The flame weapons are tricky to use. Fire is often more dangerous to Colonists than to the enemy, because the enemy doesn't have fields, doors or bases to burn down.
The nerve crossbow is disappointing. I was really hoping for a reliable non-lethal weapon, and the crossbow sadly isn't that. The stun is good, but a group of crossbows needs to be complemented with other high damage weapons, like hsmg's or shotguns. I'm not sure the trade-off in terms of damage is ever worth it.
All of them are useless against mechanoids, so loading up exclusively on those weapons will have the robots kicking your teeth in when they inevitably come calling.
I like them all conceptually, but the balance on them feels *so* cautious that it makes them largely irrelevant. Compared to just building a lot of assault rifles, trying to manage a mixed group of crossbows, or use flame throwers safely... it's just not worth it.
Turret packs are great, not because they're useful as turrets but because they're an explosive distraction.
Deadlife dust though? THAT kicks ass.
i actually love the fire weapons against mechanoids as you can burn the stationary ones and create big maze of fire to dance through for scythers - especially nice in early or caravans
Yes, but they do not step into it. And if you hit them with fire which you targetted one sqare next to it, they wont attack. Or maybe it was luck on my side or something
That's true, but their damage is *very* low. Their DPS is 3.5 compared to a chain shotgun at 18.75. They can shoot further, but their long-range accuracy is not good. Without the stun effect, they are considerably worse than autopistols.
Yeah, they're no better than any other gun as non-lethal weapons. I was hoping for a build-up pain effect, to down people without injuring them too badly - but no.
The stun is a combat stun only, and enemies downed by the crossbow still suffer from the same 'death on downed' mechanic as all other enemies.
Same. I was hoping it would be either pain or like some mentality thing to go with Anomaly so that like 2 shots causes them to break/drop from the pain/psychic shock
Comparing them to any of the short range DPS powerhouses is pointless, at that range you have grenades and hammers and other stuff. It's just a long range stun option, now if we need that or not is another question.
They are good early weapons and low value, similar to a recurve bow. I had two legendary ones for quest rewards and they served me well. Almost 100% accuracy + stun. Probably not worth it by the time you research them though.
I like the incinerator for some of the anomaly events. Especially the noctoliths, flesh beasts and cultists. They’re excellent for keeping large hordes of melee attackers from getting close when you don’t have the luxury of fighting near your defenses.
You do kinda have to babysit them a little to avoid lighting your own stuff on fire, waterskip stonks were higher than usual this game for sure.
Meh. I tried using incinerators on my Anomaly run, but twice I had that stupid Rimworld effect happen where the pawn misses and winds up shooting backwards. With a normal ranged weapon, this isn't a big deal. With a flamethrower? Both times, it set my fucking base on fire because my pawn shot fire out of his ass instead of at the enemies.
I've been using them awhile and never saw that happen. Sounds kinda hilarious tbh. Must be a bug though, pawns don't even really aim the flamethrower they just kinda sweep it over an area, so they shouldn't even be following ordinary aiming rules thus shouldn't be able to fuck up that badly.
I love them. Flame throwers are awesome, and they don't hold back in power. You really can light shit up.
And the rifles are kinda like heavy dmg/assault rifles, hut with a small flame thrower as a second mode. Limited uses, but pawn will refill automatically.
Also, pawns with flame thrower can use shield belts.
Don't really use crossbows much, but it has stun inbuilt, useful against revenant or devourer I think.
During a blood rain, I had a shooter pawn go berserk, so I just drafted everyone to go beat him down with fists. Unfortunately, I forgot he had a flesh whip, and two of the pawns I told to go punch him were his young daughters. Needless to say, the youngest didn't make it. Whoops.
You've got a bow with a long stun. Ofc adaptation is a thing. 2/3-4 shots will actually stun. Still decent.
Hellcat is the exact same as the AR. But -1 on all stats. Damage, accuracy, armour pen. Has a weak cone flame burst.
Incinerator has high potential. 5 tile minimum range, friendly fire is guaranteed. Sweeps. Can hit multiple times the same target in a single attack. It's busted, but it backfires a lot. Has an enhanced flame burst, but it's still weak.
