Since flame throwers are "kind of" automatic weapons, and have pretty low accuracy, I'm wondering how Ctrl-Shift clicking would go at blocking off passageways with them? The AI doesn't usually like crossing over fire, but it's essentially harmless as long as you don't end your turn in it/get hit by it. 8 3x3 square shots should cover plenty of ground quickly when spaced out a bit (they tend too anyway with their low accuracy). All flamers are arcing weapons, so they'll always hit somewhere in the general area, unlike machine guns that will ping bullets off into space half the time. Will also spread smoke around in a semi-controllable fashion, which is great now that you can't carry a bevvy of pre-primed smoke grenades for any situation (this probably explains some janky AI behaviour as much as the fire/burny tiles do. There's heaps better IR vision on a lot of enemies now though, so it may not be that handy later-on in a campaign. Then again, +fire+light+some smoke is probably better on a night mission against them in some ways anyway). 38% TUs for an 8-shot burst is a lot cheaper than priming and throwing a grenade, so you should be able to fire/smoke out plenty of shooting lanes, even on open maps (2-auto-shot, 9-tile away semi-circle-^'s for defense, etc). It's not like reloads are "that" expensive, they're just a bit bulky, but are probably worth 4 mini-smoke grenades for two inventory slots of space, so are worth it. Plus, if you need to actually fire it at someone, cause damage, and *don't* kill them (you don't really want to anyway), they take a morale and TU hit, messing up reactions or their next turn's actions. Maybe not better per-say than a shotgun/blunderbuss for killing, but a lot more useful in Xpiratez, especially now smoke grenades + handles can't give you all your early game thievery and ransoms and tech.
It used to work well in base defenses in older versions even without the ability to spray fire *everywhere*. Time to d/l the new version I guess. It's been a while. It'll be good to see if it breaks max-range with the weapon as well, because it's handy if it does, but it's also handy if it doesn't (there's situations where you want all your fire-globs landing exactly 9-10 tiles away, like pre-smoking lanes, or dropping them all on an enemy). Bigger flamers just keep making it better (they're one of those "good, side-utility-use, amazing, absolutely unbelievable" style weapon upgrade paths/niches. Apparently there's even Hand Flamers pretty early-on now, so you can have an X-grog or bandage or rum medic/smoke-layer/light-assault in a bikini, with a handle on her belt, for *all* the utility from a new gal that rolls lucky for strength. Or even one that doesn't).
Simpsons Hank Scorpio reference here:
https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/529384131171884979/(and yes, Bikinis and Gym Suits are amazing early on, for handle or shotgun/flamer work. It doesn't seem like much extra energy/TUs, until you realize you've been sprinting around the map for half the game, bopping/shooting/torching everyone. From behind half the time. There's better, but they are a stargod-send in the early game. Who needs inventory space? Nobody, that's who. You'll find that you've got plenty with either outfit anyway.)
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Topic: So OpenX-Com... (Read 222781 times)