Difference between revisions of "Cover (EU2012)"
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| − | In combat, soldiers and aliens can take cover behind objects in the environment to lower their chance of being hit by enemy fire. | + | In combat, soldiers and aliens can take cover behind objects in the environment to lower their chance of being hit by enemy fire. Cover is taken automatically as the soldier moves through the environment. While in cover the soldier gains a defensive bonus against enemy attacks unless the enemy has flanked the soldier. Cover is divided into two categories: Low Cover and High Cover; highlighting tiles within the map will reveal whether they either (or any) state of cover from any given direction. |
| − | '''Low Cover''' <br> | + | ===Types Of Cover=== |
| + | *'''No Cover''' <br> | ||
| + | A completely uncovered unit shows no cover shield on the tactical HUD at all. | ||
| + | |||
| + | *'''Low Cover''' <br> | ||
Low Cover is represented by a half shield symbol on the tactical HUD. It conveys a '''-20%''' accuracy for the enemy firing at the target. | Low Cover is represented by a half shield symbol on the tactical HUD. It conveys a '''-20%''' accuracy for the enemy firing at the target. | ||
| − | '''High Cover''' <br> | + | *'''High Cover''' <br> |
High Cover is represented by a full shield symbol on the tactical HUD. It conveys a '''-40%''' accuracy for the enemy firing at the target. | High Cover is represented by a full shield symbol on the tactical HUD. It conveys a '''-40%''' accuracy for the enemy firing at the target. | ||
| − | At Classic and Impossible difficulties, it's better to try to stay out of line-of-sight of aliens whenever possible (assuming you are not going on Overwatch yourself). When overwatching be aware of what accuracy percentage you are likely to get | + | At Classic and Impossible [[Difficulty_(EU2012)|difficulties]], it's better to try to stay out of line-of-sight of aliens whenever possible (assuming you are not going on [[Overwatch_(EU2012)|Overwatch]] yourself). When overwatching be aware of what accuracy percentage you are likely to get - it is better to hunker down and double your defense bonus rather than risk a 20% shot, especially if can already see the aliens (as they're unlikely to move and trigger overwatch fire if they can just fire on ''you'' instead!). Especially early on when running with rookies sporting low accuracy and carrying weak weapons, it isn't worth the risk. |
| + | |||
| + | *'''Flanked''' <br> | ||
| + | A unit is considered flanked when standing next to any form of cover, but there's ''no'' cover between that unit and an enemy. In this circumstance, the cover icon will change from its usual colour (light blue for friendlies, red for enemies) to yellow. Enemies only appear flanked when your flanking unit is selected. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===How Cover Works=== | ||
| + | How cover actually affects your units can be a bit confusing or unintuitive at first, and unfamiliarity can lead to situations of targets remaining covered when you thought they'd be flanked (even putting aside the bugs that occasionally allow this anyway). | ||
| + | |||
| + | When a unit is adjacent to an object that provides cover, a plane is drawn between the unit and the object that extends to infinity in both directions, both horizontally and vertically. If a second unit fires at the first, and the line of fire connecting the two units intersects the plane, then the shot's accuracy will be affected by that cover. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Note that when an aiming unit is in high cover, it can also be treated as having a line of sight as if it was firing from the squares to either side, assuming they don't also have high cover between the unit and its target; in other words, your soldiers have the ability to lean. This is why taking cover against a corner of a building and firing around it at an enemy there will be considered a flank, even when the soldier is actually taking a position that will technically put the cover "plane" between himself and the enemy. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Cover does not grant any benefit unless you're either standing ''directly'' next to it ''or'' it completely blocks line of sight. This can lead to some very odd situations - for example, if a unit is standing next to low cover and steps ''away'' from an enemy on the other side, he immediately loses his cover bonus ''even though'' it's still between the two of them. The only exception is when the cover blocks the enemy's vision entirely (eg, moving away from a roof-top edge from a nearby enemy down at street level). This means that what ''looks'' like a complex shot (due to various obstacles being in the way) is really treated as having the same hit percentage as a shot with only the final barrier between you and the target, and it ''also'' means that otherwise solid objects can potentially be shot through in many situations. While you can gain additional accuracy by closing the distance, the ''cover'' bonus can only be affected by a flank around the target's directly adjacent cover, so don't waste actions on moves that don't address one of those two factors. | ||
| + | |||
| + | An additional quirk of the system relates to [[SHIV_(EU2012)#Alloy_S.H.I.V.|Alloy S.H.I.V.s]], which provide low cover to units standing directly next to them. This includes enemies - the "cover plane" being between the two, said enemy gains a cover bonus from the S.H.I.V. firing upon it, whereas intuition would suggest this situation should be treated as a "no cover" or a "flanked" situation! | ||
| − | ''' | + | Finally, be aware that the game will sometimes fail to realise that an enemy unit is flanked, and grant it its cover bonus even though there's ''no'' cover between the shooter and the victim (eg, you've just had your Assualt unit move directly adjacent to your target). Saving the game and reloading it prior to taking the shot may rectify this in some cases. |
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== See Also == | == See Also == | ||
Revision as of 14:31, 1 January 2013
In combat, soldiers and aliens can take cover behind objects in the environment to lower their chance of being hit by enemy fire. Cover is taken automatically as the soldier moves through the environment. While in cover the soldier gains a defensive bonus against enemy attacks unless the enemy has flanked the soldier. Cover is divided into two categories: Low Cover and High Cover; highlighting tiles within the map will reveal whether they either (or any) state of cover from any given direction.
