"Leave the launcher, take the rocket" - several possible uses for the RPG-7 rocket that don't require the launcher

[chambersenator 106]

So we know the RPG-7 will be in the game. Of course, the ammo will be rare, the launcher heavy and cumbersome, but who needs the launcher when the rockets have so much potential on their own?

You see, the rocket for the RPG-7 has its detonation trigger at the tip, of course. There is a little protective cap that you remove from the tip just before firing, since without it, it will go off if it gets enough force applied to it. So, if all you have is the rocket, you have yourself an incredibly dangerous weapon even if you don't have the launcher. Now, what sorts of things can we do with it?

1. Throw it. If done right, this is not as suicidal as it may seem. Since you want it to land with the tip hitting the ground first (and as far away as possible), a rooftop or a cliff's edge seems a good place to throw them from. Once we can fire from vehicles, throwing them from the back of a moving V3S might be a good way to take out that car chasing you. If you're on the ground, and have no other choice, you'd want to throw it underhand with a decent arc with as much force as possible - throwing it overhand just makes it spin end over end, and it *might* not go off. Of course, there is always just taking the F11 route and just slamming it down at your feet, taking everyone else nearby with you. 

2. Launch it old school via improvised ballista. A regular bow or crossbow ain't going to cut it, unless you want to have a front row seat to your own dismemberment. You need to go bigger - like *at least* 3x-4x the width and strength of a crossbow for something you could carry short distances (obviously not something you could shoulder or just carry around anywhere) and use it for a high-arc path that probably maxes out at 30ft (perhaps useful for camp/base assault/defense), or go even bigger and mount it to the back of a vehicle like the V3S, and scare the hell out of everybody. In either configuration, something like that is going to require quite a bit of crafting and materials.

3. Incorporate it into a tripwire-triggered trap. It would be hard to conceal in most situations, but as long as you have a way for the armed rocket to drop several feet once the tripwire is triggered, there's not going to be much left of anything that was there just before it went off.

4. IED. If placed properly, and covered by another object to both conceal it and increase it's trigger area (such as a car hood, log, board, sheet of corrugated metal, or something to that effect), driving or maybe even running over it could set it off (perhaps as a base defense to prevent the entry or removal of vehicles from inside). 

5. Something in your way, such as a pesky wall, building, or pedestrian? Have no interest in surviving to see the next sunrise? Tell your squad to get out of the vehicle. Have them attach one or more rockets to the front bumper or hood. Approach your target at high speed. Spawn on the coast.  

So after reading that, one might consider that maybe this particular weapon might be just a little too OP, if we would be able to use it in such a manner. To a certain extent, I agree, but I think there are ways to balance that out. 

• Obviously, making them about as rare as a SVD or VSS spawning with a full mag right beside another full magazine is the obvious first step.
• Rockets should have and 'armed' and 'safe' action to them. In their armed state, they should be incredibly dangerous to just have jostling around in your backpack, and should have a small chance of going off if you fall or dive to the ground.
• Even when the safety cap is on, **and** once the devs have a new system for handling inventory damage in place, there should be at least a *small* chance that if the rocket is in your inventory, and is hit by one of the heavier caliber rounds (perhaps .308 or 7.62x54r, for example), it may detonate. While this is probably an incredibly mind-bogglingly rare chance of this happening IRL, if done properly would seem to be a fairly decent risk/reward balance.

I would hope that we would see at least some of these possibilities later on in vanilla DayZ, but of course, I don't think we'll see this particular item's full potential until modders get their hands on it.

What do you think?

[-Gews- 7443]

Don't think this will work as you envision, the rounds are armed by 'setback' upon firing.

[chambersenator 106]

1 minute ago, -Gews- said:

Don't think this will work as you envision, the rounds are armed by 'setback' upon firing.

I've heard that arming varies depending on the type, manufacturer, and year of the rocket, and some have a safety pin along with the cap, some only arm after the launch charge is fired, and some are fully armed once the safety cap is removed.

I'll see if I can find a link to cite for that.

[Irish. 4886]

Rah!

[TikTactical 61]

Now this is not the case with all of the (feels like billions of different RPGs) out there, but most of them don't actually arm the warhead before it's in flight, it does this mostly by either the centrifugal force of the grenade itself when in flight, or when the propellant explosion occurs when in flight. This meaning that most RPG warheads out there is not actually armed before it's in flight. I'm also wondering whether or not the devs are going to have the "fuse" of an RPG implemented into the game, so it'll explode at a distance of roughly 920 meters automatically, if it hasn't hit an object at that range. ;3 :)

Edited July 23, 2017 by TikTactical

[klesh 2423]

Maybe if your character has an increased "explosive expert" soft skill *shudder*, the arming aspect could be manipulated to make the IED etc.

Are they still planning on doing soft skills attached to your character?

[t3h_kgb 6]

It's still very viable to create an IED from an RPG rocket, regardless of arming procedure; most of that can be bypassed...

As much as I lament the idea of having players litter the map with IEDs, it would be an idea to create tripwires or IEDs or somesuch from RPGs, grenades, etc. Better yet would be to start with just smoke grenade/flashbang tripwires, as it would be nonlethal, and could warn a player of approaching players... Even better still would be the ability to make ANFO from fertilizer and diesel fuel, and create your own explosive compounds to be used for crafting in-game IEDs, improvised frag devices (i.e. pipe bombs), etc.... Of course, the currently existing gasoline cans mixed with the garden lime would just produce garbage, maybe some noxious fumes (not sure of the chemistry of lime + gasoline, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't make an explosive like ANFO), and you'd need to find the specific AN fertilizer and fuel oil (big fuel oil tanks outside of homes could be accessed for small amounts of FO, and the gas stations can have diesel fuel as well)...

Edited July 26, 2017 by t3h_kgb