Rocket Launcher

The Rocket Launcher is arguably the hardest weapon to master and the most versatile one.

• Ammo: Rockets
• Ammo usage: 1/shot
• Shot type: Projectile
• Damage per shot: direct hit: 100+rand(20) or 110 (newer KTX), splash damage 40-120
• Damage per sec (max): 150
• Range: 5000 units
• Reload time: 0.8s

Detailed stats

The RL shoots rockets dealing up to 120 points of damage at a rate of one every 0.8 seconds, totaling between 500 and 600 damage points per 4 seconds in a point blank, 5 direct hit situation. This is more powerful than the LG at 30% accuracy (360 damage points), but in a more realistic non-point blank situation, the RL would deal between 350 and 450 damage points, which still give it a slight edge against a good (30%) LG.

The RL's direct hit damage differs from normal radius damage. On direct hit the damage can be from 100 points up to 120 points. Earlier in 2009 this behaviour was changed to static damage of 110 points in KTX mod to remove randomness and hence "luckfactor". RL radius damage is between 40 and 120 points but it is impossible to score more than 111-112 points of splash damage because of the special behaviour of the direct hit damage.

The versatility of the RL is evident in the following tasks it can perform:

• Bouncing the opponent(s), making it harder for them to hit you, while setting them up for the next shot (by stopping them from moving as easily in the air and thus making them more predictable)
• Spamming choke-point areas, creating temporary hard-to-pass-through zones
• Advanced propulsion, in the form of Rocket jumps

It is probably only overcome in the versatility department by the Grenade Launcher, but the immediateness and surety of a rocket's explosion make the RL overall more effective.

Finally, the difficulty of the RL is manifest in the degrees of freedom it allows. The shotgun (or the railgun in other Quake series) is the simplest weapon in terms of degrees of freedom because it allows only two degrees of freedom in which to aim: horizontal and vertical. The RL in fact allows four degrees of freedom: horizontal, vertical, distance (shooting at someone's feet), and time (predicting opponent's movement).