Strategy:Tactical rocket launcher

The Tactical Rocket Launcher is a rocket launcher with an actual clip, so it is essentially a rocket launcher you can fire multiple times with without having to reload. One may wonder though, what's the point of making a Tactical Rocket Launcher, when there are multiple guaranteed Missile Launchers in the game? Indeed, as a rocket launcher with multiple shots, the Missile Launcher already exists. And compared to the Tactical Rocket Launcher, it has a very high base accuracy that negates the need for Eagle Eye and agility mods to avoid occasional misses. It also has slightly better base firing speed, allowing the Missile Launcher to fire off its salvo faster. The Missile Launcher is additionally fully moddable, while having similar to greater base statistics than the Tactical Rocket Launcher. However, the Tactical Rocket Launcher is by no means obsolete, as it does carry some significant advantages of its own.

Advantages compared to the Missile Launcher

The first major advantage, is that you can rocket jump with the Tactical RL, which you can't with the ML. Rocket jumping is alone reason enough to keep a base Rocket Launcher on you after you get the Missile Launcher, so having a much more combat-viable rocket launcher that you can rocket jump with is very handy. You can also rocket jump multiple times in a row with the Tactical RL without reloading, making it even faster to cover large distances with.

The second major advantage, is that the Tactical RL reloads its entire clip at once, while the Missile Launcher has to painfully reload its shots one at a time. On top of this, the Tactical RL has a faster base reloading speed (0.8 seconds vs. 1.2 seconds), and a larger clip size (5 vs. 4). So with the Tactical RL, you can get off one extra shot before reloading, and then after a single fast reload, be ready to pump out another 5 rockets. For a time comparison, without mods and traits, it would take the Tactical RL 8.8 seconds to fire off 8 rockets, while it would take the ML 11.2 seconds to fire off 8 rockets. So despite the ML's better firing speed, the Tactical RL will be able to pump out rockets faster in fights that require more than a few rockets (and considering most high tier demons individually take at least a few rockets to kill, you'll often find yourself needing more than a few rockets at a time). The Missile Launcher would need significant technical mod investment to match this firing output of 8 rockets (which you would need Whizkid to do, so you might as well make a Tactical RL at that point), and a single technical mod on the Tactical RL would keep the ML from ever matching its firing output.

A third lesser advantage, is the Tactical RL's smaller explosive radius, allowing it to be more offensively used safely at closer ranges and without inadvertently blowing up items.

Is it worth building?

So as you can see, the Tactical Rocket Launcher has its own significant advantages to merit its use. These advantages are enough that if you create a Tactical RL, you should ditch the ML, as it's overall a better weapon. However, do these advantages merit building a Tactical Rocket Launcher?

In the standard game, it depends. If your build blocks Whizkid, then it's obviously out of the question. If Whizkid isn't necessary to get a vital piece of equipment for your build and you have no interest in farther modding your equipment, then the Tactical RL itself wouldn't be superior enough to the ML to merit getting Whizkid just for it. If you're getting Whizkid really late in the game, it probably won't be worth lugging those bulk mods around that long to build a Tactical RL. If you're getting Whizkid not too late though, and can afford to carry a bulk mod or two around until then, then the Tactical RL will be worth the investment.

In Angel of 100/Archangel of 666 however, the Tactical RL is an absolute must. For one, the Missile Launcher isn't guaranteed anymore. For two, you should definitely be getting Whizkid, so even if you do find a Missile Launcher, you should be aiming to make a Tactical RL anyway. For three, rocket jumping, already very useful in the standard game, is invaluable in Ao100/Ao666, where you're pretty much guaranteed to run into bad situations eventually where you'll need to rocket jump to escape, need to escape a highly unfavorable level quickly and don't have a homing phase handy, or have begun stair diving.

Modding

Since you need a level in Whizkid to build the Tactical Rocket Launcher, you should go and take the second level before building it, so you can add a mod to your Tactical RL. For which mod to use, the Technical mod would be the most useful, as it helps alleviates the one shortcoming of average firing speed, and allows you to pump out those rockets even faster.

A Power mod would be decent, but the greater firing speed granted by a technical mod would allow for greater damage output overall, and greater usefulness than firing slightly stronger rockets would. Plus power mods are probably better spent on your other weapons and armor.

An Agility mod isn't very useful, as the Tactical RL already has a high base accuracy bonus, so you'll be increasing its accuracy by only 4-10%, and since the Tactical RL can fire off multiple rockets between reloads and then reload its entire clip fast, an occasional miss isn't much of an issue.

A Bulk mod is pretty much useless, as the Tactical RL's clip is already sufficiently large and can reload entirely fast, and thus having an extra rocket in your clip would not really do anything to help you pump out more rockets faster; in fact even factoring in the needed reload, a technical mod would still allow you to fire 6 rockets faster (taking 5.6 seconds total) than a bulk mod would (taking 6 seconds total). A technical mod is a completely superior mod investment here.

A Sniper mod would be more useful than an Agility mod, as it would result in a 17% accuracy bonus at LoS range while being equivalent at mid range. Though again, an occasional miss isn't a big issue for the Tactical RL, and the benefit of greater firing speed is more useful than the still slight accuracy improvement.

A Firestorm mod isn't compatible, as the Tactical RL's explosion is radius is 2 instead of 3, though even if it was, it would be counterproductive, as one of the caveats of the Tactical RL was its smaller explosion radius making it safer to use.

A Nano mod would also be counterproductive. First it would prevent the Tactical RL's big advantage of being able to quickly reload its large clip at once. Second, if you wanted a rocket launcher without worrying about having rockets, you should build a Nanomachic Rocket Launcher instead of a Tactical RL; it requires the three Bulk mods you would need for the Tactical RL in addition to the Nano mod, and would carry all the benefits of the Tactical RL outside of the smaller explosive radius, while not having to reload ever and not consuming ammunition at all. In the very unlikely scenario in the standard game where you got a Nano mod after having already built a Tactical RL, that Nano mod would still be put to better use elsewhere. If it happens in Ao100/A0666, you still might as well find another Rocket Launcher and turn it Nanomachic instead of giving your Nano mod to the Tactical RL, as you have plenty of time and bulk mods are plentiful.

So overall, use a Technical mod on your Tactical Rocket Launcher. Omega Tyrant (talk) 10:50, 27 September 2014 (CEST)