Flamethrower Improvement
Deadonstick
Join Date: 2013-04-17 Member: 184877Members
Join Date: 2013-04-17 Member: 184877Members
It seems to me like Flamethrowers are slightly counterintuitive at the moment. Spores and Umbra clouds can be burned away with ease, but Bile is unremovable, as is Infestation.
These two things make sense to me that they should be burned by a Flamethrower too. It would also give Marines atleast a small chance to counter the bile on their structures in time. I know a lot of people will claim that it's unbalanced but having to have a Marine be constantly busy with unbiling structures is enough cost to balance it. The ability to burn away cysts but not infestation is also strange. Giving flamethrowers this ability will make it easier for Marines to take a resource node in the late game (when flamethrowers usually come out).
Now I realise this could wreck the game balance if not done well. So instead of instantly burning away infestation like it does Umbra or Spores, I'd suggest making it flammable. Lighting infestation with your flamethrower will make it withdraw at an increased rate depending on the amount of stacks of "ignite" it has. Up to a maximum of 4x the normal speed when at 20 stacks (it takes 8 seconds of continuous fire to reach this number btw).
I also think that the pre-fire delay of the flamethrower should be decreased slightly. Say from 0,7 to 0,5 seconds. In addition I'd like to see the Flamethrower actually burn energy away rather than what it does now (decrease energy regen by 40%). The best use I can think of for the Flamethrower's energy denial ability is to counter fades. They literally fade in and out of battle. The pre-fire delay together with the short range of the flame makes it very hard to hit a fade. And a good fade will make sure he always has enough energy to blink out. Flaming him a bit merely means it will take him longer to blink back in due to his energy not coming back as fast. I'd rather see it being capable of it burning away the energy of the fade so that when a fade sees a flamethrower he'll think twice.
The damage against non-flammable structures should also be increased by a bit. The damage against other aliens however is pretty much fine.
We all know the flamethrower is hardly an alien-killing weapon. It's used as a support weapon and as a base-killing tool. I'd like it to be put more towards that role with the changes I just listed. I realise all changes may not be an equally good idea, hence why this is posted in the discussion forum rather than the suggestion forum.
To recap my ideas:
1: Make bile purgable by flame!
2: Make infestation flammable and withdraw faster when on fire. (this obviously means that when there's still a cyst nearby it won't withdraw at all)
3: Reduce the pre-fire delay from 0,7 to say 0,5 seconds to make them more of a Fade-counter.
4: Change the energy denial mechanic of the Flamethrower to actually damaging the alien's energy rather than making it regenerate slower (which most aliens use a shift for anyway).
5: Increase the damage against non-flammable structures by a bit, say 15%.
I am confident these changes will push the flamethrower more clearly to it's support role in terms of defense and structure killing, as well as e-denial for overly mobile alien lifeforms. Whether these suggested changes are unbalanced or flat-out stupid is for you guys and UWE to fight over. Now please, share your own views on this matter!
These two things make sense to me that they should be burned by a Flamethrower too. It would also give Marines atleast a small chance to counter the bile on their structures in time. I know a lot of people will claim that it's unbalanced but having to have a Marine be constantly busy with unbiling structures is enough cost to balance it. The ability to burn away cysts but not infestation is also strange. Giving flamethrowers this ability will make it easier for Marines to take a resource node in the late game (when flamethrowers usually come out).
Now I realise this could wreck the game balance if not done well. So instead of instantly burning away infestation like it does Umbra or Spores, I'd suggest making it flammable. Lighting infestation with your flamethrower will make it withdraw at an increased rate depending on the amount of stacks of "ignite" it has. Up to a maximum of 4x the normal speed when at 20 stacks (it takes 8 seconds of continuous fire to reach this number btw).
I also think that the pre-fire delay of the flamethrower should be decreased slightly. Say from 0,7 to 0,5 seconds. In addition I'd like to see the Flamethrower actually burn energy away rather than what it does now (decrease energy regen by 40%). The best use I can think of for the Flamethrower's energy denial ability is to counter fades. They literally fade in and out of battle. The pre-fire delay together with the short range of the flame makes it very hard to hit a fade. And a good fade will make sure he always has enough energy to blink out. Flaming him a bit merely means it will take him longer to blink back in due to his energy not coming back as fast. I'd rather see it being capable of it burning away the energy of the fade so that when a fade sees a flamethrower he'll think twice.
The damage against non-flammable structures should also be increased by a bit. The damage against other aliens however is pretty much fine.
We all know the flamethrower is hardly an alien-killing weapon. It's used as a support weapon and as a base-killing tool. I'd like it to be put more towards that role with the changes I just listed. I realise all changes may not be an equally good idea, hence why this is posted in the discussion forum rather than the suggestion forum.
To recap my ideas:
1: Make bile purgable by flame!
2: Make infestation flammable and withdraw faster when on fire. (this obviously means that when there's still a cyst nearby it won't withdraw at all)
3: Reduce the pre-fire delay from 0,7 to say 0,5 seconds to make them more of a Fade-counter.
4: Change the energy denial mechanic of the Flamethrower to actually damaging the alien's energy rather than making it regenerate slower (which most aliens use a shift for anyway).
5: Increase the damage against non-flammable structures by a bit, say 15%.
I am confident these changes will push the flamethrower more clearly to it's support role in terms of defense and structure killing, as well as e-denial for overly mobile alien lifeforms. Whether these suggested changes are unbalanced or flat-out stupid is for you guys and UWE to fight over. Now please, share your own views on this matter!
Comments
The flamethrower is imho more a novelty weapon, because if you're out and about with the thing you are target number one due to the energy drain it does and lack of 1v1 fighting capabilities.
But you're missing the importance of that last line!
Disabling enemy structures is a huge role!
Think of making a well fortified alien base with crags, whips, shades and hydras all rendered inoperable with a single weapon. This allows those grenade launchers and everything else to safely work their magic.
Its a huge difference over vanilla flamethrower, even if you discarded the increased clip size and cost and range!
Just removing BB alone with a primary AOE weapon has huge sweeping impacts..
I eagerly await this change.
Whats in the balance mod seems a tad over the top, simply being on fire disabling alien structures is stupidly OP'd....even more when you consider marines dont need to actually go into a room to kill structures (arcs).
Its not like marines really have any problems pushing into alien held rooms...the fact a JP+FT marine could fly into a hive and disable, crags, shifts, whips etc all by simply setting them on fire has to be a joke.
Whilst I agree with Mestaritonttu in that the flame effect does obscure your view a lot....but its a melee range weapon so I consider it a bit of a trade off.
The FT does good damage, I have found, against skulks, gorges and lerks...even fades wont hang around long once burning.