Grenade launcher (dNetHack)
| ) | |
|---|---|
| Name | grenade launcher |
| Appearance | strange broken crossbow |
| Damage vs. small | 1d2 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d2 |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | firearm |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 1500 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 55 |
| Material | iron |
- For the weapon in SLASH'EM and its derivatives, see grenade launcher (SLASH'EM).
A grenade launcher is a type of weapon that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. The grenade launcher is a large futuristic launcher, making it two-handed for most medium-sized heroes, and uses the firearms skill. It is designed for use with frag grenades and gas grenades.
The grenade launcher has a default material of iron, and appears as a strange broken crossbow for heroes in most roles when unidentified—Anachrononauts, Androids, Pirates, and Undead Hunters will instead see the unidentified item as an "unfamiliar heavy gun".
Generation
Anachrononauts (including Androids) start each game with knowledge of the grenade launcher's unidentified appearance.
Grenade launchers are not randomly generated, though they can be found in bones and can only be wished for by Tourists—note that wishing for one by appearance (i.e. a "strange broken crossbow") will yield a rifle instead of an auto shotgun, due to multiple items sharing that appearance.
Several grenade launchers can be found on the Anachrononaut quest: two chests in the northeastern-most hall of the base on the Anachrononaut quest home level each contain a grenade launcher, with one also containing 8 stacks of frag grenades and the other contains containing 8 stacks of gas grenades; two grenade launchers are randomly placed around the locate level and each of the lower filler levels at level creation; and another grenade launcher is randomly placed around the goal level at level creation. These also appear on the Android quest, though the grenade launchers in each chest only have a 1⁄2 chance of generating.
Only Undead Hunters can create a grenade launcher by manual smithing if they know the item's appearance.
Description
A grenade launcher has a range of 6 squares with a base rate of fire of -3, which typically renders multishot nearly impossible for the launcher without an incredibly high enchantment. Grenades "thrown" or fired from a grenade launcher will detonate upon hitting their target square regardless of if they were armed beforehand—the explosion will destroy bullets and other similar ammunition caught in the blast, increasing the fireball's size if any grenades or other explosives are consumed this way.
Origin
A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, smoke or gas-based warhead. The term in modern times generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary grenade cartridges—the most common type are man-portable, shoulder-fired weapons issued to individuals, although larger crew-served launchers are issued at higher levels of organization by military forces.
Grenade launchers are produced in the form of standalone weapons (either single shot or repeating), or as attachments mounted to a parent firearm, usually a rifle. Larger crew-served automatic grenade launchers such as the Mk 19 are mounted on tripods or vehicles. Some armored fighting vehicles also mount fixed arrays of short-range, single-shot grenade launchers as a means of defense.
Notably, the grenades fired by modern grenade launchers are not hand grenades: While devices to fire hand grenades have existed in the past, they were never terribly common, and were also more similar to a catapult or a mortar; SLASH'EM's tile appears to depict a standalone grenade launcher similar to an M79, which is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break-action grenade launcher that first appeared during the Vietnam War, and fires a 40×46mm grenade which keeps recoil forces low via what the US Army calls the High-Low Propulsion System.
