Flashbang tactics

[hoiba]

Yesterday I was able to FB a Sheevar. It was successful. No reaction fire the same round, no movement and RF the next round.

[Soandso]

IMHO flashbangs need a complete overhaul to be an actually viable weapon because, as they are now, there is no real reason to use them instead of the later-plentiful plasmas or the plain, old frags.

That is because flashbangs are only for avoiding civilian casualties.  Cannon fodder is free.  Civilians deaths are not.  But the effect really should last longer than 2 rounds.  It can take a while to get to the room it was thrown in.

[anonymissimus]

So, I have to concede about flashbangs vs sheevar being bugged it seems. I could successfully flashbang a few sheevars in 2.6. The sound does not always play though, depending on how I can see (or not see) the target, albeit it's still affected. For instance, I just flashbanged a Taman, it definitely worked, but the sound didn't play. Two times even. Probably because I had first discovered the Taman via infrared goggles, but could see him directly once the flashbang hit.
Normally sounds play even if the player doesn't know an enemy is there. The sounds also play at odd times...for instance, if I have units in smoke and some other unit (not in smoke) uses the infrared glasses, the units in smoke cry because of suffocation. Need to check whether they really suffocate or just cry.
So, there are some bugs here.

problem: Oftentimes the target unit is standing facing a wall, is it still possible to flashbang if it lands on its spot ?

[DarkRain]

Well it seems the wrong player mask is being used for the flashbang sound, I'll have to check that (some events are sent to all players, some only to those who can see the affected units, some even only to those who can't see the affected unit, and so on)

About smoke + IR goggles... that's very weird, but I recall there was a bug where any splash damage weapon (yes IR goggles count) would cause certain triggers (fire, smoke, stun gas and hurt triggers IIRC) in the area to have their effects applied upon impact, that might be the cause...

Re unit facing the wall: I don't think it is even possible to have a grenade to go off at the feet of the target — they just bounce off their feet, but even if you can, I'm pretty sure the reason for items dropped under one of your units that disappear once you end your turn is because they can't be seen, so I wouldn't count on flash bang working there...