Firetick

Attack

The firetick in equipped with an integral flamethrower. This is an area effect weapon which applies continuous damage to the target for several seconds.

Range: 8 metres
Damage: 350
Damage type: burn

Defence

Soft: 50%
Universal: 40%
Hard: 35%
Burn: 90%
Laser: 50%
Plasma: 60%
Warp: 0%
Paralyse: 50%

Health: 3,500 hit points

Distribution

Fireticks can be found in any land that has not been absorbed into the Biomass, and they first appear between the Area-51 mission and the Kasputin Yar mission. Because of their size, they are not encountered in the second stage of an establish base mission.

Tactical notes

A firetick’s integral flamethrower is so powerful that it can wipe out your entire squad in a matter of seconds. If you start a mission close to a firetick, it may even be necessary to abort the mission. Fortunately, the range of their flamethrowers is limited and they are very slow moving.

The impressive armour and large number of hit points mean that a firetick takes a lot of killing. Incendiary weapons are practically useless, but its armour is ineffective against warp weapons. Also, the sheer power of hybrid plasma rifles compensates for the armour.

The slow pace of a firetick often gives your soldiers a good chance to kill it before it gets close enough to use its flamethrower. If it gets too close to comfort, you should instruct your soldiers to run away and then start firing on it once there is a reasonable amount of space between them and the firetick.

Fireticks can be captured alive without too much difficulty, although they are too big to carry. A firetick will become unconscious when its health reaches 500 hitpoints, 14% of the starting total.