Rocket Launcher
The rocket launcher is the equaliser of the conventional ranged weapons. It's slow, it's heavy, but its severely limited ammunition is balanced by its sheer brute force. Although the alien Blaster Launcher is superior, the Rocket Launcher is cheap and ammunition is easy to obtain in large quantities.
The rocket launcher is the most accurate weapon that can be fired in a straight line, surpassing even the dreaded Heavy Plasma or the weak X-Com standard rifle. It's slow, but the amount of firepower packed into that single shot makes up for this many times over.
There are three rocket flavours, each with their own pros and cons. The launcher may only be loaded with one rocket at a time.
Small Rockets are literally light rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). They are the lightest in weight of the three types of rockets and well suited for weak recruits. Unfortunately, Small Rockets do not work very well against heavily armoured units, like the Cyberdisc.
Large rockets are the mainstay ammunition of the rocket launcher. They are identical in function with the small rocket, but have twice the firepower and are slightly heavier. Strong soldiers should be equipped with a launcher and a full complement of large rockets (three in backpack, one in tube). If the soldier is mobile, then another soldier could carry another four for the heavy weapon soldier. Despite the extreme weight, the large rocket is the most destructive and powerful ranged weapon available to X-Com personnel at the beginning of a new campaign.
Incendiary rockets are special "Willie Pete" shots (white phosphorus) that serve a variety of purposes, depending on the situation and the tactics employed. One of the most common uses is to illuminate a battlefield at night, the other primary use is to set fire to it. The one thing the incendiary rocket cannot do is provide instant kills on most enemies. The Large Rocket serves that role a lot better.
The incendiary rocket has the largest detonation radius of all the incendiary weapons, thus it will cause a lot of fire to form on the battlefield - perfect for illumination, or to clear the battlefield of thick shrubs and to slowly roast aliens to death.
To better understand how the incendiary effect works, refer to the incendiary section.
Stats
Rocket Launcher:
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Small Rocket:
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Large Rocket:
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Incendiary Rocket:
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Tips
- Try to use Aimed shots. You don't have many reloads.
- Use in a support role, not for scouts.
- Don't bother saving time for reaction fire. Too much friendly fire risk. Move instead.
- Firing from an elevated position or Flying Suit at a downwards angle will guarantee an (eventual) impact with the ground.
- Since rockets explode, direct hits aren't compulsory. If you think you might miss your target, try aiming for a nearby building instead.
- Rockets are good for demolishing cover (trees, hedges, buildings) at long range, reducing the need for messy close range combat.
- Firing a rocket at the ground will generate an instant smoke cloud, instead of waiting a turn for a smoke grenade to go off. If a scout encounters too many aliens spaced too far apart or an alien that cannot be killed by a single large rocket, and supporting troops cannot get a line of fire, the scout can use this technique to make an instant smoke screen and retreat on the same turn. Even if supporting troops cannot get a line of fire to the aliens, they may be able to fire a rocket between the scout and the aliens. This is limited by the general limitations of smoke.