Types Of Cover
- No Cover
A completely uncovered unit shows no cover shield on the tactical HUD at all.
- Low Cover
Low Cover is represented by a half shield symbol on the tactical HUD. It conveys a -20% accuracy for the enemy firing at the target.
- High Cover
High Cover is represented by a full shield symbol on the tactical HUD. It conveys a -40% accuracy for the enemy firing at the target.
At Classic and Impossible difficulties, it's better to try to stay out of line-of-sight of aliens whenever possible (assuming you are not going on Overwatch yourself). When overwatching be aware of what accuracy percentage you are likely to get - it is better to hunker down and double your defense bonus rather than risk a 20% shot, especially if can already see the aliens (as they're unlikely to move and trigger overwatch fire if they can just fire on you instead!). Especially early on when running with rookies sporting low accuracy and carrying weak weapons, it isn't worth the risk.
- Flanked
A unit is considered flanked when standing next to any form of cover, but there's no cover between that unit and an enemy. In this circumstance, the cover icon will change from its usual colour (light blue for friendlies, red for enemies) to yellow. Enemies only appear flanked when your flanking unit is selected.
How Cover Works
How cover actually affects your units can be a bit confusing or unintuitive at first, and unfamiliarity can lead to situations of targets remaining covered when you thought they'd be flanked (even putting aside the bugs that occasionally allow this anyway).
When a unit is adjacent to an object that provides cover, a plane is drawn between the unit and the object that extends to infinity in both directions, both horizontally and vertically. If a second unit fires at the first, and the line of fire connecting the two units intersects the plane, then the shot's accuracy will be affected by that cover.
Note that when an aiming unit is in high cover, it can also be treated as having a line of sight as if it was firing from the squares to either side, assuming they don't also have high cover between the unit and its target; in other words, your soldiers have the ability to lean. This is why taking cover against a corner of a building and firing around it at an enemy there will be considered a flank, even when the soldier is actually taking a position that will technically put the cover "plane" between himself and the enemy.
Cover does not grant any benefit unless you're either standing directly next to it or it completely blocks line of sight. This can lead to some very odd situations - for example, if a unit is standing next to low cover and steps away from an enemy on the other side, he immediately loses his cover bonus even though it's still between the two of them. The only exception is when the cover blocks the enemy's vision entirely (eg, moving away from a roof-top edge from a nearby enemy down at street level). This means that what looks like a complex shot (due to various obstacles being in the way) is really treated as having the same hit percentage as a shot with only the final barrier between you and the target, and it also means that otherwise solid objects can potentially be shot through in many situations. While you can gain additional accuracy by closing the distance, the cover bonus can only be affected by a flank around the target's directly adjacent cover, so don't waste actions on moves that don't address one of those two factors.
An additional quirk of the system relates to Alloy S.H.I.V.s, which provide low cover to units standing directly next to them. This includes enemies - the "cover plane" being between the two, said enemy gains a cover bonus from the S.H.I.V. firing upon it, whereas intuition would suggest this situation should be treated as a "no cover" or a "flanked" situation!
Finally, be aware that the game will sometimes fail to realise that an enemy unit is flanked, and grant it its cover bonus even though there's no cover between the shooter and the victim (eg, you've just had your Assualt unit move directly adjacent to your target). Saving the game and reloading it prior to taking the shot may rectify this in some cases.