Time Bomb of the Ancients

A Time Bomb of the Ancients.

The Time Bomb of the Ancients (called Delmintalitar's Time Bomb of the Ancients in the manual and FIREBOMB in the source code) is an artifact in Heretic. It looks like a floating hourglass. When set, a Time Bomb of the Ancients floats where the player was standing for 40 tics, then explodes and deals damage another 6 tics later. It causes splash damage 128 units in radius, with 128 units of damage at the center.

This item is included in the items percentage displayed at the end of each level.

Strategies

• When the player is being chased by hordes of monsters, it can be effective to leave behind some Time Bombs to clear them away.
• The Time Bomb also acts as a grenade, being very good at clearing rooms with weak monsters. It is overall an extremely effective way to deal significant amounts of damage.

Bugs

If the player is below a ledge and stands directly against the boundary line between the low sector and the higher one, it is possible to spawn a Time Bomb on top of the high sector from below. This can potentially be exploited to damage otherwise unreachable monsters above the player.

Data

Time Bomb of the Ancients data
Thing type	34 (decimal), 22 (hex)
Enum	MT_MISC5 (14)
Appears in	Shareware Heretic Heretic/SSR expansion
Radius	20
Height	16
Sprite	FBMB
Frames	1 [E]
Class	Item Pickup
Flags	8388609 (decimal) 00800001 (hex)
Flags list	0: Can be picked up 23: Affects item %
Flags2	524288 (decimal) 00080000 (hex)
Flags2 list	19: Float bobbing movement

Appearance statistics

In the IWADs the Time Bomb of the Ancients is first encountered on these maps per skill level:

Single-player
Game / Episode	1-2	3	4-5
City of the Damned	E1M2: The Dungeons	E1M2: The Dungeons	E1M2: The Dungeons
Hell's Maw	E2M3: The River of Fire	E2M3: The River of Fire	E2M3: The River of Fire
The Dome of D'Sparil	E3M2: The Cesspool	E3M2: The Cesspool	E3M2: The Cesspool
The Ossuary	E4M1: Catafalque	E4M1: Catafalque	E4M1: Catafalque
The Stagnant Demesne	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs
Fate's Path	E6M1: Raven's Lair	E6M1: Raven's Lair	E6M1: Raven's Lair

Multiplayer
Game / Episode	1-2	3	4-5
City of the Damned	E1M2: The Dungeons	E1M2: The Dungeons	E1M2: The Dungeons
Hell's Maw	E2M2: The Lava Pits	E2M2: The Lava Pits	E2M2: The Lava Pits
The Dome of D'Sparil	E3M1: The Storehouse	E3M1: The Storehouse	E3M1: The Storehouse
The Ossuary	E4M1: Catafalque	E4M1: Catafalque	E4M1: Catafalque
The Stagnant Demesne	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs
Fate's Path	E6M1: Raven's Lair	E6M1: Raven's Lair	E6M1: Raven's Lair

The IWADs contain the following numbers of Time Bombs of the Ancients per skill level:

Single-player
Game / Episode	1-2	3	4-5
City of the Damned	62	38	24
Hell's Maw	69	46	33
The Dome of D'Sparil	56	43	28
Heretic (registered)	187	127	85
The Ossuary	88	77	65
The Stagnant Demesne	72	54	40
Fate's Path	24	24	24
Shadow of the Serpent Riders	371	282	214

Multiplayer
Game / Episode	1-2	3	4-5
City of the Damned	92	66	48
Hell's Maw	75	52	39
The Dome of D'Sparil	75	62	47
Heretic (registered)	242	180	134
The Ossuary	88	77	65
The Stagnant Demesne	72	54	40
Fate's Path	24	24	24
Shadow of the Serpent Riders	426	335	263

Other games

Hexen and Hexen II have similar items, the fléchette and the Glyph of the Ancients respectively, but their effects are slightly different depending on the player's character class.