diff --git a/overlay/oxide/plugins/RunicGateway.cs b/overlay/oxide/plugins/RunicGateway.cs
index d16d02e..b8595ae 100644
--- a/overlay/oxide/plugins/RunicGateway.cs
+++ b/overlay/oxide/plugins/RunicGateway.cs
@@ -65,6 +65,15 @@ namespace Oxide.Plugins
         /// </summary>
         private const int MaxBackoffMs = 5000;
 
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     How long a link must stay up before its drop counts as an outage rather than a
+        ///     refusal. The backoff resets only past it: a sidecar that closes every connection at
+        ///     once — one refusing a plugin that names another server (D155), or one crash-looping —
+        ///     would otherwise be redialled twice a second for ever, rebuilding the boards on the
+        ///     main thread and printing two console lines each time.
+        /// </summary>
+        private const int StableLinkMs = 10000;
+
         /// <summary>The longest line accepted from the sidecar. Over-long lines are discarded.</summary>
         private const int MaxInboundLineBytes = 1024 * 1024;
 
@@ -244,6 +253,13 @@ namespace Oxide.Plugins
 
             _bootId = ResolveBootId();
             _wipeId = ResolveWipeId();
+
+            // Before the link thread, not in `Loaded`: both frameworks call `Init` first, and a
+            // thread started here with `_config` still null dials the 7799 fallback. With one
+            // server per host that is its own sidecar by coincidence; with two it is the OTHER
+            // server's, whose sidecar then files this server's history under that one's id
+            // (found by the phase 18 walk, D154).
+            LoadConfigValues();
             _running = true;
 
             // Expired link codes are dropped on a timer, not on lookup: an unconfirmed code is
@@ -496,7 +512,6 @@ namespace Oxide.Plugins
 
         private void Loaded()
         {
-            LoadConfigValues();
             Puts($"protocol {ProtocolVersion}, serverId '{_config.ServerId}', sidecar {_config.Host}:{_config.Port}");
 
             // Here rather than at `OnServerInitialized`: the link thread starts in `Init`, so a
@@ -564,6 +579,7 @@ namespace Oxide.Plugins
             {
                 TcpClient client = null;
                 Thread reader = null;
+                System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch upFor = null;
 
                 int epoch = Interlocked.Increment(ref _epoch);
 
@@ -582,7 +598,7 @@ namespace Oxide.Plugins
                     _dead = false;
                     _connected = true;
                     _loggedConnectFailure = false; // so a LATER outage is reported again
-                    backoffMs = 500;
+                    upFor = System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch.StartNew();
 
                     Interlocked.Increment(ref _connects);
                     Puts($"connected to {host}:{port}");
@@ -654,14 +670,25 @@ namespace Oxide.Plugins
                 if (!_running)
                     break;
 
+                // A link that held is an outage: start again from the shortest wait. One that was
+                // closed on arrival keeps doubling (see StableLinkMs).
+                if (upFor != null && upFor.ElapsedMilliseconds >= StableLinkMs)
+                    backoffMs = 500;
+
                 // Nothing is listening yet, or the sidecar restarted. Both are normal.
                 //
-                // `Wake`, not `Thread.Sleep`: Unload runs on the MAIN thread and joins this one, so
-                // an uninterruptible sleep here is a stall of up to MaxBackoffMs on every reload —
-                // Oxide reports it as `Calling 'Unload' took 1918ms`, and the server is frozen for
-                // that whole time. Unload sets `_running` false and signals `Wake`, so waiting on
-                // the handle turns that stall into an immediate return.
-                Wake.WaitOne(backoffMs);
+                // A handle, not `Thread.Sleep`: Unload runs on the MAIN thread and joins this one,
+                // so an uninterruptible sleep here is a stall of up to MaxBackoffMs on every reload
+                // — Oxide reports it as `Calling 'Unload' took 1918ms`, and the server is frozen for
+                // that whole time. Unload sets `_stopping`, so waiting on it turns that stall into
+                // an immediate return.
+                //
+                // `_stopping`, not `Wake`, for the reason `_stopping` gives: `Emit` signals `Wake`
+                // on every frame, so a backoff waited on it lasted until the next hook fired. That
+                // was invisible while a failed connect was silent; against a sidecar that refuses
+                // (D155) the phase 18 walk measured some 250 redials a second, each printing two
+                // console lines and rebuilding the boards.
+                _stopping.WaitOne(backoffMs);
                 backoffMs = Math.Min(backoffMs * 2, MaxBackoffMs);
             }