Rocket

### Pros

Immense structural splash damage on impact. Repeated hits from multiple Rocket launchers can do more damage than can feasibly be repaired with max economy on most maps.

### Cons

Rockets are relatively slow-moving and can be intercepted by anti-air. With strong economy, can be countered by ablative (sacrificial) bracing. Large size makes placing the weapon in the early game difficult.

### Special

Ignites background bracing of the opposing fort while flying through it.

The Rocket is a mid-game direct-fire weapon, being an upgrade to the EMP.

## Overview

The Rocket launcher fires relatively slow-moving rockets in salvos of 2. Building it requires an Upgrade Center, as it is acquired by upgrading an EMP launcher, which in turn requires the Armoury to be built beforehand. The rockets deal heavy splash damage on impact, but are very vulnerable to anti-air weapons.

## Strategies

The Rocket launcher excels at dealing tremendous splash damage over a large area of the opponent's fort structure, crippling their economy with repair costs, or forcing them to invest in heavy anti-air. Multiple rocket launchers are capable of dealing enough damage that on a typical map it is impossible to outrepair even with max mines. They work well when paired with Shotguns and/or Smoke Bomb launchers to cripple the opponent's anti-air measures. Using Rockets, EMPs, or combination of the two, is an effective method of punishing a heavy weapons rush.

Rockets are a very effective shield cracker. A direct impact will temporarily disable the shield, if not destroy it outright. On the flipside, they are mostly ineffective against Portals, as they can be reflected with a return-to-sender Portal, and can only really damage it with a splash damage by hitting a nearby non-portal bracing.

As with EMP, Shotgun and Smoke Bomb, the vertical size of the weapon can be potentially problematic, At least a 2,5 grid-spaces-high box is required to accomodate the Rocket launcher, making it possibly difficult to accomodate in certain bases, increasing the difficulty of fielding those weapons in the early game, where they would be most effective. This also makes the positions of those weapons more apparent, allowing the opponent to prepare adequate anti-air defenses, or hit the Rocket launcher and destroy it.

On the other hand, the size of the required weapon slots can be used to one's advantage when *not* using Rockets and actually going for a different technology (such as heavy weapons), as building fake Rocket slots might provoke the opponent to overreact and allocate resources to a hasty defense against an attack that's never going to come.

## Counters

As mentioned above, Rockets are highly vulnerable to anti-air measures. When used on their own, they are unlikely to connect and deliver the damage, unless employed extremely early in the game, and/or against an unexpecting opponent.

Being a mid-game weapon with a mediocre health of 150 points, they are vulnerable to Sniper attacks and heavy weapons. Firebeams in particular are very effective at eradicating the Rocket launchers, dealing 125 direct damage, with lingering flames very likely to finish the weapon off. This means that Rockets must be used as early in the game as possible, before the opponent can develop an effective counter, or otherwise not be used at all. Even then, the player using Rockets must be prepared at all times to transition to different weapons, should the Rocket attack fail.

Rocket attacks are typically less effective against defensive commanders, such as Spook, Architect, Armourdillo, or Overdrive, as due to their abilities, those commanders are more capable at maintaining enough resource income to defend against a Rocket barrage while building up heavy weapons.