diff --git a/Game/scripts/ship_ai_controller.gd b/Game/scripts/ship_ai_controller.gd
index f7ae0326..af4bd042 100644
--- a/Game/scripts/ship_ai_controller.gd
+++ b/Game/scripts/ship_ai_controller.gd
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ extends AIController3D
 # flat, idle ship farms nothing.
 @export var tilt_penalty := 0.002
 
-# A ship (1x1x4 box) touching a wall has its centre within ~2.05 of it;
-# 2.5 adds slack for contact jitter without misreading mid-field contact.
-const WALL_PROXIMITY_MARGIN := 2.5
+# Contact normals with y above this are floor contact (exempt from the wall
+# penalty); below it they read as wall (sideways) or ceiling (downward).
+const FLOOR_NORMAL_MIN_Y := 0.7
 
 var ship: Ship
 var rl_controller: RLShipController
@@ -101,8 +101,9 @@ func _physics_process(delta):
 	# Dense penalty: every tick spent pressed against a wall or the ceiling
 	# (contact monitoring is already on for the ball-touch reward). Ships
 	# bumping each other, the ball, or the floor is fine. The boundary is one
-	# body, so position tells us which surface the contact is.
-	if wall_contact_penalty > 0.0 and _touching_boundary() and _near_wall_or_ceiling():
+	# body, so the contact normal tells us which surface: floor contact
+	# pushes the ship up (+Y), walls push sideways, the ceiling down.
+	if wall_contact_penalty > 0.0 and _wall_or_ceiling_contact():
 		reward -= wall_contact_penalty
 
 	# Dense penalty: tilt away from upright (0 flat, max when inverted) —
@@ -112,20 +113,20 @@ func _physics_process(delta):
 		reward -= tilt_penalty * (1.0 - uprightness) * 0.5
 
 
-func _touching_boundary() -> bool:
-	for body in ship.get_colliding_bodies():
-		if body is ArenaBoundary:
+func _wall_or_ceiling_contact() -> bool:
+	var state := PhysicsServer3D.body_get_direct_state(ship.get_rid())
+	if state == null:
+		return false
+	for i in state.get_contact_count():
+		if not state.get_contact_collider_object(i) is ArenaBoundary:
+			continue
+		# Normal points from the surface into the ship: floor ≈ +Y (exempt),
+		# anything flatter or downward is a wall or the ceiling.
+		if state.get_contact_local_normal(i).y < FLOOR_NORMAL_MIN_Y:
 			return true
 	return false
 
 
-func _near_wall_or_ceiling() -> bool:
-	var p := ship.global_position
-	return absf(p.x) > ArenaBoundary.INNER_HALF_X - WALL_PROXIMITY_MARGIN \
-		or absf(p.z) > ArenaBoundary.INNER_HALF_Z - WALL_PROXIMITY_MARGIN \
-		or p.y > ArenaBoundary.INNER_HEIGHT - WALL_PROXIMITY_MARGIN
-
-
 func _on_ship_body_entered(body: Node) -> void:
 	if body.is_in_group("ball"):
 		reward += ball_touch_reward