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[Mysterhay]

So currently the range officers keep from their targets depends on weapon loadouts and their personality type, but I think everyone has had the issue where officers hover at the max range of their weapons and end up not firing if the target moves away.

What about if there were an option to specify the preferred range that an officer should engage the target at? For example, I have a ship equipped with HVDs/Heavy Maulers. I could set the engagement range to 900 (or even lower, depending on the rest of my fleet composition) to give the ship positioning some lee-way and to ensure that the ship is always just within weapons range.

This also makes builds using short range weaponry on AI ships much more reliable, as currently any offensive weapon below a range of around 500 will rarely be of use in combat.

Note: Officer can personalities still influence decisions like how aggressively a ship should vent, how long it should remain at combat range before flux levels drive it back... etc.

[AxleMC131]

What about if there were an option to specify the preferred range that an officer should engage the target at? For example, I have a ship equipped with HVDs/Heavy Maulers. I could set the engagement range to 900 (or even lower, depending on the rest of my fleet composition) to give the ship positioning some lee-way and to ensure that the ship is always just within weapons range.

I have to say, I really like this idea, but I honestly think it shouldn't just be for officers - it should be something you set for a ship as a whole in the Refit menu. It would work in exactly the same way as what you suggest, but not require officers to use (which personally I think makes sense - the ship still has crew on it after all). Officer personalities can still have an impact by adding a "margin for error" or a deviation that the officer will choose from that distance. For instance, a timid officer might hang somewhere between [the set distance] and [the set distance plus a few hundred], taking pot shots, while an aggressive officer would occasionally leap closer and unload before returning to the set distance.

(Slight tangent: I reckon both aggressive and timid officers should have a chance to go against orders given to them by the player if an opportunity to attack a juicy target/opportunity to fall back behind cover (respectively) arises.)

Either way, this gets my thumbs-up for a valid "Want in game please". 

[Mysterhay]

Agreed, it would make sense to be an option for all ships rather than officer-only, come to think about it.

Also from how I can see the ships behaving and how officer characteristics are described in the notes, they already calculate an ideal combat range, so this is almost a UI-only change in the outfitting screen.

[AxleMC131]

Also from how I can see the ships behaving and how officer characteristics are described in the notes, they already calculate an ideal combat range, so this is almost a UI-only change in the outfitting screen.

Good point.