Gas Mine

Basic Info

Cost:

• 650 gold in T1/TG
• 500 gold in T2

(not present in T3)

Attack: known only to deal damage to Fire Elementals

Usage

• Knocking out (without killing) almost all human and many inhuman characters.
• Extinguishing torches, fireplaces, camp fires and any type of open fire-based lighting source if it is not too high up and out of reach.
• Setting traps at key locations before baiting or ambushing enemies.

Tactical Information

If the regular Mine is described as a static Fire Arrow, then these are the static equivalent of the Gas Arrow. Like other throwing items, the Gas Mines are thrown to the ground when used. When they touch the floor, they activate. After that, it is all a matter of whether someone walks over them or close enough to trigger them. If a Mine is triggered, it explodes into a cloud of knock-out gas, which has the same properties as the Gas Arrow. Every character that is vulnerable to the gas will be immediately rendered unconscious after a single Gas Mine explodes near him, with the exception of Undead creatures, Air Mages, the Mechanist Frogman, and Tree Beasts. This allows Garrett to get rid of someone without dealing damage (especially humans on Expert Difficulty). The Gas Mines have the same tendency as regular Mines to slide when thrown to the ground, causing noise, making their good of their placement difficult at times. To overcome this, try placing the mines from a more vertical angle or drop them with default 'R' keybind. In Thief 2, the mines can be picked back up if approached carefully and one of the Lock Picks is used on them. This feature is not present in Thief 1 or Thief Gold; it would be wise to not make the attempt.

Gas Mines actually appear very rarely in the merchant shops and are mainly found while exploring the world. Their capabilities are enviable but their price is questionable. Although the idea is that a Gas Arrow is could be a potentially better investment than a Gas Mine, this is relative depending on the environment and type of enemies encountered. If the mission is in a human populated area, then focus on gas equipment, with arrows as priority and mines as backup. If gold is scarce or the mission involves monster killing, buy only a Gas Arrow and spend money on other equipment.