[Fyron]

BTW, I like the "blind spot" idea, but since there's no way to get the combat AI to engage at a specific range, I'm not sure how it would work with "optimal firing range" - would it actually try to get in the right range to fire, or would it just close to point blank and not be able to hit anything?

The way the AI closes to point blank is that it moves in to the closest range that it can fire at. So, it will move to range 4 and fire (for a 3 range blind spot). It will not try to fire at range 1-3.