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 the Soldier to maintain the additional mobility from rocket jumping while not being dependent on the 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%.
