How to use flares?

[AbusingBruno]

I like the fact that you have an infinite (albeit slowly recharging) amount of them, but I still don't know how to properly use them. I end up using them as less powerful nukes, but that doesn't work, especially against very high power enemies (eg Calamari) even if throw all 3 of them at once. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[RT1]

By the time you really start to need flares if you choose that path, you should have already started building your defenses--arc flares and their associated upgrades and all the shield upgrades you could get your hands on, because once the meteors and rainbow delights start raining down, it's those that will be doing the bulk of the work.

Use the flares to pre-empt enemy ships from taking formation above the city--especially the purple or white ships. Honestly if your gun is sufficiently strong enough and you have an acceptable arc flare setup and shield recharge rate, you'll rarely need to use your flares until the late game where you'll mostly be using them against the boss ships.

After your defenses are built up and you have a cobalt gun that fires at a pretty fast clip, start picking up repel upgrades, which will help you keep crap away from your shield. You'll find that in the late game, you'll need to fire flares just above the city to help control the onslaught until they're gone.

About the only enemy that will give you any real trouble on the flare path besides the Calritti thing, are the shielded tanks that roll in from the sides. They're pretty damn annoying.

Good luck out there.

[Napalm Sushi]

Don't throw multiple flares at once, especially not at the same spot. They're not a weapon in themselves; they just extend your arc flail's field of fire, so having more of them in the air doesn't increase your damage output. If you want to do that, you need to buy more arc flail upgrades.

[Grackopolis]

Good advice has already been given here! I'll also post my 3 cents in the Gameplay thread...

Hermit is almost exclusively how i play UMF, so here's my best advice to you.

1) Get flares as quickly as possible. In the beginning, and especially as you power the arc up, it is important to note that one zap from a flair can be far more powerful than your other primary (railgun). As such, it is a powerful and renewable ally in maximizing your damage to enemies as soon as they are onscreen. Flare excels at mitigating enemy rockets and bombs, and is utterly devastating against the beefy asteroids that block your railgun fire so often.
2) As has already been mentioned, remember that flare is literally just an extension of the arc flail. Your ability to arc strike enemies is restricted to your reach. Your arc can only send out/strike one arc chain at a time....so REMEMBER that if you hit'em high, you can't hit hit'em low on the playing field at the same time. You CAN alternate strike locations, but it is all first come first serve within the striking reach.(expandable later on) For this reason, be mindful of what is in the sky near your flare. It can take away the focus of arc flail damage in other areas if you aren't careful. It's for this reason that launching more than one flare at a time is usually not advisable.
3) ALWAYS keep a flare in the sky. I can think of no reason to not have one in the air unless you are intentionally not wanting to strike enemies out of flail range. (Uncommon). Initially the time between refreshers is slow so you will have to be more generous in spacing your launches out. After you upgrade things enough, you can keep them in the air back to back without ever worrying about running out. Initially you will want to keep it at the top of the screen to maximize your reach. In late game you will likely want to be more directly with its placement for focused attacks.
4)Late game enemies ships (remind me of the E.T. movie ship) send highly armored and slow-spinning balls into the air that are almost purely for the purpose of side-tracking your flare. Your flare likes these babies more than the other enemies that are a higher threat, so either aim your flare away from them to avoid the theft of your firepower, or railgun them and their supply ship down immediately.
5) Learn to trust your arc weapon. Once you become proficient with directing and telegraphing the arc you can count on it like a second player and duel focus your attacks. You will be able to take out enemies more efficiently once you learn to work as a "team". Together you can effectively be striking on two sides of the screen at once. Or, highly focused attacks on one area together.
All in all, it is a highly effective weapon once you realize its strengths and weaknesses.

Get it early. Use it often.

Side note: some enemies are actually highly weak against arc flail specifically, and others are more resistant. Learn which is which. The tall walking stick ground enemies are very weak against arc for example.

[AbusingBruno]

I have just seen the replies. excellent stuff! thanks guys, I'll try your suggestions next time I go hermit!