Cannon

Overview

Damage Type	Weapon Type
Kinetic	Projectile

Good	Not 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.	The gimbaled version is less accurate due to “wiggle”.
Lets you RP as a pirate.

Size Notes

Each size and version has a different shot speed.

Accurate firing is difficult when using non-identical cannons.

Engineering

Efficient	It’s already the lowest draw weapon in the game. Not a good choice.
High capacity	More ammo for applying experimental effects.
Lightweight	If your ship is weight sensitive.
Long Range	Increases shot speed so it’s easier to hit…but it’s hard to hit beyond 3 km or so.
Overcharged	Big damage out to the full range and the distributor draw penalty is puny on this weapon.
Rapid Fire	Doable, but you lose accuracy. (It’s a single shot, so either you hit or you don’t.)
Short Range	Big damage, and you’re not likely to hit beyond 2 km anyway. The heat penalty is tiny on this weapon.
Sturdy	No.

Experimental Effects

Auto Loader	Improves sustained damage by continuously reloading the weapon.
Dispersal Field	Works like the chaff effect when you hit. A strong active defense.
Double Braced	Not that useful. Better to use module reinforcements.
Flow Control	Cuts power usage a bit…but this is already a low power weapon.
Force Shell	Pushes your target based on the damage you do, but makes the shot slower and harder to hit with.
High Yield Shell	Changes 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.
Multi-Servos	Not a good choice.
Oversized	This actually provides more sDPS than autoloader for this weapon.
Smart Rounds	If you enjoy firing into crowds. Or you could aim better.
Stripped Down	Removes a tiny bit of mass, but there are better places to drop mass than weapons.
Thermal Cascade	Similar to Thermal Shock, but only on hits against shields…which cannons aren’t good at damaging.