Illithid Shuffle - Why?

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by HJ:
It seems that AI for ranged units was adjusted a bit so that they don't cause as much friendly fire incidents any more. Usually they'll move forward to get a better shot, or just do something when there are lots of friendlies around the target. Maybe the illithids just follow the pattern of the ranged combat AI, even though their shots are 100%?

Well, I've noticed that this behavior has occurred in every single patch edition up to 2.11, and this has been observed to occur even when friendly units are not engaged with the target.

Originally posted by Reverend Zombie:
But seriously, is there a line-of-sight check that goes on, I wonder?

Maybe they are trying to "see" their targets better, even though they can't miss.

That's an interesting theory, although it doesn't necessarily hold much water as Illithids don't have any problems firing at targets on the back wall without shuffling around, and often shuffle around in an attempt to fire at targets closer than that...plus there's no evidence that there's any LOS blocking at all, as archers will happily fire at other archers even though both sides are screened behind block walls of large, tall units which would certainly block LOS if there was one.