Small Launcher

Small Launcher

The Small Launcher and its Stun Bomb are unique in the XCOM arsenal. It is a fired weapon which can knock units unconscious if they are caught in its blast. For more on reviving units, see Unconscious and Medi-Kit.

The Stun Bomb uses the same projectile and explosion graphics as the Blaster Bomb, which gives every commander a moment of sheer terror - then delight to find it was "only" a stun bomb. Stun bombs do not use waypoints, and leave no explosion damage. Thus, it is easy to distinguish between the two.

Stun Bombs never cause Fatal Wounds. One less thing to worry about. However, if a Soldier already had a Fatal Wound, note that they will continue to lose health while unconscious, and can even DIE. So if there is any question in your mind, check unconscious soldiers a.s.a.p.!

Note that aliens will not fire on unconscious soldiers. However, any unconscious soldiers caught in a subsequent explosion are always killed, if the blast strength was sufficient to cause ground items to disappear.

Likelihood of Being Stunned

XCOM soldiers in Power Suits (PSs) or Flying Suits (FSs) are unlikely to be knocked unconscious because their armor blocks most of the stun damage:

• 180 stun double damage maximum * 80% PS/FS stun resistance = 144 max stun damage after resistance,
• Minus 110 (FS Front) to 70 (PS Rear) Armor
• Equals 34-74 stun damage at most
• Soldiers have Health from 25 to 61

Experienced soldiers (Health >34) in a Flying Suit are very unlikely to go down, and in fact will usually have no stun damage at all. 144 is the max possible, but the average hit will be 72, which will not even breach FS armor.

Average damage by armor (armor averages are Front+Left+Right+Rear divided by 4) versus lowest recruit Health (25):

MTR: Stun Bombs never go through Under Armor, do they? Please delete this note if anyone can confirm. If they can, though, I need to modify average armor and percents here.

• Coveralls (average armor 8.25), no resist, 180 max stun damage: Max stun 172, average stun 82. 85% of the time, soldier with lowest Health (25) will be stunned (1-(25/172)). Max excess stun points can be up to 147 (172-25), so you may need up to 15 stimulants to recover!
• Personal Armor (average armor 40), 90% stun resist, 162 max stun damage: Max stun 122, average stun 51. 80% of the time, soldier with lowest Health (25) will be stunned (1-(25/122)). Up to 97 excess stun points possible (122-25).
• Power Suit (average armor 82.5), 80% stun resist, 144 max stun damage: Max stun 61.5, average stun -10 (no stun damage). 25% of the time, soldier with lowest Health (25) will be stunned (1-((82.5+25)/144)). Up to 36.5 excess stun points possible (61.5-25).
• Flying Suit (average armor 92.5),80% stun resist, 144 max stun damage: Max stun 51.5, average stun -20 (no stun damage). 18% of the time, soldier with lowest Health (25) will be stunned (1-((92.5+25)/144)). Up to 26.5 excess stun points possible (51.5-25).

Weapon Vital Statistics

Weapon: Small Launcher

• Firing Cost and Accuracy:
  • Aimed: 75% TUs, 110%
  • Snap: 65% TUs, 65%
  • Auto: Not Available (single shot weapon)

• Size: 3 high x 2 wide
• Weight: 10

• Cannot be bought
• Sell Price: $120,000
• Manufacturing Price: Total $116,378 each for 2 Workshops: 78,000 per unit, 900 Engineer hours, 1 Alien Alloy.
• Profit (inc. Alien Alloy): +$286 per month for 2 Workshops (97 Engineers with 3 Workspace requirements)

• Research Time: 550 Scientist Hours

Stun Bomb blast pattern in Desert

Ammo: Stun Bomb

• Damage: 90 Stun
• Size: 1x1
• Weight: 3

• Cannot be bought
• Sell Price: $15,200
• Manufacturing Price: Total $19,082 each for 2 Workshops: $7,000 per unit, 200 Engineer hours, 1 Elerium-115.
• Profit (inc. Elerium): -$1,392 per month for 2 Workshops (98 Engineers with 2 Workspace requirements)

• Blast Pattern (Desert terrain): Radius: 5 tiles, Diameter: 11 tiles

• Research Time: 180 Scientist Hours

Usage Notes

The following lists how many times a soldier can fire the gun by shot type continuously in any given round and the remaining percentage of any left over TUs that cannot be spent as a shot.

• Aimed: 1 Shot, 25% Remaining TUs
• Snap: 1 Shot, 35% Remaining TUs
• Auto: Not Available

Stun bomb hits count toward Firing Accuracy skill point increase. If you hit many aliens with one stun bomb, you can get many experience points with the one shot. It still counts towards experience if aliens are caught in its blast, even on the rare occasions that they do not get any stun damage (because their armor blocked it). See blast pattern (above).

The Small Launcher can also provide points to Reactions skill point increase, if fired as an opportunity shot. However, you only get one experience point per shot, even if multiple aliens are caught in the blast. (Technically, you were only reacting to one particular alien.)

See Also

• Alien Artefacts
• Weapons
• Unconscious
• Medi-Kit
• Stun Rod
• Soldiers
• Experience