Target briefly and moving tanks

[Offshoot]

I've noticed some behaviours associated with the target briefly order when attached to the end of a tank's movement order in WeGo games that players might want to be aware of.

The target briefly order lasts for 15 seconds, with the counter for this starting at 15 and counting down to zero. The counter appears to start at the beginning of each turn and not at the commencement of the order. If a tank has to rotate its turret to fire, the time to do so is subtracted from the counter.

What this means in practice is that a static tank firing straight ahead will use the full 15 seconds, typically firing two shells and several MG bursts. A static tank that has to rotate its turret to fire will fire for 15 seconds minus however long it took to rotate the turret.

When the target briefly order is attached to the end of a movement order, however, the results will depend on a few conditions.

If the tank moves for less than 15 seconds from the start of the turn, the target briefly counter will start counting down from 15 seconds minus the duration of the move plus any time taken to rotate the turret. It seems though that as long as the movement and rotation all occur within 15 seconds, the tank will typically still fire one shell and a couple of MG bursts.

If the tank moves for more than 15 seconds from the start of the turn and the target briefly order is roughly parallel to its movement (i.e., the turret doesn't have to rotate far), the counter will already be set to zero but the tank still fires one shell and a couple of MG bursts.

If the tank moves for more than 15 seconds from the start of the turn and the target briefly order is such that the turret has to rotate a fair amount (I haven't determined exactly how far), the tank will start to rotate its turret but then abandon the target briefly order and not fire at all. Something to keep in mind if you are doing a shoot and scoot with target briefly.

I did a brief test with infantry but they don't seem to be affected in the same way or to the same extent, I assume because noggin rotation is quicker.

EDIT: actually, I was at first kind of confused as to why tanks were abandoning the target briefly order (something I originally noticed in a game), so it would be handy if others could confirm this behaviour. I should also check how target briefly works in real time.

[GreenAsJade]

That's got to be a bug...

GaJ

[Offshoot]

A little further to this, I wondered if having a waypoint with a target briefly order and a 20 second pause attached will alter this behaviour, but the exact same conditions apply.

I also did a very quick test in real time mode and to my surprise similar conditions seem to apply in that if a tank has to rotate its turret an appreciable amount before firing, it will abandon the target briefly order. It is hard to get the timing right in real time relative to the clock, but I get the impression that the target briefly order when connected to the end of a movement order will only work as one might expect it to work if it can be completed within the first 15 seconds of an entire RT game.

[A Canadian Cat]

Oh that is disappointing. I was hoping to use the target briefly command at the end of moment orders. I would use it like this: when moving a tank into a position to get eyes on an enemy that the tank has not spotted yet. I would like to area target briefly near to where a known enemy is at the end of of its movement so that the tank starts firing something before it spots the enemy. Right now I do this and manually clear the area target order at the next command phase. Which works OK. The only trouble is that the length of time they area fire is determined by how much time is left in the turn rather than a controlled time. I was hoping to use the target briefly command to make that better.

[Offshoot]

That should probably still be OK then as I imagine in that case you would want the tank to present its front anyway so it would not have to rotate the turret much. In this case it would, in my experience, still fire one shell if it starts firing outside the first 15 seconds of the turn.

[akd]

If a tank has to rotate its turret to fire, the time to do so is subtracted from the counter.

This is probably not a bug. That is simply how a targeting order works. "Target briefly" is a target order that lasts for 15 seconds. It does not account for aiming time, turret rotation, hull rotation, etc. This should be avoidable by first orientating the vehicle or unit on the target with a short movement order, but that is somewhat complicated because...

When the target briefly order is attached to the end of a movement order, however, the results will depend on a few conditions.

If the tank moves for less than 15 seconds from the start of the turn, the target briefly counter will start counting down from 15 seconds minus the duration of the move plus any time taken to rotate the turret. It seems though that as long as the movement and rotation all occur within 15 seconds, the tank will typically still fire one shell and a couple of MG bursts.

If the tank moves for more than 15 seconds from the start of the turn and the target briefly order is roughly parallel to its movement (i.e., the turret doesn't have to rotate far), the counter will already be set to zero but the tank still fires one shell and a couple of MG bursts.

If the tank moves for more than 15 seconds from the start of the turn and the target briefly order is such that the turret has to rotate a fair amount (I haven't determined exactly how far), the tank will start to rotate its turret but then abandon the target briefly order and not fire at all. Something to keep in mind if you are doing a shoot and scoot with target briefly.

...this appears to be a bug. Reported.

[c3k]

Regiment0,

Thank you for the detailed explanation and the manner in which you explored this behavior. As akd just posted, he has reported it. It is posts such as yours which help find and fix problematic behavior.

Regards,

Ken