Tank flamethrower - why doesn't it set things on fire?

[vanatteveldt]

I just got the tank in a deathworld game and figured I would go roast some bugs.



Although I managed to kill the smallish nests near my base, I was really disappointed that the flamethrower did not actually set things on fire. It does decent damage, but with a hand-held flamethrower biters and nests continue to die from the flames.

Was this intended or is this a bug? If intended, this is quite underwhelming for the 'buffed' thank, and strange that handheld flamethrowers and turrets work fundamentally different from tank flamethrowers...

[posila]

It was last minute addition. Intention was to give tank some short range AoE to roast group chasing you or clear your way in a forrest.
We reused flamethrower effect and ammo and called it flamethrower, even though mechanics of it are different. We will change that in future. I am thinking something like "acid cannon"

[vanatteveldt]

Thanks for the clarification.

Is there a reason to not use the full flamethrower effect? Are you afraid that would make it overpowered?

I guess I will have to research the cannon shell upgrades and see how that works .

PS any chance of adding modular armor to vanilla tanks?

[posila]

Is there a reason to not use the full flamethrower effect? Are you afraid that would make it overpowered?

Yes, tank is really good now and even though flamethrower is not as powerfull as it was in 0.14, in combination with tank it might be much powerful than anything else on the same technology level.

I guess I will have to research the cannon shell upgrades and see how that works .

That's the spirit

PS any chance of adding modular armor to vanilla tanks?

As far as I know, there is a chance. Well, not modular armor, but enabling equipment grid and adding equipment for vehicles.

[Escadin]

It was last minute addition. Intention was to give tank some short range AoE to roast group chasing you or clear your way in a forrest.
We reused flamethrower effect and ammo and called it flamethrower, even though mechanics of it are different. We will change that in future. I am thinking something like "acid cannon"

I'm super excited about the acid cannon idea. I just know you're gonna nail the aesthetics! If it's anything like the new pumps this is going to be

!!!!


If I may add a suggestion about the tank's other visuals (though including any future acid cannons):
Could you add more animations to it like the one you have for pump docking onto tank wagons? What I have in mind is a comparable animation for every vehicle weapon that is played while you are switching to said weapon. For example, while you're switching to the cannon the tank will extract it's telescope chass. Or while switching to the flamethrower / acid cannon a pump like sprayer fed by hoses folds out from behind the tower and brings itself into a position facing your target.

I hope you enjoy making animations

[Escadin]

PS any chance of adding modular armor to vanilla tanks?

I'm sure wearing and using your own modular armor while driving the tank is still a thing. It wasn't all that great before but they buffed the shit out of discharger and personal laser defense and all these gimmicks should still work while inside the tank.

[posila]

I'm super excited about the acid cannon idea. I just know you're gonna nail the aesthetics!

It would be just change of flamethrower effect to something else, different icon and different ammo, no extra visuals on the tank itself.

[Escadin]

I'm super excited about the acid cannon idea. I just know you're gonna nail the aesthetics!

It would be just change of flamethrower effect to something else, different icon and different ammo, no extra visuals on the tank itself.

Just my luck

However, you are still planning a HD version, aren't you?

[vanatteveldt]

I guess I will have to research the cannon shell upgrades and see how that works .

That's the spirit

That worked pretty well . With all lvl2 upgrades I drive in, use the regular cannon shells to kill the spawners, and then the flamethrower / acid cannon to kill the biters. Of course the tank gets damaged, but in .14 you have to drive circles and hit each spawner three times, now they die immediately, which makes the whole thing a lot more fun . The tank seems indeed quite good at mid level (I see big biters but also still a lot of smaller biters), wondering how it will keep up later.

PS any chance of adding modular armor to vanilla tanks?

