The flamethrower has been considered, throughout warfare, as a cruel and merciless weapon. It was widely used during the Second World War, and it’s terrifying damage potential accurately represents the horror and fear the soldiers lived in the battlefields. On our 53rd blog we’d like to talk about this a little further.
A nasty sting
Flamethrowers are one of the deadliest weapons at close range. Upon getting in contact with a burst, a soldier is guaranteed to get burnt to death, regardless of his skill or protective bulletproof gear. Not only soldiers, but vehicles, fortifications, and ultimately the whole landscape can be turned into decaying ash and smoke.
But flamethrowers aren’t safe either! Fire does not know of friend or foe, you run the risk of burning your own equipment. You should also consider how the fire can spread to ensure you won’t be burning your own areas.
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Increased burning times
We increased how long objects last until they are finally consumed by fire. This brings extra immersion into the battlefield, and makes a flamethrower presence pretty obvious!
Performance
Fire effects, especially in large numbers, are an obvious concern with regards to performance. So we spent a lot of work minimising the particle densities to be able to deliver maximum playability without a decrease in performance.
Remodelled mechanic
We turned flamethrowers into semi-automatic burst weapons. So every time you click on a target, a burst is thrown at the enemy. If you want a constant burst, keep clicking at your preferred rate. This brings us two key advantages. For one, it more accurately represents how the flamethrowers were used in war. Often, such a dense cloud of black smoke did not allow you to see if your burst was going in the right direction, or you just wanted to deliver the right amount of burning fluid. So the obvious solution was to shoot in bursts.
https://youtu.be/pzioV10sSAU
Secondly, a burst mechanic allows you to more accurately quantify how much fuel you are using knowing how many shots you’re making. Flamethrowers such as the Flammenwerfer model 1939 only had 12 liters of fuel. In this way you can play more conservatively.
Finally, we are also aware some players like to grab their flamethrowers and start charging the enemy while rotating about and launching a constant fireball stream in all directions. So now we offer you the charming opportunity to be a bit more civilised and reconsider such suicide runs with our burst-mechanic.
Flame vehicles
You can also choose to deliver hell on earth by tracked vehicles! They are obviously more protected than an infantryman, but equally they are more expensive. We are currently implementing the OT-34 obr-43 and the Hetzer/Flamm. Please let us know, if you want some more, and we will consider them.
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