Rocket Launcher (UT200X)

If you're looking for other versions of the weapon, you might want to check Rocket Launcher.

Overview

The Rocket Launcher has a simpler form that appears in Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2003, and Unreal Tournament 2004.

Overview[]

Unreal Championship[]

"The Trident Tri-barrel Rocket Launcher is extremely popular among competitors who enjoy more bang for their buck. The rotating rear-loading barrel design allows for both single- and multi-warhead launches, letting you place up to three dumbfire rockets on target. The warheads are designed to deliver maximum concussive force to the target and surrounding area upon detonation."

– Weapon description

Primary Fire: Fires one rocket.
Secondary Fire: Fires up to three rockets in a flat spread. It can also fire them in a tight cluster by pressing the primary fire button while they are loading.

The Rocket Launcher in Unreal Championship is intended to be identical to the one in Unreal Tournament 2003, except for its mesh. It is one of the few Unreal Championship weapons whose ammunition also uses a different mesh than its UT2003 counterpart.

Unreal Tournament 2003/2004[]

"The Trident Tri-barrel Rocket Launcher is extremely popular among competitors who enjoy more bang for their buck. The rotating rear-loading barrel design allows for both single- and multi-warhead launches, letting you place up to three dumbfire rockets on target. The warheads are designed to deliver maximum concussive force to the target and surrounding area upon detonation."

– Weapon description

Primary Fire: Fires a single rocket.
Secondary Fire: Fires three rockets in a horizontal line, and, by pressing primary fire while loading, can shoot up to three rockets in a tight spiral.

In UT2003 and UT2004, the Rocket Launcher can only fire up to three rockets. However, the ability to fire three rockets in a spiral more than makes up for the lack of rockets that can be launched at once.

The Rocket Launcher in Unreal Tournament 2003 also uses Rocket Packs as ammunition. They are even more valuable than previous iterations, as the Rocket Launcher fires rockets extremely rapidly and each Rocket Pack provides only nine rockets, up to a maximum of 30. As a result, more than three Rocket Packs are required to reach full capacity. Rocket Packs are common on maps, so this rarely poses an issue.

As in Unreal Tournament 2004, Rocket Packs remain unchanged from UT2003; only their physical size has been adjusted to appear more realistic, but their collision radius remains the same, making them functionally identical to the UT2003 Rocket Packs.

Unreal Tournament 4[]

Primary fire: Single fire rocket. Good splash damage and direct hits are extremely lethal.
Alternate fire: Holding will start loading rockets until the button is released. The maximum payload is 3 rockets.
Tips - Firing modes: Pressing primary fire while loading up rockets switches fire modes, allowing you to alternate between normal and rapid release. Rapid release allows you to concentrate heavy damage in one area or cover a large area in one sweep.
Tips - Rocket jumping: Shooting a rocket straight into the ground while closeby will propel you upwards. This comes at a large cost to health, so it should be used wisely.

Tips and tricks[]

"The rocket launcher is a great multipurpose weapon. The rockets are deadly enough to take out a player with a single, well-targeted shot. If you hold your crosshairs on an enemy long enough, the rockets lock on and home in on your target.
Splash damage from rockets can blow back in your face if you hit a nearby floor or wall, and crafty enemies can dodge rockets.

The primary attack fires a single rocket. The crosshairs turn red at lock-on. Aim at your enemy's feet and use splash damage to do your dirty work — dodging is virtually impossible.

Hold down the secondary fire and your rocket launcher charges up three rockets. Release the trigger to unleash them at your prey. A three-rocket blast knocks out even a shielded foe. In one of the Capture the Flag-style modes, you can start loading before you enter a room and take out a couple of opponents in one shot.

