Reticle pointer moves towards mouse input instead of an enemy.

[PV_]

Long standing issue what didn't bother me much all that time until recent updates. 2x weapon pointers follow mouse-circle when that circle is out of some very narrow area in the middle of the screen. And completely ignore the enemy right in front. Check the video. Its exceptionally hard and counterintuitive performing rapid flick shot by moving mouse-circle in the middle and then quickly throw it back at the edge of the screen to proceed with maneuvering.

#1. Why the pointers follow mouse when the target is focused and not the target's predicted position indicated by white circle there? If I want to switch off auto-aiming I'll make selection off.
#2. There are few enemies capable of straying shots at my ship while being nearly at same situation like me. Why they can, but I don't?
#3. Is it intended or an oversight/bug? That question is for Egosoft team attention. Cuz it matters if I should create bug report or it will be a waste of time.

[PV_]

Here is the video proving the issue isn't about bad target tracking at speed, but result of an oversight/bug/bad design. Mouse is in the middle of the screen and drifting made purely by keyboard.

So... Nobody faced the issue or everyone plays with joystick/gamepad?

[LameFox]

To me the weapons follow the mouse if I used cursor fire recently, and follow target by default or if I use boresight fire.

[PV_]

To me the weapons follow the mouse if I used cursor fire recently, and follow target by default or if I use boresight fire.

As was written above weapons do follow target BUT... only while mouse stays within small area around the middle of the screen. It isn't a problem if target moves on you at the collision course or if it is slow. That IS the problem if target is fast or you're drifting by using flight assist off (as shown in the video) and you have to move mouse cursor at the display edge to maximize ship's rotation rate to keep up with target's move. At this case mouse leaves that narrow area where target aiming happens. That leads to weapon reticles stop tracking the target in spite of the target remains in the middle and follow mouse instead. And that is my main complaint - auto-aiming has to be independent of the mouse position if there is something selected.

The example with Falx is the ultimate one because of extremely high speed acceleration what leads to a very low drifting "orbit" around the target. Ships with less engine power drift at higher distance and allow briefly or even constantly to hold cursor near the middle while maintain enough rotation speed to keep following enemy.
It shouldn't be hard to test the case yourself with relatively weighty ship like frigate with split combat engine.

[PV_]

Okay, I've created last one example of the issue that should be obvious for everyone and repeatable with zero efforts {steering mode is off}. YT link
Is it possible to explain why weapon reticle follows mouse and not the target? What is purpose/usefulness of current aiming behavior?

[LameFox]

Just checked again to be sure. What you're seeing is what mine do by default or if I use the cursor fire. They primarily care about the cursor but sort of magnet to the target if it's near the middle. After I fire a shot of boresight fire they track the target as best they can regardless if mouse is at the side of the screen. If I fire the cursor fire they go back to the initial behaviour.

I have both types of fire mapped on my mouse so I guess it's just never been an issue for me.

[PV_]

Just checked again to be sure. What you're seeing is what mine do by default or if I use the cursor fire. They primarily care about the cursor but sort of magnet to the target if it's near the middle. After I fire a shot of boresight fire they track the target as best they can regardless if mouse is at the side of the screen. If I fire the cursor fire they go back to the initial behaviour.

Oh, interesting. Thanks for pointing out.
There are two firing modes officially: "Fire primary weapons" and "Fire primary weapons at Cursor". Back in the day I tried both and made a thought the first one is for gamepad users, just no-tracking shooting right along ship's axis. But in fact it tracks selected target. Did it always be like that?

Then I have another question. What is the point of these 2 options existence? The first one isn't convenient if I need to shoot at something while nothing is selected. Don't we get the best of two worlds if there is follow mouse mode until something is selected then follow the target behavior after? Is that split made specifically for gamepads or something?

[LameFox]

Not entirely sure what the intended purpose is, but they've been around a while. X3 had a similar system except the auto-aim was an upgrade rather than a setting. And I think at launch the setting in X4 defaulted to off, and now defaults to on, so maybe when you tried before the boresight fire wasn't very useful.

Personally I use cursor fire for things like surface elements or locks. I'd actually like it better if it didn't track the target at all, because with surface elements for example, it sticks to them if they're selected which is annoying if you want to aim for a little part that pokes out around an obstacle. That means I end up deselecting them—but then I can't see their health anymore. It's a bit silly.

The boresight fire is pretty straightforward though and that's what I use most of the time.

