Let’s first begin by listing the squad rosters for 7-man squads, so everyone can use this as a reference.
Let me pre-face this with my personal expectations from 7-man squads:
A dedicated frontline combat squad
Different combat playstyle compared to a 9-man flesh-sacrifice squad
The ability to mix varied troops in for flexibility
The ability to have 2 engineers without sacrificing squad default firepower *The real personal opinion
As it stands right now, flametroops are niche infantry.
Exclusive to its own squad. You can’t slot them into other squads like gunners, snipers, assaulters, etc.
Flamethrowers can only be used by the player
Flamethrowers are situational weapons, meaning that the majority of time, the flametroop will be using his rifle.
The unremovable flame tank effectively reduces the soldier’s stamina to 1/3 the default. It also prevents the usage of both non-flamethrower secondary weapons and backpacks.
In Moscow and Berlin, the high campaign level needed to unlock basic flamethrowers are so high that they are impractical to level, in comparison to the other 7-man squads.
Flamethrowers themselves:
Require an urban or close-quarters situation to be effective
Create hazards that make it difficult to immediately capture the ground they clear
Cannot be truly used for indirect fire, meaning it is not an alternative to using grenades to clear a room. The flames will only appear on the spot the flamethrowers show up in, meaning that to harm someone, ones needs to directly burn them with a stream, or put them in a situation where they have to cross the flames. The flames neither arc downwards, as a stream of liquid fuel would, nor do the flames spread the more one tries to burn a single area.
It is entirely possible to shoot back for trying to burn someone with a flamethrower stream before they die
TL;DR They’re only a sidegrade for CQC situations than when using a gunner or assaulter squad, or even any squad member with a grenade given their TTK
Now, the original point:
Neither flametroop squads nor flamethrowers themselves are viable for anything other than memes.
With a flamethrower squad, you, at most, only have 2 automatic weapons that you and/or the bots can use. If you decide to go double engineers for redundancy, then you only have 1 automatic weapon available.
Due to the arbitrary 2-flametroop limit and having 2 fixed trooper slots, you effectively have 5 riflemen max, until you end up in a situation where a flamethrower can be used. Meaning that you are an understrength trooper squad without the firepower as other 7-man combat squads. Exacerbated by the effectively lower stamina on the 2 flametroops you can put into the squad.
They don’t have the flexibility of other squads. You have to choose between automatic weapons combat utility like bombers, snipers and engineers. Whereas the other 7-man squads can field automatic weapons, a sniper/bomber and have 2 engineers or radiomen.
This could be remedied in a few ways, like:
Adding more branching choices to the squad itself, making it at least as flexible as its counterparts
Reworking the class in whatever way seems balanced- I haven’t personally explored this in depth.
I’m frankly only identifying the problems with the class and squad. Whatever fix you guys can think of, please pour them out here.
Doesn’t the tier 2 flamer squads have two assault spots? But I agree about the flamethrowers they need at least a range buff. They keep everything else historically op, bombers, tanks, ect.
Why not the flamethrower, it’s at max 4 soldiers a game. Something that niche needs to be awesome.
A flametroop squad’s maximum output for firepower is 2 assaulter weapons, and 5 rifles with 2 flame secondaries
A gunner squad can have 3 gunners, either a sniper or bomber, and 3 rifles
An assaulter squad can have 4 assaulter weapons, 1 gunner or sniper, and 2 rifles.
The flamethrower squad effectively has more rifles unless both flamethrowers are in active use- Which isn’t the case since it’s a situational player-controlled-only weapon. So it doesn’t have the firepower of its counterparts, with a utility/niche they too can perform.
Trouble is, if you change the squad to have more autos, then it’ll just become another assault squad.
Yes it’s mostly rifles, but I actually really like the squad composition.
Have 2 Assaulters, 2 flame troopers, an engineer and 2 troopers and you have a nice selection of weapons.
Issue is, the other squads can have a similar setup.
To make a repeat statement: The flamethrower squad effectively has more rifles unless both flamethrowers are in active use- Which isn’t the case since it’s a situational player-controlled-only weapon.
If they remove 1 fixed trooper slot in exchange for another assaulter or a sniper, it would give the squad more use as they’d have the option for a sniper, or 2 assaulters, 2 engineers and 2 flametroops.
The prime issue is that the squad itself is not in-line with the others, so as a 7-man assault squad, it underperforms. Moreso considering the fact that flametroops are exclusive to its own squad. And I must reiterate that for all intents and purposes, flamethrowers are only a sidegrade, if not worse than, SMGs/LMGs when it comes to clearing a point, and they can only be used at close range.
A gunner squad can have a maximum of 3 automatic weapons, but they excel at all ranges, and can have a sniper. They also have 2 engineers or radiomen.
An assaulter squad can have a maximum of 5 automatic weapons, or 4 if they pick a sniper. They also have 2 engineers, bombers or radiomen.
A flametroop squad can have a maximum of only 2 automatic weapons without a 2nd engineer, and no other utility. If you pick a bomber, and double engineers, you essentially only have a 7-man rifle squad, with 2 members having a stamina penalty.
In the first place, flamethrowers aren’t even strong enough to warrant being put in more limited numbers in its own specialized squad. Using said squad is effectively shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to combat effectiveness as its neither as flexible nor as useful.
To put it bluntly, it’s the worst squad of all 7-man squads to field. Something I want to be changed.
I don’t mind the composition of the squad currently, although wouldn’t be against the option of a couple more assault soldiers being allowed seeing as it is such a close range focused squad.
One change I would like to see is the effect on enemy units near the flames. Something similar to how explosions affect your vision/aiming when they happen nearby. I imagine the intense heat and a jet of flame in a room right next to you would have some psychological affect on your decision making in the moment, and feel this can be better reflected in game. It is annoying to get within the range required to us the flamethrower only to have the soldier you start to fire upon turn around and nail you while burning, or someone just hiding around the corner of your jet of flame just wait a moment before popping you.
I don’t know how balanced such an effect would be, but would like it explored somewhat. I think that would bring up the usefulness of the flamethrower while not fundamentally changing how it currently is, because in the right situation, it is very effective. It is just so limited currently for the optimal situation and this may just open itself up to be more useful on bunker assaults where it really should shine.
I don’t know how the flamethrower fights in reality, but in the game, its damage is too low. It is easy to be killed by a rifle when used, and the flame will not spread, nor can it ignite anything. Obstructing one’s own path, in short, it’s very useless
The way I see it, flamethrowers are good weapons, but not good enough. To me, they have a threat level comparable to a low-level German or US SMG. Add to that the utility of denying large areas to the enemy but also the ability to set oneself on fire really easily. Quite good indoors, if you favour a methodical approach. Pretty bad everywhere else.
I think the squad composition is fine. Lots of automatic automatic weapons should be reserved to the appropriate squads. The main strength of the flamer squad should be its main weapon.
And if the flamethrower were a little bit better, the lack of automatics wouldn’t be missed.
The arcing jet was a great idea already. It would be quite an asset in certain terrains, like amongst rubble. You can shoot from behind cover or into cover. Also, I would like it, if the flames produced a lot of thick, black smoke, like they do in real life. You still can’t fight distant enemies with this weapon, but you can block their vision for a short time. The flame jet should also fan out a bit more over distance, but not much.
Damage shouldn’t be touched, though. Flamethrower should remain a specialty weapon and not be just a stronger SMG.
