Frag grenades

Frag grenades are short ranged, thrown weapons that have a forced miss radius but deal explosive damage in a small radius around their target.

Note that frag grenades, once equipped, can be thrown infinitely; they are not consumed by use.

Acquisition

Frag grenades can be crafted at a Machining table once the Machining research project has been completed. They require 20 Steel, 80 Chemfuel and 12,000 ticks (3.33 mins) of work.

They can also be purchased from orbital pirate merchants and orbital combat suppliers, outlander faction bases, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Grenadier	50%	Normal	70-230%
Grenadier	100%	Normal	70-230%

Summary

Frag grenade range and AoE

Frag grenades have very short range, moderate aiming time, and a 100 ticks (1.67 secs) delay before exploding in a 3x3 area, causes 50 Bomb damage to items and creatures, 200 damage to structures and terrain features, and 400 damage to walls. Each set of frag grenades can be thrown infinitely; they are not consumed by use.

They are thrown with the same animation as of shooting, they cannot be used over walls and must have a direct line of sight. A circular zone will generate to indicate range, then another 3x3 indicator with a circular center will become the aiming spot. The character cannot hold both the grenades and another weapon at the same time.

Grenades will always land within 1 tile of their targeted tile, including on the diagonal, unless the path of the grenade intersects with a wall or object. This forced miss radius means that Shooting skill and shooting accuracy of the grenadier is irrelevant. The grenades will not get any more or less accurate based on the skills or health of the thrower. Aiming time effects do still apply however.

When throwing a grenade down an 1-tile wide alley, a pawn can consistently throw a grenade 4 tiles, not including the tile the pawn is standing on, without intersecting the two side walls. Beyond 4 tiles, there is a risk of hitting the wall and dropping short. This can be relevant to prevent friendly fire or damaging defenses during combat.

When damaged with Flame damage^{[How much?]}, they may explode. The grenades will spark and emit a hissing sound shortly before exploding some time later. The explosion deals 50 Bomb damage in a 2.66 tile radius around itself.

Frag grenades have no quality - every set of grenades will have the same stats, regardless of the skill of the crafter.

Analysis

The main benefits of frag grenades are the strong damage versus structures and large concentration of hostiles in tight areas. It offers a viable combat alternative for those with low skill or health issues that diminish accuracy as it hits nine tiles at once, reducing target "miss" chances. Frag grenades strictly benefit from the trigger-happy trait, as the Aiming Time bonus applies while the accuracy penalty does not, resulting in a signficantly higher DPS. Similarly, the careful shooter trait is strictly detrimental, reducing DPS with no benefit in return.

Usage without oversight is prone to vulnerable positioning, inefficiency against moving target, and unwanted collateral damage.

Hostiles equipped with frag grenades are very dangerous, especially against your Mini-turrets and drafted (standing) colonists in cover, mostly because their casualties don't matter unlike player's colonists and will just charge forward without any care for their own safety, but of course will retreat under fire once half of their group has been killed or incapacitated. Players should pay attention to the "throwing" sound (a whooshing sound) and clear the area fast enough to avoid getting caught in its blast radius. A reasonably effective counter is to rush a grenade-equipped hostile with a melee weapon-wielding colonist. The hostile will prioritize the nearest target, since they are moving they will invariably miss, and then they will find themselves at a massive disadvantage in close combat. Another tactic that can be utilized is to find the frag grenade enemy, and focus fire on that pawn and only that pawn.

Melee Blocking

Frag grenades are especially useful when paired with the melee blocking tactic. While enemies are bunched up on the other side of a wall, a grenadier can throw grenades over the heads of the blockers to deal massive damage to many enemies. Just make sure that the extent of the AoE of the grenade is one tile away from the wall, as a mishandled grenade can blow a hole in the wall and ruin the melee blocking tactic.