Always-forward firing
What it is
Always-forward firing is an opt-in weapon flag that lets a weapon fire on its cooldown timer without requiring any enemy in range. Weapons that set the flag are always-on systems whose damage area is attached to the ship rather than projected at a chosen target. Without the flag, a weapon stays dormant whenever the auto-aim resolver returns no target.
How it works
The auto-aim resolver runs each frame and returns either a target angle or no target. The fire path then picks an aim angle by falling back through this chain:
| Step | Source | Used when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auto-aim resolver result | Enemy in detection range matching the weapon’s target mode |
| 2 | Ship facing angle | Auto-aim returned nothing AND the weapon has the always-forward flag |
| 3 | No fire this frame | Auto-aim returned nothing AND the weapon does not have the flag |
When step 2 fires, the aim angle is the ship’s current facing — projectiles, zones, or arcs spawn relative to ship facing exactly as if an enemy had been found directly ahead. The cooldown advances and the fire event records normally.
Effect on target mode
Always-forward weapons still declare a target mode in their spec, but it does not gate firing. The target mode is consumed only by:
- The HUD targeting reticle, which previews which enemy the weapon would prefer.
- AI-facing systems that read the same resolver to point telegraphs or indicators.
The weapon will fire on every cadence whether or not the resolver finds an enemy matching the declared mode.
Which weapons use it
| Weapon | Family | Why always-forward |
|---|---|---|
| Barrier | sweep | Always-on orbital shield arcs around the ship |
| Fire Trail | projectile (flame-drop behavior) | Drops a damage patch at the ship’s position on every fire, independent of enemies |
Two legendary weapons fire on timer without a target but do not use this flag — they have separate code-path carveouts keyed off behavior name:
| Weapon | Behavior | How it skips target gate |
|---|---|---|
| Star Halo | orbit_ring | Behavior-specific carveout: ring spawns centered on the ship |
The Phoenix legendary aura does require a target to trigger ticks despite its visual reading as always-on.
EXTRACT-CANDIDATES:
- concept-target-modes — already exists; cross-link as canonical for the four target-mode values consumed by HUD/AI.
- concept-warmup — already exists; warmup interacts with the always-forward path (weapon enters warmup before the no-target fallback resolves).
- concept-behavior-carveouts — possible new page listing the orbit_ring / phoenix_aura style fire-path special cases that bypass standard target gating; currently this concept page is the only place where these carveouts are documented.