Turret targeting: Allow equal priorities, with closest targets first

[AntiElitz]

Please add a numeric priority value to each entry in turret target priority lists:

• Higher values take priority over lower values.
• Targets with the same value are selected by distance, closest first.

Currently, using the priority list to restrict a turret to certain target types also forces a priority order between those types. There is no way to say “only shoot these types, whichever is closest.”

A common example is railguns on endgame promethium farming ships. To reserve them for huge asteroids, you need to list each huge asteroid type and enable “Ignore unlisted targets.” However, this also makes one huge asteroid type take priority over another, regardless of distance. When asteroids clump up, railguns can keep shooting farther targets while a closer, lower-priority asteroid approaches the ship.

With this change, all huge asteroid types could receive the same priority value. Railguns would then target the closest eligible huge asteroid while still ignoring smaller ones.

The UI could expose this through a numeric field beside each entry. Circuit-controlled priorities could use signal values in the same way, allowing players to change priorities dynamically and assign equal priority to multiple target types.

[worph]

Similar argument could be made for Stompers on Gleba.
I really want the closest Stomper to be shot first, no matter which tier it is. And I have seen plenty mixed tier raiding parties on Gleba.
Another way to solve this would be to allow blacklisting certain targets, like with inserters.
And the rest is evaluated distance first.
Currently we can only "ignore rest".
That solution would be even better if we were given generic signals for each size of asteroid or type of living enemy.
So, four generic asteroid signals (small, medium, big, huge) and one for each generic enemy type (biter, spitter, worm, wriggler, strafer, stomper, demolisher, nest).

In the meantime:
For platforms I usually deal with this problem by having two alternating configurations for each type of turret:

A > B > C > D
D > C > B > A
(think letters are the four types of asteroids)

For turrets that target multiple asteroids (Gunturret: small and medium) I do this:
A > B > C > D > d > c > b > a
D > C > B > A > a > b > c > d
Essentially swapping the priority order per type. This achieves something very close to what you want, in my experience.
You could also do four different configurations, if that is still not granular enough.

[Nemoricus]

The fact that this doesn’t exist is a problem for platforms in general. You need filters so that turrets don’t attack asteroids they aren’t good against, but then you want them to attack the closest in that list because those are the most pressing danger.

Hopefully an option for equal priority in that list gets added.