The rocket launchers are good in all but the tightest fighting areas. Its lock-on ability makes the launcher especially deadly in wide-open maps. It's also good in multilevel environments and high-traffic areas.
It's least useful in tight corridors. You can easily kill yourself if you hit a wall, a floor, or even an enemy while running through tight areas. For safety's sake, switch to another weapon in hallways.
A single rocket blast will not necessarily kill a target in a single shot. In fact, characters such as the Juggernauts are able to withstand multiple direct hits from the Rocket Launcher, making them formidable enemies. Make sure to finish the job with a follow-up shot or two when necessary."

– Unreal Championship Prima's Official Strategy Guide

The Rocket Launcher's rockets travel in straight lines, deal heavy damage with direct hits, and have a sizable splash-damage radius. Because of this splash damage, Rocket Launchers are less than ideal for close-range combat and are notorious for causing accidental suicides.
Since Rocket Launchers are among the most powerful standard weapons aside from Sniper Rifles, and feature a reasonably fast reload rate and large splash-damage radius (hence their reputation as "spammy" weapons), they are popular with new players. Because experienced players use them less frequently, Rocket Launchers are often placed opposite the Flak Cannon in Capture the Flag, Double Domination, and Bombing Run maps, and in either wide-open or very tight spaces in Deathmatch or Domination. The design philosophy behind these placements is that a weapon is most balanced when located where it is least effective; as the Rocket Launcher is typically a mid-range weapon, these locations are the most appropriate.
Rockets carry significant momentum and can temporarily stop or slow Scorpion vehicles, often altering their direction slightly and disorienting the driver. Three rockets are usually enough to destroy a Scorpion.
Because Rocket Launchers are the second-most effective weapon against vehicles (when factoring in rate of fire), they are the best option for combating Goliath tanks and other large, slow vehicles after AVRiLs (excluding Hellbender unless they are approaching directly at the player). However, Mantas and Raptors are generally too agile to be reliably hit by rockets.
Since rockets fly straight and cannot be shot down, they are ideal for damaging Power Nodes from a distance. Players who struggle with aiming can line up their shot using the Lightning Gun or Sniper Rifle, then switch to the Rocket Launcher without moving.
Preloading rockets before entering an area known to contain enemies allows players to unleash a devastating attack before opponents can react.
Players caught within a rocket's damage radius are lifted off the floor, preventing them from jumping or dodging. Skilled players can use this technique to predict the landing spot and send another rocket there to greet the enemy. This ability can also be used to boost players themselves, although the Shield Gun (in UT2003/UT2004) usually takes this role. Rocket Jumps do not work in Unreal II due to the heavy armor worn.
Aiming at the ground near an enemy's feet is often easier than hitting the player directly, as the ground is a larger, stationary target. Splash damage is often sufficient to injure or kill the enemy. Jumping into the air can provide a better angle for aiming at an opponent's feet.

Trivia[]

The Rocket Packs have a small, usually unnoticeable warning printed on them: "WARNING: IF YOU TOUCH THIS THEN YOU HAVE A PROBLEM"
The Rocket Launcher in Unreal Tournament 4 behaves similarly to this iteration; however, prior to the introduction of the Grenade Launcher, it functioned more like the version seen in UT3.

Development[]

According to early previews, the weapon's primary fire was originally intended to be the charged shot, with the alternate fire acting as an instant rocket shot. In the final version, these fire modes were reversed.

Preview Notes[]

Unreal Tournament 2003[]

"The rocket launcher has been slightly modified as well. It will now fire a maximum of 3 rockets at one time instead of six, and it launches these much closer together than the previous version. A hit from these will result in your flaming demise."

– Unreal Playground^[1]

"The weapons have been retuned to be less "spammy" in terms of causing lots of area-effect damage. (...) The rocket launcher now loads only up to three rockets at a time, and the alternate fire is a faster, single-shot fire rate."

– GameSpot^[2]

External links and references[]

↑ StealthDP (May 26, 2002). "E3 Report". Unreal Playground. Archived from the original on October 11, 2002. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
↑ Parker, Sam (May 22, 2002). "E3 2002: Unreal Tournament 2003 impressions". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 9, 2002. Retrieved July 10, 2020.