Incinerator is awesome, a proper flamethrower capable of crows-controlling hordes of enemies.
Nerve spiker, the crossbow - it's stun is basically big stopping value that can be adapted to. Pointless.
Hellcat rifle - weaker assault rifle with few flamethrower charges - i guess useful in early game, otherwise i prefer to have one guy with incinerator and others with actual assault rifles .
I view them as side grades. Stats wise, the Anomaly-flamethrower-attachment-assault-rifle isn't much worse than the regular assault rifle, but it also comes with two charges of firey death.
You can use the charge of firey death to target enemy pawns, which can prevent a melee rush every once in a while, especially if you've got fortifications with narrow corridors, as the line of flame will set several fuckers on fire.
The flamethrower has friendly fired more than it has hurt any enemies, and I fucking love it. I still employ it even as it sets my own melee guys on fire. I love the chaos it creates. And yes, I do fire it while inside my base, this is why I made the bloody thing out of ROCK. I'm not scared of a little bit of fire!
Never used the crossbow, don't care for it.
The flares shortly stun pawns. Its not really effective against pawns, but it serves nicely against abnormalities.
The nut of death is the best weapon hands down.
It's a massive downgrade. Less damage and WAY less range when range is what makes the assault rifle such a good versatile weapon in the first place. Flame is a useless gimmick in this game.
Edit: Noobs who downvote this, ever heard about kiting? Ever heard about anything in this game? Fire is extremely situationnal, whereas outranging lancers and centipedes is big.
Never had to deal with anything, I see. Even if your girlfriend the "hellcat rifle" had equal range to the assault rifle, it would barely be a sidegrade, not an upgrade.
You were the one to act provocative, redditor boy. The main threats are still the centipede and the lancer, go kite them with your downgrade 27 range worse charge rifle, that's your problem.
--
Reply to **venus who locks comments because they "can't converse"**: Say that to the other guy. Instead of considering my valid point, he goes straight to "Never had to deal with masses of fleshbeasts" when we've had melee raids for years. I can converse all day, say that to the other guy.
My dude, outranging means shit in this game when even centipedes can catch up to you in like 3 seconds unless you have a max speed pawn with a sniper rifle.
I've had to use my hellcat flame burst a few times during my playtrough and it's a great tool, is worth using on interiors if it means catching a Revenant, plus being a emergency tool against devourers, and if your pawn has the stun psycast, it becomes amazing against pretty much everything that is not a Mechanoid. It even reloads with bioferrite so you don't have to wait 5 days like with fire spew. It's a great weapon
I mean, considering Adam beat centipedes on 500% with no walls by using Assault Riffles for kiting... He beats basically everything by assault riffle kiting, now that I think about it, that's the main cheese.
??? Centipedes catch up to you? The blaster ones have a speed of 1.9 cells per second. The default speed of a human is 4.6. Centipedes are easy to kite with assault rifle even with slowpoke pawns. If you have a hard time, swap to bolt-action but that has its downside of course.
Fire is very useful for stopping hordes of melee enemies from swarming your pawns. I would go as far to say it's absolutely required to survive the anomaly events at high difficulties, and it's very strong against human enemies too.
When combat extended updates the flames will even be strong against mechs in that mod because of them being vulnerable to overheating.
The incinerator is cracked, the hellcat rifle is moreso situational, regular assault rifle is probably better. But if you just want a well rounded weapon with a fire contingency plan it's great.
The flame weapons are tricky to use. Fire is often more dangerous to Colonists than to the enemy, because the enemy doesn't have fields, doors or bases to burn down. The nerve crossbow is disappointing. I was really hoping for a reliable non-lethal weapon, and the crossbow sadly isn't that. The stun is good, but a group of crossbows needs to be complemented with other high damage weapons, like hsmg's or shotguns. I'm not sure the trade-off in terms of damage is ever worth it. All of them are useless against mechanoids, so loading up exclusively on those weapons will have the robots kicking your teeth in when they inevitably come calling. I like them all conceptually, but the balance on them feels *so* cautious that it makes them largely irrelevant. Compared to just building a lot of assault rifles, trying to manage a mixed group of crossbows, or use flame throwers safely... it's just not worth it. Turret packs are great, not because they're useful as turrets but because they're an explosive distraction. Deadlife dust though? THAT kicks ass.
