Railgun

Railguns require the trigger to be held to charge the weapon before firing. The weapon will fire automatically when the charge is complete, but fail to fire if the trigger is released early. Rail slugs are effective at ship hull penetration.

— In-Game Description

A Railgun is a very powerful electromagnetic projectile weapon. Therefore it deals mixed thermic-kinetic damage. It requires a large amount of power to use it and generates a large amount of heat in the process compared to other weapons, but can cause severe damage to the target.

Usage

The railgun's exceptional penetration allows it to hit subsystems even when striking through the opposite side of a hull in most cases. The effective damage of this weapon varies considerably based on shot placement. The railgun has an armour piercing value of 100, meaning it always does full damage to hull regardless of Armour Hardness - though it is still affected by kinetic and thermal resistances. It is also an impulse attack, causing the target to be physically pushed out of its previous trajectory.

In the right hands, the railgun is a potent weapon, especially on small ships. Both Diamondback ships are great for using this weapons, especially the Scout, due to excellent heat efficiency and maneuverability to stay on target. As the railgun projectile moves so quickly it effectively acts like a laser, with no measurable travel time; this makes it easier to use than many other fixed hardpoint weapons which would require leading the target and estimating its movement.

This weapon is only available in fixed mounts, and in class 1 and 2 hardpoints. Range is 3000m, but damage begins to fall off after 1000m.

Munition

Each shot costs 75 CR. The clip size is only a single shot, which takes 1s to reload. The total capacity is 80 shots which can be altered by engineering.

As of version 2.2, the "Plasma Slug" can be added to the weapon by engineers as an experimental effect. A railgun with this effect does 10% less damage and draws a small but noticeable amount of fuel from the active reservoir (22kg class 1, 25kg class 2) to generate ammunition on demand rather than using the normal magazine. Alternatively, ammunition storage capacity upgrades are also available.

Specifications

Damage begins to fall off at 1000m with a total range of 3000m.

Another variant is the Imperial Hammer Railgun.

• All railguns divide damage as follows:^[1]
  • Thermal: 66.6%
  • Kinetic: 33.3%

Engineers

This weapon can be modified by Engineers to enhance its abilities.

Modifications

The following modifications can be applied to this module:

• High capacity
• Lightweight
• Long range
• Short range
• Sturdy

Possible Experimental Effects

The following experimental effects can be applied:

• Feedback Cascade
• Plasma Slug
• Super Penetrator

Purchase Locations

• This list requires expansion

Videos

Mango's Manual to the Railgun -Elite-Mango's Manual to the Railgun

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Gallery

Concept Art

Class 1 Railgun

Class 2 Railgun

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References

1. ↑ Frontier Forums: Truesilver's Tests, No.2: Rail gun thermic-kinetic damage split