USO concentrates fire on a single interceptor in a group

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

When I have multiple interceptors attacking USO at once and send them to attack one by one the first one always gets enemy attention and it keep getting clobbered even when they all stand at the same distance using the same weapon. So I need to pull it out temporarily so enemy switch their attention to some other interceptor and then I let it rejoin the attack. Since combat is usually pretty quick it is difficult to maneuver in real time properly and don't miss buttons.

Is it by design that USO tries to destroy already most damaged interceptor first? It makes sense from tactical point of view. If not, and USO is supposed to spread the fire between all attackers then would it be possible to correct this behavior and let them attack not only closest or most damaged one but spread the fire between all interceptors in range?

[Meridian]

Is it by design that USO tries to destroy already most damaged interceptor first?

USO doesn't care about how damaged the interceptor is.

USO shoots at the first target that comes in range of its weapons, and continues to fire at that target until it is destroyed or goes out of range. Only then does it look for another target.
This is by design.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Thank you for clarification. In this case I don't insist on changing this. However, this somewhat reduce the effect of multiple interceptors attack.
To keep it effective player needs to pull the most damaged interceptor out of enemy range and then let it rejoin the attack. I guess it is inevitable under current design.

[Solarius Scorch]

To keep it effective player needs to pull the most damaged interceptor out of enemy range and then let it rejoin the attack. I guess it is inevitable under current design.

Yes, this is exactly what air combat is all about in X-Com.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Apparently. However, it seem to rely on player ability to quickly and accurately hit buttons and react on interceptors damage level. That is kind of FPS style, not integral to X-Com interface. I always find myself mis-clicking or acting not fast enough resulting in much worse results. So I was thinking if it makes sense to alter game mechanics a little and/or add few keyboard shortcuts to automate things more.

Again, I don't mean to give player unfair advantage more than is already in the game. Just to give them some automated routine to avoid multiple reload and retries just because they missed a button or something. Even if such automation will add to player advantage somehow by execution mechanics, this can be adjusted with UFO/interceptor relative strength, etc.

[Solarius Scorch]

I don't really like the air combat in X-Com either, but that's what it is and I can't see how it can be improved. If it was to be "improved", it would have to be completely redesigned into something else, like another turn-based minigame or a Xenonauts-like RTS, or whatever.