Plasma Cannon
Type	Main Gun
Available From	ARG ANT PAR HOP TEL MIN ALI DUK TRI ZYA FRF CUB RIP VIG QUE
Fitted To	Small and Medium ships
Role	Anti-capital
Required License	Military License (+10)

In-game Description

The Plasma Cannon combines high damage output with long range. Its drawbacks, slow projectile speed and fire rate, made worse by high heat generation, can make landing hits as challenging as it is important. This results in its predominant use being against capital ships, where swarms of fighters deploy Plasma Cannons to great success. Unlike short ranged weapons such as the Shard Battery and the Split Tau Accelerator, which outperform it in damage output and are more suited to attacking capital ships from a blind spot, the Plasma Cannon's greatest advantage is its range. Skilled pilots are also able to hunt down smaller targets efficiently, either by deploying the Plasma Cannon at short range or by predicting the courses of the projectile and target. Similarly, skilled pilots are also able to evade and avoid being hit by such attempts.

The Plasma Cannon was developed during the early days of the Paranid Civil War, by the Holy Order of the Pontifex, building upon the High Energy Plasma Thrower. Like its predecessor, it suffers from high radiation build-up, and this needs to be purged between shots to prevent it from damaging itself. The blueprint for the Plasma Cannon was stolen by the Argon Secret Service and distributed throughout the Commonwealth when the Argon Federation joined the war effort.

The Mk2 variant has a higher rate of fire, lower heat generation and increased damage output.

Tactical Overview

The Plasma Cannon is the heavy hitter and the primary anti-capital weapon for small and medium craft. It is very much a one-trick pony. It fires a single, high-damage shot over a decent range. The projectile is very slow, and each shot generates a stupidly high amount of heat. Expect to fire only two or three shots before you overheat.

The usage of the Plasma Cannons is straightforward: Equip a fighter swarm with those and point them at a capital ship you wish to no longer see on your radar screen.
That is pretty much all it is good for.

The projectile being so very slow and the fact that, at maximum, you get only three shots before overheating makes it an abysmal choice in a dogfight.
This is very much a weapon for fighter swarms to alpha-strike enemy capital ships into oblivion.

The use on fighters is preferred because the entire package is much cheaper than on medium ships.

Note:

Because of how the heat generation lines up, you get higher damage output by firing as soon as possible instead of letting it cool down fully. You still get the same number of shots.
Sustained dps is calculated from this method.

Because of the few shots per heat cycle, it may be best to ignore the raw damage per second and look only at the sustained damage per second.

Specifications

Construction Cost

Universal Build Method

Closed Loop Build Method

Terran Build Method