Frag Grenade (Fallout 3)

The Frag Grenade is the first type of grenade found in Fallout 3, and is a standard grenade creating an explosive blast and dealing significant damage, with a high chance to cripple limbs. It seems to have the same blast radius as its more powerful energy-based variant, the Plasma Grenade. They are commonly used by melee equipped Raiders and Super Mutants when they are out of melee range.

Tactics and strategies
Thrown grenades are affected by physics; they may bounce or roll unexpectedly if not thrown carefully. However, in game physics can also be used to your advantage; such as throwing grenades through doorways or bouncing them around corners to attack enemies who cannot see you.

Grenades are targetable in V.A.T.S. Thus they can be shot out of the air, and shooting them whilst they are still held by the enemy they will (if successfully hit) detonate. Grenades can be thrown point-blank in V.A.T.S due to the fact you only take 10% of the damage in V.A.T.S. you would take when outside V.A.T.S.

A grenade that has been thrown toward you will show up on your HUD as a red arrow denoting its direction relative to you. Move in the opposite direction as quickly as possible to escape the blast radius and minimize the damage to both your overall health and your limbs.

It is also possible to plant a live grenade on an NPC by passing one from your inventory to the NPC's inventory via reverse-pickpocketing. This will kill the NPC, regardless of how much health he has, making the Frag Grenade far more deadly. If you get caught putting a grenade in an NPC's inventory, they act as if you were normally stealing something from them, and return the grenade to your inventory though it won't detonate.

If you use explosives only intermittently, then stick with grenades, as you can carry up to 40 of them at the same weight the Missile Launcher would occupy. However, if you really, really like using explosives, then the Missile Launcher is a better option, as missiles, being ammunition, are weightless. So you can carry far more missiles than grenades without wasting inventory weight.

Traps
It is common to find several grenades hanging on a string from the ceiling. These are called a grenade "bouquet" and will be activated with a nearby tripwire, dropping the grenades and making them explode on a timer. The bundle of grenades can be disarmed with a high enough explosives skill or can be shot down (this will cause them to explode). If you do accidentally activate the tripwire, it is possible to disarm the grenades as they fall, and pocket the grenades, but it is safer to try to run out the area, as the grenades are on a timer. Note that these grenades will not give the red arrow HUD warning. There also are rigged computer terminals, with grenades planted in the back. By activating the terminal, it triggers the grenades in the back panel. Its easy to tell that the computer is rigged if it has an antenna on the top. Aiming the target reticle at the back panel sticking out gives you the option to loot the grenade(s) in the back and re-arm the computer.

Behind the scenes

 * The Frag Grenade appears to be based on the Danish Håndbombe M/23, only it has grooves (resembling the Mk 2) around the middle section.


 * The Frag Grenade also does not appear to expel any fragments; the damage radius also supports this. It seems that the Frag Grenade works more like a Concussion Grenade.
 * Super Mutants call grenades "potatoes" or "hot potatoes", and similarly, Swampfolk call them "pineapples".

Bugs

 * Destroyed grenades; i.e targeted in V.A.T.S. and shot out of an opponents hand, have a condition of zero yet you can use other broken grenades to fix them thus restoring its firepower. This may not be a bug, as one could combine parts from two broken grenades to create a makeshift functional grenade in real life.


 * When a missile launcher is broken from launching a missile, if you have one grenade/mine of any particular type in your inventory, e.g. having one frag grenade, and it is the next weapon you equip (not hotkey, you have to open the Pip-Boy first and select the weapon), you will have unlimited ammo for that particular grenade/mine until it is unequipped. The next grenade/mine thrown after the first will be invisible while held in the player's hand but will appear once thrown. You will then preform the 10mm Pistol's reloading animation, and have another grenade ready to be thrown. This is an excellent way of obtaining many Bottlecap Mines as they can be disarmed and picked up, adding them to your inventory to be used at any time. V.A.T.S, unfortunately, cannot be used until the weapon is unequipped. It is important to note that when placing the mines, they should not overlap one another, as disarming and taking a mine beneath another will cause the top mine and any other touching mines to vanish.


 * Southwest of Bethesda Ruins you can find two raiders equipped with melee weapons and frag grenades. Both of them may spawn five half condition frag grenades, which do slightly less damage than normal ones. This makes them semi-unique, as grenades and mines are typically found in perfect condition.
 * Sometimes, when using frag grenades in V.A.T.S. a glitch can occur where during an entire round, all of your grenades will not do any damage to the opponent, no matter if they were on target or not.