6 replies to this topic

[Chive On]

So, last night I was spectacularly perished by of all things flamers.

The first time, I thought wow you don't see that a lot. The second time, I suffered flaming evisceration from a Sider D with at least one flamer. He/she jumped about and took out at least four mechs.

SO, as an avid Spider player (Avid/not great) I loaded up my Spider D with an ER Large and a flamer.

10 assists, crazy high damage, and 1,700 XP later, I feel like something has changed.

Maybe I missed a patch note? I was shutting mechs down and was a jumping flaming nuisance.
Oh, and I put my Clan Warhorn on my Spider, didn't know you could do that either.

Thoughts???

[IraqiWalker]

As long as you don't boat them, and if you have multiples, chain fire them, you should be fine.

Many people don't know what to do with them, and they blind the day lights of your enemies. Also, most people don't know that firing energy weapons while under the effect of a flamer is an almost guaranteed shutdown

[Chive On]

When I was hit with the flamer, I had open spots and my components imploded (quickly)

When I used the flamer on a Centurion, He shut down immediately; maybe he was firing energy weapons like you said.

I've used flamers before (after watching Koniving videos) but last night they seemed "different", better, more powerful.

Could have been the Captain Morgan though

*edited to spell Koniving right?

Edited by Chive On, 24 July 2014 - 04:40 AM.

[Rushin Roulette]

Probably was the Capt. Morgan (That in combination with an open fire is a sure way of toasting your opponent... or your own monitor). The Flamers have been changed since quite a long time now (deffinitely more than half a year) and cause more heat to the target (capped at 90% heat from the flamers) and less heat to you and a raised crit chance.

Players who know how to use the flamers well, can deffinitely cause a lot of chaos and destruction to an enemy team and their setup (Taking out a energy heavy sniper or 2 is easy if they are close to each other).

[IraqiWalker]

Chive On, on 24 July 2014 - 04:39 AM, said:

When I was hit with the flamer, I had open spots and my components imploded (quickly)

When I used the flamer on a Centurion, He shut down immediately; maybe he was firing energy weapons like you said.

I've used flamers before (after watching Koniving videos) but last night they seemed "different", better, more powerful.

Could have been the Captain Morgan though

*edited to spell Koniving right?

Flamers work like MGs on internals by the way. Increased crit chance, and annoying visual effect.

[Pekiti]

Flamers are the energy weapon form of a machinegun, but they are less effective because they do generate heat for you and they have less range. You use them for crit-seeking, the same way you use a machinegun. If your target has exposed internals (the more locations the better) your flamer can rapidly rack up multiple critical hits. This is especially valuable against exposed ammunition stores (arms on clan mechs, legs on most everyone else).

If your target is running hot (using a lot of energy weapons and/or PPCs) your flamer might keep them from firing or even cause a serious overheat shutdown. If they have already overridden their heat warning, you can cause them to explode.

The flamer makes it difficult for the target to see, if you aim for their cockpit, and is one of the only weapons that hits the cockpit location easily - if you see an exposed cockpit location, it is always worth using your flamer on that mech. Remember to stand to one side of the target if you are trying to keep them blinded - if you are directly in front of them, they may not be able to see your mech but they can see their red crosshairs just fine. A good place to use this blinding effect is inside tunnels, narrow alleys, and canyons - assuming you can position yourself above and to one side of the target.

Downsides of the flamer are pretty big though. These include generating heat for yourself (yes you can shut yourself down playing with fire, who knew?), blinding yourself (depends on where you have them mounted), very short range, almost no damage unless you are attacking an exposed internal area. It is also easy to accidentally sweep your flamer across an ally who has exposed internals (during a crowded brawl, for example) and cripple/kill the wrong target. Just like everything else, once you press the trigger, Mr. Flamer is not your friend. Flamers are also one of the most attention getting weapons you'll see on the battlefield. Using one insures that any chance you had of being overlooked in the confusion is gone. I have killed more than one light mech who I hadn't noticed until he lit off a flamer in the distance, marking his position for my follow up PPC/Laser attack.

I too have run my Spider with a laser+flamer combo. I call it a Firebug, and it can be fun, but its not the most effective build for me.

Edited by Pekiti, 24 July 2014 - 01:30 PM.

[Wintersdark]

Flamers generate exponential heat - the longer you fire them, the more heat they generate per second. You can take two and chainfire them, and this negates the exponential heat generation so you can have the equivalent of one flamer burning with 100% uptime, however.

They're really not good against experienced pilots, but if you're new - and your opponents are new, or poor players - the blinding effect can really be potent.

Remember, Flamers are 99% visual effect - they fire a beam, like a laser, as a hitscan weapon. The cone of flame is all visual, not effect.