Balloon Fish

Attack

A balloon fish is basically a suicide bomber. It floats towards a soldier and then blows itself up, injuring or killing the soldier in the process. The balloon fish is an area effect weapon.

Range: 2 metres
Damage: 900
Damage type: burn

Defence

Soft: 0%
Universal: 0%
Hard: 0%
Burn: 0%
Laser: 90%
Plasma: 0%
Warp: 70%
Paralyse: 70%

Health: 200 hit points

Distribution

Balloon fish can be found in any land that has not been swallowed up by the Biomass, and they can be encountered from the earliest stages of the game. Balloon fish are small enough to be encountered in the second stage of an establish base mission.

Tactical notes

The balloon fish floats through the air by using a hydrogen filled gas bag. It will try to get close to your soldiers and then blow itself up. Despite its ability to float through the air, a balloon fish cannot float over obstacles like buildings, walls and abandoned cars.

A balloon fish is only a threat if you only spot it at close range, such as when your soldiers round a corner or when they open a door. They are fragile and slow moving, so you should be able to take care of them quite easily in most other circumstances.

This species is a good argument in favour of mixing the weapons you take with you to a mission against the transgenants. Laser beams pass through the mostly transparent balloon fish without damaging it, but other weapons will kill it quite easily. The high fire rate of pistols and personal defence weapons makes them particularly useful against balloon fish in the second part of an establish base mission, where space is often limited.

It is impossible to capture a balloon fish alive under any circumstances.