Rocket buggy (Generals 1)

"Let's kick up some dirt!"

- Rocket Buggy leaving the arms dealer

The rocket buggy was the basic GLA long-range attack vehicle during the War against the GLA. It was the fastest but least powerful of all long-range units.

Background
Unlike other long-range units, the rocket buggy was fast and agile, but had the weakest armour of all siege/support vehicles. They were armed with pods of small missiles, which were weaker than the RPG trooper's rockets individually. Buggies compensated their relative lack of firepower by firing a swarm of projectiles in rapid succession, especially when upgraded with extra ammo.

In-game
The rocket buggy is used in the spirit of GLA's hit-and-run tactics. Fast, agile, and vulnerable at close range against other units, rocket buggies are required to get in, attack, and get out again. In groups, it can destroy almost any armoured ground unit in matter of seconds. It is useful for destroying enemy defensive structures from outside their range and acts as support for armoured assaults. A small number of rocket buggies can quickly destroy the oft-feared Chinese Overlord tank.

The rocket buggy is poorly armoured and remains vulnerable during its long reload time. The rockets can be shot down by units with point defense lasers, but it would require several such units to completely neutralize a full attack of one buggy.

Unlike other artillery, they have to get their targets in their line of sight. Any target placed behind an obstacle forced the rocket buggy to close in to even be able to fire, often getting withing firing range of the target. For this reason, the rocket buggy is ineffective in an urban setting.

Changelog

 * Generals sneak peek patch 1.02:
 * now requires the palace to be built
 * cost increased from $800 to $900
 * build time decreased from 15 to 10 seconds
 * missiles now track
 * missiles now scatter only against infantry
 * Generals patch 1.05:
 * missiles now continue tracking targets after upgrading the rocket buggy
 * now reloads more reliably

Trivia

 * There is a special toxin shells upgrade made for the rocket buggy which makes its missiles leave toxin residue. The upgrade exists in the code but is not enabled.
 * The game erroneously mentions that the Rocket Buggy is strong against infantry and weak against tanks. It could mean that it's strong against infantry because of its long range and weak against tanks because of its weak armor or delay between volleys.