Fuel Rod Gun

Were you looking for the closely related Fuel Rod Cannon of Halo 2&3?

The Fuel Rod Gun is a Covenant indirect-fire energy mortar with ground and air applications.

It should be noted, though, that the Fuel Rod Gun is featured only in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo PC, and should not be confused with the closely-related Fuel Rod Cannon of Halo 2 or Halo 3. The Fuel Rod Gun is purple, with a gray muzzle and green energy bar on its left side.

Introduction

The Fuel Rod Gun is the Covenant analog of the M19 SSM MAV/AW Rocket Launcher. It fires eerie green pulses of deadly radiation that transverse to the target in a parabolic arc. This indirect line of fire makes the Fuel Rod Gun often a difficult weapon to wield. In the PC version, the fuel rod gun is rarely used. It runs as another battery operated weapon, and overheats for a while after five quick shots. Indirect hits will barely be effective, and direct hits are nearly impossible. But, it has the ability to partially stun a hit target, so a bombardment can take out one, but leave the wielder vulnerable for too long to live. So, this weapon has been labeled as either a noob weapon or a weak weapon.

Furthermore, it was impossible to pick up discarded Fuel Rod Guns from enemy corpses in the Halo: Combat Evolved campaign, as there were fail-safes that made the weapons self-destruct with the force of a Fragmentation Grenade. These fail-safes were evidently stripped away in Halo PC multiplayer.

Disadvantages

The Fuel Rod Gun does not have a tracking device like the bolts of the Plasma Pistol (which are semi-homing), and its fiery energy pulses are slow. At long range, it normally takes multiple bolts to kill a hostile, as a curtain of fire has to be laid down, and the overheating of the Fuel Rod Gun is not conducive to streams of radioactive fire. At short range, however, a single direct or almost-direct hit can be devastating, killing an enemy in a single hit.

Furthermore, the large size will often obscure one's vision, making it harder to see who's there to kill the wielder of this ungainly weapon.

Appearances

Hunter

File:Fuel Rod Gun.jpg

The Fuel Rod Gun of a SpecOps Grunt

A Special Operations Grunt shoulders a Fuel Rod Gun

File:Afuelrod.jpg

A fuel rod midflight

The Fuel Rod Gun is the signature of a Hunter, regardless of Halo: Combat Evolved or Halo: PC. They lob green bolts of lethal energy at great distances, and are extremely intimidating, coupled with the physical statures and armor of Hunters. But once they are killed, they cannot be taken by the player - or anyone else - because the gun is "in" the Hunter's armor. Hunters also are very very slow with firing Fuel Rods, it takes them a minute to decide to fire then it takes ten seconds for it to fire.

Grunts

The Fuel Rod Gun is also mounted on the shoulders of many Special Operations Grunts in the later levels in either Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: PC. This is rather remarkable however, considering the hefty weight and bulk of the mortar. Although rare, sharp eyes players may have noticed that some Major Grunts carrying Fuel Rod Gun in Two Betrayals .

Multiplayer Tactics

The Fuel Rod Gun is wieldable by the character only in Halo PC multiplayer, not in Halo: Combat Evolved campaign nor multiplayer, and neither Halo PC campaign.

Being an effective suppression weapon, a common tactic in multiplayer Capture the Flag is to bombard the enemy base from afar with a Fuel Rod Gun. Furthermore, the gunner can fire from a position obscured from enemy view, owing to the indirect-fire properties of the Fuel Rod Gun. Since the view of the targeted area is mutually obscured from the gunner's position (due to having to compensate for the arc and having to aim high), such is unlikely to kill a player, but it is intended to at least deal cover fire for an assault on the flag, and most likely to inflict damage on the flag carrier. Note that the Fuel Rod Gun's splash damage is similar to the ones of a Rocket Launcher. If fire at very close range, the projectile will most likely to harm the player slightly.

It is considered by many to be a noob's weapon, where an under experienced player can get an unfair kill with little skill by simply shooting another player twice which is more than enough for a kill. An easy way to dodge the blast is simply to sidestep, where as when the user overheats the gun, the opponent will most likely take the opportunity to fight back.

The high ammo capacity, rate of fire, and damage of the Fuel Rod Gun makes it a force to be reckoned with.

Trivia

• When you kill a Grunt with a Fuel Rod Gun in Halo: Combat Evolved, you can´t grab it. Upon its owner´s death, the gun will emit a stream of green smoke then explode after a short delay, making it a hazard for anyone in the immediate area--especially if there are grenades nearby.
• When using the Bump Possession cheat in Halo CE to control a Hunter, holding left click down and repeatedly right clicking allows the controlled Hunter to rapidly fire its Fuel Rod Gun without overheating. Whether this accelerated manner of attack is actually utilized at all in AI controlled opponents' behavioral patterns is unknown.

Character Compatibility

• Elites
• Spartans
• Marines (Corporal Locklear wielded one in Halo: First Strike)
• Flood Combat Form (Human) (have animation but not used)
• Flood Combat Form (Elite) (have animation but not used)
• Grunt
• Hunters

References

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