BrotherJustice

After reading the beginning of this post I realized I was not using the rockets correctly. I just unlocked it this week, prior I would only get it when I got a "squad bonus unlock".

Before I would zoom in and scroll the distance way up and just fire it hope for the best >spam<. I could not figure out why the number was always changing. Now I understand, so yesterday there were two guys firing at us from behind a wall. I zoomed into the wall and added a extra meter, fired off one shot just above the wall and killed one, then did the same for the second. It worked well...two nice kills of two pesky sneaks.

Certainly you are exposed during the zoom in and the scrolling. A little later in round there was a sniper I tried to do it with, he got me with a head shot..lol he dropped me like a stinky fish. I guess that every weapon has potential to be deadly if it is used correctly and practiced. Im just happy to learn some new tricks.

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Specterr

One way to deal with that is to pop your head up for a second while zoomed, (not with rockets selected) and get the range then duck back behind cover, select rockets and dial in the correct range.

The other way, when dealing with more unskilled snipers is to strafe back and forth while firing, your rocket blast radius will counter and deviation and you'll still get the kill and most snipers won't be able to one shot you if you keep moving.

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Kaboodles

At long distances, I've found that rapidly bobbing up and down can really help you avoid that headshot. If you're fast enough, you can duck the bullet before it reaches you. If you frequently shift your position or pop up and down at a random intervals, it would become nearly impossible for the sniper to hit you. This works great when you're sniping yourself.

Of course, you'd be completely hosed if someone decides to rocket you back, so your mileage may vary. Works great against snipers though.

Revolusinov

I agree with uranium. Rockets make cover useless. Most of the time cover means to me staying away from walls. But I don't think that's the main problem with them. I think the main problem is that they negate the roles of snipers and machine gunners too much. A good sniper or mg can usually take out the rocketer but the problems comes from the ability to supress as long range and take out multiple targets and revivers. Snipers are joke because of revives. If kills your partner out in the open it is way to easy just to laugh it off and turn around and revive him, then he revives you and back and forth you go till you make it to cover. Mgs are little better at taking out multiple targets but the rockers can cover too much area at once. I would vote for less rockets at the same strenth. Even the upgrade to 4 makes spam so much easier. I'd say 2 rockets upgradeing to 3 would balance things out. It would make spam less effective but tactical strikes still useful.

Azura

Hmm, well looking at it from the TacticalGamer point of view, of course a lone Heavy Machine Gunner is going to lose. Even a sniper...

Now, let's take a squad centered a round a HMG at Roadblock on Fall of Berlin:

The HMG sets up above the flag on the second level and begins sweeping up the PAC as they move across the road from Crossroads. After a series of kills, he becomes enemy number one as in any case. A team of three assault set's up around the HMG to provide extra firepower and to help keep off the enemy revives. Two more assaults step back from the main Fireteam of the squad to provide revives and watch the flanks.

Four enemy assaults pop up around the corner and shells the HMG crews butt off! The two medic move in for a revive, the squad quickly seperates then takes up position. The assault fire out a couple rounds of rocket/rifle, the HMG continues to barrage the enemy location. The enemies in turn get wounded and then commence reviving.

Upon reloading the enemy fires back and once again knocks out the HMG and his Assault Crew.

Yep, sounds like a stalemate, technically the enemy is winning since they got the HMG fixed onto one location. Well, the winner will be whoever can last the longest, make a mistake, or who can think the best.

The HMG team sends it's two man medic team out toward the enemy position to help clear them out and pull them. The enemy surprised by close quarters tries to fight back, as thier group seperates and comes out into the open they get nailed by rockets and HMG. Victor to the HMG Squad. The enemy pissed they all got killed by one guys rockets.

I don't think it is so much about rockets killing everybody so easy, perhaps just a lone wolf out on his own, but integrating it into a squad that has a little bit of teamwork and discipline will probably survive. If your having trouble with rockets all the time as a HMG, try creating for finding a good squad that is centered around that. Shouldn't be too hard on the TacticalGamer server!

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Ikariam Alpha!
Name: Azura
Appleville - Taiuos[37:23] Sulfer
Potatoville - Lienios[37:24] Marble
Bananaville go plunk!
*Need Cultural Treaties!*

Revolusinov

You sort of missed the point. HMG are suppresive fire weopon, but because of revives rockets provide better suppresive fire because they can stop revives.

"Four enemy assaults pop up around the corner and shells the HMG crews butt off! The two medic move in for a revive, the squad quickly seperates then takes up position."

