Comet/Churchill grenades on-the-move inconsistency

Both UKF top-tier tanks (the Churchill and the Comet) have an active "throw crew grenade" ability that the player can activate. This post describes 3 bugs that affect this ability, and alludes to a (potential) balance oversight.

Although I will only refer to the Churchill throughout this post, what I say also applies to the Comet.

1) Crew grenades can be fired on the move if and only if the Churchill was on the move

Let's see what happens when the Churchill is stationary when the ability is activated

- Take a stationary Churchill
- Fire the grenade ability
- While the grenade is being thrown, try to move the Churchill around
- the Churchill will not react to any commands given

Now, let's see what happens when the Churchill is already on the move
- Issue a move order for a reasonably-far away location
- While the Churchill is on the move, throw a grenade
- The Churchill will continue to its destination while the grenade is being thrown
- Moreover, you will be able to change the Churchill's destination WHILE the grenade is being thrown

I don't know which one of the two is the intended behaviour.

2) It is not possible to cancel a throw grenade command with Stop

All other (infantry-launched) grenades can be cancelled before they are thrown. In the case of the Churchill this is not possible.

This becomes a major issue when the Churchill will 'freeze' for 3 seconds to throw a grenade, as described in the previous bug.

3) Sometimes, the Churchill will not launch the grenade when on the move, and there are enemies nearby

I don't know what causes it. The workaround to this issue is to issue a "Stop" command before launching the grenade. However, due to both aforementioned bugs, launching a grenade from a Churchill is often suicidal.

This is an issue that affects ALL vehicle-based abilities that need to be targeted. This means that the following units are also affected:
- AEC target tread
- Cromwell smoke shell
- Comet smoke shell/phosphorus shell
- Centaur fire ability
- Puma aimed shot

4) (Balance oversight) Damage inconsistences in Churchill grenades, Comet grenades and other grenade types

Churchill grenades seem a bit too strong, whereas Comet grenades seem a bit too weak.

Churchill:
- This has to do with the Area distance value; both the Far and the Near value are equal to 4. Thus, there is no cut-off (where the explosion would deal non-lethal damage). Most infantry grenades have a value of 3 Far and 1 near.

Comet:
- The area distance values are also slightly higher than other grenades
- Unlike the Churchill, there exists a cut-off distance
- The problem is that the damage modifier for the far-distance is 0.05. This is significantly lower than the multiplier for other grenade types (Shock troops: 0.15, Riflemen: 0.25)

1) Added to Database
2) Not a Issue. No Wind up to cancel Sorry
3) Unable to repro
4) Added to Database

Thanks

3) Unable to repro

Thanks

the chruchill specifically or any of the others listed? in my experience the comet shell bugs out much more often than not if there are enemy units in range. the engine crit shot on the stuart also has problems activating but i'm not sure if the reason is the same or not.

I was only looking at the Churchill. We have issues in for the Comet's Shells Thanks

I was only looking at the Churchill. We have issues in for the Comet's Shells Thanks

1. Could you try reproducing the Churchill bug in a multiplayer game, please? I am suspecting that network latency / input lag might be the culprit.

From my experience, Churchill grenade seem to bug a LOT more often on multiplayer games than singleplayer games. Perhaps this is an issue related to network performance/input lag?

- When I am playing a multiplayer game, the frequency of the Churchill grenade bug is at least once/twice per engagement (usually, when I try to flank AT guns)
- When I am playing a singleplayer game (I only ever do that to track down and reproduce annoying bugs), the frequency of the bug is much MUCH lower

2. I suspect that the issue that causes Churchill grenades to bug, may also be the same that causes smoke shells to bug.

Therefore, I am going to share my experiences with the Cromwell smoke shells and Universal Carrier Suppressing Fire ability (the old version of that ability - before the ability was changed to its current form on 3 December)

Cromwell smoke shells:

The smoke shell ability seems to bug a lot less if you activate it while the Cromwell tank is roughly in the middle of its reload action (and Cromwell is on the move).

Universal carrier suppressing fire (pre-3 December version):

The Suppressing Fire ability uses the Vickers K gun mounted on top of the Universal Carrier. Sometimes, the ability would bug, and would terminate prematurely. I found out that the best way to AVOID this bug is the following:
- Approach the enemy squad and wait for the Vickers K to start firing
- While the Vickers K is in the middle of its burst, I activate the ability
- Once the ability is active, and before the burst is over, I immediately reverse away from the target location
- I make sure that my Universal Carrier does not stop anywhere near the enemy squad.