BY THE ROCKETS RED GLARE By James Frediani My biggest failing in WC play is the over-use of rockets... I know, everyone has a favorite unit, usually BATs or CAVs. These, at least, are repairable or reusable. RKTs are a one shot, throw-away weapon. Six build steps...( a PAR, TNK + INF, a SUB, or DES for God's sake!) How did I ever fall into the deadly trap of over-building these units when the build steps could've gone towards CAVs or BATs? It's a simple tale, and all too common story... I told it at my first meeting of Rocketeers Anonymous, and have heard it all too many times at subsequent meetings... The first time I used a RKT was early in the game. I found a neutral city within 10 hexes, guarded by just 1 INF, with no other ground forces near. Then I tried the same tactic on neutrals with TWO units in them (using 2+ Redeploys). Well, its easy to see where it went from there. First you use RKTs on neutrals, the next thing you know, you're using them on LIVE OPPONENTS! This insidious habit starts out being used only against cities. But then it takes on a life of its own! A major enemy ground force moving on your city? No ground units adjacent to try and pin the gnarly dudes? No Problemo! Toss a RKT! Damaged enemy BATs and CAVs running to repair/resupply in a city? No Problemo! Toss a RKT! Only problem is...them suckers MOVE! If they get initiative, you're plowing the fields for the farmers with six build-steps! Then to justify your use of RKTs that way, you begin to develop different tactics to get the desired results. Instead of trying to nail them outside the city (where you need initiative and even then, there's a 25% chance of ZERO hits) target the (you HOPE) destination for a Phase 5 impact. Sure, you might not hit your "intended", but he's got to run further away from the fighting to get "fixed". So you see, its an easy trap to fall into. You don't really notice it until you start adding up all the MECs and CAVs your enemy has compared to what you have. Then you realize that those RKTs don't capture cities. They also don't HOLD 'em very well either. So don't get seduced by the lure of being able to reach out and "touch" someone ten squares away without leaving your city. Otherwise I'll be seeing you at Rockanon every other weekend. And for God's sake, pray you never get CHEAP RKTS! (Fortunately, I've never seen a TECH that gives you BETTER RKTs )