Why would you ever want to dash in XCOM? (Rather than making two half moves.)

Question

In XCOM:Enemy Unknown and XCOM:Enemy Within, you have the option each turn to make two limited-distance moves. Alternately, you can make one double-distance move ("Dashing").

It seems like splitting the move into two parts gives you more options. If you make a half move, and happen to find that you've flanked an alien you couldn't see before, you can fire on him. Or flee. If not, you can make the other half move, and wind up in the same situation.

I thought it might have to do with enemies using overwatch, but it seems like they can fire on you when you move through thier line of sight either way?

So, why would you dash, effectively losing the mid-move option? (I've considered that it's for people too lazy to tap twice, but set theory suggests that highly impatient types may not have huge overlap with XCOM players.)

Note: This question touches on the pros and cons of dashing, only in the context of noise, and doesn't speak to the potential benefits of dashing vs. splitting the moves.

Answer 1

Mainly, dashing grants a defensive bonus (-20 Aim) to overwatch shots.

I've used it rarely when I need to soak an overwatch with a rookie, to get my shotgunner or heavy into a better position before firing.

Another sometimes benefit, is that it will take the absolute shortest path to get to that location. This will allow you to get maximum movement without exactly positioning your middle move. Be careful that this doesn't dash you through hazardous terrain of course.

Answer 2

Dashing has a significant benefit on all characters, it decreases chance to be hit by an overwatch shot by 20% since you are running faster.

Answer 3

There is also the curiously inobvious benefit of moving further. As far as I know, you don't get any bonus movement, but if you really need to move to a tile at the farthest possible point, stopping in the middle risks falling short by one:

It should always be possible to move to any tile you can dash to in two normal moves, but sometimes it requires you to pick the exact right tile in the first move, and which one works won't always be visibly obvious.

According to Kexlox: If you need that full movement, but want to stop in the middle to look around, put the cursor over the final destination, and then note where the movement line crosses the one move boundary.

That technically invalidates the answer, but it's still the obvious way to always get to the target tile.

Edit: There is also the pure UX advantage. Dashing saves an interaction; useful when moving through a secured area. Not every game mechanic needs a game mechanical advantage.