Alien ignores flamethrower.

[Atom.Little]

What do you do when the alienh ifgnores the flamethrower:?

It's come at me from three different angles and rooms now and have ignored the flamethrower each time.

I'm in the process of trying to seal off entrances and exits after one of the guys on my team had to let it out when I successfully sealed the alien in the first time because he couldn't get my escape route to work. - It's the mission Waits sends you on just after you have the "moonwalk" as Marlow when he and his old team found the eggs.

Any suggestions? ... Thanks in advance.

......................
PS. I've already tried loading a previous save, but this is no longer a good idea because the alien has now learned the route I'm moving along, so doing this will likely make the mission impossible to complete if I try it again (have done that before and ended up being forced to start the whole mission over....hours of gameplay lost, along with the fun you have when you play.

[The Brown Hornet]

Sometimes it runs right through the flame and kills you regardless, that's what makes the A.I. among the best in gaming

[Atom.Little]

Originally posted by The Brown Hornet:

Sometimes it runs right through the flame and kills you regardless, that's what makes the A.I. among the best in gaming

Yeah, the problem here is that it doesn't run through the flames sometimes and kills me, it does it every time. I was at the end of the mission when it started, I couldn't finish. So I eventually started the mission over from scratch. No change. I've also tried changing difficulty, played Normal and even Novice because I hoped it would make it easier to outsrnart the AI, but I honestly didn't detect much difference - a few things with the mechanics, but no difference with the xenomorph (the alien).

I don't see how I can complete the game this way, now I'm stuck at the beginning of the mission instead of at the end, lol. But it really sucks, because I may have to start a completely new playthrough - again.

Y'know, I'd just like to play the game, from start to finish.

Thanks for replying, by the way. :)

...................
PS. I do agree the AI in this games is one of the best I've ever experienced, and when it works as intended I really enjoy the game.

[BigGarlic-805]

I've noticed 2 types of responses to flames.
*You can completely scare it off if its hissing/unaware of you and you burn it enough
*or it will ram you and then run away.

Later will happen if it's already to determined to run after you and you burn it, again, just enough. note that you will take dmg when it knocks you to the ground so make sure your health is not low when this happens.

have you tried molotovs ? they should work the same way

[NinthElement]

You have to start firing the flamethrower quite early, otherwise the alien will be too busy running at you to retreat. As mentioned above, also make sure you have full health because the alien would usually only knock you over and do damage if you use the flamethrower too late.

[The Brown Hornet]

Use those noisemakers it will get you to the next level or to a save point

[NinthElement]

Yeah, it is possible to get through the whole game without using the flamethrower especially on the lower difficulties, but you have to master the stealth mechanics

[Atom.Little]

Originally posted by Aw.=w:

I've noticed 2 types of responses to flames.
*You can completely scare it off if its hissing/unaware of you and you burn it enough
*or it will ram you and then run away.

Later will happen if it's already to determined to run after you and you burn it, again, just enough. note that you will take dmg when it knocks you to the ground so make sure your health is not low when this happens.

Yeah, this has happened a few times. It happened three times in a row, and then a little later three times again. This was in one of the earliest attempts to get through this section (not the whole mission). Since then it just ignores the flames completely.

Originally posted by Aw.=w:

have you tried molotovs ? they should work the same way

I only have two molotovs and I've not found a whole lot of crafting material to build new ones so I'm saving them for when I have no more flaming fuel because I also know it's easy to miss the spot you intend to throw the molotov at plus I have to time it right.

[Atom.Little]

Originally posted by 9thElement:

You have to start firing the flamethrower quite early, otherwise the alien will be too busy running at you to retreat.

Yeah, during my first tries I tried to wait until the last moment before firing, hoping to save flaming fuel, but then it was always too late. I've had to do exactly what you describe in order to get anywhere. The problem is that I exhaust all the flaming fuel before I get half way through to the next save point, but as you say, it's the only way so the only option is to somehow not be confronted so often. As it is now, the alien is constantly in my face. I make it flee, and it will use the nearest vent to come back at me, obviously knowing exactly where I am because I haven't had time to move more than a few steps ahead (or backwards, as I sometimes try to alter my route in a hope to make my movements unpredictable. But it doesn't care about that, it knows the spots I have to pass through so I can't avoid another confrontation).

