Hi!
I'm pretty new to CC and have just recently started modding. My first patient has been the Dreadnought. I've been trying to do some small and simple mods, like swapping weapons and such, but they did not turn out very well.
Now however, I'm trying to make my latest test-subject have some kind of weapon that goes straight down, like the one on systmh's Widowmaker but with a fixed angle from the Dread.

The idea i have is that you could drop it on the surface over your foes brain and let it burn it's way down, like a surgical strike, directly taking out your enemy. It (the weapon) shouldn't be to strong and fast as I think that would be to easy and boring and I want the enemy to have a chance to do something about it.

Now, my problem is that I have no clue on how to make this thing work. After some experimenting (without any greater success), I managed to came up with the very bright idea to ask some people who might know how to do this, namely the people in this forum.

So: Dread, Surgical Strike-ish thingy, fixed angle of fire (or something...), straight down from the Dread (so if the Dread is upside down, the weapon fires straight up (maybe like a fountain)) and burning through the ground.

Any help with this (maybe not so dreaded) Surgeon-Dreadnoughts instrument will be greatly appreciated!
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(I have also searched, without reward, for a nice flamer for my Dreaded creations that doesn't do too much damage on walls, like the vanilla Heavy Flamer, but still works great on actors and robots, unlike the vanilla Light Flamer.
Suggestions are needed!)

As for the flamer, have you tried using the vanilla heavy flamer...?

And I think you can do this to the actual dread code:

To fix his aim straight downwards.

The weapon's angle is relative to the horizon, not the dreadnought's orientation FYI. You could do it with jetpack code though, not sure.

Two ideas:

One, you could make the flame an attachment, but then you wouldn't be able to turn it off.

Two, the Dreadnought seems limited in how high/low it can aim. I haven't checked how this is accomplished, but you could probably force it to only be able to aim down.

Yeah, there's some line in the actor's code that defines its firing arc, but the angle is absolute, not relative, IE if its max and min. angles are 0 and 0, it will only ever point straight towards the sky, no matter how the dreadnought is actually oriented.

Hmm. I recall all rockets having code that defines their initial velocity upon entering the scene. Will this apply to all MOs? If so, just give the flame particles a downward velocity in their own code, and set their FireVelocity to zero. If the defined velocity won't work, amp up the particles' GlobalAccScalar.

Ah, I might have been a bit fuzzy there.
Yes, I've tried it, but it's a bit overpowered. I don't think a flamer should be able to burn straight through reinforced concrete and hardened steel.
No, I'm looking for a flamer that works with gas (if fired into a room, it should fill up said room, ignite the air and set fire to everything in the room) and doesn't hurt the walls (too much) but kills creatures and robots. This is because I'm planning to use this "flameDread" primarily as a custodian or sentinel in my base where it, quite frankly, wouldn't do to go around and burn big holes in the walls everwhere.

Now, this flamer has nothing to do with my primary query, as I want the surgical-plasma/laser/something-thingy not to be a flamer but more like a plasma- or laserbeam, or perhaps like that Widowmaker weapon (particles (if I remember correctly), instead of a beam, burning through the ground).
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Yes, and I want the beam to fire down if the dread is standing, up if the dread is upside down and either left or right if the dread is on its side, depending on how it lies.
Maybe your suggestion with the jetpack would work somehow...

I think I remember having a dreadnought with a flamethrower. I'll try and find it for you.