Shard Battery
Type	Main Gun
Available From	ARG ANT PAR HOP TEL MIN ALI TEM TRI RIP VIG QUE
Fitted To	Small and Medium ships
Role	Assassination, Anti-Medium, Anti-capital
Required License	Military License (+10)

In-game Description

The Shard Battery is essentially a spaceborne shotgun, that makes up for its low effective range and accuracy by inflicting devastating trauma against shields and hull alike. At its core, it is functionally similar to the Bolt Repeater that it was originally developed from. However, the ejection of multiple projectiles at once requires a wider barrel aperture, a larger spacing between shots, and generates a higher energy drain. When it comes to its damage output, the Shard Battery has been compared to the Plasma Cannon, but it offers a slightly different range of applications. Skilled military pilots may occasionally make use of this weapon against small targets in an attempt to end the fight quickly, but it is generally agreed upon that one should try to avoid these situations. The Shard Battery reaches its fullest potential against larger and slower targets such as M-sized ships, which cannot as easily evade its projectiles. It is also especially effective against capital ship surface elements, provided that the pilot can find an opportunity to target them from the blind spots of nearby turrets.

The Mk2 variant fires fewer shards at a higher speed but with a shorter interval. This raises the overall damage output and improves the weapon's accuracy, especially against more nimble targets, but in turn incurs a quicker heat build-up.

Tactical Overview

Everyone likes shotguns. Every game has one. This one is ours.

Throw any pretense of finesse out of the window. Now we go charging in and start blasting! It is the straight-up opposite of the Beam Emitter.
With the Shard Battery, you get an insane damage output, but only for a limited time. Still, even the sustained damage output is very respectable and can even threaten capital ships if employed by a relatively small number of fighters.

The usage of the Shard Battery is straightforward as well, consisting of getting as close as possible to the target and then pulling the trigger to blast it to bits. It can dismantle fighters very quickly. Medium targets also get ripped rather quickly.

However, the heat efficiency is atrocious! You will be overheating in less than 10 seconds, and if your target is not dead, something has gone horribly wrong. The heat efficiency is so bad that you need at least three Small Mk1 installed to have the damage potential to destroy a fighter in a single heat cycle. You still need at least two for the Small Mk2. The Medium variants aren't much better.
Make your shots count!

The rather large spread of the projectiles doesn't help this tight damage potential. It is a shotgun, after all. Even if you have the theoretical damage within a heat cycle to destroy a target, enough bullets likely miss, and the target survives the onslaught. And you sit there, slowly cooling down.
Using the boom-and-zoom approach is highly recommended as the high heat generation prevents effective use in extended dogfights.

Specifications

Construction Cost

Universal Build Method

Closed Loop Build Method

Terran Build Method