Originally posted by 9thElement:

As mentioned above, also make sure you have full health because the alien would usually only knock you over and do damage if you use the flamethrower too late.

Yeah, that's how it went. I actually ran out of medkits because of it, but I was eventually killed without having had any chance of using a medkit anyway. Still, in a more normal run-through running out of healing options would be disastrous, so it's a matter of balance - when to heal up entirely and when to move on with 85% health.

[Atom.Little]

Originally posted by The Brown Hornet:

Use those noisemakers it will get you to the next level or to a save point

The strange thing is that the alien doesn't care about the noise makers. I've seen it stop and look only once, but it very quickly picked up on where I was again, because when I threw the noisemaker it bounced off from something and hit the corner of a table which made it glide back towards where I was when I threw it, and the alien arrived so fast that I didn't have time to put any distance between it and myself. I would still like to use them, but after that first time, the alien no longer shows any interest in them.

There's something strange about the way the AI has been scripted. I watched an interview with the devs who explained that the alien learns from how the player character acts in the game and alters its own behavior accordingly. And it's true, I can confirm that it does without a shadow of doubt learn how to be more effective in it's attempts to stop and kill you - and dude, does it get more effective at it! But here's the thing: It doesn't just learn from how you behave when you succeed in getting from A to B, which would be the natural way to learn. No, it also learns from how you behave when you fail and die!...So you could say that it learns from behavior that never happened because if you die and have to start over, you never behaved the way that the alien learns from, since it never happened.

[Atom.Little]

Originally posted by 9thElement:

Yeah, it is possible to get through the whole game without using the flamethrower especially on the lower difficulties, but you have to master the stealth mechanics

This is exactly the impression I have. The two first times I died in this dying-loop I'm having were accidental and had nothing to do with how I act to avoid the alien. Both were due to chance encounters with other survivors and happened near the elevator that would have finished the mission if I'd managed to use it. After that the alien made sure to turn up near the elevator, and since then I haven't even got that far. I would then get to the save before that, until yesterday. Now I don't even reach that point either.

[Atom.Little]

I've already started the whole mission over once, and yet it ended up getting worse when I reached the same point in the game as last time. I may have to start the game over from scratch. But I'm going to give it a couple of days more with trying to get past this point. Man, that would just be awesome.

Maybe I should take a few more chances with noisemakers and also see how a molotov works on the xenomorph.

Whatever the case, I still love this game to death, it's one of my all time favorites and always will be.

Thanks a lot for your replies, guys. :)

[mordsithmorgan]

Originally posted by AmaDraque:

Originally posted by The Brown Hornet:

Sometimes it runs right through the flame and kills you regardless, that's what makes the A.I. among the best in gaming

Yeah, the problem here is that it doesn't run through the flames sometimes and kills me, it does it every time. I was at the end of the mission when it started, I couldn't finish. So I eventually started the mission over from scratch. No change. I've also tried changing difficulty, played Normal and even Novice because I hoped it would make it easier to outsrnart the AI, but I honestly didn't detect much difference - a few things with the mechanics, but no difference with the xenomorph (the alien).

I don't see how I can complete the game this way, now I'm stuck at the beginning of the mission instead of at the end, lol. But it really sucks, because I may have to start a completely new playthrough - again.

Y'know, I'd just like to play the game, from start to finish.

Thanks for replying, by the way. :)

...................
PS. I do agree the AI in this games is one of the best I've ever experienced, and when it works as intended I really enjoy the game.

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but the more you use the flamethrower, the less effective it will be at dissuading the alien from coming for you... so you have to use stealth and silence as the first weapons in your arsenal.

