Flamethrower.

you are afraid amber lash of searing flame lungs filled with acrid smoke you ought to be afraid you're made out of meat the flamethrower a terrifying weapon capable of fiery devastation and one so excessive it barely seems real so what practical purpose does such a weapon serve why is such a fearsome weapon so fascinating and what sort of maniac would wield one fire has a long history it's been used as a weapon since ancient times and it's easy to see why it's a destructive force that consumes all in its path and all it needs is ignition greek fire is the first weapon that could be described as a flamethrower a secret source of volatile compounds projected from ships in naval combat it was used by the byzantine empire from the 7th century and could set the sea ablaze as well as enemy ships it was a terrifying and effective weapon with profound impact the modern flamethrower as we know it today was a german invention the name flamethrower is a literal translation of flam and verfa the invention is generally attributed to richard fiedler a mechanical engineer from berlin while working on nozzle designs he was struck by the prospect of spraying a flammable liquid then igniting it to project a gout of flame his first flamethrower pattern was granted in 1901 and by 1905 a working prototype was presented to the prussian engineering committee for assessment in 1908 feedless flamethrower was assigned to the pioneer experimental company in two forms the gross lamin vertha or groff and in place weapon with a large tank and the kleinflemenverfer or clyffe a smaller backpack variant that could be carried 1914 saw the outbreak of the first world war and it was the winter of that year in the argonne against the french these flamethrowers were first fielded however they didn't prove particularly effective the cliff was too fragile too unwieldy and did not maintain pressure the germans saw their potential however and established the fleming virfa ab taelung redeman a unit armed exclusively with flamethrowers commanded by bernhard redeman who had played a key role in the technical development of the weapon their first attack was early in 1915 and they would see considerable subsequent deployment including the second battle of ipra and the battle of verdun some of the shortfalls of the cliff were addressed in 1917 with the introduction of the vexel apparat or vex it had a distinctive donut-shaped tank and was much lighter [Music] during the war redemand's flamethrower troops carried out 653 attacks 82 percent were deemed successful flamethrower attacks were risky but they could break through hardpoints and sap enemy morale like nothing else so in the decades that followed as the second world war loomed the flamethrower had not been forgotten with many nations preparing their own implementation the germans replaced their earlier designs with the flaming virfa 41 yet lighter more reliable and easier to operate the brits had the flamethrower portable number two which was a copy of the german vex the italians had the elancia fiama m40 the japanese the type 93 and type 100 and the soviets had the roks ii the americans introduced the m1 flamethrower in 1941 which used diesel oil or fuel oil and the revised m1a1 in 1943 operated at a higher pressure to facilitate the use of napalm instead by 1944 the m1 was succeeded by the much superior m2 with improved regulation ergonomics and a new rotary cartridge ignition system the m2 design was successful so much so that it saw use after world war ii in korea and even vietnam although here it was supplanted by the more modern m9 design flamethrowers remained decisive weapons during the second world war but combat was evolving armoured tanks more precise artillery an aerial bombardment in fact by the latter part of the 20th century the man portable flamethrower was largely obsolete flame tanks offered a much safer way to clear out entrenched enemies with none of the capacity or range restrictions a man portable device might impose besides these days it's much safer to just call it an airstrike than it is to attempt to burn them out so most contemporary use of the flamethrower is either for non-combat purposes such as controlled burns or clearing land or in cinema television and games here the flamethrower has evolved into its own unique thing terrifying and imposing on screen and rather than an infantryman you're more likely to see it in the hands of an action hero or a fictional super villain like hank scorpio or elon musk [Music] the flamethrower is rooted in its military origins however and most of its earliest appearances are in the hands of american soldiers think pork chop hell and hell is for heroes it's not often shown in use during this era immolation was a little too grisly for 1950s hollywood so most shots are reverse angle the hero's discharging flame towards the camera burning nazis implied rather than shone by the 1970s there was a shift when directors no longer shied from the horrors of war showing it center frame the deer hunter is one of the more memorable depictions focusing on the psychological effects of the vietnam war in games wartime settings became popular with first-person shooters towards the end of the 90s and although you won't find flamethrowers in the earliest examples the weapon would soon become a staple part of their arsenal amongst the first was world war ii gi which was built in the duke nukem 3d engine and released in 1999. call of duty was hot on its heels with the united offensive add-on for the first game featuring the german flamin vertfa 35 treyarch it seems and their precursor grey mata and directive have a bit of an affinity for flamethrowers the american campaign in call of duty world at war takes place in the pacific theater where there is copious deployment of the american m2 against japanese fortifications and the black ops series has flamethrowers as well either as a weapon attachment or as part of a specialist loadout fair to say then that military shooters are a bit of a hot spot for flamethrowers if it's a game set in either of the world wars or even vietnam then there's a fairly good chance you'll find one they're not confined to military shooters though there is a considerable intersection between the war and horror genres they share a common psychological aspect as terrible as it is the flamethrower fits this union perfectly it's a potent symbol of inhumanity the depths to which conflict can drive us i think for this reason we prefer to see such weapons used against inhuman enemies something for which we feel no empathy something dangerous enough to drive us to extreme measure an early example is them a 1954 science fiction film where giant irradiated ants terrorize the united states with the threat of widespread infestation the only hope is to purge their nests queen and all with cleansing fire this is parallel to the alien series in which incinerator units play a prominent role and prove to be a reasonably effective weapon against the xenomorph threat not as effective as nuking the entire site from orbit but it'll do in a pinch the alien franchise has exerted considerable influence on the sci-fi horror genre and there's no shortage of games that take direct influence prominent amongst them are bungees the marathon trilogy features a flamethrower first found in a level named smells like napalm tastes like chicken it's very satisfying to use against organic enemies the high-pitched screams of the thor as their scorched forms collapse is quite memorable the halo series features one too of course the flood burn quite nicely fire was used in a similar capacity in 1982's the thing with an insidious alien parasite masquerading as human a flamethrower is the obvious solution it seems they're a natural fit for horror sci-fi so while the necromorphs from the dead space trilogy are best dismembered the hydrazine torch remains effective the warhammer universe is no stranger to the flamer either where bullets fail fire prevails many of the scariest monsters in science fiction are bulletproof but fire fire consumes all it is an indiscriminate force burning friend or foe its alignment unarguably chaotic for that reason the flamethrower is sometimes used to denote a character or setting as anarchistic mad max 2 serves as a good example of this and a flamethrower wielding maniac doesn't look out of place in any post-apocalyptic fiction i think this goes some way to explaining the popularity in video games too the sandbox paradigm that seeks to give the player freedom you see that mountain you can burn it the nature of firebase weapons is particularly apt for emergent gameplay some games let you use fire as a tool of area denial setting the environment alight the far cry series is an excellent example notably far cry 2 which introduced the flamethrower a single spark inserts swathes of savannah alight whether you meant to or not this adds a chaotic element to encounters one which can be mastered and used to your advantage but one that can easily get out of hand and place you in a difficult situation i'm sad to say they toned it down slightly for the sequels but fire propagation remains present and the flamethrower a major part of far cry's charm one mission from far cry 3 is particularly memorable in which you incinerate a drug drop progressively becoming more affected by the fumes reminiscent of a similar task in grand theft auto san andreas another unifying trait of flamethrowers and video games is their ability to deal damage for a duration after the initial attack the afterburn setting enemies alight might not kill them immediately but once they're on fire they'll suffer continuous damage which might be enough to finish them off this has significant tactical impact in games like team fortress 2. with the pyro it's often best to hit and run then face your opponent at the bitter end let the fire do the work even in more realistic military shooters similar ambush tactics play to the strength of the weapon the luminous plume of the flamethrower attracts a lot of attention so the less time you spend in the line of fire the better once the novelty of the flamethrower wears off however it turns out that in many games they are generally not very viable weapons sure they're usually immensely powerful up close but their range is always terrible and ammunition very scarce this is exacerbated in multiplayer where balance is key and the flamethrower often made puny this is sometimes addressed by having it as a killstreak reward or as a strategic power weapon that must be captured but even so they remain a difficult class of weapons to use effectively to be fair this mirror is the real world flamethrowers are only needed in niche roles and carrying one makes you a priority target for the enemy it's hard to blame them who wants to be burnt alive the flamethrower is a frightful weapon that plays to our most primal fear born of grim necessity it is an illumination of horror fire is a savage beast and yet we think ourselves its master but be warned the barbecue's hot and you're in season the flamethrower incendiary intimidating infernal [Music] thank you very much for watching and until next time [Music] farewell

