I don’t think you are wrong.
The tick event basically happens every frame.
with regular collision if something is traveling fast enough to pass through an object entirely within a single frame, the result of its collision would never be reported. Both overlapped or hit won’t matter.
this is also partially why running a line trace in tandem helps sort out if the hit occurred or not. You have some cheap redundancy to ensure the result is accurate.
As far as what you are suggesting for direct hits. Keep in mind that bullets never fly straight. They aren’t laser beams.
If accuracy in your game doesn’t matter, then yes, line traces that work like lasers are best.
if accuracy does matter, you can google the bullet trajectory algorhytm and implement a custom projectile path trace system.
the custom implementations usually end up working better then the projectile component performance wise.
As far as ease of use. The projectile component with a bigger then needed collision capsule to cheat the collision detection is a faster alternative.
Imagine a .45 bullet. If you have the collision for it about 5cm in radius 10cm in diameter, the hit/overlap events can happen even when the bullet is traveling below 10 cm per frame.
I would use this collision/overlap event to run a reverse trace and see if the character is hit instantly. 1 calculation, result avaliable in the next frame. Using the army ballistics calculus.
That’s the proof positive the hit has indeed occurred, and it’s fairly cheap performance wise without need for substepping even.
keep in mind your projectile speed has to dictate the radius of your collision.