6th Edition Wish-Listing Month Week 2: The Shooting Phase

For "wish listing month" week two, we here at FC40k are looking at some ideas for changes to the shooting phase.  I have played a lot of different game systems with varying shooting mechanics. I am not a game designer, but I do think other systems do have some interesting features that 40k could use for inspiration. First let's review some basics.

Ultimate Combi-weapon?

As famously stated, don't bring a knife to a gunfight. Simply stated, modern warfare is fought at range. However, playing a game of WH40k is far from any kind of real warfare simulation. And really, the fluff we love encourages epic close combats between heroic characters. For the most part, I thought 5th edition did a good job balancing ranged and close combat. Certainly, every army (except Chaos Daemons) could build a "shooty" list. As a Tau player, I relied on a good shooting phase to even have a chance at winning. Unfortunately, a lot of my games could be summed up like this:

For 6th edition, my wishlist items.
Wishlist #1 - Base cover for area terrain to 5+.   But, use MORE cover than the 25% eyeball test from 5th ed.
Wishlist #2 - Improve Rapid Fire shooting to full range.  Or make some sort of AOE suppression fire rule.
Wishlist #3 - Add pre-measuring.   Seriously, modern weapons should have range finders.

Other ideas from alternate games.
Here are some Pros/Cons from other game systems that I am familiar with.   I don't think all of them would work in 40k, but for consideration purpases it could be interesting.

Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition
Pros: Stand and shoot can be deadly, higher strength weapons reduce armor saves, pre-measuring
Cons: Ranged penalty modifiers stack up quickly

Battletech
Pros:  Shooter and target movement modifiers, very straightforward cover and LOS mechanic
Cons: Tokens or booking-keeping required to keep track of modifiers

Warmachine/Hordes
Pros:  Aiming bonus for standing and shooting, cover saves determined from base sizes, not actual model (no modeling for advantage), rules for multiple shots (RoF), all unit/models can split fire
Cons:  Very short ranged weapons, stealth is generally over-powered

Necromunda
Pros:  Overwatch (2nd edition, Space Hulk), wounded models suffer penalties to shooting
Cons:  Wounding/incapacitated rules hard to translate to larger scale

Deathwatch RPG
Pros:  Fluff actually represented in rules, bolters are awesome
Cons:  Shooting mechanics feel slow and clunky

Here's hoping for the best edition so far for Warhammer 40k.  Oh, and a 6th edition Tau Codex....