Cataclysm-dda: NPCs do not consistently use their ranged weapons

[dissociativity]

Describe the bug

NPCs at least 8 months ago reliably used their crossbow or other ranged weapon they started equipped with, only beginning melee attacking where it was reasonably practical to do so.

Currently they don't seem to bother getting a shot off before in melee range, they sometimes do but I'm unable to replicate behavior similar to older behavior in this regard generally, I'm unsure what has actually changed.
Aim time doesn't seem to be the problem, as telling them to not spend time aiming does not fix this.

This makes any NPC that isn't melee based functionally useless in combat.

Steps To Reproduce

Recruit random NPC in shelter who has ranged weapon
Get into combat
Chances are they won't bother using it to their advantage even when shorter aim time is specified

Expected behavior

An NPC with a crossbow will get a shot off before engaging in melee combat with a zombie, significantly weakening their foe before risking melee damage.

Versions and configuration

OS: Windows
OS Version: 8.1
Game Version: 0.D-11962-ge228853 [64-bit]
Graphics Version: Tiles
Mods loaded: [
Dark Days Ahead [dda],
Disable NPC Needs [no_npc_food],
Magiclysm [magiclysm],
No Rail Stations [No_Rail_Stations],
sees-player icon, retrodays [sees_player_retro],
Bionic Slots [cbm_slots],
SpeedyDex [speedydex]
]

[jkraybill]

Have you seen this with ranged weapons generally, or specifically crossbow/archery weapons? There was a big rework of archery recently.

[dissociativity]

most definitely is not anything to do with the archery update, if anything they'd have more reason to use bows.

Happened in builds long before it, I just didn't tolerated it more and should've reported it sooner.

[ghost]

If someone wants to tackle this, look in npcmove.cpp method_of_attack()

be sure to take a few swigs of calming whisky beforehand, you'll need it.