What do these 'fragmentation' shells of yours do, cutting damage instead of concussive?
Correct. The charge is equivalent to a rocket of corresponding type, minus the incendiary effect.
Trying to peek so that you don't see the turret, only a tile nearby, is also dependent on the map generator collaborating with you, since one step near a corner corresponds to quite an angle in visibility.
This approach works very consistently in practice. The only issue with terrain generation is when the transport is too close to the UFO. Still, it's not impossible to win even in such cases, even against deployments that include Chryssalids.
Ultimately, the Skymarshall also still suffers from the 'open ramp' issue, even if the tail blocks most of it. A few Sectopods or Cyberdisks staring down on your equipment pile on turn 1 is a big problem there.
I actually moved the equipment into the middle of the vessel by editing a file in the mod.
Ideally, the backside would be doored as well, but in practice the situation is very manageable, especially when a couple of heavy troopers with rockets are near the exist (so, they only need to make a step, and still have time to aim).
Also, this probably only works due to the overwhelming power of shrapnel rockets, since otherwise you'd be getting serious degradation in damage done and thus armour penetration. And these effin' turrets are quite heavily armoured.
The effect is a consequence of shield resistance. The resistance against cutting damage is uniformly at 125%, same as plasma, across all shield types. Also, cutting damage works nicely against enemy armor resistances. This seems pretty consistent with the real world, apparently.
The ship you're talking about is probably the Troop Ship. A Cruiser looks somewhat like a dildo 
and has two small and two large turrets.
Indeed! Thank you for clarification on this one. There is another vessel as well, a large oblong ship, called Arbiter, with many turrets, but with the same design feature: walls near turrets.
Isn't that what a Mind Missile is?
No. The difference between 3 and 9 or unlimited waypoints is significant in practice. The idea is to have a slightly correctable missile, like the one in the CoD, etc.. The rationale being that such missiles are still reasonably inexpensive to be available as a standard offering, if only for spec ops troops.
Anyway, top-attack munitions weren't as widespread in 1997-1999, though the Javelin did go into service in 1996 and the Bofors already in 1988.
The basic idea I wanted to illuminate when referencing the anti-tank missiles has been that the technology for missiles that could be steered in flight is already available. The 3-waypoint missile simulates such approach nicely.
Now, given that the waypoints could be relatively arbitrary in this game, we should think of such in-game missiles as an extension of the current AT missiles technology, into a special product geared to elite special operation units.
So, the 3-waypoint rockets are a bit of acrobats, but they don't even remotely approach the magical effects of a genuine blaster bomb. Especially, when you set the waypoints for the latter to infinity.
Ultimately, the 3-waypoint rockets are an optimization, and could be replaced by mortars and regular rockets, whether with frag shells or without.
Although I can't see how you'd fire a Javelin from a Dragon launcher or similar. It's a new weapon system, not a munition upgrade.
The in-game "Rocket Launcher" is a distinct product most definitely. Still, the capabilities at the level of 3-waypoint guidance are more in the human-tech realm than even xcom-tech.
In my experience, grenades and Blasters (and cultist explosives) are the number one cause of deaths I could not have prevented by playing a bit more cautiously. YMMV.
It's possible to have a zero casualty playthrough, with very conservative reloading policy. I tend to play very aggressively in the first turns, in order to create a suitable beachead. It works much better than defense.
All in all, it's possible to overcome tactically the challenges of grenades and blasters. The key here is access to ordnance. Also, I would like to note that auto-mortars feel almost magical in their demolitions capacity. A trooper could carry 7 rounds of mortar charges. A fire team consists of 4 troopers. That is usually more than enough to demolish enemy.
Rocketeers are there to provide cover for mortars. They tend to be idle once the mortars start working (and with auto-mortars, it's possible to fire every turn).
Prior to promotion 3, some elements of such tactics could be simulated by the use of dynamite and HE packs (sourced as trophies).
Perhaps. Rockets and mortars have the distinct disadvantage of firing very slowly, not working at close range unless you have serious power armour, and needing an ammo supply line in any extended engagement. I suppose with good fire discipline and the OP shrapnel shells, it's not as much of a problem.
With mortars, it is necessary to setup a good spot to fire from. In general, you do have four shots of rockets to help with that even when heavily surrounded by cyberdiscs. The slightly maneuverable rocketry helps to bring casualty potential to nearly zero in such circumstances.
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, but I occasionally do no-save missions as well. And I can't see how aggressive movement could be done without casualties, unless the RNG gods favour you, the AI grabs the idiot ball with both hands, or you're just clowning on some scorpions or cultists who can't hurt you through all that armour.