Why the attack action delay?

[Yehoshua]

I like the vast majority of the turn system. It's fun, elegant, and works well. I also don't have much experience with the game, which is why I'm asking this.

Really, please don't hurt me.

Curiosity killed the cat...here goes:

Why can't a mech fire while scanning, toggling a scanner, lighting a flare, or doing other attack actions. Scanning obviously has an associated check, but lighting a flare doesn't.

Deactivating your scanner takes ~5 seconds worth of time, but I would think it's simple as pushing the off button. Now, the electronic and mechanical process could feasibly take 5 seconds, but that wouldn't necessarily interfere with the pilot's other duties.

It's 6 AM here, so please forgive anything obvious that I'm missing.

I'm just asking why it was designed this particular way in the first place - I can think of some good reasons not to change the system at this point.

First thing that comes to mind is that changing the system would play havoc with the current interface.

[LarkinVB]

Why does reloading a shell does take 10+ seconds ingame but would be much faster in reality ? The answer is always the same : play balance and fun. Think about it.

[Yehoshua]

I'm quite smart, I always think about likely answers to questions I ask.

That doesn't mean I know what someone's response is going to be.

How often do I get to ask the game designer, the lead programmer, and a third of his staff why they did what they did in a game I like?

Let's just say it doesn't happen very often.

[LarkinVB]

That doesn't mean I know what someone's response is going to be.

You already know my answers ? Fantastic ! Isn't it boring to ask the question at all ?