Accuracy/skills model

[ADFEpicFail]

Forgive me if this is poorly written but it's midday here and I've just done a night shift...
I read in another thread the other day that with the new aiming system the heavy skill is now redundant and I had an idea on bringing it back into the system.
While I like the new system's use of skill based on the shot type I think it should still involve weapon type since using a machine gun like an assault rifle does not make it an assault rifle.

For example if we pretend the equation for accuracy looks like this:
accuracy stat*(max range/range)*weapon spread*shot skill*cover = hit chance
the first part of my idea would be to change the segment "shot skill" to "( (shot skill+weapon skill) /2)" and the second part is to use the heavy (support) skill to govern full auto shots. So if a soldier fired a machine gun on 5 round burst instead of using just the assault skill it'd use the average of the assault skill (shot) and heavy skill (weapon).

[H-Hour]

Skills were always based on firemodes, not weapon types. This was never changed.

The assault skill is not meant to refer specifically to the assault rifle in any way.

[ADFEpicFail]

I'm a little confused by your response, in version 2.4 (apart from the bolter) all the weapons used a single skill no matter what fire mode was used based on weapon type. In 2.5 this still holds true for all close and explosive weapons and in the soldier soldier stats they're listed as "Assault Weapon" "Sniper Weapon" and "Heavy Weapon".

[H-Hour]

The weapons, ammo and firemodes are defined in a series of .ufo files. The skill (assault, sniper, close, explosive) which is used to determine accuracy in the game's code is specified in the firemode's definition, not the weapon definition. The firemode is defined inside of each ammo object's definition. For 95% of cases, these distinctions are irrelevant to the player. But splitting these definitions into different pieces is what allows us to set it up so that the player can choose, for instance, different grenades for the grenade launcher. In the future, we hope to have more ammo options for other weapons (sniper/assault rifles).

In 2.5, different firemodes within the same weapon were set up to use different skill types (a bit of a controversial change). Now, firing an aimed shot with the assault rifle draws on the sniper skill, not the assault skill. But all other firemodes of the assault rifle draw on the assault skill. Firing a snap shot with a sniper rifle draws on the assault skill, not the sniper skill. But firing an aimed shot wih the sniper rifle draws on the sniper skill.

In general, skills in 2.5 are designed to represent proficiency in a particular type of fighting, rather than a particular weapon. This was done for lots of reasons that have been discussed in a lot of the 2.5 weapons threads you can find around the forum.

[Triaxx2]

Sniper Rifle with sniper skill is indicative of the skill for the primary fire mode of the weapon. IE a Sniper Rifle is intended for use in Aimed Shot mode. That it's also capable of a snap shot is irrelevant because it's meant for aimed shots.

Similarily, Assault rifles are Assault Skill weapons, because the majority of their fire modes fall under assault.

I'm not sure which modes are considered heavy though.

[OllyG]

There is a proposal for crewed weapons.  Maybe heavy weapons skill could be used for these?  If tanks make it into the game the gunner should use heavy weapons skill.
I like using different skills for the same weapon, it stops all my soldiers only ever using their best skill.