Flamer

Description
Introduced in 2025, the standard Flamer taps into a BattleMech's reactor to produce heat in the form of a plasma release. An extremely short-ranged weapon, the Flamer is devastating against infantry, however damage done against other 'Mechs and vehicles is negligible, though it can raise the enemy unit's heat levels. The Flamer is also often used to set ambient objects such as trees aflame, making it useful for burning forests or cities in order to slow the enemy down or cover friendly movements. A clear example of such weapon usage in a 'Mech is the Firestarter BattleMech.

Models
Flamer is manufactured on the following planets:

Related Weapons

 * The Vehicular Flamer is a less advanced version of the flamer which can operate on vehicles and mechs that are powered by internal combustion engines and hydrogen fuel cells by using volatile fuel as an ammunition source. Besides being usable by such low-cost units, combined with its own very low price point, it lacks any advantages on the modern battlefield and should probably be avoided on mechs which run on Fusion Engines.
 * The Fluid Gun (and its weaker civilian-grade cousin, the Sprayer) could be argued to be a more versatile evolution of the Vehicular Flamer, since by being loaded with the right fuel it could easily serve that function.
 * The ER Flamer is a more advanced version of the flamer which sacrifices some of its effectiveness at raising enemy heat levels in exchange for a longer range, which could make it useful in some situations.
 * The Heavy Flamer is, quite simply, a more powerful version of the flamer, with both the advantages and disadvantages that might imply.
 * Both the Plasma Rifle and Plasma Cannon could probably be considered to be the pinnacle of heat-inducing weaponry, but they are also both fairly late to the game.
 * Inferno missiles serve a very similar function and role to flamers, except that the heat is delivered to its customer by means of a guided, rocket-propelled warhead, with the downside that the raw explosive damage potential of the missile had to be sacrificed.
 * Incendiary munitions for Autocannons were invented by the New Avalon Institute of Science, but they don't have any effect against BattleMechs in their currently published form. Not to be confused with Incendiary Ammo for personal weapons such as handguns and crossbows.