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. They are not consumed and do not use any ammo.

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

Grenades can be thrown straight for up to 4 tiles.

Frag grenades are weapons. They take up the weapon slot and will not run out of ammo. Grenades are blocked by walls, but the blast ignores cover. When choosing a target, a circular zone will generate to indicate range, then another 3x3 indicator with a circular center will become the aiming spot.

Frag grenades deal 50 Bomb damage in a 1.9 tile radius. Bomb damage deals 4x damage to structures and terrain, and 8x damage to walls. They are thrown from a very short range of 12.9 tiles and have moderate aiming time. Once landed, grenades have a 100 ticks (1.67 secs) delay before exploding. With a forced miss radius of 1.9 tiles, an unobstructed grenade always lands within 1 grid tile (including diagonals) of the target. Therefore, the blast will always hit the intended tile. This means Shooting skill, shooting accuracy, and health of the grenadier is irrelevant. Aiming time effects 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.

Frag grenade range and AOE.
Red = Radius which grenades can land.
Sterile tile = Tiles at risk of explosion.

Item

When damaged with Flame damage^{[How much?]}, the grenade item 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

As a weapon

Grenades are highly effective in a melee block cenario

Frag grenades are most useful in the following circumstances:

Melee blocking. Have 3 melee pawns line behind a doorway / hallway, as shown in the picture. Line a grenadier within 4 tiles of the hallway, and let them fire. Frag grenades are obscenely effective weapons as they can hit a clump of enemies with the full explosion. Melee blocks are very effective against melee enemies, such as manhunter packs, infestations, and melee-only raids. Grenades can destroy walls within a 2-tile radius
Structure destruction. Grenades are very effective at destroying walls and turrets due to Bomb damage's multiplier. Good against mech clusters especially as blind smoke has minimal impact on grenade use. You can destroy your own walls as a trap, though molotov cocktails may be better for this purpose.
Attacking enemies in cover. Grenades ignore the cover mechanic, and enemies are stationary targets. While you usually shouldn't let your enemies have cover in the first place, this fact can be useful in certain points in the game.

Grenades offer a viable combat alternative for pawns with health issues or low skill, due to large blast radius, and the forced miss mechanic ignoring accuracy. 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.

Fighting against

Hostiles with grenades are very dangerous, especially against stationary targets like Mini-turrets and drafted (standing) colonists in cover. 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. Grenadiers may be used as part of dedicated breach raids for outlander or pirate factions.

Like any ranged weapon, grenades can't be thrown in melee combat, so rushing them in melee will practically neutralize the threat. As raiders prioritize the nearest target, they'll target melee colonists, only to invariably miss as the target is moving.

Non-combat utility

Frag grenades are useful when destroying walls and other objects. Because they don't cause fires, you can throw them at an ignited object, which will end the fire (by destroying the object).

Frag grenades can also be used to clear items, such as dumping zones. When dealing with flammable objects, it's less work to light them on fire instead.