Triple rocket launcher

The triple rocket launcher is a single use rocket launcher that fires 3 rockets, one after the other in short succession and will not stop until all three rockets are fired, even if the target is dead.

Acquisition

Triple rocket launchers cannot be crafted, and must be either acquired through trade, as a quest reward, found in ancient shrines or looted from Raiders, specifically from Heavy Mercenaries in Outlander and Pirate raids. In the last case, care must be taken to kill or down the raider before they can fire the single use weapon.

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Heavy mercenary	?%	-	70-230%

Summary

The triple rocket launcher is a single-use consumable, unlike most weapons. Once fired once, the launcher disappears completely. It cannot be reloaded, nor can any resources be salvaged from it. When fired, the cooldown time of the weapon is still observed. It is similar to the doomsday rocket launcher in this respect.

As its name implies, the triple rocket launcher fires a burst of three rockets with a 20 ticks (0.33 secs) delay between rockets. Each rocket lands within a 2.9 of the target tile and explodes in 3.9 tile radius explosion doing 50 bomb damage.

If it is damaged in item form, i.e. not held by a pawn, by Flame damage, it may explode^{[Detail needed]}. The launcher will spark and emit a hissing sound shortly before exploding some time later. The explosion deals 50 Bomb damage in a 3.9 tile radius around itself.

Analysis

The triple rocket launcher is less effective against large raids. But the 3 shots, each just as strong as a doomsday launcher's main shot, are effective at harming bulky targets like centipedes. Regardless, the large explosion and very large range (36 tiles, only beaten by the sniper rifle) make it an effective crowd control weapon. The forced miss radius means that a pawn's own shooting accuracy (thus, skill) doesn't matter, though trigger-happy has a positive effect and careful shooter, a negative one.

Bomb type damage is effective against buildings, dealing 2x damage against passible structures, a 4x multiplier against impassible targets, and an 8x multiplier against walls. This is especially useful against mechanoid clusters. While it is out ranged by most mech weapons, the raw damage is an effective (but not perfectly safe or reliable) way to destroy clusters from a distance. This is most useful against objects that are urgent to destroy such as auto mortars and EMI dynamos, where your own mortars are too slow for the job.

Compared to doomsday rocket launchers

Doomsday rocket launchers fire a single rocket with a very large radius, then 3 secondary explosions which deal fire damage. The large AOE and secondary flame explosions make it much more effective at disabling organic raiders; a doomsday launcher can easily end high-tier raids that a triple launcher couldn't clear. Doomsday launchers are less effective against mechanoids, who are immune to fire. However, the large radius is still effective against weaker ones, like lancers.

The similar cost of the doomsday and the triple places the triple on the backfoot, as it is less effective in its niche than the doomsday is in its niche. There also exists opportunity cost - you may only have triple or doomsday rocket launchers available, so don't be picky about either one. You may want to "save" doomsday launchers against particularly devastating raids.

Fighting against

As expected, triple rocket launchers in the hands of raiders are incredibly dangerous, and should be made priority targets. You can either focus fire on them, or by getting them to waste their single shot on an inconsequential or difficult to hit target.

Psychic shock lances and psychic insanity lances have a comparable range (1 tile shorter) and fire much faster (0.5s warmup vs 4.5s warmup), which will make the target a nonthreat. Psycasts can also berserk the pawn in question for the same effect.

Wealth management

Rocket launchers are very effective form of wealth management. Wealth controls raid strength. Items are almost always bought at a market loss, so 1000 is a fair decrease in market value. And, you get a strong last ditch weapon against a tough raid - using the rocket will completely expend the wealth. Therefore, converting some excess wealth into rocket launchers is a good idea.

Version history

0.8.657 - Added

Original sprite of the Doomsday and Triple rocket launchers
Triple rocket launcher used by chasing pirates, two rockets out of three being fired at a manhunter revenge Thrumbo.