Flamethrowers

[mdom]

What is the general opinion on flamethrowers in CM?

They are able to be made fairly easily but they have virtually no effect in the game. They don't burn weeds, do little (if any) damage to aliens, and you are more likely to BBQ marines than anything else.

Would you be interested in seeing it implemented?

[TopHatPenguin]

My own opinion on this is if we had flamethrowers and they caught light to weeds think of how far weeds stretch on the nostromos normaly all the way from one side to the other which would cause heat and then finally probably kill the marines so not useful for now.

i'm welcome for anyone to disagree with this but it's just my opinion.

[SecretStamos (Joshuu)]

Flamethrowers would need to be implemented in a way that doesn't cause fires. The current atmos system makes them very dangerous to marines.


I personally think a different type of flamethrower would work better. Think of an amped up fire-extinguisher that fires resprited foam that inflicts burn damage and clears weeds. Despite this, it doesn't actually heat up the room or spread fires and negates a lot of the current issues.

[razerwing]

I've said this time and time again. I even tried to test it on my own server, but I couldn't figure out how to set one up to save my life.

Modified Chemical Sprayer. Modify the beakers it takes so that you don't end up spilling the 'fuel' all over yourself. The Chem Sprayer sprays just like a fire extinguisher, and can theoretically be used with acids, if I remember correctly. Slap whatever the hell you put into the weedkiller grenades into the flamethrower, maybe mix it with something that can damage the aliens and you have your flamethrower.

Doesn't damage ZAS.

Kinda fits in with the lore.

Problem solved.

EDIT: The reason the weedkiller grenades don't affect the aliens is because as far as I know from my attempted foray into coding, there are two ways to sustain damage. Touch damage, where acid is prevailant, and inhalation damage, things like a lack of oxygen or superheated air.

Acid in a Gaseous form like a smoke grenade does damage, yes, but if you spray acid in a concentrated, liquid form it does a lot more damage. And since it seems Aliens don't need to breathe, they negate the inhalation effect completely.

However, if you spray 'em with acid or 'Flamer Fuel', then I'm sure it'll cause some damage.

[Kreydis]

Or maybe a flame grenade that works with the grenade launchers so the GL gets some loving. Because as far as I'm aware flashes don't go in it. And Smoke does nothing to aliens.

[Allan1234]

the main issue now is the friendly fire that we will no doubt get and the amount of complaints we will get because " pvt Randomdanme Killed with with napalm grenade, Please ban him" or "cpl noname light me on fire when i ran in front of him, Please ban him"

[warwolf0315]

the main issue now is the friendly fire that we will no doubt get and the amount of complaints we will get because " pvt Randomdanme Killed with with napalm grenade, Please ban him" or "cpl noname light me on fire when i ran in front of him, Please ban him"

We already get that with idiots getting a round to the dome with regular firearms not much would change

[razerwing]

I'm afraid Wolfy has a point there.

[mdom]

We already get that with idiots getting a round to the dome with regular firearms not much would change

Well put.

[Allan1234]

your right it already happens, so lets not give them more things to do it with.

[SecretStamos (Joshuu)]

your right it already happens, so lets not give them more things to do it with.

Flamethrower grief is canon. Corporal Dietrich is the patron saint of responsible flamethrower usage.

[Allan1234]

Flamethrower grief is canon. Corporal Dietrich is the patron saint of responsible flamethrower usage.

i really don't care

[UnknownMurder]

We don't need fires to burn weeds anymore... We have Weedkiller gas smoke grenade shit.
Someone, give me a good reason why we should a flame thrower.

[razerwing]

I'll give you three reasons that the flamethrower is a good idea.

1) You have ONE (1) Weedkiller grenade. That's it. That's all you get. And most of the time standards don't grab the damned thing.
2) Weedkillers and smoke grenades have no discernible effect on xenos. A flamethrower would actually be able to be used as a weapon. If we use something like a chemical sprayer, it SHOULD be able to hit and damage the pesky corner-tackle Xenos.
3) It would add so much to the immersion (I think) that it'd be hard for people not to enjoy themselves.

