Helicopter Evasion

[Imp]

The defender would probably like to have an opportunity to tune the range on his AD so that all don't go off, revealing their number and location. What could be even worst, is that they are all shooting at a target that could be out of the game with just one damage point

He does using Y key or op filter. AAA is the one thing change ranges on regulary. Leave at max if somethings under threat, turn it down so he comes in & then crank up a bit when to hit chance is better. If playing a human who flits about at extreme range high up to draw I will turn it down or off.
This does mean your suggestion to not evade is a bad thing as now when he pops up he is targeted by most of my AAA so would take some serious fire. At least evading increases his range generaly decreasing my chance to hit.

If it was my turn & he does not evade if I have 4 AAA units targeting what do you think his survival chances would be. Say 2 guns & 2 SAMs so 8 & 4 shots possibly.
Also I now just run a vehicle upto it & it does not run great I will blast away now its dead.
Just leave it alone I say.

[mosborne]

Hi again:
I think we are all talking the same thing.

The evasion still takes place, but in the same hex. This already is done. When fired upon, sometimes you get a message that unit is taking evasive action before the missle hits. Then it gives a percent chance of hit that usually much lower than what it was originally. I've seen Helos do it and I've seen tanks do it (in the wild --- sorry couldn't help it).

I don't read this as a pilot staying stationary, but in the scope of the timeslice all shots are resolved and moving the helo, if it survives, is retained by the player to either continue advancing, change altitude, retreat, etc.

There are actually a couple of units that exhibit the current behavior now that I think of it. Infantry retreats too. So maybe this is a retreat routine for the helo. The difference I think is that in most cases when infantry retreats, it doesn't trigger additional units to fire (I think). When the helo retreats, it can.

So for any particular move, if a helo is detected by 3 SAMs for instance, all 3 get to fire at the helo at the spot it was detected. One could assume that they aren't talking to each other of course and each fire independently or maybe they all communicate and all fire to improve their chance of hit. The missiles move at the speed of sound or greater maybe Mach 2 or 3. You can do the math and come up with time vs distance to see how far a helo might move in the time that it takes a missile to reach its location. My guess is that it is not long. So, that would be the reason for resolving all fire where the helo is. I believe this is the same rationale for all firing in the game. So there is no change as far as this goes. The only change is not letting the computer AI move your helo after it has been shot. Note operative word "after".

Actually this could have some other benefits too! If the helo is damage, instead of retreating, it becomes immobilized on the next turn and is stuck in the landed position, which gives the owning player time to move it to a safe location in the current turn. This also means that you can come across down aircraft in tack. For a campaign, this would mean captured equipment

[Imp]

There are actually a couple of units that exhibit the current behavior now that I think of it. Infantry retreats too. So maybe this is a retreat routine for the helo. The difference I think is that in most cases when infantry retreats, it doesn't trigger additional units to fire (I think). When the helo retreats, it can.

Vehicles do the same & read my WW2 AAR Them Germans were good. If possible I always position my units to cover retreat routes. In the closing stages of the game 5 out of 6 retreating squads were completly wiped out simply by fire at them routing because they had no place to go.
This is not a gamey tactic it is encirclement & while in real life they may well surrender & do if I am adjacent to them in the game they try & make a break for it first.

Yes its a retreat for a helo & you are asking the game to track the firer type & then act on that.
Example vehicle or infantry adjacent to fires at.
Helicopter now moves down so has used a MP
They fire again its now still adjacent but closer as its at low level so the to hit has gone up a lot
If you are playing something like air cav in Vietnam if it somehow survived it would now proceed across the jungle taking low level fire from other squads.
I realy wish it had stayed up it was up for a reason, small arms fire is less effective.

The game does not resolve all fire at a unit & then move it.
It resolves fire at it till it bugs out even from the same unit.
Squad with 3 infantry weapons fires at enemy squad
If enemy squaud routes after 2nd weapon fires & moves the third weapon does not fire. Any other unit that could have fired at it where it was does not get the chance to either.

So what you propose means even if 100AA units can target it when it pops up only one can ever fire. Takes longer to bleed the fire but you can do it in a nice controled manor by making it pop up again. So the fire would have to at the minimum suppress the helo so heavily you cannot move it again that go to stop this.
Now it could become a sitting duck to a firer that still has LOS to it & its chance of evading is gone.

If we assume the game can indeed shoot several units at it before it moves again why cant units shooting at troops & vehicles do this to. So every unit that could have fired at the previosly mentioned squad does then it moves.