War College: Single Shot Rockets

As I've already done two posts about building Single Shot Rockets -- and since this is a War College post -- let's look at the distribution and use of SSRs in your squad instead.  And, yes, the generally accepted abbreviation of Single Shot Rocket is SSR.

On page 134 of the rules it states that "Every company must carry the same number of single-shot rockets. By default, every company must carry 3."  Single Shot Rockets are not Systems and you do not lose them due to Damage.  Also, since they are not Ranged Weapon Systems, they do not interfere with the Sprint Die.  There's no page reference for this although it's kind of obliquely mentioned on page 65.

For distribution, in general I place one per Frame.  Other people, like Chuck in this somewhat recent game, have two SSRs on one Frame.  In this game I loaded them all on to one Frame.  Pete did the same in this game.  If you do that on a Frame that has no other Systems it's generally called a "Missile Monkey", and it's seen use in at least one other game.  In the "Sand & Trees" game Single Shot Rockets were the only weapon my Frames carried.

As to when to use them, the conventional wisdom is "Use them before you lose them."  Which generally means fire them all off in the first or second Round.  In this game all players managed to use their SSRs in the first round.  That's not to say a late game application of a Single Shot Rocket can't be helpful, take this game for example, a last round hit for 5 damage can be pretty powerful.  And as a counterpoint, going back to this game, using all of your SSRs in the first Round without proper Spotting can be futile.

According to the Commander's Handbook a standard Direct Fire attack, from a Soldier loadout, will potentially yield 1.49/1.65/1.75 Systems worth of Damage depending on how many White Dice you have to spare.  The same attack with a SSR added in will yield a potential 1.86/1.94/1.98 Systems worth of Damage -- again depending on how many White Dice you have to spare.  So if you manage to chain three Direct Fire attacks in a row on the same target using a single SSR in each you could potentially do enough damage to a fully loaded Frame to destroy it.  Alternately, if you use all three SSRs in a single attack you can run this up to potentially 2.22/2.24/2.25 Systems worth of Damage.

Switching to a Tank loadout with one SSR potentially gets us 2.08/2.12/2.14 Systems worth of Damage.  Going all in with three SSRs is a potential 2.32/2.33/2.34 Systems worth of Damage for an "Alpha Strike".  Of course this may invite attacks from opponents when they figure out that you could roll 4d8 for one attack.  But if you're going for a "Walking Target" aspect -- and you're willing to place all your SSRs in one basket -- this is a valid tactical option.  I'd be more likely to use one per Round though, as a potential 2.08 Systems worth of Damage three Rounds in a row is pretty powerful.

To go in the other direction, a "non-combat" Frame carrying the Watchtower loadout with one SSR for self defense has a 1.50/1.74/1.86 Systems worth of potential Damage at Direct Fire range.  Going to three SSRs has a Damage potential of 2.16/2.20/2.22 when using them all at the same time.

The classic Missile Monkey loadout has a Damage potential of 1.50/1.74/1.86 for one SSR, 1.94/2.03/2.08 for two, and 2.16/2.20/2.22 for a three SSR salvo.

Hopefully this helps with your distribution and use of Single Shot Rockets in your next game.