Posted October 13, 2019
...but for some strange reason I somehow expected that one would take cover automatically when behind an object.
However, I have since discovered that you need to right-click on the cover object and then specifically choose it! I found this out right before heading to "blasted street" again - so yes didn't know this for most of the game!
The second time I used it, I tried it from a distance (without moving there first) - so of course once my character moves there, he ends up hiding on the wrong bloody side...
So in the end I don't think I've been missing much, especially since my almost-non-combat character had little trouble with most combat encounters. I'm still not sure exactly what benefits it gives - I assume it makes one harder to hit from a single direction, and of course it only applies to ranged attacks, and most combat tends to be over in a couple of rounds anyway so it's probably better to just cast something instead. Oh and of course casting something appears to make one stand up (thereby not being in cover any more) - so it's only useful to either hide or use ranged weapons.
Another stupid thing about it is that only specific, designated objects can be taken cover behind - although there are often lots of other objects that look about the same size and would give the same benefit, there's generally only one or two specific ones that this actually works with.
So TL;DR: it's possible you may have missed the "cover" mechanic, but it's kind of shit.
Not sure what they were thinking, or if it was even tested. It's not as bad as the corpses that block access to hexes (which is really annoying and should have been obvious if anyone tested combat at all) - it's just mostly pointless, and it's surprisingly easy to complete the game without ever knowing this, let alone using it.
However, I have since discovered that you need to right-click on the cover object and then specifically choose it! I found this out right before heading to "blasted street" again - so yes didn't know this for most of the game!
The second time I used it, I tried it from a distance (without moving there first) - so of course once my character moves there, he ends up hiding on the wrong bloody side...
So in the end I don't think I've been missing much, especially since my almost-non-combat character had little trouble with most combat encounters. I'm still not sure exactly what benefits it gives - I assume it makes one harder to hit from a single direction, and of course it only applies to ranged attacks, and most combat tends to be over in a couple of rounds anyway so it's probably better to just cast something instead. Oh and of course casting something appears to make one stand up (thereby not being in cover any more) - so it's only useful to either hide or use ranged weapons.
Another stupid thing about it is that only specific, designated objects can be taken cover behind - although there are often lots of other objects that look about the same size and would give the same benefit, there's generally only one or two specific ones that this actually works with.
So TL;DR: it's possible you may have missed the "cover" mechanic, but it's kind of shit.
Not sure what they were thinking, or if it was even tested. It's not as bad as the corpses that block access to hexes (which is really annoying and should have been obvious if anyone tested combat at all) - it's just mostly pointless, and it's surprisingly easy to complete the game without ever knowing this, let alone using it.
