I think there was something with the hit bubble that canceled HO but the cone was pretty small so some did try to get that magic bullet.
The difference I think was any who took HO shots in AW were ridiculed to death and the embarrassment was enough to teach them it wasnt a cool thing to do.
What is an RNG?
As mentioned several times,…I actually worked on the hit bubble, then converting to surface strikes. Damage model was one of my big things working for Kesmai/AW. I probably got deeper into it than most. I spent obsessive amount of time getting realism out of it. Finally got there, RR begged for it then didn’t like realism, FR begged for it and loved it. Pretty sure I had dreams about the coding lol
The hit bubble worked on a randomizer. The strikes closer to center randomized a different set of damage. In other words how many strikes you made the more intense it randomized your damage, center was pretty much instant kill. The strike number went to a different part of the table container. So it was very hard to regulate HOs. I don’t recall being able to distinguish front or rear strikes in the hit bubble. Moving onto the surface strike damage model it was easier to disregard HOs, but in my work, was not done. I think i stant kill was the same damage option for HO. I think if I canceled HO it took out instant kill option on other shots.
It was big discussion often. But you are correct, you’d be shamed into the abyss, but few did it anyway, and shamed. In FR it was even more harsh.