Suggestion for more options

[PKH]

Originally Posted by jivemi

Welcome PKH. I'd like to help you out, but I'm not quite sure as to your meaning(s). In the first paragraph, I presume you're talking about a situation in which enemy units have moved up during their turn, and one of your exposed units--that is, in the enemy's line of sight (LOS)--would be slaughtered if it fired at any one of them. The reaction (or "opportunity") fire would be devastating.

It's generally an issue where several units on each side have line of sight to each other. In this case it's pointless to shoot on the defensive since every attacker will shoot back at the firing unit. So the game gets very passive, and basically plays itself (when playing the AI). The problem as I see it is that every unit gets reaction shots vs. every other unit. It doesn't feel realistic, and makes defending very passive.

Originally Posted by jivemi

What exactly do you mean by "Enemies without a target will get a chance, and enemies with another target will get a smaller chance"?

It means exactly what it says. When a unit shoots, enemy units without a target gets a chance to shoot back at it with reaction fire (they will then have a target). Enemy units who already have a target also has a chance to shoot at it (switching targets), but at a reduced chance since they are already engaged with someone else.

Originally Posted by jivemi

As far as units being more likely to fire at closer targets is concerned, I dunno how that could be arranged.

It would be arranged by measuring the distance in hexes at the time the reaction fire was to be resolved.

Originally Posted by jivemi

And even if a unit IS closer when a particular firing sequence begins, it doesn't always follow that the closer unit is going to fire at all (its suppression might be too high to begin with, or it might be suppressed/damaged/whatever in the first round[s] of fire). So it would be pointless for op-firing units to hold fire in expectation of a better shot at a closer unit, if that unit won't fire anyway during that turn. As you can imagine, there's a whole bunch of variables at work here.

This was about reaction fire when a unit does shoot or move. It makes sense to me that a unit is more likely to switch to another target if the new target is closer, and less likely to switch to another that is further away. The way I see it, having a target in this game represents engaging it and also getting the benefits of incremental accuracy increases. It makes little sense logically or realistically to constantly switch targets.

[jivemi]

OK PKH, thanks for your reply. The suggestions you make are beyond my puny capabilities to evaluate, so I'd better let others handle it. Good luck.

[Warmonger]

I like PKH's suggestion. Here's an example of how it could work.

For example, assume friendly unit A has targeted enemy unit 1 at a range of 5 hexes. Enemy unit 2 moves into A's LOS at a range of 8 hexes; A would not fire at 2 since it is farther. Enemy unit 3 pops up 3 hexes from A; A MAY fire at 3 since it is closer. Enemy unit 4 shows up adjacent to A; A would fire at unit 4.

Units appearing adjacent would be fired on 100% of the time if visible, same as now. Units closer than the current target could be handled by an algorithm which would make it more probable to fire the closer the the appearing unit is to the firing unit. Per the example: divide 100 by the range of the current target minus 1 (100 / (5 - 1) = 25). So each hex closer would have a 25% chance of being fired at; a unit at a range of 3 would have a 50% chance of being fired at, at a range of 2 a 75% chance.