[Suggestion] More Ammo For HA's (Rocket Launchers)

Well today I found myself in a good spot safeguarding the outskirts of a biolab with my limited inventory of 6 rockets and my trusty Annihilator rocket launcher (post-nerf = a nice handy weapon). A Big Open ice covered lake with an open view of the biolab and 2 nearby bases.

So I start doing what HA's do best. Blow stuff up. 1 scythe kill and 2 assists later, one liberator pulling a panic dive out of range i'm out of ammo. Normally that's when you become useless and why I miss PS1 where a rocket launcher could have over 24 rounds of ammo to go with it. So this would be where the story ends except a Liberator sat down nearby to repair. So I PM the engie to drop some ammo for me and he does.

That extra ammo killed 1 magrider, 2 scythes and an ATV (and all their riders), wounded another ATV who barely got away, 2 sundy hits and I crippled a lightning and severely wounded another 2 scythes and a Liberator. When the ammo vanished I had the luxury of a variety of targets but no ammo. However I told the engie what his ammo killed so he'll readily help out HA's in the future.

The extra ammo rounds gives an HA the ability to skulk out into the world a bit and not HAVE to run back for ammo every minute - to provide some defense against approaching sunderers and enemy vehicles. To deter air away. It lets you have some FUN, plain and simple. It allows you the freedom to spot that enemy sunderer at the far corner of the base and KNOW you have the ammo to actually kill it and not be 1 rocket short.

So SOE, more basic ammo capacity for the HA for their launchers. Plus give the Munitions Pouch the ability to carry 2-3 extra rockets per level, NOT just ONE.

Being able to carry an absurd amount of rockets will just boost the usage of the already most used class in-game. Taking out 1~3 tanks is already a huge thing. A single player isn't supposed to stop an entire row of tanks.

You want more ammo, you fetch. Its not that hard.

I agree with this. Giving up something like Nanoweave armor for only 1 extra rocket or so is not worth it. Make it 2-3, like you said. Also, is the Annihilator any good? I trailed it before the patch, and I want to know if it's worth the 700 SC, or if I should just stick to one of the other launchers.

Actually it IS that hard. Before that fight I was at another base and ran out of ammo. There were no sunderers around and every time an engie would pop out from their tank they'd REFUSE to give me ammo. In fact one tried to blow me instead. The ammo capacity i'm asking for is the same ammo capacity as was available in PS1. That didn't unbalance that game.

Unless you're in your own base, close to a terminal, in a group with an engie or attached to a sunderer you run out of ammo in 30 seconds. Which means you can't run over that hilltop to fire on that sunderer that's set up shop and kill it without running back to get more ammo only to discover it's back to full and you STILL can't kill it.

Trial it (if you're able). The thing I like about it is that the rockets move faster so they'll chase an ESF and actually hit and do some damage to it. Plus you have the ability to target magriders and tanks and if they run the rocket will hit them in the back too. The problem is the ammo capacity and the shots you'd want to take out a sundy and liberator pretty much eat all your ammo.

I prefer to suggest to simply increase default ammo of all rocket launchers by 1.

Is giving up dumb-fire worth it, though? Even if it does lock onto both air and ground. And do the rockets hit more frequently than the other launchers that have dumb-fire and lock on? If the target doesn't use counter-measures, of course.

1 isn't enough. I'd be happy if they give you 9 rockets + 2-3 per munitions slot level. Then you could get to a nice spot and support your team in a fight without immediately having to run back for ammo.

I don't miss dumbfire when i'm out with one. If a vehicle gets that close to me i'm probably out of ammo and as good as dead anyway. As for counter-measures I like to keep the lock on for a while so they might use them to early before i actually fire. But to be honest i'm not looking at them once i fire anyway - I just get surprised when i see the hit counter and possibly a kill shot come in as I've finished reloading and am aiming again for another target.

Plus the only way you'd take out a row of tanks with 15 rounds is if their backs are to you and they don't move, and no one tries to kill you. That'd make them pathetic especially if no snipers get you either.

AND AGAIN i'm out with my HA, i'm taking potshots at the aircraft trying to blast our tanks. I run out of ammo (no surprise) so I ask for ammo. Of course i'm out on a hill a minute from (at least) from the nearest sunderer. So I spam the need ammo to the nearest tank that I've seen its pilot repair itself. NO RESPONSE. So I PM the tank driver (and the next one) for Ammo - being polite. NO ANSWER. I swear if my rocket launcher had dumbfire i'd save the last round to shoot them.

This is why HA's need more rocket ammo. Next battle, we're warding off a zerg of tanks coming to attack our tower. I'm standing JUST outside the tower on a small bump firing like mad. Had an engie come and resupply me whenever he heard my cry but NONE of the others came out to help. I was out there dodging shots holding back the zerg (with cannon support from above and the odd lightning) until I had to give up due to no ammo.

NEXT BATTLE: We're on the defensive at the next base. I take up a position outside the base (30 seconds from spawn) with open views to fire on incoming vehicles. I ask for ammo when i'm running low. NO HELP. I ask in Region for ammo to the south. NO AMMO. I run back in to get more ammo and that gap allowed a sundy to come out from being wounded by me and set up shop next to our spawn. IF I HAD 5 more rockets it wouldn't have made it.

