Rocket jumping

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In first-person shooter computer and video games, rocket jumping is the technique of pointing a rocket launcher or other similar explosive weapon at the ground or at a wall then firing and jumping at the same time. The rocket's explosion propels the player to large heights and distances. The true effect of a rocket jump is only noticed if the player is not standing on the ground (that is, that they jumped before firing the rocket). Most first-person shooters will penalize players with further damage if the player falls large distances to the ground. This makes the techniques less tactically effective in games where the damage from the blast, fall, or both is high. In many games a well executed rocket jump results in a minimal damage, and a larger boost.

1 Rocket jumping in Quake
2 Rocket and grenade jumping in Halo 2
3 Other adaptations of rocket jumping
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Rocket jumping in Quake

In the game Quake, higher rocket jumps can be performed by players equipped with both Quad damage and the series' various invulnerability artifacts.

The rocket jump, and the related grenade jump, both exploit a feature of the Quake engine's damage model: If a player takes damage from one direction, his body will be knocked in the opposite direction. Additionally, the game engine slows the movement of the player via friction when he is on the ground; this does not apply if the player is in the air (and already moving upwards). These factors combine to launch the player a great distance. This also means that the more damage a player receives from the explosion, the bigger the "push".

The rocket jump can be done in every Quake game; however, each has its own certain style of rocket-jumping with unique effects on distance and health. Players rocket jump in order to reach items faster (or reach them at all; for example in Quake III Arena in the map Q3DM15 it is necessary to rocket-jump off a structure onto a jump pad to get the BFG directly above), rescue themselves from lava, evade opponents, or find unusual camping spots.

Other weapons can be used to "rocket jump", for instance, the BFG can be used to jump in Quake II and Quake III Arena. In Quake III Arena, the player can even gain a tiny extra boost in height or distance by plasma climbing, in which the plasma gun is fired at an adjacent wall in a downward direction while the player is in the air. In Half-Life, one can also use the RPG to perform a much tamer version of Quake's rocket jump, and a weapon called the Gauss gun to perform a regular rocket jump in multiplayer deathmatch mode.

Rocket jumping is also possible in Doom 3. Players often use grenades to accompany their rocket jumps in order to gain a significant boost when doing a speedrun.

Despite popular belief, the technique of rocket jumping did not originate in Quake (1996), although the game certainly did popularise the move with the relative ease of being able to point the rocket launcher at the ground and thereby launch oneself into the air. Rocket jumping appears in Rise of the Triad (1994), in which the Firebomb Launcher can propel the player several feet into the air (this usually kills the player unless wearing a special asbestos suit of armor), and is necessary in order to successfully complete the final level of the game.

[edit] Rocket and grenade jumping in Halo 2

Another game that supports rocket and grenade jumping is Halo 2. Plasma grenades, frag grenades, and rockets can be used alternatively to reach very high areas. The Sputnik Skull, which makes attacks much stronger, can be used for an extra boost with any explosive weapon.

Different situations require different jumps. When jumping vertically while in a corner, a frag or rocket will work best. If there is no wall to lodge a frag in the corner, or when trying to jump horizontally across a large gap, plasma grenades are better. Rockets can also be used to jump horizontally by facing away from the jump and shooting the ground while jumping backwards.

[edit] Other adaptations of rocket jumping

A horizontal form of rocket jumping also appears in Doom (1993), where it is used to reach the secret exit in E3M6 (it is possible to reach the exit without rocket jumping, but rocket jumping was the intended method according to John Romero [1]). Recently, thanks to source ports of the Doom code that have created a modern jumping mechanism, Quake style rocket jump maps have been created for Doom.

Rocket jumping, grenade hopping, and even the very difficult grenade climbing are found in Marathon (1994), but these techniques are much clumsier than in Quake. One secret level requires grenade climbing to escape from.

Rocket-jumps can be done in the most "non-realistic" games using "skills": QuakeWorld, Quake II, Quake III Arena and its mods, like Challenge ProMode Arena. Team Fortress Classic also supports rocketjumping, as is Warsow and Enemy Territory Fortress. Rocket jumping has recently been shown being used (and to humorous effect) in the second trailer for Valve's upcoming game Team Fortress 2 [2].