diff --git a/src/game/engine/src/autoloads/theme_assets.gd b/src/game/engine/src/autoloads/theme_assets.gd
index b3175647..8f3351f6 100644
--- a/src/game/engine/src/autoloads/theme_assets.gd
+++ b/src/game/engine/src/autoloads/theme_assets.gd
@@ -43,7 +43,14 @@ func resolve(relative_path: String) -> String:
 	return "%s/%s" % [_base_path, relative_path]
 
 
-func load_sprite(relative_path: String) -> Texture2D:
+func load_sprite(relative_path: String, warn_on_miss: bool = true) -> Texture2D:
+	## `warn_on_miss` defaults to true so genuinely-required assets (terrain,
+	## city, resource, UI sprites with no procedural backstop) still surface a
+	## warning. Callers that probe a *speculative* path with a guaranteed
+	## fallback — e.g. the unit renderer's race×sex variant + generic lookup,
+	## which always backstops via the ProceduralRenderer — pass false to avoid
+	## noise on expected misses. Authored-sprite coverage is enforced by
+	## `test_standin_sprite_coverage.gd`, not by this runtime warning.
 	var full_path: String = resolve(relative_path)
 	if full_path.is_empty():
 		return null
@@ -92,7 +99,7 @@ func load_sprite(relative_path: String) -> Texture2D:
 	# Cache both positive and negative results to avoid repeated I/O
 	_texture_cache[full_path] = texture
 
-	if texture == null:
+	if texture == null and warn_on_miss:
 		push_warning("ThemeAssets: FAILED to load '%s'" % full_path)
 
 	return texture
diff --git a/src/game/engine/src/rendering/unit_renderer_draw.gd b/src/game/engine/src/rendering/unit_renderer_draw.gd
index 97387708..f6a93a9c 100644
--- a/src/game/engine/src/rendering/unit_renderer_draw.gd
+++ b/src/game/engine/src/rendering/unit_renderer_draw.gd
@@ -174,13 +174,17 @@ static func cache_unit_sprites(
 	var pr_force: Node = _get_procedural_renderer()
 	if pr_force != null and pr_force.call("is_force_procedural"):
 		return
+	# Both lookups are speculative: get_unit_sprite() backstops any miss via the
+	# ProceduralRenderer, so an absent authored PNG is by-design, not an error.
+	# Pass warn_on_miss=false to keep the log clean; authored coverage is gated
+	# by test_standin_sprite_coverage.gd, not this runtime warning.
 	if race_id != "" and sex != "":
 		var variant_path: String = race_sex_fmt % [type_id, race_id, sex]
 		if not cache.has(variant_path):
-			cache[variant_path] = ThemeAssets.load_sprite(variant_path)
+			cache[variant_path] = ThemeAssets.load_sprite(variant_path, false)
 	var generic_path: String = generic_fmt % type_id
 	if not cache.has(generic_path):
-		cache[generic_path] = ThemeAssets.load_sprite(generic_path)
+		cache[generic_path] = ThemeAssets.load_sprite(generic_path, false)
 
 
 ## Return best available sprite from cache: race/sex variant first, generic