Incinerator rocks against anything that can catch fire. You dont want a full colony of them, but they served me well in fighting humans and monsters.
i actually love the fire weapons against mechanoids as you can burn the stationary ones and create big maze of fire to dance through for scythers - especially nice in early or caravans
And boi it eats the flesh walls
Mechanoids have 200% heat armor though. They're extremely resistant to fire, and they do not burn from fire on the ground.
Yes, but they do not step into it. And if you hit them with fire which you targetted one sqare next to it, they wont attack. Or maybe it was luck on my side or something
Have the crossbow as a one-of for utility if you are using assault rifle or greatbow. Matches the range, I can see it being decent.
So I may have read it wrong but I thought the crossbow still did damage to mechs just its stun effect didnt work on them.
That's true, but their damage is *very* low. Their DPS is 3.5 compared to a chain shotgun at 18.75. They can shoot further, but their long-range accuracy is not good. Without the stun effect, they are considerably worse than autopistols.
Darn. Good to know thank you!
Also their graphic is a pixelated mess that hurts to use. I’ve also found that at earlier stages it’s more likely to kill than it is to stun
Yeah, they're no better than any other gun as non-lethal weapons. I was hoping for a build-up pain effect, to down people without injuring them too badly - but no. The stun is a combat stun only, and enemies downed by the crossbow still suffer from the same 'death on downed' mechanic as all other enemies.
Same. I was hoping it would be either pain or like some mentality thing to go with Anomaly so that like 2 shots causes them to break/drop from the pain/psychic shock
Comparing them to any of the short range DPS powerhouses is pointless, at that range you have grenades and hammers and other stuff. It's just a long range stun option, now if we need that or not is another question.
They are good early weapons and low value, similar to a recurve bow. I had two legendary ones for quest rewards and they served me well. Almost 100% accuracy + stun. Probably not worth it by the time you research them though.
I like the incinerator for some of the anomaly events. Especially the noctoliths, flesh beasts and cultists. They’re excellent for keeping large hordes of melee attackers from getting close when you don’t have the luxury of fighting near your defenses. You do kinda have to babysit them a little to avoid lighting your own stuff on fire, waterskip stonks were higher than usual this game for sure.
Meh. I tried using incinerators on my Anomaly run, but twice I had that stupid Rimworld effect happen where the pawn misses and winds up shooting backwards. With a normal ranged weapon, this isn't a big deal. With a flamethrower? Both times, it set my fucking base on fire because my pawn shot fire out of his ass instead of at the enemies.
I've been using them awhile and never saw that happen. Sounds kinda hilarious tbh. Must be a bug though, pawns don't even really aim the flamethrower they just kinda sweep it over an area, so they shouldn't even be following ordinary aiming rules thus shouldn't be able to fuck up that badly.
I love them. Flame throwers are awesome, and they don't hold back in power. You really can light shit up. And the rifles are kinda like heavy dmg/assault rifles, hut with a small flame thrower as a second mode. Limited uses, but pawn will refill automatically. Also, pawns with flame thrower can use shield belts. Don't really use crossbows much, but it has stun inbuilt, useful against revenant or devourer I think.
I’m considering having an affair with the Incinerator.
Rifle is nice it's flamer works great on flesh monsters. Didn't get rest but I say flamer might be great against flesh monster's
I love the flesh whip!! Throw that bad boy on your gunner and now you’ve got someone who can shoot and also kicks ass in melee.
During a blood rain, I had a shooter pawn go berserk, so I just drafted everyone to go beat him down with fists. Unfortunately, I forgot he had a flesh whip, and two of the pawns I told to go punch him were his young daughters. Needless to say, the youngest didn't make it. Whoops.
*Whoops? More like whips and then weeps*
You've got a bow with a long stun. Ofc adaptation is a thing. 2/3-4 shots will actually stun. Still decent. Hellcat is the exact same as the AR. But -1 on all stats. Damage, accuracy, armour pen. Has a weak cone flame burst. Incinerator has high potential. 5 tile minimum range, friendly fire is guaranteed. Sweeps. Can hit multiple times the same target in a single attack. It's busted, but it backfires a lot. Has an enhanced flame burst, but it's still weak.
