The Rocket Artillery is an Information Era siege unit in Civilization VI. It upgrades from the Artillery (or its replacements).
- Attributes:
- Deals bombard-type damage, effective against district defenses.
- Cannot move and attack on the same turn unless they've earned the Expert Crew promotion.
- Only land unit in the game with a
Range Range of 3. - Has Sight of 3.
Strategy
The most advanced and deadliest siege unit available, the Rocket Artillery shoots heat-seeking missiles at its targets that are devastating against cities. What's more, its additional propelling power allows these missiles to travel farther than old artillery shells, even without the help of spotting equipment such as the Observation Balloon! However, note that the Rocket Artillery still has a sight range of only 2, requiring that another unit "sees" the target in order to hit it. Also, it still needs to fire without having moved in the same round. However, if you've gotten this far in the game, chances are your siege units have collected enough XP already for the Expert Crew promotion.
Historical Context
The Chinese Wu forces were firing off gunpowder-fueled rocket artillery as early as the siege of Yuzhang in 904 AD, although these were more colorful than deadly (save, perhaps, to their crews). The metal-cylinder ones used by the Tipu Sultan of Mysore in the 1780s and the British Congreve rockets in the 1790s weren’t much better. So it wasn’t until the German Nebelwerfer and Soviet Katyusha models of the Second World War that rocket artillery was anything but a curiosity on the battlefield. It was only after the war that designs in rocket artillery made them a mainstay for NATO and Warsaw Pact armies, poised to devastate Europe when the much-anticipated World War III broke out. The minimum recoil of rockets means that lighter carriages are needed, hence these can be more mobile (in fact, some can fire on the move); and advanced ones employ guidance systems, allowing for better accuracy against moving targets.