Have you ever played a game where the enemy was just picking off your tanks left and right because his tanks were better than yours? Or maybe you've had a game where the enemy was simply the better tank commander that match? Whatever the reason, you're down a few tanks, and you don't have many points left. If you buy another tank, it will probably get taken out again. If you buy an AT gun, it might get one shot off before it's gets HE shelled to death. So what do you do? You buy a bazooka (rocket-launcher infantry).
Bazookas are a cheap solution to an expensive problem. A bazooka man costs only 7 points while the average tank costs an upwards of 20 points. That means that your bazooka man only has to destroy one tank to pay for himself! Bazookas have a very good deal of penetration (120-200mm) that doesn't degrade over distance (but accuracy does). Plus, if you hit the enemy tank in the right spot, it blows up taking out it's infantry escort and whatever else is unlucky enough to get caught in the blast radius! Ultimately, there's no more satisfaction in the game to be had than taking out the enemy's 120 pt King Tiger with a 7 point bazooka man!
Stats:
German Panzerfaust: ~200mm of Penetration Range: 30m
(only Fallschirmjägers and Stormtroopers have Panzerfausts)
German Panzerschreck: ~180mm of Penetration Range: 35m
American/Russian/Japanese Bazooka/British PIAT: ~120mm of Penetration Range: 30m
Cost: 7 points Population: 3 points
How to use a Rocket-Launcher: the Do's and Don'ts
Do aim for the hull.
Do work in tandem with other forces.
Do be camouflaged when you fire at the enemy.
Do hit the weak point in a tank if you know where it is.
Do use distractions.
Do fire from as short a range possible; you do not want to miss!
Don't attack the tank frontally; unless there's no better option.
Don't go for the tracks; you will mostly like detrack the tank, but not destroy it, resulting in the loss of you man/men.
Don't get caught in the open; use bushes and other cover to sneak around. Hide in houses.
"Friendly Fire:"
If you can afford it, bring a flamethrower along with you. He can set the engine on fire, but that's not his purpose. With multiple tank kills with a bazooka, you will find that you only crush the hull instead of destroying it. This means that the crew usually survives, and when they get out they try to kill your bazooka man. To prevent this, your flamethrower man should barbecue them as soon as they get out of the tank.
If you're deep in enemy territory, then most of the time you will not have the chance to restore a knocked out tank to working condition. Therefore it's better to scavenge the tank of whatever supplies it has and then destroy it. However, when you've finished scavenging supplies from a tank, don't waste precious ammo trying to set it's engine on fire, just get a guy inside and press L twice. Then get hell away before the tank blows up!
Prey Specific Tips:
Hetzer, StuG IV, Jagdpanzer IV, Panzer IV H:
Some German tanks have side-skirts, so if you encounter these, be careful. Side-skirts were designed to pre-detonate HEAT (high explosive anti-tank) rounds before the warhead penetrated the tank itself. If you fire at a tank's skirts in game, you may de-track the tank, destroy a skirt section, or do nothing at all. However, there is a solution to this. You must look for what's called a Balkan cross and aim there, even if shows on the skirts. Most German tanks' hulls have Balkan crosses on them making for easy targeting. See the video for a graphical illustration of this concept.
Russian SPGs:
These tanks are easy to destroy because of their large fronts that house the guns they use, and that the fact that a out of 5 SPGs, only the ISU-152 has a machine gun to protect against infantry. Again, try to make sure you always aim for the hull and not the tracks, as if you take out the tracks, there's a good chance your bazooka man will get taken out before he can reload and destroy the SPG. However, when working in tandem with a tank, detracking these beasts at opportune times also works well. See the video for a further illustration on soloing it.
Of course, you don't have to aim for the hull. But if you're soloing it, it is often the best place to hit SPGs or any tank for that matter. If you are working in tandem with a tank or a teammate's tank, the bazooka-man becomes a force multiplier, de-tracking the enemy tank while your teammate flanks it.
King Tiger/JagdTiger/Elefant/Tortoise/IS3:
These beasts have more than 120mm of armour up front. Under no circumstances are you to attempt to take out these bad boys frontally with a bazooka. Only the German Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust stand a chance frontally against these tanks, so go for the sides. I think the Tortoise also has skirts, but I didn't list this, as I think its hull is big and easy enough to shoot. Plus, if a Tortoise's track is blown, it's dead sooner or later anyway.
Only the Panzerschreck and the Panzerfaust have the penetration needed to take out the heavies frontally, and then not even all of them. Usually, you are better off going for the side shot. Detracking the tank works here as well, because a heavy tank that can't move, is a dead tank.
Weak Points
Each and every tank has a weak spot. When this weak spot gets penetrated, the tank blows up. In all of my testing, the tank has been blown up by being hit in certain spot in the turret. This mostly likely hits the ammo storage, setting it off and blowing the tank up. I call them sweet spots, because when you hit them right, it makes you go, "sweeet".
(Weak Spots: Commonwealth and USA)
This video shows the weak spots in American tanks' turrets and Commonwealth tanks' turrets.
(Weak Spots: Germans and Soviets) This video shows the weak spots in Soviet tanks' turrets and German tanks' turrets.
Final Note: Remember, your rocket-launcher man is still only an infantry man. He is vulnerable to anything and everything from death by enemy fire to falling off a bridge, or being hit by falling debris! Since he poses so much danger to the enemy's tanks, he will be a high priority target for enemy snipers and officers who will be looking spot for him.
When used correctly, the bazooka man can pose a serious threat to the enemy without too much risk on your part. He can not only be used to take down tanks, but he can take out sizeable portions of buildings too! However, ammunition is limited, so only do that as a stopgap measure. Remember to always fire your Panzerschreck from bushes, houses or buildings, or from some sort of cover.