As far as I know, there is a chance. Well, not modular armor, but enabling equipment grid and adding equipment for vehicles.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I think it would be really cool to have that on tanks (for shields, mainly) and trains (for roboports). I know it can be modded in, but I like to play vanilla (except for helper mods like creative mode and helmod)

[Nasabot]

I actually liked the old flamethrower more.. Partly, because the new one requires more skill to aim^^

[StoneLegion]

I'm super excited about the acid cannon idea. I just know you're gonna nail the aesthetics!

It would be just change of flamethrower effect to something else, different icon and different ammo, no extra visuals on the tank itself.

So red flame acid ?

[obuw]

PS any chance of adding modular armor to vanilla tanks?

FYI Bob's mods include vehicle equipment, but you might already know that since you said "vanilla tanks".

[Escadin]

I tested the new personal laser defense in combination with the tank. It is absolutely INSANE. You should definitely give it a try!

Static discharger is next.

[StoneLegion]

I tested the new personal laser defense in combination with the tank. It is absolutely INSANE. You should definitely give it a try!

Static discharger is next.

I love me some discharge!

[vanatteveldt]

I tested the new personal laser defense in combination with the tank. It is absolutely INSANE. You should definitely give it a try!

Static discharger is next.

Excellent. I had somehow assumed that the personal modular stuff wouldn't work (although I knew that the personal roboport works from within a train, so no idea why I thought that).

(Researching portable fusion as we speak, but my god science is expensive on marathon! The fusion power tech alone costs over 230k copper and 160k iron.... and 85% of the copper is in the hi-tech packs... time to open some more copper mines!)

[wwdragon]

It was last minute addition. Intention was to give tank some short range AoE to roast group chasing you or clear your way in a forrest.
We reused flamethrower effect and ammo and called it flamethrower, even though mechanics of it are different. We will change that in future. I am thinking something like "acid cannon"

I wholeheartedly disagree with this whole acid gun idea.
It's a waste of design time and prevents using the ONE thing that is ideal for clearing biter bases!

Seriously, please just make it a flamethrower, like the handheld one and give it a bit more range, like the tank based smg!

[Distelzombie]

It was last minute addition. Intention was to give tank some short range AoE to roast group chasing you or clear your way in a forrest.
We reused flamethrower effect and ammo and called it flamethrower, even though mechanics of it are different. We will change that in future. I am thinking something like "acid cannon"

Hm... Acid would also have an effect over time. Make it a flechette gun. 'Those things exist irl. I'd like that

[vanatteveldt]

If the flamethrower is not on the table I would go with poison gas, although the effect would have to be more immediate than the current capsules. Even better, use the capsules as ammo but have a 'nerve gas' capsule that has the same AoE but more immediate damage and/or temporary incapacitation. That way it would be a good 'crowd control' weapon but not be OP against bases, which is what the main gun seems to be defined for.

[Vykromod]

It was last minute addition. Intention was to give tank some short range AoE to roast group chasing you or clear your way in a forrest.
We reused flamethrower effect and ammo and called it flamethrower, even though mechanics of it are different. We will change that in future. I am thinking something like "acid cannon"

I wholeheartedly disagree with this whole acid gun idea.
It's a waste of design time and prevents using the ONE thing that is ideal for clearing biter bases!

Seriously, please just make it a flamethrower, like the handheld one and give it a bit more range, like the tank based smg!

I agree with the above. Seriously, please, at least leave an option to choose between the flamethrower and the acid spray.

First off, shooting stream of fire really fits the tank. Together with the cannon and the MG it really works well with the aesthetics and the feel of an armored, tracked battle vehicle and its gritty dieselpunk technology. Shooting acid doesn't really fit the picture.

Furthermore, having both handheld flamer and the tank secondary weapon use the same ammo raises the value of the item and makes it much more worthwhile to build production line of napalm cans. If the tank at one point won't use it anymore, I'll have doubts if I I'll even bother making a dedicated flamer ammo assembly, since I rarely use the handheld flamer as a main gun anyway (my main weapon of choice is rocket launcher).