Can only purchase one launcher? Annihilator. Reason: Grants you the ability to lock on to both ground and air, which are the most important things the default launcher lacks. Can only purchase two launchers? G2A lock-on. (VS: Nemesis) Reason: Nemesis is the best standard launcher as it is good against air, while being okay against infantry and armour (dumb-fire). G2G lock-on. (VS: Hades) Reason: Hades will provides more damaging armour lock-on functionality than an annihilator and can be dumb fired, which is good when tanks come closer and when you also want to take out infantry with said launcher. Can only purchase three launchers? G2A lock-on G2G lock-on Annihilator. Reason: Because in some situations it's nice to be able to lock on to both air and ground with one launcher with the Annihilator. Only get the Decimator if you have every other launcher. It's nice in it's own way but actually isn't that much better than the default launcher. It has less drop (more accurate), better projectile velocity (more accurate) and 300 more damage than the Vanu default launcher (S1). However, this comes at the cost of 1 less rocket capacity and a longer reload speed. S1 is generally better at taking out tanks from the back due to increased reload speed. It takes two rockets regardless of whether you have a Deci or S1. Deci will take out an MBT in 1 less rocket than S1 from the front or sides. Neither RL can take out a Sundy by itself without suit upgrades, however, the S1 can do 500 more damage if both launchers fire all rockets. S1 does sufficient damage to kill a non-Heavy or MAX infantry person that isn't using Flak armour 5 (most people) in 1 body shot. If the infantry person has flak armour five or is a 100% health heavy with NMG/adrenaline up they will survive an S1 body shot by a few HP. A Deci body shot does enough damage to kill anyone bar a HA with shield up + flak armour or a MAX. I believe a Deci head shot kills any type of infantry person (not sure), although it's hard to pull off.
Just use the default launcher, its the most versatile out of all of them. if you really wanna buy a launcher get the G2A one, its pretty decent. I dont see the point in getting the G2G launcher, does less dmg and it only helps when the enemy is quite far making it difficult for you to land a shot with the dumbfire. at that sort of range its very easy for the tank to take cover and go repair. So whats the point ? Also the big problem with G2G and G2A launchers is the bullet drop. its horrible when nothing is locked on, making it really bad for rocket sniping.
Actually with the recent update to the G2A launcher, its velocity was increased like crazy so the absurd drop is pretty much gone. It still has the wonky arc compared to the default launcher though. The G2A has less drop at close to 150m, but at extreme distances its drop becomes worse than the default. At the moment, the G2A is actually the best launcher at clutch-killing infantry simply because it has 0 drop at close - 25m, is faster than the default, and still one shots infantry. I've killed SOOOO many troopers in Biolabs since the update.
With the recent fixes to lock on tracking the g2a launchers are currently best all around.. can still be dumb fired against infantry tanks and turrets with less drop and higher velocity than default and lets you actually hit and do damage to air.
Are you sure the decimator is slower, since the tooltip and spreadsheet both say it's slower. Also according to the spreadsheet it says the drop is the same. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...IRE&sortcolid=-1&sortasc=true&rowsperpage=250
Hmm, that is strange. I didn't actually physically look at the spreadsheet for this point, but you appear to be right. Nevertheless, using the S1 versus Deci in-game it does seem to me that the Deci is more accurate at range due to having less drop. I could understand the projectile velocity being lower as that is hard to judge by eye. I'll give it a go in-game and might post back here. Although a thought just occurred to me. They both have the same drop but the defaults have higher projectile velocity. This could create the illusion that the default launchers drop more because they are actually covering more distance in the same time period. Edit: This doesn't change the order I would buy launchers in FYI.
PS1 turned me into a die-hard AA/AT infantryman. On various characters, I own all the launchers. (Woot, 3xSC weekends.) Simple break-down: Default Dumb-fire: + Slow moving targets at medium range or closer - Next to impossible to hit aircraft or moving targets at range Ground-Lock Only: + Anti-tank sniper + Can still dumb-fire at close targets + Does more damage than default launcher - Virtually no protection from Libs or rocket-pod-jockies NS Decimator (Dumb-fire only): + Highest damage of all launchers - Slowest rocket of any launchers - Longest reload timer of any launchers - Smallest ammo pool of any launchers - Dumb-fire only My two biggest recommendations are either the empire specific AA launcher or the NS Annihilator. Emp specific launchers will let you lock air targets, but still dumb-fire without lock: + This means not loosing locks to ground vehicles/turrets you didn't want to target + Allows free-fire without lock, saving you time on nearby ground and air vehicles + Does more damage than default launcher - Won't lock distant ground vehicles or turrets NS Annihilator: + Locks EVERYTHING + Fastest reloads of any launcher (which means more targets tagged, which means more kills/assists and more pilots that need to fall back to repair or get killed, which means less hostiles either temporarily or permanently) - Locks EVERYTHING (including every single one of those wall turrets in that base... as well as every delpoyed engi turret, which means target rich environments can cause your lock-on to constantly shift from one target to another as you track your intended target) - Does the least damage of all the launchers - Faster locks mean running out of ammo faster - CAN NOT DUMB-FIRE (aka, that cocky, ***** kill farmer hovering 15 feet from your face while rocket-podding you to death might as well be invincible - also, that vanguard that just rolled past you at half-health and is showing his *** to you for all of 1 second before he sweeps his gun in your direction, also might as well be invincible) A lot of people gripe about the NSA having the lowest damage of any of the rockets, but I find that in any kind of real fight, there is enough damage being thrown around by both sides that simply contributing to the damage output both thins the opposition and gets me lots of points. They're mostly kill assists, but you can be a little more judicious about waiting for nearly dead targets to get juicier kills. I roll with my AA-lock/dumbfire launcher as my default for its versatility and pull out my NSA when I'm in a target rich environment and have the luxury of engaging enemies at range.
