diff --git a/games/age-of-dwarves/guide/e2e/diag.spec.ts b/games/age-of-dwarves/guide/e2e/diag.spec.ts
index e322fed8..5d56ac84 100644
--- a/games/age-of-dwarves/guide/e2e/diag.spec.ts
+++ b/games/age-of-dwarves/guide/e2e/diag.spec.ts
@@ -1,48 +1,39 @@
 import { test } from '@playwright/test'
 
-test('check if worker sends ready within 30s', async ({ page }) => {
-  const msgs: string[] = []
-  const errors: string[] = []
+test('network: watch WASM + worker requests', async ({ page }) => {
+  const requests: string[] = []
+  const failures: string[] = []
   
-  page.on('console', msg => {
-    const text = msg.text()
-    msgs.push(`[${msg.type()}] ${text}`)
-    if (msg.type() === 'error') errors.push(text)
-  })
-  page.on('pageerror', e => errors.push(e.message))
-
-  // Add debug tracing via page.addInitScript
-  await page.addInitScript(() => {
-    const origWorker = window.Worker
-    // @ts-ignore
-    window.Worker = function(url: string, opts: WorkerOptions) {
-      console.log('[TRACE] Worker created:', url)
-      const w = new origWorker(url, opts)
-      const origPost = w.postMessage.bind(w)
-      w.postMessage = (msg: unknown, ...args: unknown[]) => {
-        console.log('[TRACE] worker.postMessage:', JSON.stringify(msg).slice(0, 200))
-        return (origPost as Function)(msg, ...args)
-      }
-      const origOnmsg = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(w, 'onmessage')
-      w.addEventListener('message', (e: MessageEvent) => {
-        const data = e.data as { type: string }
-        console.log('[TRACE] worker.onmessage:', data?.type)
-      })
-      return w
+  page.on('request', req => {
+    const url = req.url()
+    if (url.includes('wasm') || url.includes('worker') || url.includes('physics')) {
+      requests.push(`[req] ${req.method()} ${url}`)
     }
-    // @ts-ignore
-    window.Worker.prototype = origWorker.prototype
   })
+  page.on('response', res => {
+    const url = res.url()
+    if ((url.includes('wasm') || url.includes('worker') || url.includes('physics')) && !res.ok()) {
+      failures.push(`[fail:${res.status()}] ${url}`)
+    }
+  })
+  page.on('requestfailed', req => {
+    const url = req.url()
+    if (url.includes('wasm') || url.includes('worker') || url.includes('physics')) {
+      failures.push(`[reqfail] ${url}: ${req.failure()?.errorText}`)
+    }
+  })
+  page.on('console', msg => {
+    if (msg.type() === 'error' || msg.text().includes('[SimWorker]') || msg.text().includes('[TRACE]')) {
+      console.log(`[${msg.type()}] ${msg.text()}`)
+    }
+  })
+  page.on('pageerror', e => console.log('[pageerror]', e.message))
 
   await page.goto('/climate/simulation?noGui=true&skip=welcome')
-  await page.waitForTimeout(20000)
+  await page.waitForTimeout(10000)
 
-  console.log('=== MESSAGES ===')
-  msgs.forEach(m => console.log(m))
-  
-  const spans = await page.evaluate(() =>
-    Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('span'))
-      .map(s => s.textContent?.trim()).filter(Boolean)
-  )
-  console.log('Spans:', spans.join('|'))
+  console.log('=== REQUESTS ===')
+  requests.forEach(r => console.log(r))
+  console.log('=== FAILURES ===')
+  failures.forEach(f => console.log(f))
 })
diff --git a/src/packages/guide/src/components/climate-sim/ClimateSimDisplay.tsx b/src/packages/guide/src/components/climate-sim/ClimateSimDisplay.tsx
index 00c15d99..c390767b 100644
--- a/src/packages/guide/src/components/climate-sim/ClimateSimDisplay.tsx
+++ b/src/packages/guide/src/components/climate-sim/ClimateSimDisplay.tsx
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ export function ClimateSimDisplay({ easterEggs }: ClimateSimDisplayProps): React
   // ── kick off simulation when worker is ready or scenario changes ──────
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!isReady) return
-    if (workerScenarios.has(activeScenarioId)) return
+    if (workerScenarios.get(activeScenarioId)?.bufferReady) return
     workerRun(activeScenarioId, initialTurns, bufferFrames, worldSeed)
   }, [isReady, activeScenarioId, workerScenarios, workerRun, initialTurns, bufferFrames, worldSeed])