[Suggestion] What happened to the Rocklet Rifle?

Same reason an egg won't break if dropped on foam. Not hardy enough to cause it to break open.

A rocket that hits infantry and doesn't explode could just knock them down or aside. That's how I always saw it. Granted an AP round or any round from a tank barrel should obliterate them (and they do ingame). But a hand held rocket or grenade launcher? Not so much. Maybe break a few ribs (aka not a OHK), nothing a few nanites can't fix.

But would such a rocket be capable of punching through tank armor?

I would think that if it failed to penetrate infantry armor (just pushing them aside instead of pushing through), then it would also fail to penetrate and damage tank armor.

So basically a Lasher with AV damage.

It's such a bad idea to have two specialized weapons of the same type in the past, I can't possibly see it doing any good in the future. Take the pre-change Striker and Annihilator for example: before the Striker overhaul they're so similar to each other functionally, there's always one objectively better than the other depending on the buff/nerf cycle.

Exactly about the non explosive.
Actually look at the current explosive crossbow bolt, saron, enforcer, fury, vulcan, striker, pounder, fractures, raven, vortex, comets, lancer, phoenix, tankbuster, AV grenade, ...
All AV weapons, all not OHK vs infantry.
So, plenty of room for a non OHK AV weapon, just like so many others already in game.

We can also go with AA weapons. A Flak burst that can damage a liberator at 6-8m? Should do pretty high dmg vs infantry. The ranger should be exceptional.. Despite being able to damage a galaxy, low dmg/shot vs infantry.

Some more realism would be nice, but not in the sense of making AV weapons better at AI.

Problem: La would have only 1 tool.
I'm hoping it'll become available for all clases. For heavy & infiltrator in the tool slot (replacing RL and motion sensors) , for others in place of the utility (giving medics and LA another option instead of C4).

Compared to that sidewinder, I would propose lower rpm, higher accuracy, to give some range. Short range there is c4, dumbfires, av grenades etc.

I have to say, the discussion between iridar and colonelchingles has been a productive discourse hammering out common ground in a sensible way. We rarely see such positive and constructive input and we should celebrate that and wet an example.

Agree with many things both of you say. Perhaps a small regional hotbox in air to add dynamic realistic gameplay(10bullets to cockpit, pilot dies)

i'm rather looking forward to the anti-materiel sniper rifle

Try the analogy I said before. Take an egg from the fridge, and drop it on your sofa or mattress. It will not break.

A rocket hitting a soft body (infantryman) will not 'crack' there's not enough force, its like hitting foam, sofa, or bed. A rocket hitting a tank does 'break' because its like the egg hitting a floor.

The reason it can penetrate armor is due to being a shaped charge. But it has to hit something rigid for that charge to explode. A person is not rigid enough. That's why they merely get pushed aside. It would still hurt like a mother. And in game terms it would still deal damage, but not enough to kill.

This has happened in RL too by the way. Soldiers have been hit by RPGs that can annihilate cars and other vehicles (not tanks, but cars are way more rigid then the human body), and survived, sometimes with only a scratch... and rattled nerves of course.

Takes time to design, model, animate, implement, balance. You don't just make a model and throw it in game.

I'm looking forward for the HMG for MAX just out of curiosity, and for the possible rants of NC players who thought they were getting a MAX gauss saw but got a MAX basilisk.

That's certainly a satisfactory and plausible explanation.

In general though RPGs coming into contact with infantry has a wide range of results. These can go from "bouncing off" to armor-penetrating lethal impalement... and of course those are the cases where the RPG fails to detonate. Because RPG rounds often contain a time fuze in addition to an impact fuze, in those cases where the RPG fails to detonate at all it's generally because of a defective round or that there was damage to the RPG upon impact.

Of course all RPG fuzes (including time-based ones) are only activated at a minimum safe distance, I can imagine that shooting a soldier with the rocklet rifle at close range might preclude detonation.

Maybe then have 1/20 of all rocklet rounds fail to detonate and kill infantry randomly as duds, or if the infantry is within a minimum range?

That's alot of variables to calculate. Not that it couldn't be done.

But it comes down to game balance. Do you want to put all that code in, or simply say:

Use this for vehicles, use your gun for infantry.

You're still in the rough realm of realism, and you've attained game balance that is fun.

Pretty much. To be fair, the Lasher back then was something way cooler (the projectiles "lashed" at enemies it flew past), so the Rocklet wasn't really infringing on its territory there.

It's now called the striker.

My vote goes for OHK infantry only with headshot like a sniper rifle.