Railguns

**Railguns** are kinetic weapons found in the Veniri and The Syndicate tech tree that stands out from other kinetic weapons because of their similarity to a sniper rifle, rather than a machine gun, like most other kinetic weapons (Pulse Cannons, Neutron Blasters, Machine Guns, and Mass Drivers to a lesser extent). Railguns has much more range and much higher damage per shot but is balanced by a very slow reload, high recoil, and high energy cost.

## Railgun

   The Railgun takes up four C weapon slots in a 1x4 rectangle and is associated with Veniri tech tree. This weapon is never really seen in use by Veniri foes however, although it is seen in use by other ships like Viper and Nemesis, the latter of which utilizes the high recoil from shooting to keep at range from the Player. This is one of the earliest long-range weapons a Player can encounter and collect.

 Energy Consumption
 Reload Time
 Range
 Velocity
 Impulse (Recoil and force exerted on target)
 Weight

### For Player Use:

The Railgun is very useful for sniping from well out of reach of many opponents' weapons and for hit-and-run tactics because of its extremely high burst damage but low overall damage per second. Adding a stealth significantly augments this ability, allowing you to sneak up undetected and then fire, using the recoil to quickly retreat to a safe distance. A ship like the Excalibur is perfect for this because it has four weapon slots that perfectly fit a Railgun each. Using Railguns in this manner is a great way to take out most Capital Ships in a couple of runs (provided they don't have point defence). The Railgun can also be used well on the Scout Mk2 for hit-and-run tactics or on the Dart M2 or Dart M3 satellite for some extra firepower.

## Heavy Railgun

The Heavy Railgun is a relatively newer addition which came with The Syndicate Faction and is in the faction's tech tree. It is a large weapon, occupying 8 C-type weapon slots in a rectangular 2x4 shape. It is mainly used by the Odin Capital ship. This weapon produces a heavy recoil, does twice the damage of its smaller version, and has a range that rivals the Death Ray, its accuracy at that range is hindered by its relatively slow projectile velocity, which is the same as Railgun's. This weapon is generally not recommended for player use due to its low DPS. The projectile is also negated easily by Point Defense System

 Energy Consumption
 Reload Time
 Range
 Velocity
 Impulse
 Weight

### For Player Use:

This weapon has the longest range of all C-type weapons, and thus is excellent at sniping targets. Although only a few ships like ISS Man Of War, Scavenger etc,, can mount a Heavy Railgun straight out of the box, a few more like Nemesis can mount it after expanding the slots. This weapon is best used at long range 1 vs 1 fights like Capital ship battles, due to its low DPS.

## Pros and Cons

 Very high velocity
 High range
 Staggers/knocks back ships heavily

## Notes

-Adding a built-in Targeting Unit can help with shot accuracy but makes you more vulnerable to ECM Jammers and stray drones

-Point defence can be overcome occasionally by flanking behind the ship because point defence seems to be somewhat unreliable on AI unless you face them head-on.

-Another option is to a mount a weapon such as the Plasma or Pulse Multi-Cannon to overwhelm the point defence, either depleting its energy or killing it outright.