Channel: Ahoy

Views: 1,289,891

Keywords: xboxahoy

Id: xeMr9FhUC3U

Length: 14min 37sec (877 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/mengplex]

Aw damn. Good to see Ahoy back.

I used to absolutely love playing Pyro back in team fortress 2, the addition of an air blast seemed to smart at the time - a way to ensure that you weren't complete fodder to anyone that could engage you outside of your tiny range.

[u/Magnon]

For such an iconic weapon I don't think I can name even 5 series with flamethrowers I would consider good.

He shows off the BF1 flamethrower, which was good but harder to get. The far cry flamethrowers were great. Other than those 2 despite I'm sure using dozens of variants in games over the years, almost none are memorable or good. Maybe the GTASA flamethrower? Kind of crazy to think about how hard it is to balance and make fun a weapon that shoots gouts of fire.

[u/JW_BM]

“The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.” -George Carlin on the iconic Flamethrower

[u/gazongagizmo]

"you're more likely to see it in the hands of an action hero, or a fictional super-villain, like Hank Scorpio, or Elon Musk"

nice burn. nice burn, indeed.

[u/sirbruce]

The flamethrower was one of the most frustrating parts of Alien: Isolation. Yes, you were better off having it than not, but it was extremely limited. Fuel was scarce, and it was extremely finnicky to use. Hold the trigger for too short a time, and the xenomorph would just keep coming at you. Hold the trigger for longer than it took to drive it away, and you just wasted precious fuel you'd need for the next encounter. Use it at the wrong time, and the alien would knock you over as it ran away, doing considerable damage in the process.