[V1.23B - Ground Combat] Missed shots ignore shields in the line of fire

[bifohe6676]

Missed shots seem to always either hit somebody or some object that provides cover, never the ground and often not something in the cone of fire that is infront of the target.

When a shield-carrier is between a shooting alien and its target and its shot misses this issue gets extremely worse, the shield of a soldier surprisingly gets totally ignored and the shots fly through the shield as if it weren't even there and then hit somebody standing behind the shield.

I am aware the shield provides a meager 25% cover object for some reason even though it is a heavy full body shield and much larger than e.g. wooden farm fences that provide equal cover, but surely if the shot is missed it should at least shield the people behind it, no?

The mechanism as I understand it must be possible, since e.g. shots through smoke take all the smoked tiles into consideration and not just the highest cover, and 100% walls block incoming fire first before shots are let through further, as expected from a wall.

Shouldn't this also apply to the (imo) already underpowered shields?

EDIT: one could argue the case of a crouched shield-carrier not also covering a standing soldier, but as is even a standing shield doesn't provide cover for a crouched soldier behind the shield carrier.

Edited July 23, 2023 by bifohe6676

[Chris]

On 7/23/2023 at 7:22 AM, bifohe6676 said:

Missed shots seem to always either hit somebody or some object that provides cover, never the ground and often not something in the cone of fire that is infront of the target.

When a shield-carrier is between a shooting alien and its target and its shot misses this issue gets extremely worse, the shield of a soldier surprisingly gets totally ignored and the shots fly through the shield as if it weren't even there and then hit somebody standing behind the shield.

I am aware the shield provides a meager 25% cover object for some reason even though it is a heavy full body shield and much larger than e.g. wooden farm fences that provide equal cover, but surely if the shot is missed it should at least shield the people behind it, no?

The mechanism as I understand it must be possible, since e.g. shots through smoke take all the smoked tiles into consideration and not just the highest cover, and 100% walls block incoming fire first before shots are let through further, as expected from a wall.

Shouldn't this also apply to the (imo) already underpowered shields?

EDIT: one could argue the case of a crouched shield-carrier not also covering a standing soldier, but as is even a standing shield doesn't provide cover for a crouched soldier behind the shield carrier.

The hit chance is applied both ways - we can increase the block chance of a shield soldier to 100% but then they'll be impossible for your own soldiers to shoot through, which I think people would find annoying.

Miss shots can deviate hit the ground but their trajectory is usually pretty flat (or somewhat upwards) so they tend to hit objects or actors instead.

[bifohe6676]

On 7/24/2023 at 2:34 PM, Chris said:

The hit chance is applied both ways - we can increase the block chance of a shield soldier to 100% but then they'll be impossible for your own soldiers to shoot through, which I think people would find annoying.

Miss shots can deviate hit the ground but their trajectory is usually pretty flat (or somewhat upwards) so they tend to hit objects or actors instead.

Impossible even if they are standing right behind the shield-carrier?

AFAIK cover on the tiles right next to soldiers is ignored because they "lean" on it, does a 100% cover-rating forcefully disable this behaviour?

I don't think I want other soldiers to ever fire above a shield-carrier's head while standing further away no matter the percentage of the shield, the RNG gods looove friendly fire in these situations.

By the way thank you very much for that option in the game settings to disallow overwatch if friendly units are in the way! Saves me quite some headache about unit positioning!