HunterKiller speed and safe distance

[robin]

If speed of x-com craft > speed of ufo hunterKiller, shouldn't I be able to keep at a distance by selecting cautious combat mode?

[Meridian]

There is no cautious combat mode when fighting HKs.
The UFO is actively hunting you, it is impossible to maintain the distance even if you're faster (fighter jets can't move in any direction instantly, they only move "forward" and need a lot of time and space to turn around).

That icon is re-used for "evasive maneuvers".

[Juku121]

fighter jets can't move in any direction instantly, they only move "forward" and need a lot of time and space to turn around

What about bootleg UFOs with inertialess drives and antigravity-waves for propulsion, like the original Firestorm?

[Meridian]

What about bootleg UFOs with inertialess drives and antigravity-waves for propulsion, like the original Firestorm?

They don't exist in the mod, which requested this feature (TechComm).
https://terminator.fandom.com/wiki/HK-Aerial

If TechComm HK feature is not compatible with mod XYZ, mod XYZ doesn't have to use it, or can suggest reasonable changes.

[Juku121]

Fair.

[robin]

From what I understand of the air combat mechanics, there is no evasion/defense bonus for selecting cautions attack.
If true, the cautious mode becomes pointless against a HK, because it just means lower fire rate and nothing else.
Perhaps I'm missing something, I don't know the purpose of the original request.

[Meridian]

It is not a cautious attack, the icon just looks like that, because I'm not an artist and I reused it.

The functionality is called Evasive Maneuvers and it is described here, point 5: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=5717.msg92446#msg92446

Feature 5: Added evasive maneuvers support when fighting HKs

- HK has 50% of its usual chance to hit (=AFTER considering all other bonuses/maluses)
- craft has double the weapon reload time (in this case 2x aggressive reload time)
- the icon for "Cautious attack" was reused, but target distance is the same as for aggressive attack
- only available when the craft has at least one weapon

Note: even though it is on the same place as "Cautious" button, it doesn't use any cautious logic! It has different target distance and different reload base time. And different translation (STR_EVASIVE_MANEUVERS)

[robin]

I see, thanks for the explanation.

[robin]

Did 3 tentative icons, not so clear the meaning but not many pixels to work with.
Which one do you prefer? (I think C is the best one overall).
If anyone has a better idea of how it should look like, I can try

The other icon is the standard aggressive attack, right?