[jiveTurkey]

Hi, this is my first post here and I wish to post something I haven't seen posted anywhere; how to effectively use a rocket launcher / panzershreck in Medal of Honor: Spearhead.

The rocket launcer is a very interesting weapon that gets very mixed reactions from different players. In MOHAA, the rocket launcher was ridiculously easy to use and as a result the reputation of the weapon was diminished greatly. With the Spearhead expansion, the rocket launcher is a completely different weapon that actually requires a degree of strategy and skill to use effectively.

Here are the changes made to rockets in the Spearhead expansion.

- you walk slower while carrying a rocket now

- The most noticeable and realistic change is that you can no longer shoot while moving. This COMPLETELY changes the way you must use a rocket to succeed in the game. Not only can you not shoot while moving, but once you do stop to take a shot, there is an additional delay for the scope to get in the right spot.

- It used to be that if you were at 100 health, you could shoot someone at relatively close range and not die. This has been almost completely eliminated. The range from which you can safely shoot someone seems to be increased a bit.

- This seems to be more of a glitch than anything else, but it has effects on rocket users. There are lots of areas on the new maps where rockets do no damage at all. There is a strategy with rockets wehre you aim for the ground around the target instead of the target itself. There are numerous patches of land where rockets seem to go right through the ground without doing any damage to surrounding targets. The most noticeable areas I've found are the hilly areas of Untersuiite(sp) and the railroad tracks of Holland. There are other areas though.

- the only beneficial change to rockets is their slightly improved accuracy.


BASIC STRATEGIES

1. The most obvious strategy. Aim for the ground or walls around your target instead of the target directly. If a target is moving, try to lead him with a shot at the ground in the direction he is walking in. It is very hard to hit a target directly with a rocket.

2. Find high ground and try to stay there. It is very hard to kill someone who is on significantly higher ground than you are. When you are

3. A new strategy needs to be adopted due to the "no shooting while moving" change. You must now act almost like a sniper does. Movements must be carefully chosen and limited. You can no longer run around the map like a maniac pointing the launcher at anything that moves. This doesnt mean you can safely camp though. When you shoot a rocket, everyone on the map probably knows where you are due to the loud noise it makes as well as the trail the rocket leaves.

4. Kill your target with the first shot! If you do not kill your target with your first shot, most likely you are dead. Reloading takes way too long AND since you will most likely be dancing around avoiding bullets while you are reloading, it is very unlikely that you will survive since at some point you HAVE to stop moving to take another shot.

5. If you are able to sneak up on someone from behind in close range, DO NOT use your rocket to kill him. Pull out your pistol and save yourself from a suicide kill.

6. Do not be afraid to make the suicide kill in close range IF you need to. If you are right next to someone and he is pumping you full of bullets, stop and shoot directly at your feet. You wont get a frag, but the point is to be the one with the most frags at the end, and by killing yourself along with the target, you prevent him from adding to his frag count. If you are in this situation, there is NO way you can escape any other way so this is the last resort option.

7. Be very careful shooting at people who are in windows. You will most likely need to target the person directly since the nearest wall behind them is too far away, and if you target the window sill below or above them it almost never kills them. Find some cover, pull out a nade, and get them out of their foxhole.

8. Respect servers that say "No Rockets" in the title. You are only going to upset people by using them there. But remember, if the admin or title of the server does not specify, then you have EVERY RIGHT to use rockets. If other players dont like it, THEY can leave the server.

9. Be prepared to die alot while using a rocket. You ill very rarely come out of a FFA with a 30/5 kill/die ratio. The fact is, despite using an effective strategy, it is not that hard to kill someone using a rocket. Couple this with the fact that you may have a few suicide kills, and your death count will definately rise.

10. I prefer the allied rocket launcher over the axis panzershreck. The view on the panzershreck is horribly obstructed by that big metal thing on top of it. This makes shooting even harder with the new Spearhead changes.


DEALING WITH PROBLEM PLAYERS

Occasionally, some inexperienced Spearhead players will not like the fact that you are using a rocket. They may even call you very bad names. Realize that they may be new to Spearhead and they may not know about the way rockets have been balanced now. Calmly explain to them how rockets have changed and they may change their tone. If they dont, then they are just born whiners who are probably not very good to begin with. I was once on a server and this one player was calling me every name in the book for using rockets. He did not realize the changes that have come about, and when I told him, he tried using a rocket and completely agreed with me.


That's it I think....

the blast radius is so huge you don't need to shoot while running, but there are so many other problems with shithead rockets aren't much of an issue

[Magnum]

Prepare your flame shield. I especially like this part:

Originally Posted by jiveTurkey

Occasionally, some inexperienced Spearhead players will not like the fact that you are using a rocket.

What about the experienced players who can own a match with rifles? Last time I checked, those are the people who hate rockets the most. I'm not the best person you'll ever see with a rifle, but I can do some serious damage. Of course, it's pretty funny when I kill some rocketing moron with a head shot.

[jiveTurkey]

If you can own a match with a rifle, then you are pretty damn good and somebody using a rocket shouldnt bother you that much. Keep in mind, I'm not defending people who use a rocket just to be assholes, I am defending the weapon.

