Grenade
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | frag grenade |
| Appearance | frag grenade |
| Damage vs. small | 3d6 fire explosion |
| Damage vs. large | 3d6 fire explosion |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | firearm |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 350 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 25 |
| Material | iron |
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | gas grenade |
| Appearance | gas grenade |
| Damage vs. small | 3d6 poison explosion |
| Damage vs. large | 3d6 poison explosion |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | firearm |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 350 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 25 |
| Material | iron |
Grenades are a new type of weapon in SLASH'EM. There are two specific types, the frag grenade and the gas grenade. Both are found on soldiers of various ranks; for specifics, see firearm.
Damage
Frag grenades do 3d6 fire damage that can degrade organic armor and destroy scrolls and potions, while gas grenades do 3d6 poison damage to any monsters that are not poison resistant. The explosion of a grenade on its own will create a blast radius, a 3 x 3 square (the same form as a fireball) centered on the grenade's landing point. Multiple grenades exploding on the same square may produce a larger blast radius. Also note that exploding grenades will destroy bullets lying on the ground. If an armed grenade explodes in your inventory, you'll take damage despite any resistances you may have.
Arming
Grenades will become armed when they are thrown or applied. Note that applying a stack of grenades in your inventory will arm the entire stack. A grenade will explode one to six turns after having being armed, depending on its BUC status:
- Blessed: 4 turns
- Uncursed: d2+2 turns
- Cursed: d5+1 turns
Cursed grenades additionally have a chance of not arming at all. The first turn in the above counts includes the turn taken arming the grenade. Note that the better the BUC status of the grenade, the more reliable its fuse length. Armed grenades can be kicked or picked up and thrown at other targets. The impact of a grenade always does 1-2 points of damage before the explosion.
Strategy
Grenades are not generally very useful weapons. They are heavy, and as compared to other firearms, they do comparatively little damage. A grenade launcher does little to ameliorate this situation, and is little better than throwing them. As a threat to the player, they are rendered harmless by fire resistance and poison resistance, both of which one is reasonably likely to have before meeting soldiers. Their main danger is that they can burn armor, and they destroy bullets on the ground. The latter can be a serious impediment to building up a large collection of bullets, so one should try to gather bullets quickly, and toss away any grenades that are thrown near them. Grenades are also useful to sell to shopkeepers, since they are relatively valuable and appear in good-sized stacks. Another way to deal with armed grenades is to put them into a container that is otherwise empty, such as a sack. You will hear a muffled explosion, but there will be no other effect.
Other things about grenades
Throwing a grenade into water, then seeing it explode causes the message: "You see a plume of water shoot up". If by some way you are fast enough to arm a grenade, drop it in a pit and fill the pit with a boulder, you will "hear a muffled explosion". This message is also shown when a frag grenade explodes in a container.
Origin
Grenade is a term for several types of small explosives, but most commonly refers to hand grenades, which are armed and thrown by hand. The idea of handheld explosives predates even gunpowder, with Byzantine soldiers throwing jars containing Greek fire. The modern hand grenade, armed by pulling a pin and releasing a hand lever, was developed in the years leading up to World War I, and first used in that conflict.
Both of SLASH'EM's grenades are fairly inaccurate: a frag grenade is a grenade designed to release lethal fragments over a fairly large range; the short-ranged fiery explosion in SLASH'EM is more characteristic of a high explosive grenade. Meanwhile, a gas grenade is not generally an explosive device at all: it is a canister designed to release a large cloud of gas over a period of time, more in the manner of a scroll of stinking cloud than a single explosion.