[Davidchan]

We don't need fires to burn weeds anymore... We have Weedkiller gas smoke grenade shit.
Someone, give me a good reason why we should a flame thrower.

As for that grenade, there are 4 on the Sulaco. We can't make more of them, that I'm aware of. A flamethrower properly used can quickly and effectively clear out a nest or infestation in an area that could take upwards of 15 minutes using knives and welders.

Flamethrowers are pretty common in Aliens lore, Ripley used one in the first 2 movies and the Marines used them during the first contact.

Having another weapon would be nice, I'd like to see flamethrowers with a bit more reach though, 3-4 tiles instead of the 1-2 we have now. Fuel for them isn't exactly common so I doubt there would be much of an issue with them being overpowered, and it would be the perfect starting weapon for Survivors if we ever gave them one.

[TopHatPenguin]

As for that grenade, there are 4 on the Sulaco. We can't make more of them, that I'm aware of. A flamethrower properly used can quickly and effectively clear out a nest or infestation in an area that could take upwards of 15 minutes using knives and welders.

Flamethrowers are pretty common in Aliens lore, Ripley used one in the first 2 movies and the Marines used them during the first contact.

Having another weapon would be nice, I'd like to see flamethrowers with a bit more reach though, 3-4 tiles instead of the 1-2 we have now. Fuel for them isn't exactly common so I doubt there would be much of an issue with them being overpowered, and it would be the perfect starting weapon for Survivors if we ever gave them one.

If you gave a survivor a flamethrower they could most likely seek out the aliens and just kill them thus ending the round in about 5 minutes.If the flamethrower is added i would prefer it if just the marines got two (one flamethrower would be for all the marines and the second one to replace the commanders laser gun.)overall ,which then means they would have to share or it could be used for a last stand on sulaco.

[Davidchan]

If you gave a survivor a flamethrower they could most likely seek out the aliens and just kill them thus ending the round in about 5 minutes.If the flamethrower is added i would prefer it if just the marines got two (one flamethrower would be for all the marines and the second one to replace the commanders laser gun.)overall ,which then means they would have to share or it could be used for a last stand on sulaco.

Then what about a compromise? The current flamethrower stays as is (welder + bars/hacked lathe + Plasma tank) is the improvised weapon. It remains largely unchanged, making the + shape patterns and generally better as a defensive weapon or cornering someone.

Marines get a military Flamethrower (or Incinerator as they called them) that shoots farther. Extra plasma tanks or backmounted Welding tank that can be used for flame fuel (or greedy engineers filling their handwelders.) These would only spawn in the Marine Standard Ready rooms and/or the Squad Armory with the Riot shields (either way, a maximum of two for each squad,) with fuel tanks/reserves nearby. If you really wanted to help balance it out, you could go as far as to say a marine shot (in the back, reverse of riotshields code) while wearing a back mounted tank has a chance to explode or spill his fuel on the ground and ignite, forcing marines to control their use and fire better, or have someone with a riotshield stand next to them to absorb the shots.

Survivors only recieve their one plasma tank with maybe 10-15 good puffs of fuel left before it's depleted, any survivor that can robust 2+ drones AND a queen with nothing but a flamethrower and a crowbar probably deserves that win.

[apophis775]

I really wish, staff would check with me, before making polls like this.

Flamethrowers will NEVER HAPPEN. They have a SMALL chance of eventually being done in the new bay conversion, but they fuck atmos pretty hard, and if we have to kill air processing, because of breaches, the fire just stays there and doesn't process.

[razerwing]

I really wish, staff would check with me, before making polls like this.

Flamethrowers will NEVER HAPPEN. They have a SMALL chance of eventually being done in the new bay conversion, but they fuck atmos pretty hard, and if we have to kill air processing, because of breaches, the fire just stays there and doesn't process.

Have we even tried the Chem Sprayer idea? Just because it's called a flamethrower doesn't mean it HAS to throw flame (in game). Slam whatever you made the weed-killer grenades with into sealed beakers, resprite the chemical sprayer, change the color of the acid spray, and you have a 'flame' thrower that won't totally fuck Atmos over. You don't have to worry about superheated air, you don't have to worry about air processing, you'd only have to worry about all the complaining the dead Rambos would be doing because they ran in front of 'flame' thrower guy.

