I hope the feature would make targeting accessible/interesting enough that it would be a desirable part of the gameplay.  That's a bit unfair given the explanations and illustrations provided.   ---   I think you are imagining that there is a "auto-sniping" thing out there that sort out battles without any user input. Let's assume that it is the case. If a player that would use such "auto-sniping", some of the decisions and improvisations he would be normally be able to do would be removed. Likely resulting in fool-plays, or predictability that other users could take advantage of. On the other hand, trying to make available some features that efficiently translate user inputs into actions, that stay general enough not remove possible plays, would make them very competitive against it. The above isn't the goal of the PR, much more like a QOL feature, that would make micro in battle more interesting. Making targeted volleys of projectiles would be much more rewarding if you can define a area where they are thrown, then if you they just all go on the first closest enemy for example.

Yeah, might be too technic. Maybe this commentary in that PR describes better why I think could help on this:    Oh I understand and I think you are right about "Attacking ranged units beyond melee and then running away when ur melee is all gone will remain." The way I see it, targeting ranged units to eliminate them first (given their higher damage) is somewhat part of combat micro skills, just like sniping a Hero, rams, or other high-value units. And this probably wouldn’t be as necessary with a different balance for combat units (e.g. melee units stronger against projectiles). That’s why, from my perspective, when we talk about the sniping problem in 0 A.D., we’re referring to the repetitive action of targeting units with a group or using Alt+click to pick them off first. Which creates that “whoever clicks more wins” dynamic. But I can be wrong.

Needing to add units to ships for firepower meant that investing in water would require many of your land soldiers. This means players would get flotillas full of soldiers and they would hardly ever return to fighting on land. Moving soldiers between ships and land to optimally fight on both land and water was unnecessary tedium, and usually players just didn't do this. Furthermore, with the guessing game about how many soldiers are in your ship versus the enemy ship, it was difficult to strategize (not to mention the random arrows). Lastly, requiring soldiers for ship effectiveness meant you always had to deal with the clumsiness of garrisoning different ships with the right amount of soldiers in order to fight.

That would not make the mechanic obsolete, it would just be an easier way to snipe. Attacking ranged units beyond melee and then running away when ur melee is all gone will remain. Significant balance changes would be needed to actually make it obsolete.

Thanks, @guerringuerrin I may be missing something, but the description there isn't very clear.  It doesn't really say the over-all goal of the PR, so I'm a little disoriented.  It also doesn't describe how targets are selected within the group.  I think it would have to be an extremely clever system to completely eliminate the advantage of auto-sniping.