The Gunboats will function as long as they are equipped, and do not need to be drawn like other weapons. The Gunboats reduce the amount of self-damage that is received from rocket jumping. The damage reduction does not apply to rockets that injure other enemies, unless the damage is dealt by the splash radius of a rocket jump. They also do not prevent fall damage suffered by the player.
The Gunboats allow a Soldier to maintain the additional mobility from rocket jumping while not being dependent on a Medic's help to keep him from killing himself from self inflicted splash damage.
December 17, 2009 Patch (
WAR! Update)
- The Gunboats were added to the game.
December 22, 2009 Patch
- Updated the Gunboats to absorb damage from any self-inflicted rocket blast that doesn't hurt another player.
January 13, 2010 Patch
- Fixed the Gunboats absorbing damage from the Soldier's Kamikaze taunt.
April 28, 2010 Patch
- Fixed a case where The Gunboats didn't apply their damage reduction properly.
April 30, 2010 Patch
- Fixed the Gunboats not properly applying the damage reduction when Spectators are nearby.
May 12, 2010 Patch
- [Undocumented] Added crafting recipe for this weapon.
July 8, 2010 Patch (Engineer Update)
- The reduction in self damage is reduced from 75% to 60%.
