imortal wrote:
Talon wrote:
Why do so many people think the Pilum is more powerful? It does exactly the same damage.
Since there is no warning for the target when you fire the Pilum, you hit the target more often, instead of having the target raising its shields.
The problem with the pilum is that it is designed specifically to decimate the soft spots of enemy armor. In a full-on frontal assault, the standard rocket launcher does a little more damage. However, hit an enemy in the flank, or better yet their rear, you're talking some serious damage. For instance:
APC
Pilum flank/rear shot: 55 damage (65 if you hit that tiny hitbox where the vent is on the rear)
Pilum frontal shot: 20 (25?) damage
Rocket round flank/rear: 45 damage (55 again for that small angled vent on the rear bottom)
Rocket frontal shot: 25 damage
The difference, my friends, between a two shot instant-kill w/pilum, and giving the pilot a few seconds to bail if you nail him with two rockets.
In my experience, the pilum makes the engineer extremely aggressive. You'll either kill your target in a spectacular manner where everyone inside it dies, or be flattened when your first shot misses because it has no guidance package. I typically prefer the pilum, but in the case of extreme range shots where I absolutely can't afford to miss, I'll go with rockets. Plus, rockets are better for infantry sniping (lol)