Cannon

Overview

Damage TypeWeapon Type
KineticProjectile
GoodNot Good
Reasonably high kinetic damage.Shield damage is not good. 
Runs on very little power and distributor draw. Hard to aim, hard to see. 
No damage distance falloff and generally high shot speed. Fixed ones are good practice for learning PAs later. The gimbaled version is less accurate due to “wiggle”, and needs clear line of sight to fire. Many ships have hardpoints that can be blocked by the hull from certain angles.
High breach chance and damage, so it’s a sneaky good module killer.

Size Notes

Each size and version has a different shot speed.
Accurate firing is difficult when using non-identical fixed cannons.

Powerplay

Concord Cannon

Medium gimbaled cannon with a 3 shot burst and extended ammo supply.
Less damage per shot but increased damage when all 3 shots hit. Increased rate of fire and shot speed.
Retains the usual high breach chance of cannons, so along with the gimbals to do the aiming for you, they work very well as anti-module weapons.
They also partially fix the problems with mixing cannon sizes, since they aim themselves. Pair them with larger fixed cannons for extra punch.
Gimbal wiggle makes them less effective at precision module targeting at longer ranges, although the shot speed increase helps. Short Range is probably a better engineering choice because of this.
Chaff makes them totally ineffective.

Engineering

EfficientCannons are already the lowest draw weapon in the game, so this is not a good choice. 
High capacityMore ammo for applying experimental effects. 
LightweightIf your ship is mass sensitive. 
Long RangeIncreases shot speed so it’s easier to hit…but it’s hard to hit beyond 3 km or so. 
OverchargedBig damage out to the full range and the distributor draw penalty is puny on this weapon. This is best for fixed mount cannons.
Rapid FireDoable, but you lose accuracy due to jitter. (It’s a single shot, so either you hit or you don’t.)
Short RangeBig damage, and you’re not likely to hit beyond 2 km anyway with gimbals, so pick this one for non-fixed cannons when you can control range and be close. The heat penalty is tiny and doesn’t matter.
SturdyNo.

Experimental Effects

Auto LoaderImproves sustained damage by continuously reloading the weapon, although it’s slower than you’d think.
Dispersal FieldWorks like the chaff effect when you hit. A strong active defense. 
Double BracedNot that useful. Better to use module reinforcements.
Flow ControlCuts power usage a bit…but this is already a low power weapon, so what’s the point?
Force ShellPushes your target based on the damage you do, but makes the shot slower and harder to hit with.  Fun but questionably useful.
High Yield ShellChanges the damage to explosive and hits in a sphere around the point of impact. Has a fairly large damage penalty but can take out modules well with good aim. Use it on huge and large hardpoints.
Multi-ServosNot a good choice. 
OversizedThis actually provides more sDPS than autoloader for this weapon. 
Smart RoundsIf you enjoy firing into crowds. Or you could aim better. 
Stripped DownRemoves a tiny bit of mass, but there are better places to drop mass than weapons. 
Thermal CascadeSimilar to Thermal Shock, but only on hits against shields…which cannons aren’t good at damaging.  Not recommended.