bugfix: China sub-faction ECM Tanks no longer automatically engage enemy targets

[Stubbjax]

Summary

This change streamlines ECM Tank behaviour such that the China sub-faction variants no longer automatically engage enemy targets. The vanilla China ECM Tank is unaffected.

Details

Based on patterns observed throughout the data, it is likely that this behavioural issue was either caught by QA or Design at some stage during the game's development and corrected accordingly, but the correction was not appropriately propagated to the faction variants.

Rationale

Players should have explicit control over their units. The ECM Tank's missile jammer functionality is turned off when engaging targets, which is not always desirable and should thus be an intentional decision made by the player.

Micromanagement should focus on ordering units what to do rather than not what to do. This general pattern applies across the game, where a player gives an order to a unit and then that order is carried out. It is far more satisfying and engaging to embody a commander over a babysitter, particularly when any level of competition is involved.

Ultimately, ECM Tanks getting themselves killed due to automatically engaging a target only serves as a source of frustration. Continuously ordering them to not attack is not a satisfying nor commendable interaction.

There are rules around unit autonomy. If there is a high enough likelihood that a particular autonomous action might not be desirable (e.g. units automatically firing upon buildings, artillery units automatically firing upon targets, units automatically pursuing targets), then that action should be explicitly left to the player's discretion.

Testing

Before

Behaviour differs between the variants

BEFORE.mp4

It's easy to kill an ECM Tank that is left idle for a brief moment

BEFORE.mp4

After

All variants now behave the same

AFTER.mp4

It's not so easy to kill an idle ECM Tank

AFTER.mp4

[xezon]

This needs a comment that we have changed behavior.

[Stubbjax]

This will be in the change log.

[xezon]

How will anyone reading the INI script understand this was changed then?

[xezon]

The Pull Request is missing Rationale text.

[xezon]

This is labelled as Buff. Is that correct?

[Stubbjax]

This is labelled as Buff. Is that correct?

It makes them harder to kill. That surely falls under the umbrella of "makes a thing more powerful"?

[xezon]

It makes them harder to kill. That surely falls under the umbrella of "makes a thing more powerful"?

I expect this is situational. When judging by your sample video it nerfs them, because the single Scorpion Tank can now kill them when not disabled.

[xezon]

Code correct.