So morale of the story is: a LOT of engineers are useless and therefore HA's need a lot more rocket ammo. Keeping us chained to engineers and spawn rooms doesn't help your game.

I'll take a more moderate stance here on the ammo- I -do- think that only one more shot per rank of ammo pouch isn't worth the amount of certs dumped into it, but I'd say 3 per rank is clearly too much. The need for ammo is an important limiting factor, the only issue is that it's a little too limiting. I like the idea of kicking up the base by one shot and making each rank of the ammo pouch add 2 rockets. Perhaps making it vary between 1 and 2 extra rockets depending on which launcher you use.

As an addition, making the XP gain for an ammo pack reload a bit higher seems warranted. There's really not enough incentive here for most Engineers to drop certs into extending the pack duration, or to drop a pack in any situation where they're supplying less than four people. The durations and power of the ammo packs is fine, what's really lacking is enough reason for Engineers to use them in these situations other than 'out of the good of my heart'.

As far as the rocket launchers go, I cannot abide the lockon-only launcher in most situations, but that's specifically because it's useless against infantry (and crippled against MAX suits compared to the other launchers). The thing that has proven most dangerous for me about fielding anti-tank munitions as an HA is not, in fact, getting shot by the vehicles. Usually they either are distracted or are on the other side of a barrier or obstacle that I can float around to keep out of sight and thus out of killing reach. The real problem is when a Light Assault, Infiltrator, or some nut rushing your position opens up on you while you're locking on to a target. I've gotten dozens if not a couple of hundred kills on these people and others by dropping a single anti-vehicle shot into them at short range. This is especially noteworthy headshotting MAXes with unguided AA missiles, and when creeping around a base while either I'm already damaged, or I can't afford to linger in a firefight while attracting attention from other nearby enemies and would rather pop around a corner and explode someone's ribcage with a ball of warm gooey plasma. If I'm going to do any of that, I can't be using a rocket launcher that requires guided-fire.

Where locking on really becomes useful is when your enemy is very distant- and that occurs for lock-on launchers in two situations: when your target is airborne, and when you're in a sniping position but looking at tanks instead of infantry. A lot of vehicles have weak top armor, so dropping a rocket into them from a high hill can be extremely useful, especially when they're moving around and crippled, which is where an HA is going to get most of their ground vehicle kills- on fleeing enemy tanks. This is why I pair my lockon-only launcher with the semi-sniper rifle available to HA.

If you're looking to crush fleeing vehicles, serve as an air deterrent, and generally be a sniper in heavy armor, then grab that lockon launcher and have fun. If you prefer to perform your heavy assaults close up, the other launchers will suit you better, since there's little to no advantage to locking on to ground vehicles from closer range, and dumb-fire with an AA rocket is plain old faster and just as effective once you learn the rocket/plasma drop rate (how fast it falls out of trajectory), not to mention better for dealing with infantry.

I /think/ Annihilator also has more lockon range. But at some point if the threat is homogenous (mostly air or mostly ground vehicles), you can run back to a Sundy and switch if the threat is getting closer and closer.

The fact that you aren't in a squad isn't a "moral".

"Medics never revive me, therefore I should be able to do it myself." Is a bad argument.

Having it so a squad of HA with Decimators can't peek-a-boo an entire armor column without support DOES help the game.

I wasn't peek-a-booing the entire column, i was standing out in the open of a road at the start (getting ammo from an engie) before they got forced back to the tower where I still stood in plain sight (taking the odd side hit from sniper) and fired on them. 12 rounds for a rocket launcher (plus bonus for the munitions pouch) won't allow me to stop an armor column at range with a decimator.

HOWEVER, the extra ammo gives you some freedom to cover a vulnerable side of an outpost and take out that tank and sundy coming across the plains to stop your attack while the others man the waypoint.

Instead of more ammo, they should just re-create the RL altogether like any other weapons with modular attachments that gives it more variations than it's stock launcher.

Maybe you should bring an engineer with you next time. Maybe make a squad with more HA's too. Easy peasy.

This is a game that is supposed to play in squads and now you know one of the big advantages of a squad: having always some ammo

Edit: Although, everything goes better in a organized outfit.... you maybe join one?

HA is not meant to be a 1-man vehicle wrecking crew. You want unlimited ammo, get an engy friend. I have yet to meet an engineer that doesn't like to sit there and take pot shots at infantry with their turret while I feed them hundreds of xp over the course of a single large base fight.

Fixed that.

AV isn't what "HA does best." It's just one thing that the HA does. What HA does best is free target selection. With the ease of spamming troops at an objective, 5 pops per spawn is enough to cover the field in rockets. I know, my outfit does it all the time. If players aren't giving you ammo then that's a problem with your empire.

Right now, the job of high-sustain AV infantry is that of the MAX. HA do enough different things at the same time that increasing their already ample AV capacity would be overkill. If you wan to solo, don't expect to be rampaging against vehicles on-end and be prepared for other players to not poop out ammo crates at your leisure. If you want to team up (this is a team game), then squad with a friendly engi and spam rockets till the cows come home.

HA is the last class that needs any remote hint of love in this game.