New flash bang mechanic
Friends!
The mechanics for flash bangs are changing in the upcoming update. First a reminder of the basic principles of how these grenades work. Their explosion blinds all players within a direct line of sight for a short time, including allies. The flash does not deal damage, and the blinding does not keep anyone from performing any actions.
The current mechanics of flash bangs have several aspects that required improvement.
- At the moment of the explosion, one tracer beam is released toward the player’s camera, which, when it reaches a target, leads to blinding. However, if there is even an insignificant obstacle in the beam’s path (grass, fencing etc.), contact with the player’s camera fails and there is no blinding.
- If there are no obstacles in the beam’s path, blinding happens regardless of the camera angle in relation to the explosion.
In the upcoming update, a range of aspects of flash bang mechanics have been reworked.
Firstly, the number of tracer beams will increase. This means that if a direct beam from the explosion hits an obstacle or doesn’t reach the player camera, blinding may occur due to three additional beams also launched to the left, right and above at the time of the explosion (see screenshot #1) and reflected off nearby hard surfaces. In addition, there will no longer be an issue with the main direct beam failing to overcome minor obstacles as described above.
- The main direct beam will continue to apply the maximum blind in terms of duration and strength.
- When the main beam hits an obstacle, the blind duration and strength will be medium — blinding takes place due to the other reflected beams.
- When the reflected beams reach the player camera, the blind strength and duration will be the lowest.
Secondly, the area of effect of flash bangs has been reduced. As a consequence of this, the effect of its explosion will be more confined. This means that you will only be able to blind enemies at shorter ranges.
Thirdly, the position of the camera relative to the grenade explosion point will now influence the blind effect’s strength and duration (see screenshot #2).
- If the flash occurs right in front of the player (red zone) the blind effect will be the strongest.
- If the camera is slightly turned away from the flash (yellow zone) the effect will be medium in strength and duration.
- If the camera is significantly turned away from the explosion (green zone) the effect will be the lowest.
Thanks to the changes described above, players can reduce the blind effect by taking certain actions — such as turning the camera away from the flash. The new mechanic also makes flash bangs highly effective in enclosed areas, but practically useless at long distances and in open spaces. All this allows for a more accurate reproduction of the effect of real flash bangs.
Making this mechanic more complex also required changing a range of helmets with a reduction to flash bang effects. Due to the imperfection of the old system, some low-level helmets provided practically no protection against blinding, while more advanced helmets were too effective. To reduce this gap and get a guaranteed result from using flash bangs in any case, the defense stats have been reduced somewhat.
This thorough change to the blinding mechanics will encourage more strategic gameplay with flash bangs and will take their use to a new, more interesting level.
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