[PV_]

Personally I use cursor fire for things like surface elements or locks. I'd actually like it better if it didn't track the target at all, because with surface elements for example, it sticks to them if they're selected which is annoying if you want to aim for a little part that pokes out around an obstacle. That means I end up deselecting them—but then I can't see their health anymore. It's a bit silly.

Don't both options track selected target? I mean how do you shoot the verge of the turret while it is selected? I can only think of that action sequence:
- select target.
- position entire ship in the way tiny part of the turret is out of the targeting area.
- deselect "steering mode".
- shoot to switch on "fire at cursor" mode.
- move mouse far away on imaginary line what connects the middle and the edge of the screen.
- then hope that you've calculated everything fine and weapon reticle points exactly at the spot you want to shoot at.
Hell...

[LameFox]

Yeah, that's basically the issue. I'll be creeping around a station/ship to disable it and want to hit a small part of a turret without exposing myself to it, so I have to *deselect* the turret, and then I can use cursor fire to hit it. Curiously, in this instance, having the ship selected seems fine though? I often deselect the turret by selecting the ship, and yet it doesn't start trying to track the ship.

[PV_]

Curiously, in this instance, having the ship selected seems fine though? I often deselect the turret by selecting the ship, and yet it doesn't start trying to track the ship.

Not sure what you mean...
With normal fire mode weapon reticle immediately rotates at selected target direction. With "fire at cursor" it aims only if BOTH the mouse and the target are within targeting area of the screen. That? If yes then its indeed weird.
Btw, both options don't track capital ship and station if one selected. Seem there is target dependency if you're piloting small ship. Perhaps more rules are applied if driving capital ship.

Lets imagine there is 3rd option exists: "If selection is not a capital ship and not a station {as mentioned above} -> weapon always tracks the target no matter the mouse and the target position, if nothing selected -> follows mouse". Will you consider that superior to first two options?

Here we go with another 4th option. It inherits option #3. But when you hover cursor over selected target the weapon pointer moves to that specific spot of the target mouse currently at and returns back at the middle of the target if you move mouse away. Will it be a better option than the first three?

[LameFox]

Yeah, the capital ships are what I mean wrt it not tracking them when selected. It's not an issue for me I just find it weird. But it does remind me: one other thing I use cursor fire for, is when I'm in something like a Behemoth and firing at another capital. The guns are spaced so far apart that just pointing at another destroyer isn't enough, they'd go on either side of it sometimes.

Personally the only options I'd really use are always tracking (which we have already in the boresight fire) and always following cursor (which we don't really have but I can work around it by deselecting things). I guess hybrid types might become more relevant if you had fewer buttons to work with, though, and wanted to combine them into just one.

[PV_]

Personally the only options I'd really use are always tracking (which we have already in the boresight fire) and always following cursor (which we don't really have but I can work around it by deselecting things). I guess hybrid types might become more relevant if you had fewer buttons to work with, though, and wanted to combine them into just one.

#1. Do you agree that if nothing is selected the most convenient behavior is weapons are following mouse? I mean if you want to shoot at the center you can just move mouse there - right?
#2. Considering for what you've told above you want 2 options when something is focused: first one is to always track the target and the second one is to always follow the mouse? In other words, do you agree that its better to have 2 firing options which differ ONLY when target in selected?

[LameFox]

#1. Do you agree that if nothing is selected the most convenient behavior is weapons are following mouse? I mean if you want to shoot at the center you can just move mouse there - right?

I'm kinda ambivalent to that. If I haven't actually used the cursor fire recently, tracking the mouse means more moving dots on my screen, even when I don't need them. But on the other hand it would save me having to fire a shot into space to switch from centre to tracking the cursor.

#2. Considering for what you've told above you want 2 options when something is focused: first one is to always track the target and the second one is to always follow the mouse? In other words, do you agree that its better to have 2 firing options which differ ONLY when target in selected?

That is the critical time when I want them to differ, yes. My ideal scenario is that boresight fire uses auto-aim, but cursor fire ignores it. Since I use cursor fire specifically to avoid the weaknesses of auto aim.

[PV_]

So the most convenient choice is to let us construct tracking behavior and assign it to one of 2 buttons for fire.

State #1. Nothing selected. Options to choose are:
- do not track anything. Let weapons look straight forward.
- follow the mouse.

State #2. Something selected. Options to choose are:
- follow the mouse always.
- follow the target always.
- follow the target only when it is within aiming area of the screen. Otherwise follow the mouse.
- follow the target only when both the mouse and the target are within the aiming area. Otherwise follow the mouse.

Anything directly not mentioned by options gets inherited from current tracking behavior.