Particle Disturbance Grenade
General Information
| Particle Disturbance Grenade |
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A proximity grenade which can be thrown like an ordinary grenade but is triggered by nearby movement after it is deployed. Skill and training are required to use these devices properly. |
Source: Terror From The Deep Ufopaedia
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| Particle Disturbance Grenade | ||||
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| Size (h x w) |
1 x 1 | 
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| Weight | 3 | |||
| D. Threshold | 150 | |||
| Sale Price | $400 | |||
| Research | ||||
| Action | TU | |||
| Prime | 50% | |||
| Throw | 25% | |||
| Damage | 70 High Explosive | |||
| Capacity | 1 | |||
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The Particle Disturbance Grenade is a moderately powerful proximity mine that is different from regular grenades as it is detonated by motion. When set it will explode if it detects movement into the tile that it occupies as well as the 8 surrounding tiles.
See below for a more detailed explanation on how the trigger mechanism functions.
The advantage the Particle Disturbance Grenade has over standard grenades is that once armed, it will stay armed until it is detonated. The mine can therefore be placed well in advance and you do not need to know the exact number of turns to wait before an enemy treads on it or stops nearby.
Its main weaknesses on the other hand are primarily user error: forgetfulness and bad placement. It is important that armed mines are kept track of to avoid nasty surprises, and to be careful with their placement so that you don't end up sealing off your only route out of an area. There is also the danger of mis-throws that can achieve a similar effect.
The Particle Disturbance Grenade is a useful tool for setting traps when alien traffic is expected. It can even be used in an almost conventional manner by throwing an armed mine directly at a visible alien, hiding and then waiting until the alien moves. This is especially useful against melee terror units that must traverse across a number of tiles to get into attacking range.
When inside labyrinthine interior levels it can also be used to seal off passages and act as a warning system against aliens approaching from the rear. Examples of such places include the shipping lane missions, alien colonies, artefact sites, X-COM floating base attacks or even larger alien submarines.
This weapon appears in Terror from the Deep. For the UFO: Enemy Unknown equivalent, refer to the Proximity Grenade. It includes more in-depth strategies and other technical details that relate to the Particle Disturbance Grenade.
| Key Features | |
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| Pros | Cons |
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Trigger Mechanism
The mine's detection radius consists of the same tile occupied by the mine, or the 8 tiles immediately adjacent to it. It only triggers when it detects movement into these tiles.
Extension range will extends through walls, so do not play mines immediately next to doors/walls, otherwise they will be wasted if triggered by movement behind the door/wall.
The mine only detects lateral movement, not horizontal movement.
Unit turning in place or walking out of the detection radius will not set it off. If an X-COM Aquanaut happens to be standing on top of an armed Particle Disturbance Grenade, it can can be safely picked up and re-deployed elsewhere.
Additionally, the sensor only detects laterally, not horizontally. This means that dropping into the detection tiles by falling or by Magnetic Ion Armor will not set it off.
Notes
- Large units: When mining large enemies, only one part of all its four components is used to trigger the mine, the others are ignored. The primary quarter is the top-left portion of large unit when viewed on the overhead map. Visually, this is the top-most section.
- Game limitation: Only 20 proximity mines can be armed at a time
- Armed mine flag is not saved in save games. Mines may revert to duds if the battlescape save is reloaded at a later date.
See Also
