Rock-It Launcher

The Rock-It Launcher is a Fallout 3 weapon. It is a big gun that allows you to shoot various items, such as tin cans or teddy bears, at your enemies. It is a very crude weapon, made with an assortment of parts, but it is useful because it can fire most junk items.

It can be constructed from Schematics - Rock-It Launcher.

Building
See Schematics - Rock-It Launcher.

Characteristics

 * The main feature of the Rock-It Launcher is its versatility with ammunition. Virtually any piece of debris or junk found in the wasteland can be used as ammunition.  Even human remains can be used as ammunition in the Rock-It Launcher. Ammo is fired in a random order (in the order loaded in PS3 version) so if there is a preferred object you wish to fire, only load the weapon with your object of choice. Ammunition can even be recovered and reused after a fight. Ammo might be its one big advantage over weapons such as the Blackhawk (which also does dmg in the 50s). The Rock-It Launcher isn't limited to 6 shots and ammo is much, much more abundant, but it's limited in range and accuracy, and is also considerably heavier. Another downside is that, because the launcher's "ammo" has weight, ammunition capacity is directly dependent on the player's ability and willingness to carry it.


 * Heavier objects will arc more in flight outside of V.A.T.S. targeting; given the rate of fire (3.3/s) and high Action Point cost (32) it may be important to aim freehand more often. Since objects are launched with Havok Physics, the shape of the object has as much influence as the weight in how it flies; e.g.: a Butter Knife, weight 1, will fly straighter than a Baseball, also weight 1. A Hammer, weight 2, will arc less than the weight 1 Plunger, because the plunger isn't oriented lengthwise in flight as the hammer is.

Tips

 * Throughout the course of the game, it is best to steal all light junk and hoard it for this weapon. Stuff that is very light, like clutter, cutlery, or even teddy bears, makes for ideal Rock-It Launcher ammunition. You can have a lot of ammo and not have to waste valuable inventory space.


 * Items that have been fired from the Rock-It Launcher can be picked up and loaded back in, thus ensuring that you will never run out of ammo as long as you remember to pick up every item the weapon fired. However, this is easier said than done because Rock-It Launcher ammo, regardless of its weight, tends to bounce off in unpredictable directions when it hits something. Sometimes it drops down to the floor after hitting an enemy, sometimes it flies to one side, and sometimes it bounces back towards you (though it will not hurt you or any NPC). Even large objects such as Garden Gnomes can be hard to find after a battle, especially in places with a lot of rubble or slopes.


 * Billiards, especially with stripes, are the easiest to detect and reclaim from any terrain or lighting conditions. Though they tend to roll, it's a predictable roll, and quite often you'll find them bounced a short distance behind you.
 * Another Ideal source of ammo for the Rock-It Launcher (if you have Mothership Zeta), are the alien crystals. Both small and large alien crystals are weightless and abundant. The biggest downside is that like pre - war money the alien crystals can be sold for a large amount of caps.


 * Projectiles of all kinds tend to sink into irregular static meshes of rubble or natural rock and gravel, making them difficult to detect or impossible to activate to pick back up. This is most likely what happens to the ones that too often seemingly vanish.


 * Any object that is not picked up in a couple minutes after being fired will evaporate. Firing an object from the Launcher and then observing it, provides a different type of pick up message. In the PC Version, any item shot from the Launcher can be picked up - but without the identifying item description on your cursor prior to pressing E. Any item left in the world this way will poof for good if not picked up within minutes of firing.


 * In general, the better items for this weapon (Based on the Havoc Physics) which won't lose you too much money are regular-shaped objects such as Soda Bottles and Tin Cans. These items are generally quite accurate due to their shape, and the Soda Bottles are easy to locate after as they contrast sharply with the generally brown ground.


 * Brailee Ewers in Arefu can be a very useful source for ammo because after completing "Blood Ties"; she will bake you infinite "cookies", which happen to be bent tin cans.
 * Pre-war money makes an excellent source of ammunition, since it is weightless and slightly abundant. The only downside is that you can make easy caps off of a large amount of Pre-war money, so if you need caps, you may want to only load half of your pre-war money.