Auto Defensive Fire questions

[agmoss99]

I would hazard a guess and say it's to stop gamey behaviour. If the AI only had a single shot and isn't able to decide on a suitable target, a player will simply dance his or her skirmishers out front until the unit has fired. No Opportunity Fire Against Skirmishers ON eliminates that tactic. But I'm guessing that was the original reason.

You will certainly see a difference in gameplay when doing PBEM. Your mistakes can be mercilessly punished in a way the AI won't. My advice with PBEM is play a number of different people until you find a playing style and personality you are comfortable with.