreter seams.
+- **M2 basic retail combat bar implemented 2026-07-11; corrective live visual gate pending.** Production mounts authored `gmCombatUI` LayoutDesc `0x21000073`, shows it only for Melee/Missile, and routes mouse plus keyboard through one `CombatAttackController`. Corrections include the right-to-left red charge meter, silent control-only `AttackDone(ActionCancelled)`, target-frame Keep in View with manual orbit, and persistent corpse motion: the AP-80 velocity-only NPC adaptation can now replace only Ready/Walk/Run, never authoritative Dead/actions. `CombatTargetController` ports the selection-cleared AutoTarget consumer, so a selected creature's authoritative Dead motion clears it and selects the nearest eligible creature when enabled. Research: `docs/research/2026-07-11-retail-combat-bar-pseudocode.md`, `docs/research/2026-07-11-combat-target-camera-pseudocode.md`, `docs/research/2026-07-12-death-and-auto-target-pseudocode.md`; AP-24/AP-95 retired, AP-80 narrowed, AP-110 narrowed, AP-112 records the remaining advanced/Recklessness and command-interpreter seams.
 - **✓ SHIPPED — Character window** (`LayoutDesc 0x2100002E`, `CharacterStatController`, 2026-06-26, same branch). **Visually user-confirmed 2026-06-26 — Attributes tab reads as retail.** Three tabs, header (name/heritage/PK), large-gold level number (dat font, `largeDatFont` 18px), "Total Experience (XP):" + "XP for next level:" captions, 9-row attribute list (icons + right-aligned values + Health/Stamina/Mana vitals), click-to-select (top/bottom selection bars + footer State-B "{Attr}: {value}" / "Experience To Raise: Infinity!" + affordability-gated raise triangles), centered footer. User noted "still needs some polish for later" — deferred to Issue #158.
 - **✓ SHIPPED — D.5.4 — Client object/item data model (foundation).** Shipped 2026-06-18 (`b506f53`..`a33e897`, 11 commits). Renamed `ItemRepository`→`ClientObjectTable` / `ItemInstance`→`ClientObject`; broadened the table to hold EVERY server object (retail `weenie_object_table` shape). `CreateObject` is now the canonical merge-upsert (`ClientObjectTable.Ingest`, retail `SetWeenieDesc` semantics) via a new Core.Net `ObjectTableWiring` (off GameWindow); `DeleteObject` evicts; `PlayerDescription` is a membership manifest (`RecordMembership`); live container-membership index (`GetContents`, retail `object_inventory_table`). `_liveEntityInfoByGuid` retired (selection/describe resolve from the one table). Root fix: the old enrich-existing-only `EnrichItem` dropped `CreateObject`s for items with no `PlayerDescription` stub — live-Coldeve 4/6 hotbar slots blank; items are now created, not dropped. **Crux resolved:** retail is TWO tables (`object_table` + `weenie_object_table`), NOT one — acdream's `WorldEntity` (3D system) + `ClientObjectTable` (data/UI) split was already architecturally faithful; the fix was the ingestion path, not a table unification. 2671 tests green.
 - **Roadmap correction (2026-07-10):** the completion order is now the architecture-first campaign in `docs/superpowers/plans/2026-07-10-retail-ui-fidelity-completion.md`. Retail `gmToolbarUI` is object-only: preserve `ShortCutData.index_`, `objectID_`, and `spellID_`, but do not invent spell glyphs on this bar. `PlayerModule::favorite_spells_[8]` feeds separate spell bars.

docs/plans/2026-05-12-milestones.md

@@ -463,9 +463,10 @@ include dungeons.
   press/hold/release attack-request owner across DAT buttons and keybindings.
   Retail x86 resolves full charge to 1.0 s (0.8 s dual wield), also retiring the
   guessed jump-charge timing. The corrective gate ports the right-to-left red
-  meter, silent AttackDone control status, persistent corpse motion, and
-  target-frame Keep in View with retained manual orbit. See
-  `docs/research/2026-07-11-combat-live-gate-corrections-pseudocode.md`.
+  meter, silent AttackDone control status, target-frame Keep in View with
+  retained manual orbit, persistent corpse motion protected from the AP-80
+  velocity adaptation, and post-death nearest-target acquisition when Auto
+  Target is enabled. See `docs/research/2026-07-12-death-and-auto-target-pseudocode.md`.
 - **L.1b** — Command router + motion-state cleanup (prereq for L.1c).
 
 **Freeze on landing:**