]V1.09 - Ground Combat] Aliens not having same LOS as humans/shooting through walls

I did a quick Google search and found there was many old bug reports of aliens shooting through walls when they are standing next to one. One would think this would have been fixed since, but that's not the case. This bug happened to me several times yesterday and I couldn't pinpoint why the issue was occurring. Aliens were getting crack shots at my troops from what I thought was them running over shooting through windows then running back to cover, but the windows weren't even broken which was strange. Just happened to me again today, whereas in the top-level of a cruiser, a sebillian came up to the wall opposite to where my soldier should have been protected because one would think if you're facing a wall you couldn't see anything past it, but nope he shot right through it. This bug is so infuriating I don't even want to play this game anymore because it's a completely unfair advantage to the CPU.

- First of all, aliens should use exactly the same LOS/LOF mechanics as soldiers, so if an alien can do it, a soldier should be able to do the exact same thing. So this may be unfair, but if yes, then it's unfair both ways, and thus the basic claim here is incorrect. Unless you can prove otherwise.

- Shooting through walls is usually purely a visual artefact. For example when shooting while leaning around a corner, there are no sprites for shooting while leaning, so the same sprite is used like for normal shooting, so that the shot starts from the weapon's barrel, but that means the shot visually doesn't go where the path was computed. That doesn't change anything except for visuals.

- Last, but definitely not the least, developers can't do magic. Even if there is a bug, it's unlikely it can be fixed based on a completely fuzzy vague description. Provide a way to reproduce the problem, preferably in the form of a saved game.

All right, I'm going to ignore the unwelcoming nature of your post because I don't know what kind of community standing you may have. You said aliens and humans share the same LOS/LOF. Ok. So that means if you're able to shoot at someone they should be able to shoot back and vice versa. Look at that picture. That sebillian has been firing at my soldier from that position, and, welp, he can't fire back due to the wall blocking his shot. What does that mean now, the sebillian has longer arms so he can lean out further?

http://snag.gy/TV1xJ.jpg

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See http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/10028-LOS-Explanation .

The main point is that line of sight / fire isn't fully symmetrical. The shooter has some ability to "lean" out from cover and around corners.

Therefore it's only an actual bug if you can't do the same shot by moving a soldier to the spot where the alien was standing and then firing at a unit in the position where your soldier was. Save the game, kill the alien and then test it using two of your soldiers - hopefully you'll be able to pull the same shot off yourself.

If you look at that image and imagine the Sebillian has just leaned out of the doorway to take a shot you will see that the path to your soldier is practically clear.

When you reverse it if your soldier was to lean to his right to fire a shot back then the Sebillian would still be practically obscured by the door frame when in its current position.

The system is not very clear in some positions and can be confusing at times. As Chris says the only way to confirm if that is actually a bug is to duplicate the positions with two soldiers and see if they have the exact same reaction in the exact same place.

If they do not then there is a bug, if they do then it is just one of those confusing areas...

The main confusion comes from the lack of feedback on when a unit is leaning to fire so it really is not obvious.

The system basically allows the unit firing to use any of the 9 little sub tiles (you can see them highlighted as part of the fire path) as the point of origin for aiming and always tries to aim at the front centre sub tile of the target if I remember correctly.

That is supposed to represent them leaning to get a better shot without actually having to move out of their tile.

In the image this translates as the Sebillian firing from the point where its tail is at the front foot of your soldier. This means there is a good line of fire. Your soldier is trying to fire from the spot between the green square directly under his feet and the teleporter next to him (front right corner of his tile) and trying to hit the Sebillians front foot which is 100% obscured by the wall so he cannot fire back.

There does indeed seem to be an issue with the LoF for aliens.

Sgt. Doherty (the marked Xenonaut) just got shot by the marked Sebillian on the alien turn, both in the positions they are in now. The only difference between the time the shot occured and the time the screenshot was made is that the Sebillian slightly turned to its right and ducked. Ducked or not, the wall in front of Sgt Doherty should make a shot at him impossible or at least keep them from hitting him as long as it's there.

EDIT: Loaded up that situation again, killed the Sebillian and moved one of my soldiers in its place. Sgt. Doherty and the ground under him can be targeted if he's standing right there or around the corner. In either situation the tile he isn't standing on can't be targeted, as expected.

EDIT2: I'm less sure about this situation (LoF for Xenonauts this time):

The soldier marked green can shoot the Sebillian (good odds, btw), the soldier marked red can't, having his LoF blocked by the railcar. Realistically, I'd expect them to either both have a LoF or neither of them (mostly the latter, actually).