[FuryI6I]

Greeetings Folks,
'Isolation, is a brilliant experience despite a lot of bugs but, as far I've experienced, the Alien doesn't ignore the flamethrower in this game. That being said, indeed, the Alien might run into your character and knock it down (or kill it) despite the use of fire in two cases, but for reasons:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• after the use of fire, you're simply on the path leading to the closest vent or door
• you used fire too late, when the Alien was already too close (often a corner situation)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1241895461
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1241895306
But honestly, the first case happened to me a lot until the moment that pushed me to mind all near vents (or door) before using fire. And when we talk about the closest vent (or door), it means the closest for the Xeno', not for you. So mind the distance & path before opening fire.
All the Best.

[Atom.Little]

Originally posted by mordsithmorgan:

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but the more you use the flamethrower, the less effective it will be at dissuading the alien from coming for you... so you have to use stealth and silence as the first weapons in your arsenal.

Yes, I was aware of this which is why I tried to use the flamethrower sparsely at the beginning, but eventually as I died more and more times I was forced to use more and more every time for it to have any effect. It also didn't help that I never had time to loot so I couldn't restock flamethrower fuel. It didn't - and doesn't - matter if I stealth or walk, the xenomorph knows I move erratically so it has figured out that the way to get me is to be close at my tail and, if I manage to loose it for a bit, it goes straight to the next bottleneck, the one spot I can't avoid to go through in order to get to the next stage.

I also have to admit that I once used too much fuel because I accidentally aimed the flamethrower right next to the alien, and it took me a little bit to correct the direction.

There are things I would have done differently - also with regards to how I use the flamethrower - if I had known that the alien learns from the behavior you had during parts that technically speaking never happened because you died and accordingly have to start anew. But those are exactly the parts that it learns from. I thought it would learn from your behavior in the progression of the game, not in the parts in between. And quite honestly, I still don't think it makes sense, but I understand that this is how the devs programmed the game in order to "force" the player to try out new tactics so the game doesn't becomes repetition on our part.

[Atom.Little]

Originally posted by FuryI6I:

Greeetings Folks,
'Isolation, is a brilliant experience despite a lot of bugs but, as far I've experienced, the Alien doesn't ignore the flamethrower in this game. That being said, indeed, the Alien might run into your character and knock it down (or kill it) despite the use of fire in two cases, but for reasons:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• after the use of fire, you're simply on the path leading to the closest vent or door
• you used fire too late, when the Alien was already too close (often a corner situation)

But honestly, the first case happened to me a lot until the moment that pushed me to mind all near vents (or door) before using fire. And when we talk about the closest vent (or door), it means the closest for the Xeno', not for you. So mind the distance & path before opening fire.
All the Best.

I have only played about half of the game so far, but I actually think the game has few bugs compared to most games. Maybe I've just been "lucky", because the times I've had bugs it was stuff like the following:

# A Working Joe magically appearing inside an elevator with me just after I'd successfully escaped him.

# The Xenomorph magically where I am and jumps me from around a corner even though I haven't moved or made any noise at all.

# The Xenomorph doesn't react to the flames from the flamethrower and jumps me as if I hadn't fired when it very clearly should've reacted and fled.

# A hostlile survivor shoots and kills me from around a corner through the wall.

These are the only types of bugs I can remember having encountered. That being said, I'm aware that there were plenty more when the game first came out, I've read about it and seen a couple on video uploads.

If I understand you correctly, what you mean to say in your last section is that we need to make sure the alien has a path by which to escape, and to make sure there is a certain space between ourselves and the alien, because otherwise we can't fire at it - or at least doing so if there's too little room will not have any effect.

You're right about both. The first has never been an issue for me because I've found it obvious that there wouldn't be much idea in firing at something you can't kill if you're doing it to make it leave and there's no way for it to do so. But the second one, about the space between yourself and the alien, I did experience that and learned it very early on. It can still be a littlebit hit or miss with the space if you have very little fuel and therefore don't want to fire before you're sure the flames will reach the target.

Originally posted by FuryI6I:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1241895461
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1241895306
All the Best.

Thanks. :)

Good pictures you've got there. Thanks for sharing.

I'll probably have to start a new playthrough since at this point I can't hardly even get to move when the game loads before the alien kills me. lol....But it's an awesome game, so I'll live through it.