Reduce or eliminate 'maximum range' from a lot of guns?

[Trensicourt]

Can we have really long range and slow reload snipers? These long range snipers would be completely inaccurate against moving targets, but can incapacitate(or even instantly kill) a colonist. These long range snipers would reload so slow that it will be completely vulnerable for a while after it shoots something.

Or we can have no snipers. Just long range rifles.
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People using the M24 already move and shoot pretty slow and I think their current +/- are fair. I think we are all using the generic term "sniper" for a col/raider using a long range rifle. Its not like there are any trained col/raiders that get a bonus to accuracy or get a cover bonus even in the open (however, that would be cool) like a "sniper" class.
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Read what I said above. Really long range snipers..

[Untrustedlife]

Well, the intent, at least, is that it really depends on circumstances. I think people have trouble with the snipers because the snipers dominate in the conditions that players like to create to defeat every other threat - that is, a deadly Maginot line facing a blasted, open no-man's-land. The snipers just set up shop and plink your defenses to death.

If you just go around a corner, or go inside, they'll have to get closer to do anything. And they're easy to beat using automatic weapons at normal and short ranges. The automatics aim and fire first.

Anyway, this is all still getting worked out. Combat will change a lot as further completely different styles of weapon, defense, and adversary are added. Tanklike bruiser mechanoids, mortars, deadly cacti, swarming micromechanoids, energy shields. We'll worry about specific scenarios later, which this is all a bit less unfinished.

I agree with this,
I am especially excited about the possibility of swarming mechanoids..snipers would be near useless against them.

[Vastin]

As noted, its early days yet for guns.

I just really like visual range mechanics because they introduce the concept of stealth (camo suits, advanced optics, stalking skills, sensor arrays, etc), and they really increase the importance of factors like lighting and weather, which are already in the game. Having a battle in fog feel fundamentally different than one in daylight would be great.

However, perception range mechanics are often VERY expensive in terms of processing time. Now, this isn't a game with tons of units, so in theory it can afford to be running some pretty expensive routines of that sort - but sims already have a lot of that sort of stuff going on as a rule, so it just might not be worth it.