[mdom]

Have we even tried the Chem Sprayer idea? Just because it's called a flamethrower doesn't mean it HAS to throw flame (in game). Slam whatever you made the weed-killer grenades with into sealed beakers, resprite the chemical sprayer, change the color of the acid spray, and you have a 'flame' thrower that won't totally fuck Atmos over. You don't have to worry about superheated air, you don't have to worry about air processing, you'd only have to worry about all the complaining the dead Rambos would be doing because they ran in front of 'flame' thrower guy.

This sounds like a reasonable solution.

P.S. I was just gauging how people felt about flamethrowers. In no way was I trying to insinuate there were plans for a flamethrower or that it was going to be added to the game.

[Mycroft Macarthur]

the issue with a chemsprayer in my opinion is it would only work if it actually harmed aliens, sure we could get weedkiller sprays but, so what? we can ALREADY get weedkiller grenades and if you arent a standard you arent going to bother, using weedkillers in mid combat isn't very helpful since it doesnt wipe out enough weeds to make a huge combat difference, it doesn't wipe out doors, walls or nests and in exchange for the next five minutes, your entire squad is now BLIND! even if you get your knife out to prepare for the inevitable melee to follow you cant CLICK the aliens because they're covered in pink smoke, i guess weedkiller chemspray would be handy if we had like triple capacity or something (one spray canister is worth like 3 weedkiller nades worth of weed cleaning) but even then its at best, something nice to have but which we may as well ditch.

half of why marines keep asking for flamers and grenades is we need something to shoot around corners, if chemsprayer can resolve this issue, then its exactly what we're looking for (and im sure through testing we could determine an appropriate, balanced degree of damage for it to deal) and if not, well who cares.

[razerwing]

Mycroft, if I'm correct, then acids will damage Xenos. Have you ever noticed how smoke grenades do jack shit against aliens? I think I've figured out why. Because they don't need to breathe. On some other servers, I noticed that if an IPC gets smoked out or something, they tend not to take damage. Xenos are the same way I think.

However, if you put concentrated acid on them, then I'm damned sure it would do a decent amount of damage. It'd give marines the ability to shoot around corners and would allow them to clear out hallways of weeds without clearing each individual patch with the OP Knife.

[mdom]

Mycroft, if I'm correct, then acids will damage Xenos. Have you ever noticed how smoke grenades do jack shit against aliens? I think I've figured out why. Because they don't need to breathe. On some other servers, I noticed that if an IPC gets smoked out or something, they tend not to take damage. Xenos are the same way I think.

However, if you put concentrated acid on them, then I'm damned sure it would do a decent amount of damage. It'd give marines the ability to shoot around corners and would allow them to clear out hallways of weeds without clearing each individual patch with the OP Knife.

That sounds fucking awesome.

[Void00]

Mycroft, if I'm correct, then acids will damage Xenos. Have you ever noticed how smoke grenades do jack shit against aliens? I think I've figured out why. Because they don't need to breathe. On some other servers, I noticed that if an IPC gets smoked out or something, they tend not to take damage. Xenos are the same way I think.

However, if you put concentrated acid on them, then I'm damned sure it would do a decent amount of damage. It'd give marines the ability to shoot around corners and would allow them to clear out hallways of weeds without clearing each individual patch with the OP Knife.

but ... aliens have acid blood lore-wise...

But i see your point.
we would need to code-in some sort of spray that doesnt damage humanoids , and damages aliens , tought.
Eh , probably never gotta happen.

Also , why people keep forgetting of the "no votes on suggetion , we aint a democray" stuff ?

[Casper]

Aliens don't take toxin damage; in fact, toxin damage is used as their ammo as far as I can tell. Using acid on aliens effectively amounts to helping them reload. (from code) But acid does work on facehuggers, it seems, at least if they're on your face. (from experience)
I think it's possible to make additional weedkiller grenades, at least if you can access toxin from medbay. If not, there's much more complicated ways to do it involving either blood transfusions or bad cooking, but yeah, not particularly worth it when they never get used.