I suggest getting second burster instead of any AA missile, good pilots dodge it, bad ones get flares --> no kills
The lock-on launchers do less damage than the default rocket launcher. Two defaults into the rear of an MBT will kill it. Two lockons into the rear will set it on fire. Damage is as follows Decimater > default > ground lockon = air lockon > annihilator. Aircraft also receive reduced damage from lockon missiles. No, the deci isthe slowest. Unless things have changed since the weekend.
Ah well, damaged used to report on the stats screen as higher. Need devote more time from RL pursuits to double-checking damage values in this game. That should prove profitable. Also, what trait gives aircraft additional damage resistance to anti-air missiles? If you're suggesting it's lock only, I can't really say I've seen that be true. Tagged both a scythe in the face and reaver in the belly the other day with a decimator and it did only about 40% of its health.
If you find yourself at close range a lot with tanks, then default or a Deci is your game. If you're at range a lot, the guided launchers are your game. If you find yourself rarely using dumbfire, then the Annihilator is not a bad choice, but sacrifices damage.
The annihilator is good if you have two or more people using them at once. Find a plane to lock onto, see if it flares, if not, two quick shots and it's dead. Then you can work on some tanks. It is versatile in bigger areas and if you focus on one vehicle at a time, like smaller skirmishes or repelling an attack. It's a great defensive launcher when air and armour start to roll in.
The NC had a wire-guided launcher in PS1. I think it may be coming back as part of the "empire-specific rocket launchers" in February.
I'm pretty new to Planetside2 (on my third day) but I'm getting pretty good with the Annihilator on both Tanks and Air. I think I killed 75+ tanks, Planes and Sunderer's today alone with an Annihilator. Sure you going to get killed too but it's a blast. We have a bunch of excellent spots. Taking out a flash and driver is a one hit kill but the rest take a plan. The Annihilator will only lock onto the tail pipe exhaust heat. Actually an advantage as the back is weakest part of the tanks and planes and they can't see it coming. Meaning it won't lock a tank if only the front is sticking out from a rock. It won't dumb fire. The damage is slightly less then the other rockets but it's faster and will chase a plane or tank out pretty much out of sight. It's really cool as it chases the plane around mountains and will get hits out of sight. Fight from a distance. Be stealth and keep changing positions. Stay close to a Sunderer so you can keep refilling the mag on your rockets. Or having a guy dropping ammo is awesome. You can just cherry pick dog fighting planes that are 3-4th in the red and get tons of one hit kills. Watch for the smokers and take advantage of their weak state or catch them with 2-3 missiles before they get out of view. Team up with 3-5 other rocket launchers and launch in tandem to take a full health plane down in seconds. Today we sat high on a hill and 5-6 of us with support took out hundreds of planes and tanks and Sunderer's. Nothing like 4-6 rockets chasing down the same plane for an easy kill. Trap tanks (meaning you get in 2 clean hits and they panic and run) and run after them. I like doing the one man show that hunts them down by foot and after 2-4 hits they are dead. Right before death they take off and run around a bend. Jump out and fix their tank. It happens over and over. I get them week. Chase them on foot and kill the tank of the guy fixing the tank then the tank. Sure I die half the time but that's the fun in it. If you're high on a mountain and they have a long pass with no turns they are dead. Since I carry 5/1 I can usually get the 3-4 hits in to take them down. The extra rocket cert is worth it. Can't wait for 3 extra rockets. I'm killing almost as many vehicles as humans. I'll make some videos in a few days as I get better. My first two days of stats. 95 vehicle kills. Kills: 206 Vehicles Killed: 95 Some might think it's not fair but it's a good balance the planes and tanks kill us just as much as we kill them. It would be great to set up a 12 man squad with 8 Rocketeers 2 medics and 2 engineers using 1-2 Sunderers. Imagine 8 guys in tandem doing synchronized rocket launches with support.