If you are good, it should be no problem killing a rocket user before he can get any sort of good shot in. Sure, you will get unlucky at times, but if you can own a roomwith a rifle, like you say, what does it matter if someone is using a rocket?

that's not a very strong argument hake:

and why would you want to defend rockets? in mohaa they were fun to use, in SH they're simply a huge annoyance like suicide bombers are

[jiveTurkey]

Why isnt it a strong argument? Are you saying I shouldnt use a rocket because other players arent good enough to keep up with it? That's not a very good reason.

I'm defending rockets because I find their use FUN. I mix rockets with sniping a lot and they are both very fun. In MOHAA rockets were fun for a while, but they really didnt take a whole lot of skill to use so it got old quick.

[The Counter-Sniper]

Man, can you feel the temperature rising in here?

of course they're fun to use, but a major thing for me is the atmosphere of the game. you can try to manipulate egos all you want with your "aren't you good enough to deal with it" but it all comes down to they ruin it for me. if i'm having an intense game with my aa.com bros using rifles and some n00b comes along and starts rocketing people because it's the only way he can get kills who's that fun for? nobody. i was already having fun before rocket kiddie came along. before you know it everyone is using rockets because the atmosphere of the fight is ruined. it becomes a rocket/suicide bombing fest of mass numbers. saying rockets shouldn't be bashed because it might be fun for the user is selfish bullshit.

[jiveTurkey]

The only way I can get a kill, huh? I don't think so. I get much more kills when I snipe than when I use a rocket. But I do like to change up a bit.

...and saying that I have to change my playstyle on a public server that does not specifically forbid rockets is also selfish bullshit. I'm not playing so that you can have fun I'm playing because I want to have fun myself. If it's a public server and you dont like it, then you can leave.

I did mention that if the server says "No Rockets" it is bad form to go there and use one. If the general atmosphere of the server is negative towards rockets I will usually find another server to play on. But I would say 90% of the time, there is only 1 or 2 people on a server who complain. Everybody else either doesnt care or has learned to deal with it.

... and suicide bombing isnt even closely related to rocket use in Spearhead.

of course you do

how is suicide bombing unrelated? i see people pull out a grenade for a close range frag over their thompson all the time. they can't stay alive by using simple bullets so they have to throw grenades around like a bunch of palestinians hoping they kill someone. i have never run into a rocket user at point blank range and have him hold his fire. why's that? he's not mature enough to appreciate a good pistol kill.

[[EASY][NA2]Cpt.Joker]

I've played in matchs where 3/7 pl on there team where rocktes and the rest shottys, and yea sure at the time i got VERY mad , but in the end there is nothign u can do about it and it is there right to use whatever gun they can kill the best with. We rent our server so we have the right to and do say that in our server there are no rockets... thats the only option ppl who dont like them have.. find a server that doenst allow them or rent one yourself and say no rockets, other then that it doesnt matter about the athmospher of the public server or the fun for any person or group of people because the only person/ppl whos ideas matter in that server are the ppl who actually pay for it.

Now onto rockets themself, i look at it this way, in the game enharantly ppl will get mad when they die, usually when a person dies it is because of a mistake they made themself, and usually they know it, u went the wrong way or went around the door when u know someone would be waiting or somehow someway did somethign that caused yourself to get killed, immediatly there is that anger (espcially in obj because u have to sit out reste of the rnd) at the fact taht u died. And i feel that is what leads alot of ppl to transfer it to the person who killed them whatever the weapon maybe, "rocket n00b" "shotty whore" "nade spammer", all those things are buzz words so ppl can immedialty take off the anger they feel for getting killed and say its not my fault.

People can find somethign wrong with all guns out there, SMG toss's 32 bullets non stop at someone and some ppl could make an argument about that, sniper is usually one shot one kill or one shot then finished off with pistol (i have seen ppl call someone "whore" for finishing them off with a pistol after they shot them with sniper and took them to 4 hp). Shottys are good at close range so in a map like v2 if u go against one u MAY die. All those things come down to a rationalization of dying.

In the end it comes down to yourself.. if u are smart and know what your doing u have a good shot at A) Avioding B) Elimitatin the so called "whored" weapons, if your stupid then u will try to prove u are the shit and try to take out a shotty when hes right up in ur face, die then call the person who killed u a whore for not choosing to use the gun that would give u the better chance to kill him. Just play smart, tryin to anticipate where ur weak spots will be and where the worse parts to run into a shotty or rocket ect. will be and ull survive and kill. Simple as that cool:

[jiveTurkey]

Hold my fire? LOL. I'm just supposed to sit and let you shoot me!!?

..and forget switching to a pistol because there is not enough time to get it out. Besides, if I do choose to get out my pistol, assuming I didnt die before it was ready to use, how am I supposed to survive against somebody with a SMG or rifle close range? The only way out of it is to prevent him from adding to his frag total, and that is to aim at your feet and shoot. Not the best situation but you have to tkae what you can get.

..and when I talk about suicide bombers I talk about the idiots who do nothing but run around following people with grenades the whole time. If somebody is in the middle of a close range SMG battle, I agree that its lame for one of them to pull out a nade, but I'm not going to hold my fire at close range with a rocket. I'm dead anyway, might as well take the enemy with me.

my point is you shouldn't simply blow one up in your face.

do you see people walking around in narrow corridors and hallways with their sniper rifles drawn? of course not. they have these things called pistols out that really do quite nicely in close range. it only takes 1 good shot to kill someone, and you have 6-8 depending on what you're using. i've ambushed people with pistols countless times. the other guy's usually focused on dancing around, spraying all over the place and not taking you as a threat.