Grenade does no damage?
 

I'm level 20 and I've just acquired the grenades. I've been trying to level them up for a few days now and have managed to gain all of 6 xp. So I'm still level one.
Personally I find them very difficult to use and I've noticed something. Following the idea of going to kingshead and taking out the "marching" officers (The ones in the group by the gates) I have waisted all 75 grenades a couple times now without doing any damage. I'd position myself behind them, throw the grenade, which would land right in the middle of them and then the little -250 damage markers would come up as if I were doing damage. After completely using up my 75 supply of grenades they'd all still be alive and lo and behold... all still have 100% health. I've tried this on several servers all of which had the same problem. Has anyone else had this problem? And how did you guys rectify it?

I think the Vets are kinda hard to learn how to throw grenades with. Might want to start with a stationary enemy. The main thing is to get a feel for how far or close your are, versus the angle of your screen. Kinda need to just play with it for a while to get the feel for them. You'll go through tons of grenades. Once you get it, they're pretty easy. Good luck :)

im having the sam issue

I wish I had an answer, but I had the same problem initially.

It was especially bad when I first got the grenades. I decided to try them against Fly Traps, so I could practice aiming. Well, I'd toss one at a Fly Trap, score an initial hit, but then nada. This happened over & over again, 'til I finally gave up. It was like almost all of my grenades were "duds".

Later that same evening, however, I went after the Vets that patrol in front of Fort Dundee on Padres. I don't know what made the difference -- they're about the same level, and, if anything, the Vets are harder to hit than Fly Traps -- but I was finally causing damage and scoring some rep.

I still got "duds" off & on over the next couple of weeks, but I could never figure out why. Sometimes I would successfully blow up an enemy, but then the grenades wouldn't work on the new spawn. Or I'd get halfway through defeating an enemy, only to have the grenades suddenly stop working and the enemy "re-set". I just got really good at paying attention to the health meter of my target. If I saw little or no effect after a few grenades, I'd stop wasting them.

FWIW, I've had fewer problems with "duds" as I've gone up in levels -- my grenades are now 11 -- so that might have something to do with it, too.

Ive had this happen, the part where it says your doing damage, yet there health does not move. very fustrating if you ask me. Ive noticed tho that the gernades almost hits, but just miss's. But its still close enough to inflict damage, but it really doesnt. I guess the dev's never heard the experession "almost only counts in horse shoes and hand gernades." haha.

Only thing that fix's the problem if it keeps have in step alittle closer to your target. Or get the...i forget the name of the skill...but the skill that you can throw a gernade redicoulously far and just hold the mouse button for a 1/4 sec and it should get there...cause if you hold it til its full you might be able to hit a neighboring island lol

I think I know the reason...
Grenades have to land ON the enemy to do damage to it and anything around it. If it hits the ground at its feet, it MIGHT do damage, but if it just lands NEXT to the enemy, chances are it won't do damage. This is why grenades are hard to train in the beginning - its hard to judge how high you need to angle the camera to throw far.

Well, if you have to hit EXACTLY on target, what's the benefit of a grenade? IRL one of the main dangers of a grenade is that it DOESN'T have to hit exactly on target, just nearby. This is a problem that should be fixed.

I'm pretty sure that is not the problem with the grenades. As I posted above, I had more difficulty trying to inflict damage on stationary Fly Traps than on moving Veterans, and I know I was hitting the Traps dead on.

I've also had targets move so that the red circle doesn't show at their feet -- yet they still register damage from nearby grenades.

Well since the devs finally fixed my grenade quest problem, i two have acquired them.

I found it relatively easy to level up to lvl 6..... I trained on fly traps... easiest target since there stationary.


I agree 100% with the statement that it only works if you hit them directly... or so i thought. Until i got a 2-3 crabs chasing me and they all take damage. It turns out the damage radius is increadibly small - so yes, a direct hit is required until u get to lvl 10 and can increase it (which i hope will be a significant amount).

If you just hit 'nearby', you can still see those -300 damage flying up, but upon inspection of the health bar you find out you have done no damage. The stun grenade is a lot better for leveling up since it does less damage, but i've noticed that the 'stun effect - (aka the 10 sec slow) has a far greater affect radius than the damage delt.