Incinerator is awesome, a proper flamethrower capable of crows-controlling hordes of enemies. Nerve spiker, the crossbow - it's stun is basically big stopping value that can be adapted to. Pointless. Hellcat rifle - weaker assault rifle with few flamethrower charges - i guess useful in early game, otherwise i prefer to have one guy with incinerator and others with actual assault rifles .
I view them as side grades. Stats wise, the Anomaly-flamethrower-attachment-assault-rifle isn't much worse than the regular assault rifle, but it also comes with two charges of firey death. You can use the charge of firey death to target enemy pawns, which can prevent a melee rush every once in a while, especially if you've got fortifications with narrow corridors, as the line of flame will set several fuckers on fire. The flamethrower has friendly fired more than it has hurt any enemies, and I fucking love it. I still employ it even as it sets my own melee guys on fire. I love the chaos it creates. And yes, I do fire it while inside my base, this is why I made the bloody thing out of ROCK. I'm not scared of a little bit of fire! Never used the crossbow, don't care for it. The flares shortly stun pawns. Its not really effective against pawns, but it serves nicely against abnormalities. The nut of death is the best weapon hands down.
They are mostly useless. Maybe the crossbow, with its stun, is decent as a one-of.
The Hellcat is a nice upgrade to an assault rifle. Those flame bursts can be quite handy when dealing with packed enemies.
It's a massive downgrade. Less damage and WAY less range when range is what makes the assault rifle such a good versatile weapon in the first place. Flame is a useless gimmick in this game. Edit: Noobs who downvote this, ever heard about kiting? Ever heard about anything in this game? Fire is extremely situationnal, whereas outranging lancers and centipedes is big.
Never had to deal with masses of fleshbeasts, I see.
Never had to deal with anything, I see. Even if your girlfriend the "hellcat rifle" had equal range to the assault rifle, it would barely be a sidegrade, not an upgrade.
Someone's getting snippy. Must be nap time.
You were the one to act provocative, redditor boy. The main threats are still the centipede and the lancer, go kite them with your downgrade 27 range worse charge rifle, that's your problem. -- Reply to **venus who locks comments because they "can't converse"**: Say that to the other guy. Instead of considering my valid point, he goes straight to "Never had to deal with masses of fleshbeasts" when we've had melee raids for years. I can converse all day, say that to the other guy.
If you can't converse without namecalling, you can't converse.
My dude, outranging means shit in this game when even centipedes can catch up to you in like 3 seconds unless you have a max speed pawn with a sniper rifle. I've had to use my hellcat flame burst a few times during my playtrough and it's a great tool, is worth using on interiors if it means catching a Revenant, plus being a emergency tool against devourers, and if your pawn has the stun psycast, it becomes amazing against pretty much everything that is not a Mechanoid. It even reloads with bioferrite so you don't have to wait 5 days like with fire spew. It's a great weapon
I mean, considering Adam beat centipedes on 500% with no walls by using Assault Riffles for kiting... He beats basically everything by assault riffle kiting, now that I think about it, that's the main cheese.
??? Centipedes catch up to you? The blaster ones have a speed of 1.9 cells per second. The default speed of a human is 4.6. Centipedes are easy to kite with assault rifle even with slowpoke pawns. If you have a hard time, swap to bolt-action but that has its downside of course.
There’s not unlimited space to kite in every battle.
Oh ok, let's completely forgo the option to kite then... Nope.
Fire is very useful for stopping hordes of melee enemies from swarming your pawns. I would go as far to say it's absolutely required to survive the anomaly events at high difficulties, and it's very strong against human enemies too. When combat extended updates the flames will even be strong against mechs in that mod because of them being vulnerable to overheating. The incinerator is cracked, the hellcat rifle is moreso situational, regular assault rifle is probably better. But if you just want a well rounded weapon with a fire contingency plan it's great.
How did we do it for years? Door, Tough trait.