Player Artillery

Captain's Edition adds Artillery systems to each ship, similar to the original Open Artillery mod. With the exception of the Federation Cruisers, all ships can purchase a ship-specific artillery system at a shop.

Some types of artillery have the potential to be as useful as the Vindicator Beam, but might deal damage differently or provide other tactical benefits. While the Vindicator Beam is still the ultimate "power and forget" weapon due to its shield piercing beam, the other artillery systems can be very potent when used correctly.

Purchasing artillery at a store can be useful in the mid to late game if the player has not had any luck with finding powerful weapons, since the artillery system can be found at stores relatively consistently. Artillery isn't particularly expensive (cost is 80 scrap), but it may or may not fit well with the strengths and weaknesses of your current ship and it still takes up a system slot that, in some cases, might be better filled with a more useful/flexible system.

Artillery Interactions[]

Many of CE's artilleries need some degree of micro management to be used effectively. Some artilleries can not pierce shields, in that case normal weapon salvo have to be coordinated with the artillery firing circle to allow for the artillery to deliver its effect. Some artillery works the other way around, dealing no physical damage at all and instead supporting conventional weapons or even boarding crews.

List of Artillery Weapons[]

Vindicator Beam[]

"This advanced beam cuts through all shields, but can't be aimed manually."

A beam weapon that is already installed on the Federation A and B. It does 1 damage per room, with a long trail, and has a base 40 second charge time (down from 50 seconds in vanilla FTL).

The Vindicator Beam opens up some blue options in events, and indicates that you command a high-ranking Federation ship.

Flak Artillery[]

A flak weapon that is already installed on the Federation C, and can be installed on the Lanius A and B. It fires 7 projectiles in 1 salvo, and has a base 40 second charge time.

Standard Heavy Burst Laser[]

"This widely used artillery weapon fires a powerful barrage, but can't be aimed manually."

A laser weapon that can be installed on the Kestrel A, B, and C. It fires 3 shots that do 2 damage each with a decent fire chance; and has a base 30 second charge time.
It looks very similar to the Boss Laser used on the Flagship.

Waveform EMP[]

"Emits an electromagnetic pulse that can disable entire ships."

A weapon that can be installed on the Engi A and C. It emits an EMP that can deal up to 6 ion damage to enemy shields (depending on enemy evasion). It also deals up to 6 ion damage to random systems, although with greatly reduced accuracy. It has a 40 second base charge time.
Technically, this weapon fires 6 invisible instant hit ion projectiles with 5 shield piercing that target within a 70 pixel radius. The shield piercing causes them to deal ion damage to shields and any systems hit afterwards.
Ingame the effect is similar to that of a pulsar.

Tool XL Industrial Beam[]

"Heavy duty industrial beam that can keep the enemy constantly under fire."

A beam weapon that can be installed on the Engi B and Zoltan C. It does 1 damage per room and has a 115 pixel trail. Its base cooldown is only 20 seconds.
When upgraded to level four, the beam will fire almost constantly. It will still require support weapons to suppress enemy shields in order to deal damage.

Verdict Focus Beam[]

"Highly focused beam weapon that can punch through any defense, but can't be aimed manually."

A focus beam weapon that can be installed on the Zoltan A and B. It does 5 damage per room, but has a 1px trail and can only hit one room. As with any beam weapon, shields will partially absorb its damage. It has a 40 second base charge time.
Each layout of the Zoltan Cruiser has a different recolour of the weapon, matching the layout's colour scheme. In turn, this weapon is a recolour of the Maul Focus Beam.

Kaz'trt Light Burst Artillery[]

"Light artillery weapon that decimates crew, but can't be aimed manually."

A light burst laser weapon that can be installed on the Mantis C. It fires 3 shots that pierce 5 shield layers and does 60 damage to crew with a 20% stun chance, a 40% breach chance, with 20 seconds as the base charge time.
When upgraded to level four, this artillery will constantly shower enemy ships every 10 seconds with anti-personnel lasers that have a decent chance to breach.

Sha'k Internal Teleporter[]

"Hidden artillery teleporter that incapacitates ships and crew with self-teleporting shrapnel cluster bombs."

A bomb weapon that can be installed on the Mantis A and Mantis B. It deploys 3 bombs that do 2 system damage and 30 damage to crew, stunning crew for 10 seconds. It has a base 30 second charge time.
This artillery can not destroy ships, but can be effective at support boarding strategies.
Warning prompts will appear in the rooms aboard the enemy ships where the artillery bombs are about to land, allowing to move the players boarding crew out of the harms way.

Bliss Neural Stunner[]

"Outlawed brainwave artillery that can permanently paralyse entire ship crews."

A weapon that can be installed on the Slug A, B, and C. It fires 30 projectiles in one salvo, piercing all shields and stunning affected crew for 20 seconds. It has a base 40 second charge time.
Each layout of the Slug Cruiser has a different recolour of the weapon, matching the layout's colour scheme.
Upgrading the artillery system to level four will reduce the cooldown to 20 seconds, thus enabling the weapon to completely stun-lock enemy crew.

Emperor Missile Battery[]

"Blind-fires missiles at the enemy ships, dealing between 0 and 8 damage. Replicates its own ammunition."

A weapon that can be installed on the Rock A. It fires 8 projectiles in one salvo, piercing all shields and hitting an area of radius 105 pixels. Each missile deals 1 damage, with a 10% stun chance. It has a base 40 second charge time.
This weapon does not consume any missiles when it fires.
The projectiles fired by this weapon can be targeted by defense drones.

Mother Sun Plasma Thrower[]

"Plasma artillery that has a chance to set the entire enemy ship on fire, but cannot deal physical damage or deplete shields."

A weapon that can be installed on the Rock B. It fires 9 projectiles in one salvo, hitting an area of radius 35 pixels. Each projectile has a 60% chance of starting fires. It has a base 30 second charge time.
This weapon cannot take away shield layers.
Does not pierce shields.

Valentine Missile Rack[]

"High-tech missile artillery that replicates its own ammunition and scrambles the targeting systems of enemy defence drones."

A weapon that can be installed on the Stealth A, B, and C. It fires a projectile that does 3 damage and evades level 1 defence drones, and has a base 30 second charge time.
Much like the other cloaked missile weapons, this weapon is technically a laser that has 5 shield pierce.

Lattice Lockdown Blast[]

"Powerful projectile artillery that can breach and crystallise the entire enemy ship. Vulnerable to defence drones."

A weapon that can be installed on the Crystal A and Rock C. It fires 3 projectiles that pierce one shield layer and do 2 damage, with 100% breach chance, lockdown power, and a 10 second stun time. It has a base 30 second charge time.
The projectiles fired can be targeted by defence drones.

Shardstorm Crystal Burst[]

"Powerful projectile artillery that riddles enemy ships with antipersonnel crystals."

A weapon that can be installed on the Crystal B. It fires 12 projectiles in one salvo, that pierce four shield layers and do 15 crew damage per projectile in an area with radius 15 pixels. It has a 40 second base charge time.
The projectiles fired can be targeted by defence drones.