I have never and will never call Minutemen to my aid. So why am I carrying it? It doesn't serve any other purpose.

get rid of the 3 lbs. I don't but would like to. Next outside fight I'm in. Finally used artillery wound up killing 1 ghoul and only because he got stuck on the environment. Then I was inside tried to throw a grenade and used a smoke bomb because it was still equipped. Need a grenade launcher for smoke grenades or maybe explosives 2 gives a longer arc.

Aren't they good for setting off gas leaks for when you don't have an energy weapon on you?

I used one, once, just to see if the minutemen actually help...it took the too long to arrive, so I never used one again.

Nope, haven't used one yet. I never think of it in the heat of battle.

Playing on survival, yes...I use it a lot. It's purely an early game item, though. I'm struggling with ammo a lot in the beginning so firing off a flare and having 3-4 minutemen show up really helps out when I'm clearing out a settlement.

The radiant quests are really not sensitive to your level, though. I've basically got a quest telling me to go way down south to help a settlement (higher level enemies down south). So, having that flare gun and help in a minutes notice really helps.

How quickly does help arrive?

edit: I just thought of a place I should have used one. I found a round stone tower, almost like a lighthouse, and once I climbed to the top some higher level bandits showed up. could have stayed in the relative safety of the tower and shot a flare. Dang it.

I like shooting corpses with it as the flare sticks out of them lol

I haven't used them yet, but does it spawn minutemen to come help you or do you have to have a settlement nearby and the settlers come help you?

Every time I've tried one, the system says "no help nearby." I always carry them, but yet to find them useful.

heh it fun watching the minute men die each time. most are sporting crap pipe pistols or rifles.

It's really short - less than 20 seconds. You need to be near an allied settlement, though. I fired off a flare once and had a message saying there were no nearby settlements to respond. Made clearing out that pier extremely difficult.

I've used them a number of times.

I used artillery on the quest where you first help Paladin Danse defend.. tossed it just outside the wall & significantly reduced enemy numbers & health. I also use it to clear out raider camps occasionally. Sneak up lob it over the fence & move back a fair distance and pick off anyone that leaves with a sniper rifle (though finding bodies is sometimes difficult).

I use artillery all the time, mostly because it's fun to watch. But I seldom remember to use the flare before I start a big fight.

i haven't used them i do'w want to get the minutemen killed

What's the range of artilery? Never thought to even use it as I figured you needed to be close.

Ive used it when doing a quest for the brotherhood of steel. About 3 to 4 minute men came sporting those laser muskets. Don't know if it was just good timing or the flare also called them in, but in addition to the minute men, a BOS helicopter came in and layed covering fire with the minigun...........

Good timing or did the flare call them also?????

BoS fly around damn everywhere forever so it was a coincidence

Damn.......and for a second, I thought I had friends : (

Nope. They just show up at convenient times to STEAL YOUR GLORIOUS GLORY.