In one sense, i'd say the grenade damage radius needs to be vastly increased, but on the other side i gotta say if it does get increased to a larger radius, it becomes extremely powerful and unbalancing. I hope hte devs fix it so that the radius gets increased, but the the damage delt to nearby victims gets greatly reduced as opposed to the numbers i'm seeing now (even though they don't mean nothing atm).


As for aiming goes... get the "long throw" (whatever its called) upgrade asap - makes things a lot easier. U can aim laterally with your head / hat.. just line it up with the target... vertical alignment is harder, but with the long throw option its a lot easier as you merely hold down the button, look down and it will hit whatever is in its path (to some degree).


edit* .. as for best use for this weapon ... Since its a direct hit weapon, one would say why is this better than the already trained up cutlass ? Well Its a long-range high damage weapon u can use to open an engagement.... but i seem to find it very useful when dragging multiple higher lvl enemies.... since there all clustered up the grenade seems to be an optimal choice... just make sure you don't make the throw to short and damage yourself :D.

Aye, I've ruined many a fair pair of boots shooting too short. ;)

Until you get long volley (available at level 4), you have an extremely short range, and apparent hits at longer range will not do any damage.

i've had great success with long range shot... again .. its a thing of hitting them directly as there appears to be a bug with collateral damage.

Long range will do damage :)


Using grenades is just a matter of learning how to use them. Play with your screen angle and your throw meter. Get a feel for what works and what doesn't. Once you get the feel for them, you'll find it's really pretty easy to use. (I'm lvl 24 in grenades)

I wouldn't want grenades to have a larger damage radius. You'll end up affecting enemies you don't want to disturb.

Leveling grenades
 

I dont know if they are the best targets but I have found the witchdoctors a good target to level Grenades on.

Thank you for the flytrap tip.

I leveled up to level 2 on the second purchase that I made but I had to stand right in the leaves of the trap as I threw them at the stem to hit every time, not really tossing from far.

Also pick one that is green or yellow, not red so you stay semi-healthy.

At that close distance they dealt significant damage.

I realize this is not how one would use a grenade in real life, but it worked rather well.

I have go grenades up to lvl 8 now and have pretty much got started to get the hang of them, I dont think that the direct hit is fully correct especially when you look at the vets in kingshead as you can hit them all at the same time .

a lot of my leveling has been with giant crabs , throwing a grenade then walking back a bit and throwing another although this can be hard to get the hang of and getting the throw angle right is important as is getting the 'long throw' meter to the correct amount to land close enough to do damage.

one of the other ways I have used to lvl is to tag several rock crabs and once I have got their attention do the same thing walking back, throwing and moving back again.

if you want the cheaters way ... go to kingshead stand behind the fence and throw the grenades at the cluster as this way they cannot get to you.

I've found that the best way to level up my grenades is to first unlock the Hex Eater shot on my pistol, go to the beach on Padres, and shoot the gypsy until its voodoo level is down to nothing (2-4 shots, depending on the level) and then toss grenades at it.

You call it the "cheaters way", whereas I say that's just being a smart pirate. :dancetl6:

The game designers put the fence there and also limited the Navy's access to it and their attack ability. Therefore, it's a game feature (and not a bug) and can be utilized by those pirates savvy enough to take advantage of it.

lol sorry but gonna keep calling it the cheaters way :).

Also personally I find it too boring doing it that way as it starts to become just a grind when you are trying to lvl up as quick as possible without even a chance of getting kill , as ever entirely up to people and this is just my PERSONAL opinion :piratetongueor4:

People take advantage of the "cheater's way" in all games.
The benefit of a ranged attack in most games is to be able to attack an enemy from farther away to prevent yourself from getting attacked back. Typically, the drawback to using these is having some sort of stat drained (voodoo in this case) or ammuniton being used. So really, this isn't cheating.

SIDE TIP: Don't use Explosives, Stink Pots, smoke grenades, and probably siege charges when enemies are next to you. Why? Because the attack range of a grenade can hit YOU, too. Explosives and siege charges will do lots of damage, stink pots will slow you down, and smoke grenades obscure the screen, making it harder to aim somewhat.