Is there any chance we could have a "Hold Fire" command made available for pawns and turrets? And while we're at it, a "Safe Fire" toggleable mode for pawns and turrets would make the game so much less frustrating and more fun. The safe fire mode would prevent pawns and turrets from firing on targets if there is a significant chance that a friendly pawn would get hit (it would choose safer targets only).
I can't even imagine how much this simple addition would improve the game. It would blow my world.
well with colonist you can just undraft (or make them drop their weapon) them but a hold fire for turrets and stuff? nah i love seeing about 30 turrets fire onto a single raider who decides to take on my colony with a steel shiv
It would also avoid a colonist firing his rocket launcher at anything.
Quote from: Kegereneku on May 16, 2015, 10:13:33 AM
It would also avoid a colonist firing his rocket launcher at anything.
true but why does your colonist carry a rocket launcher with him at a ll times though?
its not like hes gonna need it to cook a meal or somet
Quote from: ARiA1089 on May 16, 2015, 10:29:06 AM
Quote from: Kegereneku on May 16, 2015, 10:13:33 AM
It would also avoid a colonist firing his rocket launcher at anything.
true but why does your colonist carry a rocket launcher with him at a ll times though?
its not like hes gonna need it to cook a meal or somet
Not all the time, but if you equip a pawn with it right after the raid warning, maybe you'd keep it until the time is right instead of letting loose of it right at the beginning?
Anyway, I approve, I was just thinking about it yesterday, about "friendly fire". I had 2 melee units behind a 100% cover waiting for the lucky raiders who managed to get past my ranged units; when they do and I order them to attack, however my units equipped with firearms just shoot them all instead, including friendlies. Now microing them "works", but when you have 8+ pawns equipped with pistols, shotguns, rifles and whatever, it gets a little too tricky to manage them all. A more intelligent method of target seeking would be great.
That applies to regular firefights as well, having all colonists shooting at the same enemy is good as long as you're facing tough opponents (centipedes for example), against a horde of 50 cave-dwellers it isn't. It'd be great if at least every 4th pawn would seek another target.
Hold fire +1, safe fire +1, and I suggest "random fire", to avoid having to micro-manage them all the time.
Quote from: ARiA1089 on May 16, 2015, 10:29:06 AM
true but why does your colonist carry a rocket launcher with him at a ll times though?
its not like hes gonna need it to cook a meal or somet
The problem is that he will use it against anything hostile that get in range. Meaning that if you have a structured battle plan, with say a diversion, you need to keep him from firing at anything but the target and when you want to.
I once saw a raider use its triple rocket launcher against a mad squirrel.
When you undraft a colonist they start moving around, often right into the field of fire to pick up a corpse or something. Not optimal.
We need a hold fire command. The "Random Fire" idea sounds interesting too. It can be frustrating when 8 colonists focus fire on one filthy tribal, in mob of 40.
Gods yes +1 hold fire and extra behavior settings pleease
About extra behavior I'd suggest to add the following alternative to [drafted] :
[Hold Fire] : same behavior than drafted, but do not attack hostile.
[Escort] : same behavior than drafted, attempt to stay at the same distance of targeted pawn. (so it double as formation)
[Guard] : same behavior than drafted, but will go to sleep/eat when needed.
I doubt we will need more than that. (I don't count things like crouching as 'need', just minor feature)
Something interesting is that the game already has a defense bonus for "Prone" targets (i.e. targets that are unconscious or incapacitated). It would be interesting to be able to set pawns to "prone" mode on command, or as part of their tactical behavior. They couldn't fire from cover when prone, but would gain the defensive bonus. I can imagine tons of situations where that would be useful. And it would be cool & immersive to see colonists and raiders intelligently go prone automatically when appropriate, or when suppressed by lots of fire.
I'm guessing that some finer combat controls ARE gonna be necessary if Kill-Boxes become a thing of the past.
However, it's asking a bit much for auto-fire turrets to differentiate between friendlies and hostiles.
How about those equipped with sniper rifles (logically) laying down to fire?
That means that they'd NOT be hit by friendly fire from units behind them. A small movement penalty for getting back up would be fine.
+1!!!1!!!!!1
+1
It makes sense.