Gunboats

Gunboats
ESEA 6s legal?	Yes
UGC HL legal?	Yes
ETF2L 6s legal?	Yes
ETF2L HL legal?	Yes
Ozfortress 6s legal?	Yes

Widely regarded by many as the one true Shotgun sidegrade unlock for Soldier, the Gunboats are an item that allow a trade-off between damage output and mobility. They are known to be used in all formats.

Advantages

Gunboats greatly increase a Soldier's mobility, allowing him to rocket jump several times even without the aid of a shotgun. Because of this, they are often used by Roamers in both 6v6 and Sixes. Pockets, instead, rarely use them, because the lack of a Shotgun reduces their ability to protect the Medic. This reduction of reliance over medics allows for a much more aggressive playstyle and more effective rollouts. Thanks to the combined action of a Medic and the Gunboats, a roaming soldier can arrive to Medic with full or almost full Ubercharge.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage of the Gunboats is the lack of a Shotgun, which prevents Soldiers from properly protecting their Medic, and makes encounters with Scouts and Pyros less likely to be won. Generally speaking, however, the lack of a cleaning weapon, combined with the launcher's slow reload can greatly harm the Gunboats-using Soldier in long or multiple-enemies fights. Additionally, Soldiers using Gunboats must use more rockets to execute Escape Plan rollouts, but this is rarely a problem thanks to their increased rocket jump mobility.