RPG

The RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) is a shoulder-mounted launcher used by many factions as an anti-armor and anti-personnel weapon featured in both Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
The RPG is one of the most basic rocket launchers found in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. It is carried by members of the Chinese, the North Korean Army, and sometimes the Russians.

When fired, the RPG flies in an erratic pattern, but if aimed properly, will hit its target. The RPG is not as powerful as weapons that are specialized for specific types of vehicles, such as the Anti Tank Missile Launcher and the Anti-Air Missile. It should not be used within close proximity to the player, and is relatively ineffective against moving targets. The damage done is greater than a Grenade. Despite the popular myth, the RPG is not effective as an anti-air weapon, since many aerial targets fly too high for the grenade to hit them, the rocket flies slowly and almost always goes off course. The RPG is also in-effective against tanks and other heavy armoured vehicles and will take many shots to destroy them and the rockets often miss and hit the ground or fly past. The RPG is much better at taking down buildings, jeeps and Humvees while they are stationary and will destroy most of them in one hit; it can be useful against some APCs and BMPs but will usually require at least 2 or more shots to destroy. The RPG is very common and can usually be found being used by at least one soldier at most, if not all North Korean outposts. Soldiers using this weapon will be carrying a large backpack which can be used to distinguish them from other troops, however they are usually placed on top of building or other elevated levels and will run away most of the time if the mercenary gets anywhere near them. Be careful as they will shoot you even if you are just a couple of meters away from them, or even standing just next to them.

Found in

 * North Korean Supply Drop
 * Chinese Supply Drop
 * RPG kit

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
The RPG is a cheap and relatively powerful shoulder fired launcher. It is the only weapon in the game to be used by four factions, it is the most common but basic launcher the first half of the game. It is inaccurate and poorly specialized. Once it is fired, the rocket will fly and skitter randomly away from the center of the reticule (sometimes upwards but will often fly towards the ground). However it still deals the same damage as a light tank cannon or recoiless rifle but the rocket is less accurate and travels much slower compared to a tank shell, this still allows the RPG to have relatively high effectiveness in large numbers and at close range.

The RPG will work against anything that is not heavily reinforced, ammunition is often a problem because many shots are required to destroy especially heavily armored targets (buildings to Missile Destroyers). This said, they are better in the hands of NPCs because they have infinite ammunition and shoot much more accurately. RPGs work against helicopters but it is very challenging to get a hit, it is almost impossible to get several impacts to take the helicopter down.

The RPG is used by the Venezuelan Army, Universal Petroleum, People's Liberation Army of Venezuela and the Pirates. Venezuelan Army, PLAV and Pirate rocket barracks will spawn soldiers carrying these launchers. Despite being so widely used, it is only sold in the PLAV shop through the RPG kit and Support Weapons Drop both at $10k. Both supply crates have no markings.

The RPG's late game replacement is arguably the Fuel-Air RPG because of its lack of accuracy but hugely improved damage potential. If the player likes using the RPG in the first half of the game, they usually have no problems switching to the Fuel-Air RPG.

Trivia

 * The RPG featured in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction resembles a mix between an RPG-2 and an RPG-7. On the Mercs 1 RPG there is only one handle, just like the RPG-2, but the barrel resembles that of the RPG-7.
 * In Mercenaries 2, helicopter and other vehicle's rockets look the same as RPG rockets but they fly straighter and travel faster.
 * In Mercenaries 2 the Anti-Air Missile Launcher fires a missile that flies faster but inflicts the same damage as the RPG.

Real life
The widely known Rocket Propelled Grenade V.7, it is a long tube with a large, diamond shaped impact-detonating explosive grenade.

The RPG-7 is a widely produced Soviet design, it is a shoulder mounted, portable, unguided, rocket-propelled grenade launcher. In both games, the RPG fires the 85mm High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP) RPG round, this warhead is a High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead variant with an external fragmentation casing. The HEDP warhead allows it to have decent armor penetration capabilities and the ability to attack unarmored targets (which is why it is called Dual Purpose).

It was and still is widely used by many countries as well as terrorist groups or freedom fighters (depends on how you look at it) mostly in non first world countries (a notable exception is the Irish Republican Army) and has come to be viewed as one of the "terror cell" weapons of modern times.