Burst

Flag:	Burst
File(s):	rules(md).ini
Values:	Signed integers: All whole numbers from -2147483648 to 2147483647; in rare cases, only from -32768 to 32767.
Default:	1
Applicable to:	Weapons

Defines the amount of shots this weapon can fire in succession without having to stop and reload or wait for the ROF to pass. If set to more than 1, then each shot's origin (FLH) inverts the lateral component. For example, a Burst=2 weapon fired from a unit with PrimaryFireFLH=100,50,20 would fire two shots without stopping, and the first shot would come from 100,50,20 and the second one - from 100,-50,20. The third shot, if the weapon were to allow it, would come from 100,50,20 again. And so on.

Notes

• Firing animation lateral offsets are reversed when multiple bursts are used. See this article for more information.
• ROF is applied only after all burst shots have been fired.
• In Red Alert, a TechnoType with the same Primary and Secondary weapon will be able to fire both weapons consecutively, effectively doubling the weapon's Burst.
• For an Aircraft that has passengers, when it fires to perform the kick passengers action, this value determines the number of infantry passengers kicked per each fire.

Bugs/Side-Effects/Unexpected Limitations

If a unit with a multiple burst weapon (Burst > 1) destroys its target or is assigned a new target before it has fired all shots, the game resets the burst counter, but does not also restart reloading. The result is that the unit can attack the next target immediately, with a fresh set of bursts.

Given that the delay between bursts is usually shorter than the reload time, this gives an unfair advantage. Given that manually changing targets or issuing a Stop command also resets the burst counter, this can be exploited.

• Ares 3.0 fixes this by not resetting the burst counter.
• Starting from Phobos Build#46, resetting the burst counter is allowed again and another set of rules is permitted to be used; this feature is disabled by default. Refer to Phobos documentation.

Aircraft with Fighter set to false or those using strafing pattern (weapon projectile ROT below 2) only took weapon's Burst into account for the first shot, not for all shots.

• This bug has been fixed in Phobos Build#12.
• In the kick passengers scenario mentioned in #Notes, strafing airdrops one passenger at a time, ultimately resulting in a full row of airdropped passengers. After the bug fix mentioned here, Burst, due to its defined function of airdropping a certain number of passengers per time, determines how many rows are airdropped in the final performance.

Footnotes

See Also

• BurstDelay – defines the delay between each burst.