Use of flamethrower

[breversa]

I've found one tactic that make the flamethrower quite effective despite its not-so-short range : indoor reaction fire (flamethrowers rule indoor anyway !).

Give a flamethrower to a FAST trooper, set his/her reaction fire to multiple shots, place him/her along  wall, one square away from a door, facing it, and end turn.

If an enemy goes through the door, your flamer will most probably turn it to a crisp in one shot or two. If not, however, he'll be in trouble, so give him the heaviest armor you have.

Of course, this method also works with other weapons (SMG anyone ?) and does not take advantage of the length of the flame, as only one enemy can cross the door at a time.
But so far, that's the best and most frequent use of my flamethrower soldier.

Any other flamethrower tactic ?

[Voller]

I have given up on using the flame thrower. It just doesn't seem to harm the aliens at all. And now you're telling me you can turn somebody into a crisp with reaction fire?! Am I doing something wrong?

[breversa]

It may depend on the difficulty level you're playing the game : the easier, the less resilient the aliens are.

But remember to give tour flamer to a FAST trooper and set reaction fire to MULTIPLE SHOTS so that s/he gets to fire at the alien first and more than once.

[Voller]

I'm playing on difficult. I find the assault rifle to be a much better choice, as it has superior range and seems to deal more damage as well.

[Wanderer]

I'm playing on difficult. I find the assault rifle to be a much better choice, as it has superior range and seems to deal more damage as well.

I'd have to agree with this.  On harder levels, the flamethrower is an amusing toy, or a good backup to someone with, say, a rocket launcher, for tight spaces.

[breversa]

I'm not playing on difficult (yet), so I guess that's why my method works for me but unfortunately not for you...

[Voller]

Going from medium to difficult seems to be a rather big step. I still think a flexible difficulty system would be great. One were you can set the difficulty of different aspects, like:

Appearance of Ufos/Terror missions/base attacks (seldom, medium, often, very often)
Alien AI (poor, medium, smart...)
Alien equipment improvement rate
Amount of aliens appearing during a mission
Human equipment, recruits, etc
Human unit skills
Alien unit skills
.
.
.

You get the idea

[Stalins Organ]

I haven't used FT's for a while now, but back in hte good ol' days when I did I used to use them as a spotted weapon - that is I'd have a couple of troops scouting for them, and they'd only ever attack aliens that had already been seen.  Preferably through a door or window so there's lots of cover nearby.

However the short range really is a problem so they didn't last in the inventory very long - I think my last one is at a subsidary base for base defence....

[Woreczko]

I play on hard difficulty and have a different impresssion. Actually FT is one of the most effective weapons. With inferno it burns almost everything in one blaze. It never misses. Sure, you need to get within those 8 squares. But that`s doable usually. And often more safe than straight shotout with aliens.

[Wanderer]

I play on hard difficulty and have a different impresssion. Actually FT is one of the most effective weapons. With inferno it burns almost everything in one blaze. It never misses. Sure, you need to get within those 8 squares. But that`s doable usually. And often more safe than straight shotout with aliens.

It's fine if you're using it in a team with someone with a longer reach.  The problem with it is crossing any open spaces, or long corridors.  The FT is a fine weapon if you're close and can inferno, or double inferno (I play Very Hard).  If you don't have the TU's for this, or you're forced to run for over half your TU's to get in range, it's ineffective, and downgraded to toy status.

Couple a FT with an SMG on RF, or a Missile Launcher and a smoke grenade to hide behind until it's your turn, and it's a perfectly feasible weapon.  It's just not a great choice for more then one, maybe two, of your soldiers.

[Surrealistik]

Flamethrower:

Useless in very hard save in conjunction with heavy flashbang use, otherwise, it's instant death versus most aliens. The problem as mentioned earlier is that there are better weapons with greater range (even amongst the conventional roster), so there's rarely any compelling reason to really use it. My weapon mod addresses the flamethrower's obsolesence by increasing its damage signifigantly. This, coupled with its fire type damages, allows it to retain usefulness as an armour defeating weapon.

[Woreczko]

It's fine if you're using it in a team with someone with a longer reach.  The problem with it is crossing any open spaces, or long corridors.  The FT is a fine weapon if you're close and can inferno, or double inferno (I play Very Hard).  If you don't have the TU's for this, or you're forced to run for over half your TU's to get in range, it's ineffective, and downgraded to toy status.

Couple a FT with an SMG on RF, or a Missile Launcher and a smoke grenade to hide behind until it's your turn, and it's a perfectly feasible weapon.  It's just not a great choice for more then one, maybe two, of your soldiers.

Yes, exactly. I use just 1-2 soldiers with FT. It`s a specialized weapon, but at close quarters it IMHO surpasses other conventional guns. Neither SMG nor shotgun is as accurate at 8 squares with full auto (or 3-round burst with flechette).

[Surrealistik]

While they may not be as accurate, most weapons are about as lethal at that range, and many have comparable damage/TU ratios. Personally I have never encountered a situation where the flamethrower (unmodified) would be preferable to every other weapon.

[Woreczko]

Well:

FT inferno is 12 TU for 180 fire dmg. Once within 8 squares it won`t miss.

SMG - 14 TU for burst, 125 dmg. Reasonably accurate, but to low dmg, and 2 TUs more than inferno. 20 TU for full auto, 375 dmg. Target needs to be within 4-5 squares to catch most bullets. Good dmg, but it`s 20 TU vs 12 for inferno...

Shotgun with flechette - can`t recall the exact cost, bu it`s over 14 TU for 3 round burst, ~260 dmg. Must be really close (3 squares recomended), flechettes spread a lot. But sure, good dmg, however TU cost is significantly higher than FT`s inferno. Full auto - 27 (?) TU, over 600 dmg. Spreads even more, and is VERY costly TU wise. Also it empties the magazine. Dmg is over the top, but that`s it.

Obviously FT is useless outside the 8 squares range. But over this distance, IMHO assault rifle starts to beat other close combat guns, due to it`s high accuracy even on full auto.

Now, take into account, that armors usually have much higher resistance (IIRC about 20 protection more) to bullets, than to fire.

Of course it looks different on various difficulty levels. At certain point these 180 dmg from FT just doesn`t cut it, and flechette shotgun will reign supreme.

In above comparison I didn`t take into account weapons, that you can discover. Quite likely you will get bolter rifle early on, and it`s a strong competition for close range fights. Plasma is even better. But then, these hi-tech toys are supposed to be better, no?

[Surrealistik]

The SMG is signifigantly more lethal than the flamethrower at close range. Even factoring in damage/TU efficiency ratios:

SMG Full Auto: 375 / 20 = 18.75

Flamethrower Inferno 180 / 12 = 15

That's a signifigant difference of 25% in terms of efficiency. Even if a few of the SMG's shots missed at that range (doubtful assuming your soldier has good accuracy and assault weapons skill), it would still probably be signifigantly better than the Flamethrower. Keep in mind that the SMG is also effective at range, whereas the Flamethrower must be used up close.

The assault rifle is also more lethal than the flamethrower:

Assault Rifle Full Auto: 296 / 18 = 16.44

This is to say nothing of the higher tech weapons which are signfigantly better at all ranges.