Against a rocketeer whos paying attention this scenerio is likly to fail. Whats will happen is the HMG gunner will die. He might get a kill off first. It does't matter. What's important is that rockets are far superior to the HMG at contining to hold down suppresive fire to prevent revives. Any good rocketeer at this point would send a second a spread volley of rockets over the corpse to prevent revive and kill anyone trying. An hmg can't do this. If a someone goes does, they chances an HMG can supress an area enough to prevent revive are to small compared to rockets. If the enemy dies by cover there is nothing they can do to prevent revive (except a nade which anyone can do). HMGs and Snipers are more likly to kill without getting killed but they can't prevent revives and that is significantly more important. The only true reason to a support kit in the group is ammo and tracking, not for suppressive fire and those destracting turrets. The HMGs is more of an after thought.

Imagine being in this situation. you friend just died around the corner by a Sniper. Will you rick going to revive him. Hell yeah. You might even stop and take the time to moon the sniper.

Imagine the same thing with an HMG. Will you go revive him? Hell Yeah, you might get kill but you'll get your teamate up in time but he can easily take cover then repop you till your both safe. The chance an HMG can kill both is slim to none and usually only when the defibulator fails.

Imagine the same senerio with rockets. You'd have to be an idiot to try to revive.

In the end, it is an undiniable fact, that with out rockets or at least nefted rockets, there would be a HUGE spike in snipers and support. More so support because of squad benifits.

Revolusinov

d

Razcsak

HMGs can keep up near-constant covering fire, rockets can't thanks to their reload time. It isn't much, but its enough for an astute medic to slip in between volleys. Sure, once you get two medics working together to cover a corpse, you're done, but a MG can keep people down fairly well.

I don't think anyone is denying that with rockets nerfed you'd see more support and snipers.

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Uranium - 235

Personally I'd rather take my chances against an HMG than a rocket spammer. Bullets only hit one person at a time, and for a support gunner to fire the Ganz at a pace to avoid overheating, it affords you quite a generous window to move around at even medium ranges. And for exactly as he said - chances are I can revive a teammate downed to a Support weapon. To do so vs. rockets is about as useful as running to go revive a teammate who was just blown to bits by a walker.

I've said before, I'd change how rockets work. Keep the basic functionality, but reduce them to single-shot. Increase the damage so that a precisely-aimed shot can cause extremely lethal damage, but with a reload between shots, it's not the ridiculously suppressive weapon that it is now. I mentioned before that rockets can suppress a squad more than any other weapon, and I still mean that. As Revolusinov mentioned, even a support gunner cannot possibly, effectively kill people who are quick on the revive. It just doesn't work. A support gunner GENERALLY will not disperse, break up, and utterly break the squad cohesion the way a rocket spammer can. I play support almost all the time, and I've seen it done myself, but generally when a support gunner starts laying into a squad, they don't run away, break up, or generally even seek cover. Sure, sometimes they do, but often they, well, stand there and fire rockets at me.

With only 3 rockets (4 with the NS unlock) and a considerable delay between shots, it will still be an effective weapon for hitting a target behind cover, especially in skilled hands. I'd also like to see the 'grenade launcher' aspect diminished, but that'd cause an uproar. I've seen many a time a defender on higher ground (on Cerbere, defending a hill) simply peek out, pop off four rockets randomly unscoped in the direction of a squad, and get a heap of kills.

The problem is as you said: With rockets nerfed you'd see more support and snipers.

The reason for this is because most of Assaults other unlocks are, frankly, crap. Losing rockets pretty much removes the only item that wasn't complete balls for the Assault class. The Herzog is 'okay', but situational. It's also not terribly creative. The radar and smoke grenades are also extremely situational, and the smoke really just under-performs overall. We can all agree that the smoke grenades are too short, too weak. That leaves the Defibs - an item so immensely vital to a class, I can't think of any other in the game that is a 'must-have' to the point where it just permanently fills a slot.

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Azura

I wouldn't be surprised to see more smoke in the future of 2142 really. I think deep down a lot of squad leaders often wonder what they can do. Silver ran a smoke squad and it was rather effective!

The Herzog is just as situational as rockets. It's a shotgun, so it needs to be used in extreme close quarters, well it's got almost a 20m stopping range, so it's not true. Rockets can be used any time your pretty much able to shoot you rifle at a far target. Goes the same for the Herzog, any time close quarters comes it takes like .8 seconds to switch and it'll drop anyone from 5m in one hit. I've been using the Herzog since I've unlocked it and theres been plenty of rounds where most of my kills were from a Herzog. Why I don't grab support is for the MHub and Defib! It's all about playstyle, I figure 80% you are in close quarter combat.

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Ikariam Alpha!
Name: Azura
Appleville - Taiuos[37:23] Sulfer
Potatoville - Lienios[37:24] Marble
Bananaville go plunk!
*Need Cultural Treaties!*

Uranium - 235

That's what I meant. Assault rifles aren't totally ideal for close-combat fights. The rockets complement the rifle's basic purpose nicely.

In addition, having a weapon that can be used from 20-300 meters will certainly find more use than one that can only be used from 0-20.

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