Sub Armaments

X-COM flying subs would be useless if they had no means of neutralising enemy Alien Subs. To this end, there are a number of craft armaments, or craft weapons, that you can be fit to interception craft for use in combat. Some of these weapons are immediately available to you to purchase, others have to be researched and manufactured in your workshops.

The weapons systems that can be purchased throughout the course of your conflict with the alien menace are:

• Craft Gas Cannon
• AJAX
• D.U.P. Head

The weapons that can be manufactured after you have researched them are:

• Gauss Cannon
• Sonic Oscillator
• P.W.T. Cannon

Quick Comparison Table

All damage-related values are nominal, i.e. maximum values. Effective average values will be ~75% of these values.

Armament	Damage (D)	Range (km) (R)	Accuracy (A)	Official Reload Time (gs) (RT)	Shots	Official Firepower (D×A/RT)	Official Firepower x Range	Payload (D×S×A)
Craft Gas Cannon	15	8	25%	3	200	1.25	10.00	750
AJAX	60	32	70%	17	6	2.47	79.06	252
D.U.P. Head	110	50	80%	21	3	4.19	209.52	264
Gauss Cannon	90	20	35%	4	50	7.88	157.50	1575
Sonic Oscillator	150	55	50%	5	100	15.00	825.00	7500
P.W.T. Cannon	200	60	100%	28	2	7.14	428.57	400

As a general guide to the available weapons, 75km is the standoff range you first get the dogfight screen. If a weapon has close to 70km range the weapon will start firing soon after you press cautious attack, where weapons with around 30km range will require you to close in quite a lot. These ranges are also shown graphically on the interception screen.

See Weapons vs. Alien Subs for advice on which armaments to use against which Alien Subs.

Note that the Official Reload Times are very likely to be incorrect. Research suggests the actual average Reload Time values are:

Gas Cannon 3gs
AJAX 24gs (Aggressive)
D.U.P. 36gs (Aggressive)
Gauss Cannon 18gs
Sonic Oscillator 18gs
P.W.T. Cannon 24gs (Aggressive)

See the Talk page for a revised summary table, based on the observed average Reload Times.