Suggestion:
Players should be able to tell their units to attack a specific target (either a specific location or a specific unit, when it's in range) without altering their units' movement orders.
Explanation:
This would make the game more functional and more intuitive, and it would improve QoL when playing. Jip indicated that this issue can be fixed upon approval from the balance team, and note that this would not take away the regular attack or attack move orders.
Problem:
Currently, if you tell a unit to attack another unit, it basically replaces the unit's move order with an attack order. This is often undesirable. Example situations:
- ACU is trying to not get stuck surrounded by t1 tanks, but a tank goes to block the ACU, and the ACU can either keep trying to walk away, or it can be ordered to shoot a particular tank trying to block it, but if that attack order is given, then it won't keep moving like it should, because the move order was basically replaced with an attack order.
- GC is walking and shooting, and you want it to shoot specific target(s) without stopping/altering its movement.
- You are trying to attack something with land unit(s), but they keep getting in range and then stopping, and then becoming out of range and unable to shoot the target until if/when they get back in range again, only for the process to repeat again.
Specific target priorities can help, but they do not sufficiently solve the problem. Example situations:
- Your ACU is being chased by many mantises while 1-2 particular mantises are blocking its path.
- Your army is fighting 2 GC's and you want to target the one with low health rather than the new one while continuing to move your units in the desired direction.
- You are trying to make your destroyer dodge while trying to target another specific destroyer that has low health, rather than the other destroyers that have high health or are under shields.
- You are trying to move your cruiser and make it evade the enemy, but you want to keep shooting its tml at a specific target rather than a specific type of target.